Yasmin Shiraz

Robert Pattinson as Edward

I recently visited 4 campuses at the Florida State College at Jacksonville during my lecture series on the 10 Steps for Highly Successful College Students. During a part of my workshop, I talked about prioritizing and asked the students if they were planning to see the New Moon movie when it opened this weekend. I was trying to give them an example where they’d have to prioritize having fun i.e. seeing the movie or doing their essays/homework. Though the crowds were mixed– along racial lines– more white students raised their hands to acknowledge that they were going to see New Moon this weekend. Of the 70 of so, black students that I had seen at the 4 campuses, not one raised their hand to say they’d see New Moon. In fact, I had one student mention that they’d see Precious, the movie instead.

As an avid reader, as well as an author, and a black woman, I am a fan of the Twilight series. I believe the romantic tension between Edward and Bella is some of the best writing which is not overtly sexual.

Their romance in Twilight and New Moon speaks more to longing and a new twist on the Romeo & Juliet story, so I was surprised that young African American women weren’t interested in seeing the New Moon movie this weekend. I realize that college students are older than the tween/teen set that has absolutely fallen in love with Edward, Bella and Jacob but still a good story is a good story. And those books will have you reading to the twilight hours- no pun intended. I realize that the cast of New Moon isn’t very diverse, and in the Twilight movie, I believe there was only one vampire of color. Is that keeping black youth from flocking to the New Moon movie?

I came away from my lectures wondering if New Moon was too light for urban readers or if it was simply seen as too young for college students? If you are a person of color, are you planning to see New Moon in the theaters? Have you been reading the series? If not, why not? And, if you’re a college student, do you plan on seeing New Moon in the theaters?  Have you been reading the series? If not, why not?

I appreciate your feedback on this issue.

Yasmin Shiraz Lectures at FSCJ this week: 11/16 - 11/18

Hey there! I like to meet fans and friends all around the country so I wanted to let you know that I’ll be lecturing at Florida State College at Jacksonville this Monday, Tuesday, & Wednesday. The topic is: 10 Steps for Highly Successful Undergrads. The lecture is about motivation and tools to get you going in your life. We have a lotta fun! Be there or be square!

FSCJ North Campus Auditorium- 6:30pm, Monday, November 16, 2009

FSCJ Downtown Campus Auditorium – 12 noon, Tuesday, November 17, 2009

FSCJ South Campus  Auditorium- 12:30, Wednesday, November 18, 2009

The Blueprint Guide to Motivation & Success

Tomorrow, I lecture my 10 Steps of Highly Successful Undergrads to two colleges in Jacksonville, Fl. This lecture series in based on my workbook, The Blueprint Guide to Motivation & Success. The first step of being highly successful as an undergraduate student is to “Decide Who You Are and Who You Wanna Be.” There are people who will tell you that you can take forever to declare a major and that you can float around from semester to semester trying to find yourself. I say, “Look at yourself. Who are you? Then ask yourself, “Who do I wanna be?” Begin to take steps–even if they are very small–and slowly become the person that you know you are deep inside. Lots of times, people wander through life claiming to not know who they are but they know who they want to be, they are simply afraid to show you.

So today I say:

Be encouraged. Decide Who You Are. Decide Who You Want to Be. And Take Steps–even small ones–to become the person who you know you are inside.