We right now coming up we have Dr. Nancy Richmond who let's see here let's see what we have and I apologize again I am not the guy. You want to introduce yourself? She'll do a way better job than I will. There you go. Hey everyone! Hey good to see you. I know I'm one of the last talks so you're probably really really tired and this is a lightning talk which is a little bit different for me usually I'm used to giving three-hour classes at FIU okay so I'm gonna do my best to be really quick and entertaining. One of the things that I've noticed with the WordCamp Miami group throughout the years I'm presenting here is that some of you hide for me when I try to take selfies. It's true and I love social media but sometimes you don't but some of you are awesome at it so we're actually gonna be giving some awards out today at the closing ceremony from the social media association if you could hit this. So I have a lot of followers I spent a lot of time on social media I have over a hundred and forty thousand followers on Twitter. I practice what I preach on LinkedIn 15,000 Instagram 16,000 and Facebook 8,000 okay so I spent a lot of time thinking about social media and also creating content. So this is some amazing marketing faculty our chair our marketing chair is actually right over here I was fortunate that he hired me to teach social media for our students. We have an awesome master's in marketing program at FIU. We also have our certificate and a minor for undergraduate students and social media and this is some of our marketing faculty as well as some of our board members from the social media association. So you guys probably have seen us. Okay so lightning all right so five social media best practices we're gonna do this really fast. Okay next so everyone has a story okay Snapchat is dead so if people are using Snapchat it's going away so you can just forget about it now because every time I pull my students less and less and less people are using Snapchat and more and more and more people are using Instagram stories. Next all right so how are you gonna get engagement on Instagram stories? Stories are critically important and stories has all of these really really cool new features that just came out in the last few months. If you're not there you have to be there. In 2018 stories is going to be huge and big and you can get way more views on your stories than you can actually on your posts. So actually can you go back? So one of the things that you need to think about is a live video also selfie stickers are pretty cool if you don't know what those are investigate it more all right and you want to use the highlights you can actually highlight your stories now on Instagram which is really cool because before your stories just kind of went away and now you can actually highlight them. Don't be afraid to use different text okay don't be afraid to use different colors different font shapes it's supposed to be fun it's supposed to be creative and gifts are also something you can use okay so boomerangs are cool all right so if you don't know what a boomerang is that's a boomerang all right so think about getting creative with your content and using apps to do that so here are some cool apps canva how many in the crowd are using canva? Canva rocks you're all awesome all right so a lot of people use Photoshop but canva makes you an awesome graphic designer immediately okay and also on Photoshop Express these are some of my favorite apps that I use I'm story maker for Instagram stories are it so you got to use this app to help you make it the right size it's very helpful stories for Instagram okay boomerangs I'm giffy light axe is really cool because had anyone use light axe okay that's a really cool app because it helps you get rid of the background you know when there's something uncool in the background like I had a photo recently where there was this restroom sign and I don't want that in my picture that was like the center and so I took it out okay I took it out with light axe and just made it blurted out you can also put like the ocean behind you you can do all kinds of really cool things with that ah so emotions emotions are critically important critically important and what emotion spreads faster and social media quiz what do you guys think how many people think it's anger how many people think that it's disappointment no one oh they did all right sadness rage ah joy okay so the answer is rage and that's not good because we were just talking about customer service right that means when your customers get angry and they have so much rage it's going viral so that's why we have to respond quickly on social media the second one is ah so ah gets our hearts racing okay so when we feel ah it actually gets our hearts racing which is really important because that can help drive engagement and help things go viral our age excellent the future is here are you guys ready okay so are you guys ready for the future we actually have these are mine okay so how many of you guys have a set of these you have a set of these augmented reality virtual reality is coming to social media we are all going to be living in an augmented virtual reality world and I can tell you in 2018 I can see that this is going to be happening with Facebook and Google all right Facebook and Google have invested a lot of time and a lot of money in this and this is going to be our future so these are our key players here all right so these are cute I mean how cool is that and so you guys know the difference between augmented reality and virtual reality I know it's a virtual reality is when you're inside this headset right but augmented reality is when you look at things you can still see the world that you're in but then you can see other things within it and I actually think that is what's going to be in 2018 because once you're inside these goggles it's a little scary because you're in your own world and you don't know what's going on outside it but augmented reality you can actually still see other people and so can you imagine with Facebook if you could still be in doing Facebook and then you see people outside as well as within it's pretty cool it's very cool actually my dream my dream is something we're going to talk about in a second all right right here how many of you guys have seen Black Mirror cool and show ever but a little scary every time I can only watch one episode at a time because it's like oh it gets a little dark right and you're like oh that's a little bit that's a little bit scary but that might be our future right so in in Black Mirror people rate you in society okay and it's based on how many likes you get is how much influence you have and how you can do different things it's fascinating it's a really great episode if you haven't seen this one highly recommended and so as you can see here it says I'm 3.1 double damage this way and she was doing things in the movie and in her day and she started going down in numbers okay down in numbers so we think the social media doesn't matter but how we influence others does matter okay it does matter even if we don't want it to matter it does and we all have businesses and we want to sell things okay we want to sell things and how are we going to do that without influence and so one of the things I wanted to teach you today were some really quick ways to do that now I know you guys have been really really busy with word camp I could give you so many tips a literally three hours worth but because this is a lightning session this is a very limited all right so we can do the next one because I'm going to video so you're really stressed out now to like I'm not doing this on social media and I should be all right so how can we be happier on users of social media and I want to share some cool apps with you about being happier okay about being happier these are the coolest things ever okay so you guys might have been wondering what I dropped here I hopefully they still function do you guys know what this is do you know what this is so this is a meditation device and so it actually can track my brainwaves to see whether or not I'm meditating correctly it's the coolest thing I'm really into yoga all right and doing social