Fierce Betty Sings!
Please enjoy the thoughts and musings of our friend, supporter, and long-time contributor Art van Bodegraven Jr., who passed away on June 18, 2017. Art was a prolific writer and had amassed a collection of unpublished blog posts he had planned to run well into the future. To honor his memory, we will continue to post these remaining blogs as he had intended. If you’ve been a fan of The Art of Art blog, check out our tribute.
More or less, but the story of Alexander Hamilton has infected a vast swath of the populace. Without children of her own, Betty has been involved in Big Brothers/Big Sisters for several years, and is a Big Sister to Cara.
They have an open-ended bucket list that is constantly edited. Cara, now, and for unknown reasons, is entranced with Hamilton, The Musical. She and Betty do a running carpool karaoke with dueling Hamilton songs. Worse, they trade roles at the drop of a rap riff. One will be Aaron Burr and the other Alexander Hamilton, then Cara will be King George and Betty, Thomas Jefferson. And so on.
Both captivated, one obsessed—the LIn Manuel Miranda effect, one supposes. The creator and composer, it appears, has lit a fire of knowledge, embracing history, musical theatre, drama, and performing arts.
A bit more about Cara. Betty hooked up with her when her mother was imprisoned for drugs. Her father died before reaching his 31st birthday—drugs. Her mother is back in prison for drug offenses, and her grandmother is raising her. And Betty counsels and mentors—and sings.
Some takeaways that affect interpersonal relationships—and professional prospects… Take a good, close look at Cara. You can't project her interests, capabilities, or prospects by her circumstances, or the outward appearance of her station in life. She is not limited by the limitations of her life situation. That she was named after an orange (Cara Cara) is meaningless when it comes to her intelligence or potential for contribution to society.
You, and we all, need to get over those misconceptions. And, development of potential is a high priority—for the individual and for the organization.
That a young person's name is Lakeisha or DaJuan and he or she lives in public housing is immaterial. We owe them so much more and so much better.
Our payback is incalculable.