Hello family...

Yesterday, I tried a little experiment. With the first day of classes, and
my first class, I started out by encouraging the members of the college
course i am instructing to say the following..out loud..I am Good, I am
brilliant, i am wonderful..Repeating this, over and over until it sank in.
Then --i asked them to say it like they truly meant it. As the lecture
continued, i made frequent reference to this point, White and black.. free
of both guilt and innocence..We were going to discuss the Black Experience,
but the course was not about placing guilt or innocence..but rather
identifying the societal conditions which have led to the inability of both
whites and blacks to live out their fullest potential. As things got deep,
as I sensed critical moments for the students for both white and blacks
--you know those quiet moments that you could cut with a knife..i reminded
them that they were GBW's --i.e., good, brilliant and wonderful..
well..never before have i gotten such a positive response to a lecture..and
never has a student been so moved..this early..to send me an
email..thanking me for such a class..let me share part of that email..
and family..this is just the beginning....



Dear Dr. Coates-
Hi, this is Ross Meyer, one of your students in BWS 448. I just wanted to
tell you how much i truly enjoyed class today. I dont know how quite to
express it without being trite, but I truly felt liberated in a way after
your amazing lecture. You seemed to push me beyond limits and make
everything fall into place for me. For that, I truly thank you. You have a
unique gift for teaching and I look forward to a wonderful semester with
you. Thank you.

For more of my poetry please check out

http://gw.cas.muohio.edu/umoja/www.ulbobo.com/umoja/index.html

umoja

A new series:
The Art of Love for the Emotionally Impaired please check out:

http://communities.msn.com/TheArtofLovefortheEmotionallyImpaired/_whatsnew.msnw


only when lions have historians will hunting cease to be glorified

rodneyc..