Hello New Look Family,
The power gained from giving my all in anything and everything I do has definitely paid off. The power to shape a road to "impossible" goals becomes second nature. Finite decisions seem to tumble as my horizons widen into a delightful paradise. My diligence stems from God who knows the master plan in my life. Also my family shares their strides, their imperfections, their accomplishments that definitely give the formula for success that I apply in my own endeavors. My continuing education feeds my mind with knowledge along with life experiences. In addition organizations such as Usher's New Look Foundation have given me the tools necessary for success. For example, the MIT program in 2008 implemented a rigorous weekly business course that exposed me and other young scholars to business etiquette, business plan development, marketing strategy, and overall communication skills. Surprisingly, my ballet training has trained and conditioned my mind; it has given me my focus and my discipline not only in the dance studio, but in others avenues of life.
As I spill my words into this blog, I hope that people understand that surrendering is beneficial. It's hard to find outlets to surrender. At an early age, my parents made me participate in Sunday school and church functions; I surrendered my all in dance presentations and recitations. These practices matriculated into my teenage years. I am still surrendering my all as a young adult. As an intern of the Library of Congress, I have found that great service in America can be found in great leadership, from mayors to governors, United States House of Representatives to US Senators; from the US Vice President to US President. Leaders also surrender and sacrifice abundantly. In addition, Usher Raymond IV believes in the power of service. His foundation definitely implements a service project during camp sessions. For example, I personally participated in the Hands on Atlanta in 2006 and The “I Can’t, But You Can” Voter Registration Rally in 2008. On a national level, the foundation exposed me to Service Nation project at an inner city school in DC during President Obama’s inaugural festivities.
Surrendering your all in work, community service, a passion in life and for family and loved ones creates powerful energy. Look Also I know that YOU TOO CAN SURRENDER YOUR ALL.
Sincerely,
Chantia Robinson
For some reason I thought I was gonna get Vip seats next to Jay-Z and P.Diddy.
Why did I think that? Because I'm cool with Usher!!! Let me tell you how it went down.
We woke up early in the morning, dressed like Eskimos. I wanted to be fly for the inauguration, but the weather had other plans for me. We needed to use those little head warmer bag things... It keeps your hands and feet warm. I'm from New Orleans I never had to use those things in my life.
You do not want to get lost in 12 degree weather at an Obama inauguration. But guess what? I did...
I started my day off pretty good, I must say. I took a nice long shower and eat steaks and eggs for breakfast. I was dressed for success and feeling my best. Today was the day we gave back and helped through service and volunteerism.
Service Nation and Target were sponsoring a service project at Simon Elementary school in DC. We introduced ourselves to most of the people that were over the project, and immediately got to work. My first task was to organize a book shelf in the big kids library. Alphabetize, Categorize, you know, stuff like that. Guess what?... Oprah was video taping while I worked on fixing the books. Everybody on earth saw me at work. Lol.
I felt so good, because i got a chance to help kids out side of my city. and it makes me realize that i can make a difference across the world if i keep working hard and stay on the right path.
Sunday Jan 18, 2009 was my first time in Washington, DC. And little did I know, it was the first time I would be doing alot of things. After checking in at the hotel, I headed to my room and got situated. I had to attend a youth briefing and go over the busy interie of the trip. New Look gave us stipends, so u know I ate good, sleep good and eat some more. I didn't realize how cold DC was until we took a walk on M street to get some food. Do u know how it feels to be cold, hungry, and lost? Well it don't feel good! We finally decided it was time to stop walking and start eating so we stopped at a REAL ItAlian restersunt. I use the word real because all they had was Italian Food on the menu. It wasn't like those other places where u can order pasta and tacos at the same time. We had to eat really fast because we were on a tight schedule. Later on that night "GodFather" gave Dewey and I our pep talk about parting to hard. That night we went to the Mayor's ball at Club 930. It was soo much fun, I wish you could have been there. We were chillen in the VIP with the Mayor of DC at a club. How many 18 year olds can say that? We also got to see live performances by T.I., Wyclef Jean, and Fall Out Boy. Usher spoke at the event and let us stand on stage with him as he talked about the I Cant But You Can Campain. The crowd gave us an extremely welcoming ovation. Usher was so proud of us. After the event we headed back to the hotel and prepared for Monday ( Oprah Show/ Service Learning Project).