media I'm on I'm engaged all the time but the same time I have to take time off to make sure to make sure that I am able to continue to create great social media all right because we all need breaks we can't be on all the time and so I purposely sometimes take breaks so this device actually calculates your brainwaves and you use it with your phone it's an app and and when you're using it if you're doing really well meditating you get birds birds start chirping if you're doing badly you hear thunderstorms okay and if you are kind of like doing okay and going in the right direction you hear waves you can change the sounds but those are the sounds I prefer okay so and I don't get that many birds because I'm not a very zen person but I have hope for many birds all right and I continue to try to get birds so this is a cool device because it can really help you with your meditation and I really do think that taking a break from social media can be helpful sometimes so these are some other actually can you go back these are some other ones that you guys might want to check into besides muse there's fabulous fabulous actually won awards this year for helping to make you happier it's a great app it can give you reminders and then the other one is why is that why is that is like a therapist okay you can talk to them and you don't even think you know what they're saying it's so cool they give you advice and they're like now you need to breathe so it's kind of fun you so like a little chat box basically for happiness and social media so it's it's pretty cool so hopefully you guys can check some of those out so final slide here for you guys so manage your social media don't let your social media manage you manage your social media don't let your social media manage you it's critically important you can't let your social media take over your life and you have to say how am I going to use this come up with a strategy and use that strategy schedule your tweets use who sweet really manage your time and have a strategy for how you're going to use social media for yourself as well as your business and also schedule time to be in your zen zone okay do both so before I go I actually want to take a selfie with all of you since I am a social media professor all right and I was hoping that we could do this as a group hold on I think I can do it with the mic yes okay the question was how do you disconnect from Facebook if your clients are constantly there my answer is turn your Facebook off yeah turn it off I sometimes actually when I go eating dinner I'll just leave my phone somewhere not near me I'll put it away purposely I mean we have to manage our phones we have to manage it and we can't let it manage us I have 350 students a semester writing to me on social media and sometimes when I don't respond it's Twitter LinkedIn Facebook email it's like all of them so we have to decide when we're going to respond so I think that we have to manage that any other questions yes oh what tools do I like I mean I use who sweet quite a bit so who sweet I schedule stuff to go out there's constantly something going out I have stuff scheduled until June I know I'm pretty geeky like that all right so I scheduled stuff out actually I scheduled stuff in August before the semester started knowing that I would be too busy from September until May to deal with it so when I was off I actually scheduled something to go out all year long now I might change those scheduled things but I know there's going to be something going out on no matter how busy I am so decide what to schedule so I come up with themes sometimes but I come up with a schedule of content and like I'll have like for Sunday for example I have compassion Sunday every Sunday I do something about how to be more compassionate so I come up with themes for the week like on Thursdays I do something about women empowerment so I have different things that I do and they schedule out and then I'll sometimes change it depending on what I'm doing well I try to do Saturdays that's the day that I unplug but now I'm teaching on Saturdays so it's a little bit harder but usually it's when I one day a week I try one day a week to like not do it too much and if I am using it sometimes it's just taking photos because I love taking photos for Instagram how do I do it I just I just keep it away from me as much as possible honestly yeah one more okay one more yeah it's true it's not as good to use who tweet as it is to actually post directly to the platform itself but I still think it's better than not having anything go out at all so that's the way I look at it the headband I got online through Amazon it's I think it was like a hundred something dollars because I was really excited because one of my friends that FIU is actually doing a study with it so I don't think I can maybe do one more oh filter your photos Photoshop Express I really recommend using that alright guys I can't go any longer if you have questions feel free to ask online follow me on social media thank you


It's got to be Vegeta, right? Final Flash, add in the extra two. Come here, I'm ending this set. How's it going, everybody? Datsunoi, you're back with some more Dragon Ball Fighters rank matches, this time playing a Super Saiyan Blue team with Vegeta, Goku, and Vegeta. Hey, it's Vegeta. It just feels like it's been too long since we've actually used this character, man. It's also just such a fun team, Big Bang Attack not gonna get the job done. Man, spirits, I feel like abusing spirits are, Oh, no, what a, wow. I can't believe you actually had the state of mind to hit me there. And he went behind the back. I am taking big damage. No hit-see assist yet, at least. Stay in the corner. Nice. No, please. There's the hit-see assist. All right, I'm sparking. Oh, bad job. Please tell me I'm not dead for that. Does it get the second bar? Does it look like it? Oh, no, no, no, no. Why am I so afraid? I don't want to lose Vegeta, I guess. And I lost Vegeta. I couldn't see. No, Vegeta. Wait, wait, limit? Yeah, no, no, no, Vegeta's dead. It's fine, we still got the blues. Man, it's gonna keep feeling like it's been a while since we played Vegeta. All right, but we were just shaking off the rust. Hold on. Let me get it started real quick. Hold on. Let me get it started. Nice, bring him to the ground quick. Ah, I wanted the reset, but I just didn't jump with him. I just hit jab. Huge mistake on my part. We should still be fine though. Finish? Didn't get it with a two-H. Wow, really? Woo, that was almost smooth. I didn't block that. I thought for sure I had that, but no, it must have been a bit too slow. Does get the transition as well. This guy got combos. Guard cancel out, he wanted to EX grab. No, I've been hit by that too many times. I've got to learn to block. Hold on, hold on, I'll just hold back to block. I've got to retrace my steps. I'm guard canceling again. We are just cycling through my bar. There we go. Oh, we had to delay that a bit to make sure it would hit, but that should be enough to get this menace Goku blue out of here. But do we have enough left to actually make the full comeback? We don't have to be sparking. Goku blue is already so low on health. Hits the assist, so we got to block. He messed up. He messed up, we got a chance. We got a chance. As long as we can keep this momentum going, I think we can. Go! Oh, I missed a dash. It's fine. For some reason, whatever reason, he did not move from that corner. And I am so grateful for that. Oh, but I dropped it. Oh, why am I not? I feel like I'm reacting to that every time. Maybe I'm just a touch too slow. No, it's fine. Go behind. Yeah, a bit of his own medicine. Let's go. A bit of repayment. Everybody's getting hit by that today. It is just a free for all with Goku blue. I'm gonna do it again. Let's go. Nice. We'll take sliding. Oh, no way. Is Goku blue actually about to make this happen for us? Maybe not. Not when I play like that. Woo! Never play. It just, it works every time. Final, not final flash. Instant comment me out. Whatever the moves called. It saved us the one bar super. Going to lock it up. And that game got real under control. Once we were able to get past that Goku blue. This character is so good. Goku blue is so good. He is really solid. He even, I wanted, you know what? Let's try to set that up. I want the EX dive kick mix. I want a piece of it. Oh, not good enough. Not good enough. Oh, are you just gonna let, hold on. We got a hit. I can vanish in the corner now. Is this where the Vegeta show starts though? This is where it starts. This is where it all starts. Oh, no it doesn't. Oh, I can't believe I dropped it. I gotta say, I gotta stick to the standard stuff. All right, stick to the standard. Don't go for that. I dropped it. I don't know it. My Vegeta play has never been known to be. Oh, tech that. My Vegeta play has never been known to be the best. Take him. Nice. Go for it. Go for it.  