SYDgiRl A Woman’s Life Blog Magazine

Sep 2012 Issue

Table Of Content

Become the Dancer Sir Romeo

Life Changer

Leaving Polygamy Julianna Johnson

Become The

Dancer

You Would Love To Be

There are steps you have to take to become the dancer you would love to be. The first step is, know who you are as a person. Second you have to take all your life challenges and implement them in your creative mind, and what that does, it creates a unique style that you can call your own, name it whatever you like. My creative style is call IZZTMEEYAKEEE 5000 meaning, “like no other”. Focus on what it is that you are trying to achieve as a dancer. Here are some questions to ask yourself. 1 Do I just want to dance as a hobby? 2 Am I striving to become a back ground dancer for an artist? 3 Would I like to be a choreographer for an artist? 4 Do I want to be a professional teacher? These are just some basic questions to ask yourself on your road to achievement. Once you find that motive apply it to reality, don't just think because you have a brain and you are caught in the moment, and don't just speak because you have lips, take action and prepare yourself for a life changing moment. The most important step is to know your style. If you don't know your style, Google and or You Tube different choreographers under a related dance style you catch yourself imitating or doing. When you have completed your research, now it's time to take ACTION. Dance Studios are the best place to gain knowledge and terminology of true meaning of dance. Sometimes taking class can discourage you because of different movements you are not use to. It's like riding a bike, if you fall, get back up and try it again. If you don't, you just made your dream evaporate in thin air. It’s hard to find what you lost when it's just blowing in the wind, so with that being said, “I can't” is not in a dancer’s vocabulary. I'm having difficulties learning at this time, but I will get it are words a true dancer uses. Once you have mastered your style of dance, it's time to take another direction that means another style of dance, something different, out of your comfort zone, ie if hip-hop is your strength then it's time for contemporary, ballet, jazz etc. Now what you are creating is a well rounded

dancer. What this does is make you more marketable to the eye of the industry of the dance world. Once you feel that you have developed all the skills you need, it's time to audition for an agent. Agents are the best resources to provide you with auditions. Auditions will allow you to now show off who you really are, what you have become and it will also show yourself that hard work does pay off. Word of advice, “if you are trying to become a choreographer instead of a dancer, Implement all those styles of dance that you have learned and create your vision of a unique style that you can call your own”. 3 months of taking class of different dance styles is all you need, get the foundation and run with it and be the best there is to be.

Sir Romeo speaking to all dancers 1

Making Great Choices Can Be A Life Changer By Melissa Newell

CALORIES 194; FAT 6.9g; FIBER 0.2g

Other Plans…Other People

It has officially been over a year since I moved to California, and I can just now

say that I have friends. Ok so I could have gone out to the bar and made friends

in no time, but are those the kind of friends I want in my life? NO! Don’t get all

upset. I’m not saying that just because you go to the bar you are bad people.

I’m just saying that I choose to have different people around me.

Just before moving from my home town I decided I needed to do a little spring

cleaning as I like to call it. Weed out the friends that drain me and keep the

ones that inspire me. I asked myself these questions

First, who do I truly care about?

Second, who is worth keeping in my life?

Third, who inspires me to be better and do better or do they drain me?

Forth, where are they headed?

Because most likely I will be in their same path.

I quickly figured out who I needed to let go of and who I wanted to keep in

my life. Luckily you find out a lot about who your real friends are when you

move. The majority of them didn’t even notice I stopped coming around anyway,

except for one. She was a little difficult. She tried to claw her way back in.

Hmm, let’s call her Jane.

Jane and I were friends for about 8 years. If we weren’t getting into trouble by

our parents, it was by the police. It was just plain old drama. I soon realized

that she neither inspired me nor did we really care about each other. So I

slowly started to remove myself from her. I tried to make other plans,

or…”oops, I didn’t see that you called”. I noticed my life improving in strange

areas. I got a job at a High End Salon. My relationship with my family improved,

even my health was better, weird I know, but true all the same. However, she did

not go without a fight. Jane continued to call and leave messages, she left notes

on my car, and she would even show up at my work. I usually had an excuse or

at least tried to. Jane would usually hang out for a minute and end up leaving

shortly after. But one particular day she showed up unannounced, I decided to

give her the benefit of the doubt, I mean she never really “did” anything wrong.

So I sat down with her to catch up. I told her how great I was doing and she told

me how great she was doing.

She had lost custody of her 7 year old son. She was walking to work and

decided to stop by. Why walking? Well she had lost her license because she

recently got her second DUI. She was also in the process of moving in with her

new boyfriend (that had no job) because she was evicted for not paying rent in

a few months. I let her continue on and on about all the great things in her life

and when she was finished I sent her on her way and I went on my way in

opposite directions. I never heard from Jane after that. I’m not sure if it was the

move or if maybe she finally heard what she was saying and realized that we

were headed in different directions.

So as I pick my friends in my new chapter in life, I am very careful. I go back to

my same old question, do they inspire me? And you know what? That’s ok.

Great even. Why should we surround ourselves with regular old birds when we

can be soaring with the Eagles? Had I not let those people go, I promise I would

not be where I am today, and I would have no room for the few true friends I

have now.

