Himalia's Dream Venture: A Financial Literacy Children for Children!

Naturalista's, I am very excited to tell you about a new book that I have written that addresses an important topic, namely, financial literacy for children.  I was inspired to write this book, in the context of a little Black girl, who has natural hair of course.   I have always wanted to write a children's book and I also illustrated it.  The goal was to write a book that is easy to read and to educate at the same time. It is book one of a series.  It focuses on Himalia's (the name of the little girl) questions, about money matters, that she has when she runs errands with her mom.  She wants to know what is rent, mortgage, a lease, a bank account, debit cards and checks versus cash, and more.  These appear to be complex questions but definitely the questions are valid and can be answered for children in such a way that they understand.  Exasperated by all of her inquisitiveness, her parents refer her to her dreams to find the answers.  In an imaginative and colorful way, in her dreams, to her parents surprise, she finds all of the answers to her questions. The dream images, as well as all of the others are whimsical, imaginative and colorful.  So from my imagination to the bookshelf, we find this new book, ready for children to experience with joy.

 

Also, excitingly, I am hosting a giveaway right now so there is an opportunity to try and win a copy of Himalia's Dream Venture!  

Additionally,  if you are interested in buying the book for the little ones in your life, that is also an option. Although I normally write for adults about social justice and cultural issues, I find that it doesn't make sense to only provide information to adults without also sharing information with our children, hence #TeachEmYoung.  

I hope you will enjoy the excitement of this little naturalista, Himalia, as the next book of the series, Book Two, will be next and is in progress.  So take a moment  for the little ones in your family, in schools and beyond and meet Himalia, an inquisitive, smart, beautiful, little naturalista!  The book makes a wonderful present for the holidays too!  Enjoy!

Health Disparities and Why This Problem Must Be Fixed Now! (Part I)

Dr. Patti Rose and Alma Stewart (Executive Director of the Louisiana Center for Health Equity)

Recently, I gave a Keynote Address at the 2018 Louisiana Health Summit in Baton Rouge.  The topic was health disparities and as I began to prepare my speech, as always, all the issues associated with it began to surface as is the case, when I was writing my book about the same topic.  There is intensity and passion that arises when I talk about this topic, because I know that it is time to fix this problem now. Louisiana by the way, is the state where currently 37,000 people in Nursing Homes (elderly and disabled) will receive notice that they may be evicted from those homes. This is a gut wrenching example of health disparities as the loss of care for our poor and elderly people is particularly harsh and a significant indication of why health disparities must be solved now! 

I began talking about health disparities when I was a young graduate student, and I'm still as fired up about it today. The title of my speech below was "From Health Disparities to Health Equity: The What, The Who and the Need For Community Mobilization Now."   This video provides excerpts form my Keynote Address where insight is provided regarding health disparities, cultural competency, health literacy, the digital divide, marginalization, food injustice and beyond.  After you watch it, perhaps you will agree, that this problem, and associated issues and concerns are priority matters in terms of resolution.

Following the Keynote Address, I held a book signing and had the opportunity to speak with many attendees, one-on-one.  The conversations were good and from the heart as we tried to connect on issues that matter pertaining to health disparities, with a focus on solutions. My heartfelt praise goes out to the Louisiana Center for Health Equity, headed by Ms. Alma Stewart, and her dedication towards health equity as she invited me to serve as the Keynote Speaker for her organization's summit. It is my hope that I won't need to continue to talk about this issue for the rest of my life because it will be resolved.  When I painstakingly wrote my book, along with the chapters provided by my contributing authors, my thought was that each time a person acquires it for themselves or for their organization, there is the possibility of another person/organization taking this matter to heart and moving towards solutions as the book is entitled Health Disparities, Diversity and Inclusion: Context, Controversies and Solutions.  Let's not waste more time. #LetsTalkAboutSolutions. The time is now!

Dr. Thomas Durant (Professor Emeritus, LSU), Dr. Patti Rose and Alma Stewart,
Executive Director of the Center for Health Equity

Stepping Out of Your Comfort Zone!

As a young girl, growing up in Queens, NY, I had dreams that I knew that I would attain someday. Primarily, my desire was to write a book.  I'm not sure why, but I saw myself as a writer.  Everything that happened in my life, seemed like something I could/should write about so I started journaling.  Now, many years later, I am an author of several published books, and I am working on my next books, and when I write, I am in my comfort zone.  It doesn't seem like a challenge anymore but simply what I do.  So, I decided to step out of my comfort zone, again, this time, learning to speak and write another language, namely Mandarin.  This continues to be a challenge and I am pursuing it with vigor, enjoying every moment of it.  I have added some videos below showing you where I am with this endeavor and I must say, I am thrilled!  The first video gives you a sense of where I am today, with the language, and the second, when I started.  Also note, I have taken out my locks, which is another story for all of you naturalistas! I am still 100% natural and there will be an upcoming post about that soon... Going from 30 years of locks--to basically no locks.  "Do Tell" and I promise I will...

But getting back to Stepping Out of Your Comfort Zone...

The questions for you is what dream did you want to accomplish when you were a child?  Have you achieved it? If you did, is it now your comfort zone and do you want to achieve new things that are out of your comfort zone? If you did not, achieve your dream, do you still want to or fulfill new ones? If so, it may be time for you to step out, without hesitation.  You can do whatever you desire---not just one thing but many things!  I hope you enjoy my videos below. I am achieving one dream of many and you can too!  It's challenging and definitely out of my comfort zone and that I LOVE!

Video I: Where I am today with my Study of Mandarin! 

Video II:  When I started Studying Mandarin!