Inspirations
Shirlee, Kenesha

>>KENESHA: Well I'm a singer and a writer and the way I came to be a really good writer was through singing, growing up in church and having to learn all these different songs and just really wanting to be a part of the service and the ministry of it all and feel a part of I guess a bigger purpose. In doing that you had to be able to read and another thing was my mom, she was the first female to graduate from college in her family and me being her daughter I really had to step up to the plate. She was very persistent about my education, it was very important to her. She would have me do extra work books and reading during the summer time on vacation when everybody else is outside playing I would have to do extra stuff in my work book in order to earn being able to go outside and play and socialize with my friends. At the time I didn't really like it and was kind of thinking it wasn't fair but now that I look back at it I realize that it really did help me a lot with my literacy and being able to put thoughts together and make stories like I do now. My mom was a very important factor and another person was my third grade teacher, Mrs. Hennet, she was very, very tough on me as a third grader. She didn't let anything get by, she made sure she corrected me right away so I knew what was wrong, she would explain to me why I was wrong. When I did do it right she would reward me and she was really kind of motherly, kind of like my mom when I was at school. I think growing up it was just a whole bunch of teachers and all of their comments, they were inspiring tome and kind of push me to keep going and make sure that I top myself every single time. So that's my story.