I'm worth a lot more than...

First I want to thank you all for your words of congrats and well wishes...My heart was so blessed and encouraged by the show of support and encouragement...and Sam Cooke put it:

"It's been a long time
A long time coming
but I know change is gonna come"

I have looked at my disclaimer and realized that though it may have sounded harsh...you may not have understood why I said it.

All week I have been listening to Kanye West's "Heard 'em Say"...I love that song...all of the lyrics...but this week one lyric I have been playing over and over..

"Before you ask me to go get a job today,
can I at least get a raise on a minimum wage?"


I have been working in an Administrator capacity since I was 13.

Yes 13. 1986...this year 2006 will make 20 years since I started working...I should be retiring this year!

20 years ago in the seventh grade I got a job with a motivational speaker. It started with stuffing envelopes. Then she found out that I had a computer. Grandma Diva brought me a Commodore 64 when I graduated Elementary School as Valedictorian. It was the first computer in 3333...a complex (not a project) of 5 buildings all connected housing 15,000 people...

Can I digress for a moment and talk about 3333? You can follow me right?

3333 is and was a magical place. 5 buildings named A,B,C,D,E all connected by a long system of an indoor hallway. Encompassing 3/4 ths of a New York City block. Yeah...that's 15,000 people in technically what is one structure. I have traveled extensively and I still have never seen anything like it's design.

That's where I grew up. I guess you had to be there...

3333 is located on 135th st between Broadway and Riverside Dr...overlooking the Harlem River and all of Mannhatten. Now it is considered prime real estate, but back in 1976, when it was built, Harlem was a place for those African Americans who had emigrated from the South mixed in with Hispanic immigrants. Grandma Diva came from Memphis in 1966...with 5 young daughters in tow. My Dominican Grandmother flew over from DR in 1970 with her three kids...so that's how my parents met in Harlem...Anyway...I just wanted to paint the picture...

So in 1976, 3333's construction was completed. Low income workers who had a job and many who didn't, applied and recieved apartments. Brand new...from studios to 4 bedrooms. The entranceway was paved with the same red brick as the building with a lining of trees and a garden with seasonal flowers (real) planted at all times...And GRASS...what you mean Diva?...yeah...GRASS in Harlem! There was 24 hours security with security guards roaming constantly. The first building facing the street was "D" Building...Color code Dark Blue...It rose 35 stories off the ground. 11 apartments on each floor. We lived on the 22nd floor...a huge 3 bedroom with 2 bathrooms. The bedrooms overlooked downtown and the Bronx. I used to love to gaze out of those windows at Yankee Stadium on summer nights...We could see the Twin Towers, The Empire State building and the Macy fireworks on the fourth of July on the East River...all from the bedrooms(Did you get all that, JayZ)

From the huge double windows in the livingroom, we had a complete panoramic view of the Hudson River and the shoreline of New Jersey...if you hung half of your body out the window (Dang...Don't tell Grandma!)...you could see the Statue of Liberty. But if you looked down then you saw the playground...Built over a Junior High school...that was built into the foundation of the complex...The playground was a half a block long and a half block wide...Man I just have to take pictures for you guys to see the magnificance....It was the greatest place a kid in the city could have grown up in the 80's...with the explosion of crack and crackheads...In 33 we were safe...and we could be children.

15,000 people lived there and in 1985...I was the first to have a computer. It was a big deal!

In 1986...when my first employer found out that I had one...a little poor girl from Harlem..who was working for $3.35 per hour, 15 hours a week...she decided to buy her own and have me teach her how to use it...At the time I didn't really know how I felt about teaching her...she was very condecending and although she knew that I was in the school for the specially gifted...that her son attended...she always made me feel like it was a stroke of luck that got me there...intead of the fact that I was among the 280 who scored the highest on a test...given to 10,000 handpicked kids out of the entire 5 boroughs....she made comments about how lucky I was...it was a stroke of luck that I was there...nothing at all to do with my abilities...

As I stood over her...guiding her through the enormous amout of code that you had to learn to even get the ball to bounce against the screen...I felt like Sofia in the Color Purple when that white lady acted like she couldn't drive home....I felt also strangely powerful...like damn...I know something she don't know...and I do it better...I should get paid more..after 2 weeks of training her...I asked for a raise because my duties had changed...

She looked at me like I was retarded and stammered "What?"

"Yeah, Ms. Bosslady...I'm not stuffing envelopes anymore...now I'm doing computer work...and that's not minimum wage. I should get $4.50 an hour now."

She replied, "Well Diva, you are only in the seventh grade. I can raise you up to $4.00 dollars an hour. When you get to the 8th grade and you have more education, I can give you more money."

$4.00

I quit 2 weeks later.

For the last 10 years I have been trying to beat the $40,000 cap that seemed to settle itself over my income potential. Always some type of Administrative or Executive Assistant, I would somehow manage to get weighed down with my boss's responsibilties. Or even better...be asigned duties that someone else in the company was getting paid 50K and up to do...It drove me insane...But when I looked at the difference between me and these "people"..there was only one...a four year degree...

So my friends...this was an accomplishment for me..and you know Jesus gets all the credit. When I began to go back to church in 2002..I learned that Jesus wants the best for us and all I had to do was make up my mind that I wanted it too...and He would make it all fall into place if it was His will..well apparently it His will...cause it happened!

Now of course that's not my final goal...I am still going to continue with graduate school and obtain my PhD...

"How?" did you just say?

See the best part of this job is the promise that I could work part-time from home after my 6 month performance review...part-time from home also means that I will save on after-school care...That my children will have me when they get home from school...and I can take night classes without fear of spending too much time without my children..The twins need me...and I am going to be there for them....and accomplish my goals at the same time..

Pe.ps.i is mad...They want to know why I didn't choose them...

Why?

The last round of interviews were with the Director, the VP and the person I was replacing...The last interview of the round was with the nice lady who was leaving the position and making a lateral move...and she went over my resume and my accomplishments...and impressed with my demeanor and speech abilities...somehow she decided to share a truth with me...

She had been an Administrative Assistant at P.e.ps.i for 18 years...and in the 18 years she had held just about every admin postion in the company...and hadn't moved anywhere closer to any type of meaty position. Although she had a degree...Nothing...

She helped me make the choice...Thank you Jesus for making her reveal the truth about the company....

So my friends...Those are the reasons...so that's why I am so excited...

I start on MLK day...I really don't need anymore time off do I? I'm ready to get started...and I believe it would be ok with MLK...after all I'm living proof of his dream right...I'll be the only black person in the office with an office...but I'm proof right?

Wow...I took yall all over the place...Thanks for sticking it through!