Nobel Peace Prize Poem: Human Race Embrace

President Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize today. I will leave it to others to debate whether or not Obama deserved the Nobel Peace Prize. For me today’s Nobel announcement represented hope and in my Twitter comment I called it a "Nobel Prize of Hope." It represents hope on two levels. A sincere hope that President Barack Obama and other world leaders will pursue the peaceful resolution of conflicts rather than opting for war and a symbolism of what Barack Obama stands for Hope and Change. Barack Obama’s father is a native of my home country, Kenya, the home of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai who inspired me to write a poem on environmentalism. The poem in this blog post is inspired by the spirit of the Nobel Peace Prize and the art piece which I created prior to writing the poem. This peace poem, “Human Race Embrace” is about moving beyond divisiveness and racism and embracing each other as part of one human family. While it is a tremendous burden to put on one man’s shoulders may President Barack Obama live up to his name “Barack” which comes from “Baraka” the Swahili word for blessing and may he help bring about the blessing of peace in nations around the world. You can read more about Nobel Peace Prize winners and my take on Obama winning here.

Embrace: Abstract Metal Art by Injete Chesoni
Acrylic Metal Painting (8.25 x 11.75"): SOLD

Email minjete@gmail.com to Buy Artwork

Human Race Embrace
(A Peace Poem by Injete Chesoni)

Two heads are better than one
So the saying goes
United we stand, divided we fall
We have been taught this lesson
Many times over
Embrace me my brother
So that we can stand tall
Let us join together
For as one we can conquer all

Let us join together in love
So that we may soar above
All of the challenges
that this human life brings
Together we can find
Heavenly wings
With which to fly
Beyond the confines
Of limited earth-bound thinking

Let us join together in
One human race embrace
Let us move beyond the color
Of our brother’s face
The limits and confines of race
As a measure of who we choose to embrace
For at the root of it we are all one
A multi-colored family of man
And together “Yes We Can,”
Improve this world for all of its earthly sons
So let us join our hearts and our minds
In one peaceful unified
Brotherly Embrace
for the benefit of all mankind.

This is a peace poem in honor of the spirit of the Nobel Peace Prize and the 2009 Nobel Peace Laureate President Barack Obama who ran on a message of hope and change and who represents a part of the multi-colored human family having descended from a black African Kenyan father and a white American mother. May we one day learn to see beyond the divisivness of race and nationality. "Yes we Can"

Spider Pops

CRAFT MATERIALS:
Black pipe cleaners
Lollipops
Googly eyes
Glue

1. Holding all four pipe cleaners, center them at the base of the pop and wrap them around the stick once so there are four legs on each side. 2. Bend the pipe cleaner ends to form eight feet. 3. Glue on googly eyes.

Vampire Balloon Bat

CRAFT MATERIALS:
2 black balloons
Black duct tape
Black and white card stock
Scissors
Ear, eye, wing, and fang
Black ribbon

1.For each bat, inflate two black balloons to make a body 12 inches in diameter and a head 8 inches in diameter. With black duct tape, attach them at the knots, as shown.

2. Cut ear, eye, wing, and fang shapes from black and white card stock (download our templates), then use duct tape to attach them to the balloons.

3. To hang the bat, attach one end of a black ribbon with duct tape near where the head and body meet.

To Download the templates

http://jas.familyfun.go.com/crafts?page=CraftDisplay&craftid=12255

Pumpkin Cookie Pops

Pumpkin Cookie Pops

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup canned or fresh cooked pumpkin
1 tablespoon orange zest
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
Pinch salt
20 wooden sticks (tongue depressors or Popsicle sticks work best)



Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a large mixing bowl, combine with electric mixer the butter, brown sugar and orange zest. Add the pumpkin, egg yolk, and vanilla. Mix.
Gradually add the flour and spices. Mix with your hands to create a soft dough. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Divide dough into two pieces. Roll out each piece to 1/4-inch thickness on a floured surface. Cut into pumpkin shapes with cookie cutters.
Place on ungreased baking sheet and securely insert a wooden stick into the bottom half of each pumpkin cookie.
Bake for 12 to 15 minutes. Decorate with favorite frosting. Makes 20 cookie pops.

Big Pumpkin Cookie

Big Pumpkin Cookie

1 (18-ounce) package NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Sugar Cookie Bar Dough
1 jar decorator candies and melted chocolate for icing
Preheat oven to 325°F (175°C). Grease large baking sheet.
Shape dough into 8-inch-pumpkin shape on prepared baking sheet.
Bake for 16 to 18 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheet for 2 minutes; carefully loosen cookie with spatula. Cool on baking sheet on wire rack completely.
Decorate as desired.
Makes 4 servings.

Creepy Crispy Crunchies

Creepy Crispy Crunchies

3 Tbsp margarine
4 cups miniature marshmallows
(or 10 oz large marshmallows, about 40)
6 cups rice crispy cereal
jack-o-lantern lollipop pan

Melt margarine in a large saucepan over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat. Add cereal and stir until well coated. Add the candy and mix until candy is evenly mixed. Spray a pan with non-stick cooking spray or line with waxed paper. Using a buttered spatula or waxed paper, press the mixture evenly into a 9x13" pan. Cut into squares when cool.

A Gift Of Love: A Mother's Poem and Art Gift

Abstract Metal Art Gift: Mother's Pot of Love
Acrylic Metal Painting: (8.25 x 7"): SOLD

Email minjete@gmail.com to Buy Artwork
View Gifts for Mothers Here

A Pot of Love and A Mother's Pride
A Narrative Poem About Mothers Love
By Injete Chesoni

In our kitchen above the stove
Sits a pot my mother calls love
It’s a strange little pot you see
Decorated with eyes that always watch me
Much like my mother’s eyes follow me

One day I decided to ask my mother the story
that lay behind her little pot of mystery
She sat at the kitchen table
And took me up on her knee
Then began to tell me the pot’s history

When I was a young woman
A little older than you
My mother came home
With a package wrapped in blue
She called me into the kitchen
And gazed down at me
Then handed me the package
much to my glee
I tore off the blue wrapper
expecting to find
Baubles or jewels of some kind
Instead what I found
Was a pot drawn with eyes all around

My mother sensing my dismay
As I put the odd little pot away
Smiled her gentle smile
And said in her loving way
I know you don’t understand this gift my child
But you will one day
And on that strange note she rose
and strode over to the stove
To begin cooking our supper

I stomped out of the kitchen with my odd little pot
And tossed it in the corner wishing it would rot
Many years later after my mother died
Is when I finally realized
That the pot was her way of letting me know
She would always be watching over me
with a loving glow
Stored in the eyes of the pot
that she gave me so long ago.

I looked up at my mother as
tears rolled down her face.
That’s the end of the story she said.
I reached for the pot
And caught her teardrops
As they slowly slid off her face
And for the first time that night
I saw the pot with different eyes
It was a pot of love and a mother’s pride.

A Poem of Thanksgiving for a Mother's Love from Mothers Poems, Narrative Poems and Story Poems by Injete Chesoni.