All right, let's see. Let's see how many repetitions he can take. Oh, that time he maxed out at two. He wasn't feeling it. He could tell I wanted three. Ha, ha, ha, ha. Stand, Vegeta block strings are still so funny. Just cake and see how they're feeling. Ha, ha, ha, ha. If he level threes were dead, but if he only level ones, we might. Oh, all right. He knew that we would live with it just a bit. Ah, overextended with the cakes. That's fine. That's fine. We still got the blues. We still got the blues.  Give me that blue life. I want Goku blue out. He is a menace. Oh, he's not taking the bait. Oh my goodness. I messed up so bad right there. I had to go quiet. Why did I go with the harder combo? It wasn't needed. Oh, get him back out here. Ha, ha, ha, ha. How many mistakes can I make? And then still try to get Goku blue. One, dude, I can make as many mistakes, dude. As long as you're willing to get back up and hit that EX behind the back move. By the way, I'm over here. Oh, okay. It's not plus or anything. So I, you know, not the best move when it gets blocked. But will it ever get blocked again, though? That kick? Ooh. Nice. We actually fish out a clash there. Woo, I was looking for anything, dude. I went silent.  Keep the pressure. Block it. Go with the loops. Go with the loops. Oh, a touch too early.  He accidentally got hit again. The resets. We got an accidental reset. That's all I need to see. Let Vegeta blue do the talking. Man, I can't speak to that. I'm stuttering every time I open my mouth. Check. Okay, good thing we blocked. That could have got, oh. Ah, I wasn't ready to tech. What sucks is that Bardock was alone there. He really only had, that was a huge risk for him to take. That was really smart. I don't know why I sparked. I hope I can make the most of it. No, nice Super Dash. Beautiful Super Dash even. Oh, barely missed. Double overhead. I think that might be it. This man is getting level five. I just don't know how yet. Here it comes. Who's gonna do the level five? It's gotta be Vegeta, right? Final flash. Add in the extra two. Come here. I'm ending this set.  After game one was definitely Goku blues.  Vegeta though. My Vegeta did not get a lot done.  And who knows? Maybe Vegeta's gonna pop off in the next one. All right, back for game two and now it's Vegeta versus Gojita. Hopefully this meet, oh wow, it's all the fusions. I didn't even look. I did not take a good enough look before. Ooh, nice to age. Man, I thought the back dash heavy was gonna be so smart there too. Dash and medium overhead. Doesn't matter. It's not like I have a lot of options after that. Kick. Beautiful. I'll take it. Get a heavy in there. You know, we're not going for the most damage here. Oh, the lag. I was born in 19 frames though. I don't mind it. I don't mind. I can adjust. All it does is give me access to my birthright. The lag combo, dude. The lag combo was born in it. Molded by it. By the time I saw an Ethernet connection I was already a man. Come here. There's no way. Just as the lag was clearing up too it really was by power. Wow, he was really swinging for the fences there. My man wanted that spirit sword no matter what. I gotta switch out. Hold on. I know that wasn't a hard knockdown or anything but I will just have to take that. Ooh, you want to just opt?  The range of those kicks. I can't believe Vegeta got hit. Wait, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Trying to grab? Come here. 19 frames. 19 frames. Grab them. Just level one, just level one. You know what they say? Background from in 19 frames.   You've got to ensure it keeps happening. You need the character leads. It's better for scrambles. Vegeta, come back out. That was sick. The auto combo clash into the back flip. Nice. Oh wow, didn't even give me a chance. She healed up. Hey, oh no. Nice. All right, we still got to down heavy. Damn, Vegeta is really cool.  Couple of kicks. I did them way too late. Oh, the air counter. That was really smart. I'm dead. Am I gone? Yeah, probably. Wait, no, no. Wait, whoa, whoa, whoa. Oh no, I got wiped away. Wow. I thought maybe because Gojita kicked us. Maybe because Gojita kicked us. We would have been a little too high, but nah, it didn't work out like that. Man, that move just lets you combo off of anything. Nice. Where is the super? Oh, how am I supposed to get my kill combo with no drink? Spark. Just put up the pressure. Yeah, there it is. All right, we're gonna take a hit. I don't think we'll do a rematch. This one's been a little laggy. Normally I rematch everybody, but just in case, like, I know this might not look the best video. Oh, I didn't. Oh, I almost still comboed that. You think I can't do it? You think I can't surpass the lag? Let's go. We'll take it. All right, let's get on to the next game. Great game to that opponent though. Sorry I can't stick around. Let me smile at the camera though. Smile. No, I was really hoping we'd be on destroyed city once I saw Zamasu. It would have been sick. You know what though? I won't give up hope because maybe we can actually get there? I don't know. Can you kick people to destroyed city from the stage? I don't know. Maybe we should focus on not dying. That would probably be the wisest first investment. But just in case, let's get Zamasu out of here. Maybe deal with Genemba first. Genemba, what do you gotta say about this? Did you see that little dash under? Goku blue moving a little too fast to see for him. Let me catch up. Uptek, got him. Nope, I gotta vanish now. I wanna vanish so badly. Oh, I should have done it right there. I'll do it right now. Thank you. No to age, I'm too slow. Oh, the back dash in presence. You could see he's thinking about a lot right now. He doesn't wanna get hit. He doesn't wanna see if we can go to destroyed city. He doesn't wanna even know. No, I wanted to vanish right there. Oh, man, I have to see. I have to try, right? All right, Jiren, you leave me no choice. I have to try. See, what? See, this is Zamasu. Dude, I really gotta start paying attention. See, this is Zamasu. That caught me all the way off guard. Do we got loops? Do we got loops? No, we don't. But will he tech? Wait, does this person not know how to... Wait, why did they tech right there? Hold on, now I'm curious. Wait. All right, we have to get behind them. Remember, I want to vanish. I had to give it up. We'll experiment with that another day. Destroyed city. Nope, all right, well, that dream is dead. Ah, we gave it a shot, though. Okay, no dramatic finish. We'll just have to accept it. And now I wanna see if they know how to tech. They should. I feel like they're a pretty high rank. I forgot what rank exactly, but it's pretty up there. Ooh, cursed! We are just developing Dragon Ball fighters. I've given myself back-axis keys. That sentence went on for so long I almost ran out of breath. Ah! I've given myself the keys to Super Dash. Zamasu versus... Okay, come here, EX kick. All right, let's not do that. That was risky. Could have gotten too end into a TOD with Zamasu. He just does that damage. Vanish, vanish. Super Dash. Let's go! I was wondering, I kind of felt it in the air. I was wondering if he'd actually do it though. All right, back, throw him. Final flash coming through. I mean, final coming out. Hit him with it. The knockdown's what's important though. Nice! Wake up, Dragon Rush, don't give him a chance. Just kick this man. Get that last bit of health. And we are going on to game two. We might make this a quick one. The Blues might actually be able to power through. Make me get serious here. Vigito just talking right now. I'm down though. Vigito could talk. Do we get the rematch? We might not. I don't know. It's gone so quiet. It's gone so quiet. Oh no. We do. Come on. He was driving me. He was really just letting us hang there. No time for a reflect. I'm gonna have to put my shields up. Shields. Oh no! He grabbed us through the shields up. That was actually kind of sick. It's just unfortunate. Nope. He's not really gonna help us there. Wait. Does this person really not know how to tag me? It might just be like an accident every time. Cause we didn't go for that long. I'm just, in my mind, I'm like, wait, can I just hit like a really funny infinite combo? Could I? That's why I gotta figure that out. Could I hit an infinite combo? Hold on. Let me switch. Let's try it. Let's try it. All right. Let's try it. It's just I'm so bad. How am I so bad that I can't even do a blue combo, right? How am I this bad? For some reason I can't do a blue combo correctly. I'm trying to like set it up. I'm like, I don't know how. Hold on. Let's get Jinnimba out of here. He's a little too low to test the theory anyway. Oh! No! No, wait.  