The Inauguration Chronicles::
-DAY 3 EVENT 1
Early is not the word to describe what time we woke up the next morning. Half anxious, half sleepy. We hopped into the SUV reserved for us and started on the craziest drive of our lives. We were dropped off as close as they would allow the vehicles, then came the journey to the Inauguration services. We were in the yellow gate area and got turned around at least 3 times. We walked the tunnel for the Massachusetts Ave. Exit and finally saw daylight after an hour of walking. We found our way to New Jersey Ave. and waited with the mass of people holding those bright yellow tickets. Here comes the indicator that I, Mia "Couture" Barnett, am not made for the cold. I began shivering uncontrolably, kinda like hypathermia and frost bite at its worst. I had to accost Supa's jacket and rely on the body heat of the crowd to help me. I promise the only thing that kept blood running through my body were the Hand Warmers and Foot Warmers that Godfather's wife was gracious enough to pass out. I lost all feeling in my toes and hands til the point I could not text my friends that were trying to locate me in the crowd on TV. I packed clothes, sweater material and all, but I didn't pack DC clothes. Like I said in the first installment, I packed enough but not enough for DC weather. I was a walking popsicle through the entire preliminary walk and all that. When the Inauguration of President Barack Obama started I felt nothing but a rush of excitement and hope for my future and, someday, my future's future. The cold evaporated and I felt a jolt of energy and warmth. I won't lie, I ducked when I heard the cannons go off and Dewey laughed, little did he know I was going to be laughing at him for more dire reasons later that hour. We witnessed the first torch of change for our generation sworn into office and it was something I will remember forever. As the ceremonies ended we headed back to find the car and ran into Usher, P. Diddy, Magic Johnson, and Yolanda Adams. We walked through the chaotic streets and found the car and headed home only to find that the bridge was closed. At this point in time, all the boys decided that they could not hold it any longer and began asking every passanger bus in the standstill traffic to use their restroom. After subsequent denials they created their own methods to deal with it. This is the part where I laughed at Dewey and Supa, i think its called karma! LOL. Either way traffic got moving and we hurried into the hotel and began to prepare for the night.
see Chronicle 6
to see footage from the restroom issues check the video blog area
The Inauguration Chronicles::
THE SIMON ELEMENTARY && OPRAH
-Day 2 Event 1
We awoke bright and early the next morning in anticipation of going to the Simon Elementary School service project. The service project was put on by MTV and ServiceNation. In the service project we teamed up with sponsors such as Target and CityYear to help paint hallways and create two new libraries for the children of Simon Elementary. These children were deprived of a library and due to this fact, the literacy rate was down to 15% creating a future drop out rate of 50% or higher. It was a beautiful thing to see the hundreds of volunteers milling around and in and out the different rooms and organizing books for the newly constructed shelves. Me and Supa tackled the Biographies while Plie and Dewey took on the never-ending pile of autobiographies. While we were helping with books and organization, Oprah did a live broadcast and featured the service project on the show. We were all excited about being part of a project that was so important Oprah felt it was worthy of her attention. Not only did Usher stop by to get involved, but Allen Rossum, Tobey Maguire (Spiderman), and Brandon Routh (Superman) also came by to show support and provide some hands on help. We left the service project and got a chance to do some interviewing of the People Magazine Editor AnneMarie Cruz. She gave us tips for picking a career and how to move up the ladder. Talk about enlightening!!! THe next stop was the National Mall.
see Chronicles 4
(We rode in a white stretch 300C and had a few laughs and candid moments, you can see them as well as footage from the service project on the video blog section.)
The Inauguration Chronicles::
THE MAYOR'S EVENT @ CLUB 9:30
-Day 1 Event 1
We met the boys, Dewey da Don & Supa, and caught up on old times before getting ready to head to our first event. We all dressed up the best we could for the club in the winter time and jumped into recording mode. You can see these recordings on the video section, some of them are really amusing, especially the candid recording that Godfather did of us on the way to our event for day 2. Anyways, we arrived and walked through the crowd of live people waiting for the performances. We were introduced to Mayor Fenty of DC, and he was the most chill and laid back office holding man I have ever personally met. He made us feel welcome and we enjoyed every minute of our visit. The performances included, T.I., Wyclef Jean (who had the whole club vibing for at least 30 minutes straight), and Fallout Boy. It was mind blowing, we were right in front of the stage and I was loving every minute of every act. Usher then broguht us on stage to talk about the I Can't But You Can campaign and the accomplishments that it had. It was a rush and an honor to be standing on stage next to the person that allowed me to witness history and for him to be talking about our efforts! {talk about reap what you sew!!} We got to see Usher's dressing room, rub shoulders with Wyclef, meet Just Live, and meet Maria Shriver who is Arnold Schwarzanegar's wife. My head was spinning from all of the people I met and we were surrounded by. It was amazing! we then headed home and talked for hours about the people we encountered. Sleep came easy as we prepared for day 2.
see Chronicles 3
Closing Ceremonies at the Usher's Camp New Look 2008
We headed back to Hotel Palomar. We failed to realize the traffic that we would encounter.We sat in the car for more than an hour on a bridge. Officials told Shawn Wilson that they didn’t want drivers to pass until the pedestrians passed.
Finally we arrived at the hotel.Couture and I got dressed in nice formal dresses for MTV's Inaugural Youth Ball. We met Shawn Wilson, his wife, Dewey and Supa in the lobby. Everyone looked sensational. As we got in the car, Wilson reminded us that we would get interviewed by the media about our experience. Butterflies filled my stomach. MTV,MTV,MTV!!!! The people at the ball directed us to the green room which held great cuisine and nice table and chairs. Supa, Dewey, Couture, and I were literally feet away from Usher and his wife Tameka. It was very interesting to watch Usher work the room with the press holding tape recorders in hand and cameras.
