“MadonaRism” came into existence for me when I encountered a cellist a few years ago at the African American Museum, which is now known as the Joysetta & Julius Pearse African American Museum of Nassau County. What started as an exchange of pleasantries progressed into a quasi-philosophical level of interaction in the 10 minutes my husband and I spent talking to her.
We had met a kindred spirit who, after a brief encounter, exclaimed, “That is a Madonaism!” The perplexed look on my face must have engendered the clarification… “only you can express yourself the way you do.” Even though I did not see that coming, I was most appreciative of, and impressed by, her willingness to reveal her characterization of my mode of verbal expression. In my book, it takes a special individual to engage a stranger with attentiveness and generosity of spirit. The donor of this inspirational gift fits the bill! What I believe she gained from her empowering gesture was satisfaction from being true to herself. A telling reinforcement of humanity!
The warm smile and knowing glance my husband and I exchanged in reaction to what had unfolded said it all! It was clear we were in agreement that Madonaism was indeed “a thing.” Without uttering a word, our ever-present oneness arrested and embraced this gift as yet another vehicle to further my philosophy of life’s lessons. My dot-connecting tendency wasted no time in tweaking the term to Madonarism! I introduced r to represent empowering and personal development words, which start with the letter R.
All was well until I received a diplomatic alert – “I think Madonarism should have been Madonaism.” I must have unwittingly created room for meaningful, casual engagement with someone who cared enough to find out what the r was doing there. As welcoming as that side effect was, I could not ignore the necessity for a solution to mitigate doubt in the minds of the masses! The fear of this poetic license backfiring by deflecting from the expressions preceding the “MadonaRism” credit was real. Undaunted, I went on a redo and re-emphasize mode. The once embraced Madonarism would now read MadonaRism to highlight the importance and deliberate placement of r in the word.
Besides sharing the origin story of MadonaRism, I have designed a logo which I plan on affixing to all MadonaRism-related work created and published. This should do it!
MadonaRism Mystery Summarized!
“The whys and wherefores of MadonaRism emanate from an inspirational gift the first female African American Cellist I met presented to me. Thanks to her; my free-flowing creative juices, and available poetic license, I have tweaked the original word – with R in place to symbolize empowering r-word concepts in my lessons of life expressions.”
Please share memories of unexpected sources of inspiration and what you did with your gifts.
Your Time 4 Talk Blog 