All right, we're out. All right, just get Jinnimba out. Get Jinnimba out. His health was too low anyway. Dude, I'm so interested in testing this hypothesis now. I wanna know. I need to know. Okay. I can't test it here. At least I couldn't think of a way. Man, why is this so hard? Why is this so hard to think of a blue combo that I can do on purpose? Other than that one, I guess. That one, I don't know how I would extend it forever though. Hmm. I don't know. I don't know how I would do it. But I'm gonna figure it out. Don't worry. I'll figure it out. I'll figure it out. I'm thinking. Right now I've been thinking for the last five minutes of this video. Okay, what? Okay, okay. Okay, okay, okay. He can't attack. That was definitely going to be a blue combo. All right, all right. Now we know. So maybe he was just like, he thought he was attacking because it's happened to me before. All right, damn.  The infinites I was trying to come up with in my head. And are we gonna lose? We're gonna lose. Vegeta got taken out. Zamasu is a character with big damage, man. I don't know if I wanna be going up against him like this. I don't know if I wanna go up against him with sparking. Then again though, I am Vegeta blue. We got a nice tech. Let me get that sparking. The only reason I'm comfortable doing this is that we do have, oh no. I shouldn't have been coming. Oh, we got it. Oh, barely. We almost dropped it. Two H just for the last hit. Plum, it's back to earth. And we are going to take that. Went a little silent. The head tried to come up with that infinite, but I'm still happy with the team's overall performance. Let me know down below though, how you felt about this video, what your favorite moment was. While you're down there, make sure to like button and subscribe to the channel and check out other videos in which, you know, we, I was gonna say hit real infinites, but I don't think there's, has there ever been a real infinite? Oh yeah, birises. But that was kind of like a glitch. I don't know. Other than that, just let me know down below in the comments. But yeah, check out some other videos on your screen. Other than that, I've been Dodson away and I will see you in the next one. Thank you so much for watching this one.


Hey guys, it's Nate, AKA the Foot Accountant. Welcome back to the channel. We have a long-awaited video coming to the channel today. Team of the Year in FIFA 22 is leaked, and we're gonna take a look at the leaked 11 of cards that are out right now, and we're gonna put some price predictions on them. We're also gonna take a look at some cards that maybe could get Team of the Year honorable mentions and some potential flashback SBCs that we would love to see EA drop during Team of the Year. But the main point of this video today is to take a look at this Team of the Year that is going to be released very soon and kind of just give you guys some predictions and talk through how much might these cards cost in the first couple weeks of them being put on the game. Because in general, the market is so much cheaper this year. Example, Gold Cristiano Ronaldo is 250K on PlayStation. He was a million coins last year. Prime Cruyff was seven million plus last year. He's five million this year. So that's just the way of the market, and I think that will possibly make Team of the Year a bit cheaper. So of course, thanks and a huge shout out to YFX3, my man Yaz. I'm gonna leave his link down below in the description. He helped me out with all these predictions and the graphics, so make sure you give him a follow. And of course, if you're enjoying the videos on the channel, drop a thumbs up and subscribe if you are new. So we are gonna enter some leaked territory. The Team of the Year has not been officially announced yet, but that's what we're gonna be looking at in today's video. So without further ado, let's look at some of the Team of the Year cards. If you have not seen it, we don't have stats confirmed. These are only the players that are confirmed to be in, but that's gonna be a lot of the talking point today, is for these cards that are getting into Team of the Year, in my opinion, it really depends on the stats. How much EA juice these cards? Because I can show you right away the difference in the past two years of Team of the Year. Last year in FIFA 21, the stats were not that great. Take a look at Team of the Year Messi from FIFA 21. 93 pace, 73 physical, right? On his Team of the Year card last year. If you go back to FIFA 20, he had 96 pace and 85 physical on that item, right? Kevin De Bruyne, FIFA 20 versus FIFA 21. I tweeted that out last night. The boosts on these cards last year, they did not make Team of the Year the best cards in the game last year in FIFA 21. And I really hope that this year they do. So let's get into some price predictions. We're gonna start with defenders and move our way forward to the attackers. Now, why would Team of the Year be a little bit cheaper this year, right? As we talked about, the whole market in general is just really cheap and inexpensive compared to previous years in FIFA. And I think that's gonna, you know, it's affected every part of the market so far with a couple exceptions here and there. Like Winter Wild Cards Latan or Winter Wild Cards Neymar. Those are both still very expensive cards and they're, you know, because they have a ton of hype, right? And I think that's why they've kind of, you know, not been affected as much by the cheaper prices. But with this League Team of the Year 11 defenders here, I'm gonna put some prices on these guys' names. Don Aruma, goalkeepers every year in Team of the Year are around 500,000 coins. Usually our goalkeepers, like we had No Year last year and we didn't have any Bundesliga cards that were in the defense to like link him to. This year with all the PSG hype, and we're gonna talk about that a lot too. I think that Don Aruma, even though Team of the Year cards are gonna be a little cheaper this year, Don Aruma has a Team of the Group stage item that's 180K at the moment. Again, with Marquinhos and Hakimi and everybody uses Kempembe in this game, everybody uses Kaza, you know, all of the links that this Don Aruma has, I think that he is gonna still be around that 500,000 coin price range for that card. Now, getting into some of the other PSG guys in this defense, Hakimi. Hakimi is a really hard one because yes, you think this market is very different in prior years, but look at that card. If they give him an insane juice like this and that's why I'm still gonna say a lot in this video, it really depends on how good the stats are. If they give proper, insane Team of the Year boost and they max these cards out, as Team of the Years in my opinion still should be the best cards that we see all year until like July or whatever when they're just throwing out insane cards for the summer, I mean, this Hakimi card could be absolutely nasty. Now there's one card that it kinda reminds me of. Last year, we had a first time Team of the Year item for Alfonso Davies. 