Give Your Soul a Gift: Listen/Watch Maya Angelou This Week

When I read I know Why the Caged Bird Sings in high school, I had no idea who Maya Angelou was, but I am so grateful my English teacher exposed me to her powerful story and her soaring poetry.  I encourage you this weekend to not let Angelou's death just float by in the news cycle but rather to take time to read her work and listen to her words and watch her speak.  Your soul will be better for doing so.  Here are a few places to start:

1973 interview with Bill Moyers--the older Angelou is so fixed in my mind that it is fascinating to see her 40 years younger.  She and Moyers discuss issues of racism and sexism, and it is interesting to think about how far we have come and how much remains the same about our culture. 

1986 interview with Terry Gross on NPR's Fresh Air--hearing her sing the spirituals of her childhood is deeply stirring

And of course you must listen to Angelou read her incredible poem "Still I Rise"

"I believed that there was a God because I was told it by my grandmother and later by other adults. But when I found that I knew not only that there was God but that I was a child of God, when I understood that, when I comprehended that, more than that, when I internalized that, ingested that, I became courageous."
--Maya Angelou

Grace and Peace,

Chase