Finally we left the green room and mingled with other youth at the ball. We jammed to live performances from Kanye West and Kid Rock. Shawn Wilson aka Godfather kept us abreast on the scheduled interviews. Suddenly, Couture and Dewey spoke to a 20/20 interviewer. They shared their experiences from our D.C. trip and also shared information about Usher’s New Look Foundation. Likewise, Supa and I shared the same information. Indeed there was a twist. Right before our live interview, President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama graced the stage. President Obama spoke and finally they danced the night away . Of course, the youth took out any electronic device to take pictures and get any video footage. My mind was scrambled. Not only did I see President Obama twice, but I was about to turn around in front of MTV cameras to share my experience to the world. I kept saying that I would keep it short and sweet. Supa on the other hand can handle pressure well. I admit that he gave me pointers along the way. He is a natural in front of the camera.
Immediately after the Obamas left, the MTV crew and Usher rapidly came to us. We cheered OBAMA! OBAMA! Usher held the MTV mic in his hand. The red light came on. Action Time. He spoke as the OBAMA cheer faded away. I could hardly hear what he was saying. I looked rather awkward in the camera for a few seconds and now you know why LOL! We I finally heard him ask the question: Usher says “ We just created our First Lady and President. How did you feel about that?” I began emotional and spoke from my heart. The interview can be watched by clicking the following hyperlink: http://www.mtv.com/videos/news/333652/at-last-barack-and-michelles-dance.jhtml#id=1603059 Watch around 3:50 of the video clip to see the Usher interview.
After this breathtaking experience, we headed to the green room. Guess who we saw: Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore. Amazing. We mingled and spoke to Ashton Kutcher about Usher’s New Look Foundation. I was finally able to share with Kutcher my favorite Punk’d episode: Beyonce and the crashing Christmas Tree LOL. We took pics with Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore.
I , Chantia Plié Robinson, want to thank Usher and Usher’s New Look Foundation from the bottom of my heart. Also I am very glad that Shawn Wilson called and offered this once in a lifetime opportunity due to my continuous political activity after camp. Thanks to all the other contributors I did not mention. Thanks!
Chantia Robinson
Hello New Look Family,
Presidentially dressed in my suit, heels, long coat, gloves, hat, and scarf, I proudly walked out of the hotel with a new energy and a new appreciation for life. I knew that I was about to witness history in less than three hours. Internal conflicts and drama seemed to vanish as I got in the car with Shawn Wilson, Shavonna (Wilson’s wife), Dewey, Couture, and Supa. The diversity among the millions was a beautiful site. The transit system, Metro, was packed with pedestrians. The inquisitive mind may wonder about the attitude of the people in the crowd. Surprisingly, there was a mellow spirit. People were respectable and helpful in more ways than one.
Supa, Dewey, Couture and I received inauguration tickets from the New Look Foundation; they were tickets within the Yellow Gate. Indeed the ticket holders were divided by sections: Yellow, Silver, Purple, Orange, and Blue. Wilson and his wife were ticket holders of another section therefore Supa, Dewey, Couture, and I were left to an unforgettable journey to the Yellow gate. Several officials stated that we take a tunnel and make a right in order to reach the Yellow Gate. Much to our surprise, a few tunnels were visible. We chose the tunnel directly in front of us and only hoped for the best. Indeed we were blessed to be in the correct one. I asked a kind man “Where is the Yellow Gate?” He replied “I have a yellow ticket. It’s this way.” My face was literally covered with a silver and black scarf. We began to walk with more momentum due to time and the cold. We finally joined others in the yellow ticket line. A two hour wait in the cold resulted to my right big toe numbing in my shoe. I hardly felt my left foot until I was able to insert one of Shavonna’s heat pads in my shoe. Indeed she gave all of us heating pads. Metal detectors and officials were visible at the Yellow Gate entrance. The time was 11:20 am. The Inauguration was supposedly starting at 11:30am. I directed my attention to a perfect spot under a tree. I showed the others where I would be seated. A surge of joy rushed through me. I watched as millions patiently waited for the services.
I visibly saw the podium surrounded with thick bullet proof glass and the US seal directly below it. Sadly, my camera did not pick it up. A projection screen display was set up for viewing. The crowd stood on its feet to welcome President George W. Bush. Some people were not pleased, but overall he received a good response (I can only talk about my section). Aretha Franklin sang and musicians blessed the crowd with their talent. Senator Joe Biden stood and took the oath of office. It was a truly a blessing to be one of miiions to view the services. Now Vice President Joe Biden. Finally the crowd stood on its feet to welcome Malia. Sasha, Michelle, and Barack Obama. They were stunning. President elect Obama took his oath of office. Now President Barack Obama. He gave his inaugural address. He shared his outlook on America. He wants America to remember the unity that will help in change. I believe one of my tears froze midway down my face.
I met up with Dewey, Couture, and Supa . This event was for all people regardless of status. Indeed I saw Yolanda Adams( I waved), Magic Johnson( We Love you!), Diddy, and of course Usher and his family( we hugged). President Obama is living a part of MLK Jr’s dream. America has judged President Obama not by the color of his skin, but by the content of his character. Thanks NEW LOOK for this lifetime experience!!!!!! This was not only a moment, but an initiation of a movement in America!
Chantia Robinson