99 paced, 91 defense, 90 physical. And this was his first ever Team of the Year item. This is going to be Hakimi's first ever Team of the Year item.  So around a 1.8, 1.9 mil. I think that if the market wasn't super duper cheap this year, Hakimi's Team of the Year item would probably be somewhere around 2 million because an insane link like this with the messy link on the right side, I think that's gonna make this Hakimi card be if not the most expensive, the second most expensive Team of the Year defender. I think that Hakimi's card is gonna end up being somewhere around 1.5 million coins. Now again, if this was last year's market, maybe I would say 2 million plus, but just because of how insane he is in game, all the link that he has to the messy, to the Marquinhos, all the PSG cards that are so hyped in this game, I'm still gonna say about 1.5 million coins for the best right back in the game hands down. No contest, right? I think he's gonna be in that range. Now Marquinhos, Marquinhos, and there's always a center back that is over 2 million coins in Team of the Year. And I think out of this Team of the Year, he is going to be the guy, right? Because if you're using Donaruma or Hakimi, who are you gonna sandwich in the middle, right? You're going to use this Marquinhos. And again, with the stats that we see potentially here, I mean, we already have a road to the final Marquinhos that has been around a million coins for part of this year. 900K is kind of where he's topped out. And so I think people will have no problem paying 2 million coins for a Team of the Year Marquinhos. I think that's where he is gonna settle. It's his first ever Team of the Year, all the PSG links as well. That's gonna cause that price to be maybe a little bit higher than some in the rest of this team. Now let's move on to the other parts of the defense. The perfect link between Ruben Diaz and Joao Cancelo. Ruben Diaz already has one card in this game. It's the signature signings, 89 rated item. That card has 76 pace. What's really gonna make the difference on Ruben Diaz's Team of the Year item is the pace. If they give him 88 pace or upper 80s, if it's anything above 85, I think that means that Ruben Diaz is gonna be somewhere around the 1.25 to 1.5 mil range. I know that his defending stats look really good. If they give him like 88 pace to 90 pace, then I could see him going more towards like 1.5 mil. But again, with the market being cheaper this year, he does get that perfect link to Cancelo and he does have the Manchester City links, but I still think that he's gonna be the cheaper of the two center backs. So that's why I'm valuing him in that 1.25 to 1.5 mil range, 1.75 at a peak, right?  Now 95 Cancelo is another interesting one as well. I don't know what his position is going to be, right? I would imagine that since we have the right back Hakimi in Team of the Year that EA would make Cancelo a left back, but they might not necessarily do that. They might put him as a right back still. We've had three center backs in the past during Team of the Year, but since Cancelo does have a lot of left back cards, I could see it being possible that he does get a left back item. Now we have this headliners Cancelo, which is live, and it's about 250, 260,000 coins. Cancelo's card's gonna look nasty, right? With the concept that we just saw. And Cancelo was one of the best left backs in this game. You've got Teo Hernandez that is in the conversation. There's a couple other cards that are in that conversation, but even as a left back card with the stats that he has and with the links that he gets, of course on this Team of the Year item, that physical boost is gonna be what we're gonna look for, but this is such a good left back and such a good defender in the game that I kinda expect Cancelo to be somewhere around the one million coin range. I think he might be the cheapest defender in the team though. I think all the hype's gonna be on Hakimi and Marquinhos, and then Rubin Diaz and Cancelo, we're gonna fall behind just a little bit. Just a little bit, right? Not much, but just a little bit. So I'm thinking Cancelo's gonna be somewhere between 800K to a mill. That's kinda my prediction there. Now let's move on to the attackers. Sorry, not attackers, midfielders. We're gonna keep it moving with midfielders. I'm gonna try to go through these as fast as I can because there's a lot to talk about, right? Next up we have the midfielders. 96KDB, 96 Conte, and 97 Giorginho, right? A huge boost for Giorginho is what we need, or he might be the cheapest Team of the Year apart from Don Ruma out of the whole squad.  If he does get stats like this though, I think that he'll be somewhere around like the 1.2 million coin range, 1.25, just over a mill, maybe 1.5 at the max. Taking a look at Conte, right? Back in Team of the Year after not being in Team of the Year last year in FIFA 21. Conte's Team of the Year cards are always pretty expensive. French links are so very overpowered and hyped this year. And in the past, Conte's been around two and a half million coins. As a part of like FIFA 20's Team of the Year, FIFA 19 Team of the Year, he was around that two and a half million coin range. Again, with prices being a little cheaper this year, I'm gonna have to say that Conte's around two million coins, somewhere around that two million coin range. And Kevin De Bruyne is another very interesting one, right? Again, we need to see a big boost on this card. And if they give him the correct boost, if they give him this card, 90 paces, I think that's one of the key stats for KDB. If he gets 99 passing and 90 paces, that will make KDB be above two million coins, 2.25 mil, similar to last year, but a little bit cheaper than in years past from like FIFA 20, when he had the insane Team of the Year card and of course, Team of the Season later on. But I really hope they give KDB 90 paces that would help out, especially you think of a triangle with DS, Cancelo and KDB, that'd be an insane group of players to have together. I feel like just being completely honest, the midfield is the least hyped part of Team of the Year. I don't know if you guys agree or not, but I think this is like the least hyped section and least hyped portion of the squad itself. Let's move on to attackers, right? There's some big boy attackers in here and I'm also gonna talk about the 12th man here in a second. Now, this is the second Team of the Year interrow for Robert Lewandowski. Last year, he started off very expensive, but again, with how the stats were not very good in FIFA 21 on these cards, Lewandowski quickly dropped from about three million coins and about a month later, he was like two mil. He dropped off a million coins very fast. For that case in point, and for him being the only Bundesliga card in Team of the Year, and for Bundesliga not being as hyped and this card not being a super duper meta in the game, I'm sure this card's gonna be insane, right? Whether he's a 98 or a 99, if he has stats similar to this, I think Lewandowski would be around two million coins. Now, move on to the two big boy attackers, 98 Mbappe. Mbappe, this is crazy, right? The market is so much cheaper this year, but Mbappe still maintains his very expensive price, right? If you take a look at Mbappe's gold card on the market, he is 916,000 coins. Last year, on FIFA 21, where the market was so much more expensive, he was also 900K. That just goes to show how much hype this Mbappe has and how good he is in game. Now, his headliners card is 4.3 mil that has dropped off since the announcement of the Team of the Year, but again, Team of the Year Mbappe's in the past have been six to seven million coins apiece. Mbappe last year was seven million coins in FIFA 20. I believe Mbappe was also around six and a half to seven mil. He was actually only six mil starting off and then went down to five and a half, but Mbappe with so much more hype this year in FIFA and with a headliners card that is already four million coins, I honestly think that Mbappe's Team of the Year this year is gonna be one of those that still stays above its cheaper price, right? I think that Mbappe is not gonna be cheaper this year just because of how stupidly insane he's probably gonna be in game. I think this Mbappe's gonna be seven million coins. I honestly think that he is gonna be seven mil, especially if they make him 98 rated, they give him the 99s and the pace and the dribbling categories and like max them out everywhere else.  