Leaving Polygamy Julianna Johnson

At the young age of 20, and less than a month away from my 21st birthday, I found myself faced with a very difficult decision to make. Not to say I haven't thought it through in my head over and over, I would have to say it was one of the hardest decisions I have ever had to make in my life! Mostly because it was the first decision I every really made on my own. Let me fill you in on some of the blanks. I come from a polygamist community and was persuaded in to a marriage at the young age of 15. At that time in my life I was so young that I didn't want to risk losing my family and left with nowhere to go, so yes I did agree to getting married. You could see why I would agree to a marriage at 15, I felt such pressure coming from my family and I honestly believed that they would throw me out at that age. So here I am 5 years in to my marriage and so lost and knew that I couldn't stay their one more day. I had to find the strength and courage to stand up to my family and just go for it. You see in a comity like that, you have no idea what could happen to you if you leave. So I called up my older brother whom had left about 5 years prior. We had been very close growing up, so I knew he would be willing to help me. At that time I was talking with him and I had asked him if he would be willing to help me if I did make that decision to leave the group. He was willing to let me stay with him until I was able to get on my feet. In the group you are given everything such as a job, a place to live, but you don't get to chose where you live or work. Some may think that’s great that you are handed all of that, but for me I wanted more. I wanted to feel a sense of self accomplishment. When things are just given to you, and you have no say in the matter, it’s not as fulfilling in my eyes. So I decided that I would leave on a Sunday morning when everyone was in church. I was living in an apartment building that the Polygamist’s owned, all of the people that lived their where members and would all be in church on Sunday morning. That morning I called my brother and had him bring his truck and someone to help move my stuff. As I was packing all I could think about was how scared I was, and how much I would miss my family. My mother was the one person I would miss the most out of everyone. Growing up I was very close to my mother, I am the youngest child of 13 children. When my brother showed up at my house I had all of my stuff ready to go so I could get out of there without anyone seeing me. Low and behold someone rated me out. Not long after that my father in law was at my door watching us move all of my stuff. I was so glad I had my brother there to stand up for me, he did just that. Not to mention, when my brother was in the group he had worked for this guy and he didn't like him. I'm sure he felt good

telling him to leave me alone and that I was not going to be a part of the group. Once I had left the only place I had ever known, it was a little scary. So many thought‘s were going through my head, like “will I ever see my mom”, “what next “, and the biggest question “am I going to go to Hell”? I couldn't sleep that night as all of these thought’s rumbled through my head. The next day my mother called me and asked me about what happened the day before, I had to tell her that I made up my mind to leave and I wasn't going to go back, shockingly enough she understood why I had to leave. I had been so beaten down in the loveless marriage I was in. It was hard because in all reality neither one of us wanted the marriage. the only way I could see an out was to leave, and I was very happy that my mom was excepting of the choice I had made, but on the other hand she couldn't ever tell anyone in the order such as my other brothers or sisters that she excepted my decision and still loved me and found time to see me and visit once in a while. If she had told them they might not want much to do with her and would keep her grandchildren from her or tell her she was wrong for simply loving all of her children. In the group if you have a child or someone you care about leave the group, you right them off as if they had died. I know at one time one of my sisters told me if I ever left the group, it would have been better for that person if they were never born. I think about that, and I feel so sad that they truly do not know how to love. Anyone who can write their children off like they never happened, really don’t know how to love. The next couple of days I had to learn how to write a resume, something I had never done in my life, go to job interviews, again something I had never done or even thought about doing. I was kind of exciting that someone would choose me to work for them, not because of my last name or who I was related to, but because they saw something in me. They saw that I could benefit their company. I had started to feel a sense of freedom that I had never felt before.

Quitting is not an option Hello my fellow SYDgiRl readers. I hope that everything is ok on your guys end as it is on mine. So with that being said for today’s topic, I would like to discuss with you all… “Parenthood”. I must say that once being a parent comes into play, well it’s a whole different ball game. Especially if you are in the process of trying to find your place here on earth with what it is that you might want to do with your life. Being a parent (step parent) I find it sometimes difficult to juggle both a career and kids. Maybe at some point in the future a decision will have to be made by u between family and goals. Whether your goal has been achieved already, or in the process of being achieved, I actually have it a little easier when decisions like that have to be made. I actually have the luck of still being with my significant other in the process of raising the kids. I know that there are single parents out there and that only makes it more difficult to reach and accomplish life’s goals you may have for yourself. We must remember where there is a question, there has got to be an answer. So put the old noggin to work and try to find the answer to your question of what it is that needs to be done to continue your path to the pinnacle of your dreams. It doesn’t necessarily have to be kids as an obstacle. I think it can also be financial responsibilities keeping you from your accomplishments. Me personally, I’ve known people that have been trying to get in this music industry with financial situations that kept them from attending shows, attending meetings, and rehearsals etc, eventually never heard of them again. Sad to say since I’m a firm believer of the old saying “quitting is not an option”…the day you quit is the day you will never realize how close you were to success. So whatever your situation may be the key is to…

1. What’s the question here? 2. Let me try to find the solution to this question. 3. Still trying to find the solution… 4. Still trying to find the solution… 5. Still trying to find the solution… 6. Walah…I found the solution! What I’m trying to say with the repetition of 3,4,5 is that

finding a solution may not happen overnight. It may take some time, but then again if luck is on your side maybe it won’t.

Soooo, with that being said, I truly hope that you guys put that effort into staying in that goal path. Don’t get discouraged. You have come this far and probably have surpassed dozens of obstacles that you yourself were probably surprised you overcame to get to where u are at today. Also remember that the key is to give the little ones that great and safe environment to grow up in. Now let’s make that happen as a group. I would like to hear from you guys if you get stuck in a situation. I will respond back. Until fingers meet keyboard again.

Dj.G1