"The person who is a master in the art of living makes little distinction between their work and their play, their labor and their leisure, their mind and their body, their education and their recreation, their love and their religion. They hardly know which is which. They simply pursue their vision of excellence and grace in whatever they do, leaving others to decide whether they are working or playing. To them, they are always doing both."

- - Zen Buddhist text

The U.S. Postal Service just unveiled the Maya Angelou Forever Stamp image. Along with the preview image comes the announcement that the First-Day-of-Issue stamp dedication ceremony, which will be free and open to the public, with limited seating, will take place on April 7th at 11:00 a.m. in Washington, D.C., at the Warner Theater.

The imagery on the stamp comes from Atlanta-based artist Ross Rossin’s 2013 48” x 48” oil-on-canvas portrait of Angelou. Rossin says of his work, “I was compelled by the challenge to portray her forgiving smile and her aura of unconditional love and understanding that comes across when having a conversation with her.”

“Because of the routines we follow, we often forget that life is an ongoing adventure. . . Life is pure adventure, and the sooner we realize that, the quicker we will be able to treat life as art: to bring all our energies to each encounter, to remain flexible enough to notice and admit when what we expected to happen did not happen. We need to remember that we are created creative and can invent new scenarios as frequently as they are needed.”
- -  Maya Angelou

Grammy award-winning musician Pharrell Williams will soon be known as an Author. 

Putnam Books for young readers have announced that Pharrell Williams has signed up for four picture books, starting with a celebration of childhood inspired by his hit song Happy.

The publisher has planned a first print run of 250,000 copies of Happy, which will be published on 22 September, and will feature photographs of children from around the world “celebrating what it means to be happy”.

For the last couple of weeks I have been hearing these interesting lyrics in a song that is being used to promote the upcoming season of "Being Mary Jane" on the BET Network. Finally, I located the song and lyrics and decided to share it with our readers.

Flawed Beautiful Creatures by Stacy Barthe

Sometimes we're insecure, we're fragile
Sometimes we laugh at each other to make ourselves feel better
Sometimes we lie, sometimes we say things
That we really don't mean
But in the moment, seem like the thing to do

[Chorus:]
We're all flawed beautiful people
We're all flawed beautiful creatures
We're all flawed beautiful people
We're all flawed beautiful creatures

Is it a crime if a man kills to protect his own from harm's way?
Who will be the judge anyway?
What would you have done if the gun was in your hands
Feet were in his shoes?
Guess you'll never know what you won't do
'Cause in the moment might seem like the thing to do

[Chorus:]
We're all flawed beautiful people
We're all flawed beautiful creatures
We're all flawed beautiful people
We're all flawed beautiful creatures

Sometimes we gotta lose it to find it
We gotta lose
Sometimes we win, we live a while then gotta die
Why? Why?

[Chorus:]
We're all flawed beautiful people
We're all flawed beautiful creatures
We're all flawed beautiful people
We're all flawed beautiful creatures.

View the music video for Flawed Beautiful Creatures here.

Congratulations goes out to Virginia DeBerry & Donna Grant on their novel, Far From The Tree going to the big screen.

Producer/Director Jessica L. Funches along with Chris Beal from Chris Beal Productions will be producing the project.

The producers really want to build the audience for the film starting NOW! If you are on Facebook, please go to the Far From the Tree - The Movie Facebook Page and give it a "LIKE," and also share the page and request your friends to "LIKE" it as well. If you are not on Facebook, please send an email to farfromthetreemovie@gmail.com, indicating your plan to see the film when it is completed and to spread the word to your friends, neighbors, community networks, book clubs, churches, alumni groups, Greek organizations, etc.. 

You can also post casting suggestions on Facebook and/or include them in an email. Who would you like to see as Della? Celeste? Ronnie? Niki? Everett? Doug? Will? Lester? Let them know!!

To learn more, be sure to visit Donna & Virginia's website at www.DeBerryandGrant.com.

Paramount Pictures has released a new trailer to director Ava DuVernay’s MLK film ‘Selma,’ which will have a limited release in the U.S. on Christmas day and will open wide on January 9, 2015.

Along with the trailer is the lyric video for Common and John Legend’s original song “Glory”, which was written for the film. The music has been nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Song In a Film.

“SELMA” is the story of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s historic struggle to secure voting rights for all people – a dangerous and terrifying campaign that culminated with the epic march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, and led to President Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The film’s release will celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the landmark legislation.

View the trailer here.

God Help The Child by Toni Morrison

Who isn't crazed with excitement for Toni Morrison's new novel? We don't know much about the upcoming book, but we do know that, like many of her previous works, it will examine race, family dysfunction, and how past traumas reverberate through to the present. If her past books are any evidence, we can also expect it to be utterly awesome.

God Help The Child is due in bookstores April 30, 2015. Be sure to add it to your reading list!

Wisdom, as you may be well aware, is a state of mind acquired over a period of time. No one is born with an inherent sense of wisdom. It is learned and developed in our minds as we grow, and as we make mistakes in our lives. A life without mistakes would be a fairly redundant one as there would be absolutely no scope for growth.

If you listen carefully to what the people around you say and if you have the ability to read between the lines, you will sense the wisdom that is imparted to you by every single human being. Many of us would not notice these words of wisdom, as we would be unable to perceive it, but that does not mean that it does not happen.

We have a tendency to cling onto wise words and thoughts about life and love by writers, world leaders, celebrities and superiors, simply because we are programed to listen to what they have to say. The wisdom that is imparted to us from other unlikelier sources more often than not simply gets lost in translation. Before you get into reading some wise sayings by famous people, keep in mind that wisdom is not collected, it is acquired. Learn from your own enriching experiences and pay close attention to detail.

Read more at Buzzle. 

“Love is a force more formidable than any other. It is invisible - it cannot be seen or measured, yet it is powerful enough to transform you in a moment, and offer you more joy than any material possession could.”

- - Barbara de Angelis