So that card is gonna be, in my opinion, the most expensive Team of the Year on this game this year. Yes, cheaper than Cristiano Ronaldo if he does win 12th man. So, seven mil from Mbappe seems pretty fair to me and I think people are gonna be willing to pay that price for that card. Now, Team of the Year Messi. Team of the Year Messi is a very interesting one because he's no longer in La Liga. He has got the PSG links, which I think makes his card a bit more valuable. Now, Messi's Team of the Year in prior years has always been around the four to five million coin range last year. He was like 4.5 to five mil for the first month that he was out in the game. Of course, he was at Barcelona but the upgrades weren't as good. Now, with the market being a little cheaper this year again, but him having the PSG links, I think, I also think that Messi should have more than 92 pace and more than 77 physical. If this is the card that Messi gets, he might be about like four and a half to five million coins, but if they give him like 95 pace, if they give him above 80 physical, like they did in FIFA 20 for his insane Tots card or Team of the Year card that we had then, I feel like Messi's gonna be five million coins on this market and I think those PSG links, you know, again, Hakini, boom, and a four to five one Hakini and Messi on the side linking together. Messi is very, very good in this game of FIFA. So I think five billion coins is fair. I think it's very, very fair and I think it's very possible because people will want to run and Bape and Messi, Hakini, Marquinhos, they're gonna wanna have all those PSG links if they have a lot of coins. Some of the guys with crazy amounts of coins going after the best cards in this game, that's who they're gonna wanna go after. So those are my price predictions for those cards. Now let's move on a little bit and talk about some honorable mentions, right? Now I know these are in concepts as actual Team of the Year players here, but these could potentially be like honorable mentioned Team of the Year cards. If you guys remember last year, we had a couple of those. So I'm gonna shout out some price predictions if some of these players were to get honorable mention Team of the Year. Now for those honorable mention cards, I do think that they usually, you know, don't release them as insane of stats as the Team of the Year cards. So I think that the honorable mentions will be cheaper. I hope Mendy gets a card. I hope Taio, I hope that they release like five or six honorable mentions, maybe even like eight of them because that would just make Team of the Year a lot more exciting to have more players in packs than just the starting 11 and 12th man. So we've got Mendy, Taio Hernandez, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Kimmich here. For just for a quick blow through of these prices, I feel like if they got nominee items, Mendy would be about 400K, Taio Hernandez would still be a bit over a million coins just because he'd be a French left-back and probably the best left-back in the game, somewhere like 1.25 mil. I think Trent Alexander-Arnold would be somewhere around 750K with Cancelo's headliner card that is honestly just as good in game if not maybe better than this Trent card. You've got, of course, Hakimi with all the hype. You've got a Klaus, SBC, you've got a Darmian card that have come out recently. I think people would not spend more than 750K for a Trent card, even though it looks really, really insane. Kimmich as well, still an honorable mention potentially for a team of the year. I think this card will be about 1.25 mil just with the Bundesliga links not being as hype right now in this game, in this year in total. I think he'd be a little bit cheaper than years past, although he would be a very, very good card in game. Now let's take a look at some of the big boys. Some of the big boy predictions for honorable mentions. Of course, Muhammad Salah, Christian Ronaldo, Benzema and Barela. I mean, I think that three of the guys in here, Benzema Salah and Ronaldo will be in the voting for 12th man, probably throw Neymar into that vote as well. But I think if that vote does happen, I think Christian Ronaldo is going to end up winning. I think it's almost inevitable that Ronaldo would win that vote for the 12th man just based off of popularity. Manchester United links for a team of the Ronaldo. I'm kind of down for that. Just from a gameplay, FIFA, card collecting, almost perspective. I'm down for a team of the Ronaldo. Now, team of the Ronaldo has been eight, nine million coins in the past. But again, with his card, probably not gonna look as good as it has in previous years when he was in the team of the year, starting 11. I feel like with a 95 pace under Ronaldo, that might knock down his price a little bit. And again, everything is just cheaper this year. Anyways, I'm saying six million coins for a Ronaldo team of the year. Let's say if Salah, Benzema or Barela were to get honorable mentions, Barela would be so dope. And I think that with all the Barela hype that there is in this game, he's got the headliners item obviously. If they gave him an honorable mentions that was really high rated, I think it'd be somewhere around a million coins because that would still be the best Italian midfielder in the game. You could play Barela and Giorgio together with some other good Serie A or maybe even Icon, Italy links. And that will be a card that a lot of people would get very hyped about. Benzema, of course, everybody uses the flashback. I think he is deserving to be in the team of the honorable mentions, maybe even in the team of the year itself, although he did not get in. I think this Benzema card would be around a million coins as well, depending on the rating and the boost that they gave his item. And then Salah, I think Salah would be pretty expensive. If Salah were to get in as an honorable mention, especially if they gave him a 95 plus rated card, I would give Salah somewhere around like a two mil price tag because still it would be a card that so many people would want to go out and get, even if it's not 97 rated in a team of the year, maybe it's somewhere like 95 rated. I know he's got the headliners card, so that might intrude on that card a little bit. But a team of the year honorable mentions card design, potentially if you were to get one, that's where I could see his price kind of being on the market. So that's kind of the team of the year, boys. I know that it's like, man, this team of the year is crazy. There's a lot of great cards in here, but it all comes down to the boost. And if EA does not boost these cards really well, if we have a team of the year that looks like this, with insane stats, I think the card design issue looks really, really dope. But if we have a 96 pace messy with 85 physical, we have the 99s. If we get 99 rated and 98 rated team of the years, then we're gonna be happy, right? They're gonna boost these cards as they should. But if we don't have any 99s like we didn't last year, I think we're gonna be a bit underwhelmed and people are going to not want to pay as much for some of these team of the year items. So I just would keep that in mind. The biggest thing here that would change the prices of these cards on this game would be the stat boost that they get. So that's my price predictions for the team of the year. Now a couple of SBCs, I know a lot of people would like to view some flashback SBCs that we could see during this promo just to run through these really, really quickly. Sergio Ramos would be a bang and flashback SBC, right? He's been in team of the year a number of times over the past few years. Last year he was in this year, he is obviously not. That'd be a great flashback SBC. Thiago Silva would be a bang and SBC for a flashback. Danny Alves I think is one of the most popular cards that people hope to get a flashback. Now I don't even know if he's been added to the game. There was just a squad update last night when I loaded into FIFA. But I don't think that would add Danny Alves to the game yet. I think we would have to wait until like February to get a Danny Alves flashback after the January transfer window closes and EA add those new transferred cards to the game. So I don't know if that's gonna happen during team of the year just to make sure that you're aware and thinking of that. Unless EA make an exception and then put him in the game sooner. Marcelo flashback, which we did have last year, that would be a great flashback card as well. Now a couple more and there's one card in here that I think has a really high chance of getting a flashback and that is Neymar. I think that EA sports with Neymar not being included in team of the year, Neymar's got the Winter Wild Cards item. This would be the perfect year for them to drop a flashback Neymar SBC.  