Jennifer M Lima

When I first fell in love with him, I was just a child. A hopeful and determined little girl with dreams of forever. He was more than just my first love, he opened up my world to all these emotions and intensity I didn’t know I had in me. He taught me how to be more open and affectionate. I learned how to express my love with hugs and kisses, not just words and letters. Our love story was filled with soul shaking passion, intensity, pain and obstacles.

Over the next 5 years, give or take, I grew up a lot. I made tons of mistakes and learned what it felt like to be forgiven and loved no matter how hurtful my mistake had been to him. In return, I learned to be the same with him or at least I tried. To be forgiving and to love unconditionally. A lesson that broke down my walls and shook my very being to the core. I still feel some resistance when it comes to forgiving and letting go.

The love I had for him was so intense that it brought tears to my eyes when we touched because I knew that in those moments, I would do anything to keep him. But, like any love that blooms in youth, our biggest obstacle was yet to come. They say that one of the milestones young love has to endure is growing up and growing together. For us, it has been the most difficult.

As we grew, we began to see that the paths we were chosing were going in opposite directions. He wanted to settle down, to start a family and I wanted to explore. I wanted to travel and to learn and to find myself in this great big world. Exploring new places ,cultures and crafts is something that makes my soul smile. But loving him as I did, I tried to modify my wants to fit his world. Looking back, that was my first mistake.

A little over a year ago a wrote a themed article about the Coconut Groove scene in Miami for the city guide "Hungry? Thirsty? Miami" which was published in 2008.

This time I’m writing a few restaurant reviews about Los Angeles food spots I like to visit whenever I’m in town. These spots are personal favorites that your local tourist may not think to stop in and eat at, but thanks to the new city guide, everyone can enjoy some of LA’s hidden hot spots and eat like a local.

Besides my favorites, I’m always open to suggestions.

Okay…quick recap:

Last semester for my Public Relations class, our class project was to get in touch with a local non-profit organization and create a campaign linking their event/service/product to MDC and showcase it at our class workshop. My team decided to work with Imagine Miami and Service for Peace in promoting their new "Adopt Your Block" program. 

Being the over-achievers that we are, we decided to have a separate event in order to promote the campaign. We felt that in order to properly promote the AYB program, we needed to actually Adopt a Block. So, we adopted mine and were the first people to participate in the program making it the "Pilot" for future programs. 

After the semester was over, I stayed in touch with the Directors at Imagine Miami and Service for Peace. I even collaborated with Service for Peace on my coverage of Miami’s MLK Day of Service. Now, I’m embarking on a new challenge with Imagine Miami.

I’ve joined the Planning Committee for Imagine Miami’s annual summit and will be working on its Marketing and Public Relation strategies. Tomorrow, during my first meeting with the committee, I will be sharing my ideas and tactics for the summit and getting their feedback. 

I’m very excited about this project, but needless to say…quite nervous. 

 My first assignment made the cover! The article is below…

In response to President Obama’s call to service in celebration of 2009’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service, Miami Dade College students teamed up with local volunteers on projects all over the city.

On Thursday, January 15, 2009 at the MDC Inter-American campus, Miami held an official kick-off in celebration of Dr. King’s 80^th birthday. Presenters included Barrington Irving, the youngest person and first African American to fly solo around the world when he was 22 years old, and members from participating local organizations.

 Throughout his speech, Irving shared his fears and aspirations with an audience full of MDC students and managed to hold their attention. That having been quite a feat on its own, he went on to explain how at the age of 21, he created and pioneered a non-profit organization called Experience Aviation.

 Irving not only paved they way for young pilots and entrepreneurs everywhere, he also showed the world that age was truly just a number.

While the national holiday fell on Monday, January 19, 2009, Miami was, as always, one step ahead.

On Saturday, January 17, 2009, MDC students from all campuses volunteered to work on various projects located from Overtown to Homestead.

 One of the first volunteer sites was at the Yvonne Learning Center in Little Haiti, where the event began with an empowering opening speech by Joe Seager, a local activist and attorney during the Civil Rights Movement. The volunteers, being lead by Service for Peace and City Year, worked on five projects including a street clean-up, planting of gardens in and around the school and a global scrapbook.

 Other projects throughout the city included a clean-up of the Miami River behind an elderly center in Little Havana, the beautification of a local canal in Carol City and the re-vamping of Liberty Square, the oldest government building in Miami.

 When asked why she choose to volunteer, Raquel Casadilla, an MDC student said, “being here and meeting people that have done service all around the world, shows me that I can do my small part too.”

 Across the nation, in celebration of this national day of service, there were over 12,000 projects and millions of volunteers in memory of Dr. King.

 During Miami’s MLK Day of Service, residents of all ages, backgrounds and religions came together for one purpose…to celebrate change.

 Today, as my first assignment for the MDC Catalyst, I spent the day going from project to project throughout Miami’s city-wide Martin Luther King Day of Service. All over the Greater Miami area, locals volunteered and dedicated their time to serve their community and neighbors. 

It was truly amazing to see how many people came out to help. Teenagers, college students and even seniors of all backgrounds and religious views came together to make a difference. It didn’t matter what they neighborhood they lived in or how much money they had, EVERYONE was hands on. 

Miami should be proud of its people and neighborhoods. What’s even better is that this celebration or day of service was a nation wide event. Thanks to President Obama’s call to service, our national celebration in the name of Dr. King, was also announced to the world. 

Lets hope we set an example here today, an example for generations to come. 

It’s unfortunate that I’m forced to start off the year with a broken heart. All because I fell in love with a boy…who hasn’t found his way yet and has the maturity of a sixteen year old teenage boy when he is twenty-three. Go figure. It’s also possible that I’m too mature for him. Which is still sad for me. With him, the past 5 years have been a never ending cycle of mistakes…on both sides. For some we do the exact same things over and over and over again. <<<Definition of insanity. And now…..

All that’s left of him is a faded memory,
A memory of the boy that once was.
A boy I once loved,
More than words can tell.
Now he is another picture of a picture,
That can no longer be found.
He is that blurred image in the corner of my eye,
That will disappear if I blink again.
So I blink.

Now what?

People always tell you that a new year means a fresh start…a new beginning. But how do you just let go of the previous year? Are you expected to just push it aside…hide it in that dark corner of your mind like those memories just don’t count? Maybe I just haven’t been jaded enough to do that. Maybe that does make me immature…but what if I think being mature isn’t all that. Maybe…just maybe I’d rather be myself. Even if that means I cry at sad movies and wear my heart on my sleeve. When did the world get so cynical that hiding our feelings from each other was the considered the norm?

Well you know what? My New Year’s Resolution for 2009 is to NOT conform to what society expects of me. As of 2009 I will live my life and act as I please and for once, I will NOT feel guilty about it. I will NOT feel bad or weak when something makes me cry. I WILL be me, in all my funky style and my controversial opinions. I will love whom ever I want to love and society will just have to deal with it. I will write what I feel and play my music as loud as I please 🙂

I guess I never realized that growing up could mean that you wouldn’t always agree with the ideals you were taught as a child. That your life might reach a point where you would have to make a choice between what you know and what you feel. For me, as a creature that is completely ruled my her emotions, this fork in the road is a tough one. I can only hope that once I pass it…the girl in the mirror will be me.