TheAyeshaSite

I’m writing a memoir. I am having successes in my chosen industry of creative writing and poetry. I have my online profiles of yelp.com, amazon.com, linkedin.com, Facebook and tumblr. I have this blog and I’m very happy with what I chose to do and what I am doing. I wouldn’t change anything about my life or the choices I made. I love volunteering with NAMI Mercer and publishing poetry in the newsletter. I have a poem in the upcoming September 2017 newsletter. I got five poems accepted to com-pen-di-um a poetry anthology that will be coming out soon.

The coolest thing I have ever done is to write a Memoir. I didn’t know I would find that genre and that Edi would have supported me. When I took Edi’s class I felt like she was a teacher and a friend and a supporter. I hear from NJCU students that Memoir class with Edi is the thing to do and I feel that way too. Memoir writing is so cool. Nothing cool is ever what you would think it is but the memoir is the genre of the past 20 or 30 years and I appreciate Edi so much. I love wheat pizza too!

Oh how I love my part time job at Mercer. I am getting more acquainted with the young adults I Mentor. I have my summers off but some time in August Mentors and Mentees of the DREAM program will be emailed with the date of our Orientation. I’m looking forward to seeing familiar faces and meeting new Mentees and new Mentors. I love my job. I feel so happy that it’s just the right number of hours for me to take one class at a time with my Early Childhood Education co-major. Professor Counselman said I should be done in three years. I know there’s a 6-credit semester long Internship for the ECE co-major but three years from now I should be finishing my second BA in ECE!

I am a poet. I have been writing poems since I was in the fifth grade. I love being a poet. I love poetry from Emily Dickinson to Jane Hirshfield to Natasha Threthewey to Phillis Wheatley.  I am a blogger. Two young women told me they liked my blog TheAyeshaSite and I responded by liking their blogs back.  I thought wow these two young women really like my blog how nice. I am writing a memoir Ayesha’s Story: The SZ Memoirs and right now it’s just under 30,000 words. By Labor Day I will have my first ambitious goal reached of 40,000 words (word count). I am really excited to reach my goal in time for the September 2017 NJCU Writers Workshop book group. My goal is going to be 60,000 words to have a book. I will talk to Edi in September!

I remember taking the elevator up and down from the 3rd floor of the English department back down to the first floor of the K-bldg five times, I just kept looking at the pictures Charlene Otero the English department secretary took at the English Department event for May to August 2015 graduates that were glued to the bulletin board just after May 2015 commencement. I loved the photos of me in my black cowboy hat with sparkles, my Brooklyn jersey, casual black pants and pig leather Chinese laundry knee boots and how nice the pictures came out. Two other female classmates were in the picture too. I feel happy the way my life turned out. I love myself despite my schizophrenia. I am writing a memoir. So far it’s just under 30,000 words and my goal is to have 40,000 words by Labor Day weekend.

I would do the same things I do now in my ideal life. It would never be ideal though because it’s me and it’s my life. I love living. I love my SZ life. I am a poet, a memoirist, a blogger and I write for kids and teenagers. That’s what I love doing. That’s what I do. I’m taking a course with the Institute of Children’s Lit. The course consists of ten assignments and I just submitted assignment#3.  I went to Mercer to study Humanities and Social Sciences and I majored in Creative Writing at NJCU. I love my choices and I would not change what I chose to major in at Mercer or at NJCU. I thank God for Edi Giunta and that she accepted me into the NJCU Writers Workshop book group. I hope to have 60,000 words by the end of next summer and to start revising my memoir next September 2018.

I wrote my first 12-page memoir piece by December 2014. I wrote an excellent essay on the creative process that I published in this summer 2017 issue of City Voices the Brooklyn based peer journal. I published my poem and my essay as Ayesha (first name only). It makes me think of Madonna and The English Roses. I hope when I get my children’s book manuscript accepted to a publisher I can publish my children’s book as Ayesha (first name only).The Healing Art of Memoir is the title of my essay. My essay is between 750 words and 1,000 words. I am so happy I got my essay published. I am in the process of typing my memoir. Right now it’s almost 25,000 words. My next goal is 40,000 words word count which should be about 120 pages like Cassandra Casella’s honors thesis was when I had an 18-page memoir at the time in May 2015. I am a member of the NJCU writers workshop(now). To have a book length memoir I need to have 60,000 words. Edi told us that!

I love the gospel song Never Give Up by Yolanda Adams. It is such an inspirational song and it has such a nice music video too. “Visions that can change the world trapped inside an ordinary girl. She looks just like me to afraid to dream out loud…” I love the song because God gave my dream a chance to come true. My dream was self love or self acceptance and in my 30s I have achieved it. I look forward to the future because I will keep loving myself, being good to myself and writing poetry. I am working on a book length memoir that will be 60,000 words or so to have a book. I have almost 25,000 words right now. My first goal is 40,000 words by next January 2018 around the time I turn 37 years old. Women rule. African American women can do anything!

I feel so happy with the way my life turned out despite my mental illness and SZ diagnosis. Schizophrenia NYC likes my LinkedIn profile. Things couldn’t be better for me, Ayesha Karim. Finally life is treating me well. My 30s are wonderful so far. I think of my black hooded Excelled full length faux mink coat and think of the annual NAMI Mercer Holiday party, the annual NAMI Mercer New Year Eve party, Happy MLK Day and my birthday on January 28 reasons to smile and celebrate. I think of all of my sweater dresses and tights. I think of my raspberry beret.  I will continue to take care of myself everyday. I like to take a good shower every morning and wear perfume and use certain lotion. My favorite perfume is Elizabeth Taylor’s Violet Eyes. I am African American or Black and my sense of self is intact despite my horrible SZ diagnosis. I really like myself. I don’t feel like I’m not good or not good enough just the opposite. I think I am just as good as anybody else if not better! I’m Ayesha Karim. I’m good.

Source: About Ashley