Valeria Nelson:
CLASS OF 1983
Benton High SchoolClass of 1983
Benton, MS
Valeria's Story
Life
Hey there Benton Folks!
It's me Valeria Hicks Nelson. You all knew me as a Hicks. I am just like all of you I suppose, married or with a mate and raising kids and staying on the daily grind, doing the same old same old.
I teach school in Holmes County. I am also a writer, which seems to cost more than I can make. Research is an expensive endeavor from all indications.
Still, I am a happy woman. My kids are growing up and I, thankfully, grew up, because I used to be a wild child.
I won't be paying classmates for much more access than I have now. Money doesn't grow on any of the trees in my yard or anywhere else for that matter. Since this is the case, I wish you all well, and feel free to stop over to my myspace page where I write about Mississippi Music--rap and hip-hop in particular. I write about how the music is so influential in our society at a local, regional, and national/international level.
With what I have learned, I can educate others to take ownership of the music and then we can all have a stronger say in how and what our kids and we listen to. Whether folks know it or not, rap and hip-hop require our supervision.
If we as...Expand for more
grown folks don't supervise the ways in which rap and hip-hop music influence our families and communities, the music will continue to be governed by those individuals who pay others to make the music and culture like they want it to be, and believe me, the music is simply a means to make money when the folks who are in power see fit to have artists churn out songs and influences that aren't necessarily so good for our Black women and children and men, our societies, and communities.
That's not to say that rap and hip-hop music aren't good things. My writing is to allow the things good that such musical genres have to offer show up and be revealed for others to see.
As it stands, the television, internet, radio and other forms of media don't let the musical forms show the good side, for there is a good side to this music, from the rims on cars to the clothes we wear to the ladies who two-step into church when they march into the choir, there is much to be said about this music called hip-hop and rap.
Enough about the rap and hip-hop.
Anyone up for forming a Yazoo County Habitat for Humanity?
Enough about me, go live your life and do what you do folks.
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