A lot of people call them CR6 because it wasn't that great in game but I could see a flashback Neymar being a part of this game this year. I think that's very possible but a Pogba, a Falcao would be sick or a Suarez would all be very obvious and very time worthy options of team of the year cards that are team of the year worthy items that have had team of the years in the past that we would love to see get special cards as a part of the team of the year promo. So I know that team of the year is not here yet and I know there's gonna be some more leaks, there's gonna be more information coming out about these cards but these are my price predictions for these cards. Let me know down in the comments what you guys think. I think in general, prices are gonna be a little bit cheaper this year on team of the year. Not crazy, just a little bit because team of the years are still going to be if they give them the right boosts, the best cards in the game and everybody's gonna wanna go after them and that's gonna keep them at a higher price but I think with the pack weight this year and the way that EA is just gonna put out so many packs during team of the year that it's just inevitable but they will be a little bit cheaper on the market. So that's the video for today boys. If you did enjoy, smash the thumbs up on a comment down below if you have any questions and subscribe if you're new. It's been Nate's Foot Account and I'll catch you guys later. Peace out.


So, we're talking about joy tonight and I thought I would define also healing so that we can kind of get on the same page as far as what I mean by words heal words are important words matter. So, I wanted to find that word healing verb to make healthy whole or sound to restore to bring to an end or conclusion as in conflicts between people or groups to settle to reconcile to make well again to mend to repair to strengthen I believe words can do all of these things words heal stories heal stories teach us inspire us stories honor the past and prepare us for the future everywhere we go we bring our story with us stories connect us and so I want to share some of my personal stories with you and I thought it would be good to start at the beginning so this is where I'm from I made up of East Coast hip hop and tradition I'm from Baptist hymns and secular jigs tambourine playing late night stand at the church house or my friend's house or their friend's house on the weekends where I'm from their corduroy hand me down to family keepsakes family pictures on the wall open Bible on the coffee table I'm from that side of town where the media only comes for blood shed blood wasted never for blood restored celebrated or regenerated I'm from hopscotch and double-dutch from hide-and-go-seek and Pac-Man I'm from curry goat rice and peas and beef patties from Turquoise blue water white sand and dreadlocks reggae is in my blood grew up in the Pacific Northwest a place where rain falls more than sunshine's I'm from Douglas Furs and pine trees where we walk under waterfalls drive up windy roads and escape to the beaches on the Oregon coast where I'm from music takes away the blues I'm from Bob Marley and my hell you Jackson are with the Franklin James Brown I'm from Jackson five records and new edition tapes where I'm from we rewind tapes over and over and over again so you can write down the lyrics and memorize them where I'm from the whole neighborhood is your family ladies sit on their porches looking out for you shooing away boys like flies calling your mama to tell her what you did before you can get home and lie about it run from people ask my friend is that your hair and she says yes mine I bought it I'm from divorce being passed down to children like a family heirloom I'm from single mama's pushing strollers praying that their babies don't make the same mistakes as them I'm from a little goes a long way from son's gonna shine after the rain I'm from persevering so's and hard-working hands from a people destined to make it to their promised land I'm from been there done that can and we'll do it again now you tell me where you from thank you I didn't know as a kid that I was processing what was happening and that that writing was healing me but when I look back on those years I think about my journal as a safe space that I was able to go to and reconcile what I was feeling against what was happening and the things that people weren't talking about as a child I wrote a lot of short stories I wrote a lot of mysteries when I was seven years old I wrote a 21 page story and my teacher said I think you're gonna be a writer one day and I was so thrilled that she believed in me and so I kept writing stories and I would share them at recess I'd share them after school and I was hooked on getting people scared and getting them to want more and I was always leaving the dun dun dun at the end like I'm not gonna tell you what happens next until next Friday and so I had this one mystery where the classroom teacher was missing and the class the students were trying to figure out what happened to our teacher and they thought the substitute teacher had something to do with it so they were on this mission to find out what happened and my whole class was so into this story so week after week I would add on a chapter and add on a chapter so my whole life I was writing and then I got in the seventh grade and in the seventh grade I realized that my voice didn't have to just entertain or be amusing but that I could use my voice for something more for something good right before that right before entering the seventh grade in Portland Mulugeta Saraw in Ethiopian man was beaten to death by skinheads I was actually in the fifth grade and I remember my teacher coming to class in tears and she said to us we have to do something so she had us take out our notebooks and she asked us to write a poem or a letter for the family and that was the first time I was asked to use my voice to bring comfort to someone to think about what words could do in times of tragedy in times of pain and so I wrote a poem and I was selected I don't know I can't remember if I was like student of the month or something special that I got to be one of the students to go with my teacher to bring this gift basket of fruits and letters and poems to the family and I remember walking away after we gave that gift to the family and I was thinking this doesn't change anything Mulugeta Saraw is still gone this really horrible thing still happened what is the point of writing this poem but then my teacher was explaining to me well you took action and you spoke up and you showed this family that you cared and I started to learn and those those words from her took root in my heart that I could use my words to encourage to comfort to bring hope to just stand with someone and say I see you to say yeah this hurts this is messed up this isn't right I could bear witness through my words and so in the seventh grade I started to write poems that I felt mattered that were about social issues I was really into the news and watching the news and then writing a poem in response to what I saw and I went to a predominantly white middle school after having been in a predominantly black school in the black neighborhood in northeast Portland so this is in the late 80s early 90s were being bussed to desegregate a school in southeast Portland and once we get to the school they separated all the black kids because I think in their minds they wanted diverse classrooms so they would put one or maybe two of us in the class at a time well what that felt like was I was the only black child in a class sometimes and I felt very isolated so in the seventh grade my science teacher is passing out tests that we had taken the previous day and she walks back up to the front of the classroom and she says I am so disappointed in all of you you all took this test yesterday and failed but I'm gonna give you a chance to retake it I look down at my test and I have an A so I raise my hand not trying to be smart or talk back to her but he just don't want to take a test again so I raise my hand and I say do I have to take the test over and she turns her body away from me and talks to all the white students in class and says and this is why I'm so disappointed in you you all let Renee Watson come over here from northeast Portland and get a better grade and science than you now I'm in the seventh grade I've been taught to respect adults not to talk back I know that what she's saying is not okay but I can't quite name it I don't know words like micro aggression or macro aggression and my friends my peers they don't know what to do either so I sit while they take the test swallow my tears and I just hold that for the rest of the school day fortunately I have a mama that is the kind of mama that when you go home and tell her what went down she was at the school the next day and I was not in that meeting I don't know what was said but I was taken out of that class I look back on that moment as a time when I've an early memory of realizing that people had expectations of me based on where I lived what I look like and my journal that was all full of these stories about other people's troubles and political poems became very personal of wanting to be seen wanting to be validated for who I am so in the seventh grade I started writing poems about me and letters that I risk I could have given to people but I was too shy to do that so I wrote to this teacher I wrote to people who I felt had low expectations of me people who would talk about my neighborhood who had never been to my neighborhood but were afraid of it and thought that there was only ugliness there and there was also so much beauty and so I think that in those early years of writing in my journal and experiencing living in the Pacific Northwest as a black girl all of that prepared me for the types of books that I write I don't shy away from writing about race and the intersections of race and class because I know that our young people are seeing it and experiencing it even if they can't name it and I have a feeling that they want to talk about it and that it's the adults who may be a little afraid or intimidated to talk about it so I hope that my books serve as a way for young people and adults to come together and talk about these issues so a lot of people ask me do you write about your stories like is this really just you and it's not and it is right so in piecing me together Jade is not Renee Renee is not Jade but I understand what she's going through I know what it's like to feel invisible I know what it's like to have people say that your home is dirty that there's nothing good that can come from that neighborhood and I know what it's like to say well there might be some brokenness but there's beauty too and so I want to read a little bit from piecing me together and think about this idea of how do we remake ourselves when the world wants to break us and how do we through children's literature help young people gain tools to be able to put themselves back together when they feel broken this is a scene in the book when Jade is with her mentor and the other mentors and girls so she's one of 12 students who've been selected to be in this program and she really doesn't want to be in this program she thinks they're all stuck up and that they look down on her she's in this really fancy house in this scene so she's a little just intimidated by all of the grandeur of the space the young girls have been asked to write down a question that they have then maybe they don't want to ask out loud and they put it in a bag shake it up and they're gonna go through all these questions and so far the questions have been a little superficial about makeup tips and dating advice and Jade is like look I got real-world problems so if we're gonna be here talking let's talk about some things that matter so she's trying to think of her question to ask and she's not so sure these women can answer her question this is piecing you together Sabrina ends the night with a talk about following our dreams and believing in ourselves you have to believe you are worthy of love of happiness that you are worthy of your wildest dreams coming true when she says this so many thoughts rush through my mind I am thinking about how mom had plenty of dreams and EJ is not short on self-confidence and Lili has known she wants to be a poet since we were in middle school so it can't just be about believing and dreaming my neighborhood is full of big dreamers but I know that doesn't mean those dreams will come true I know something happens between the time our mothers and fathers and teachers and mentors send us out into the world telling us the world is yours and you're beautiful and you can be anything and the time we return to them something happens when people tell me I have a pretty face ignoring me from the neck down when I watch the news and see unarmed black men and women shot dead over and over it's kind of hard to believe this world is mine sometimes it feels like I leave home a whole person sent off with kisses from mom who is hanging her every hope on my future by the time I get home I feel like my soul has been shattered into a million pieces mom's love repairs me whenever mom's cooking a simmering on the stove and EJ's music is filling every inch of the house and I am making my art I believe everything these women are saying about being worthy of good things those are the times I feel secure feel just fine I look in the mirror and I see my dad's eyes looking back at me my mom's thick hair thick everything and that's when I believe that my dark skin isn't a curse that my lips and hips hair and nose don't need fixing that my dream of being an artist and traveling the world isn't foolish listening to these mentors I feel like I can prove the negative stereotypes about girls like me wrong that I can and will do more be more but when I leave it happens again the shattering and this makes me wonder if a black girl's life is only about being stitched together and coming undone being stitched together and coming undone being stitched together and coming undone I wonder if there's ever a way for a girl like me to feel whole wonder if any of these women can answer that so I believe that there can be joy and sadness at the same exact moment Jade is experiencing some of the best things that happened to her while experiencing some of the worst things that are happening to her and I want our young people to know that it's okay to hold both things that you can celebrate and critique something that you can love someone and also be disappointed in them that you can love your neighborhood and also want some things to change about it there's a quote that I love by Maya Angelo that says my great hope is to laugh as much as I cry I want to say it one more time my great hope is to laugh as much as I cry I appreciate this sentiment because it assumes there will be a lot of tears it's almost like she is guaranteeing that for herself and that the hope is that there will also be joy this quote inspired so much of the book what mama left me and I'd like to read a little bit of that Serenity's mother has died at the hands of her father she is now living with her religious grandmother and in this scene she's just skipped her counseling session and grandma does not play so she finds out that Serenity didn't go and they're having a conversation about that and something you should know is that cooking is a big deal in this family especially baking and so the grandmother is going to mention some of that because that's something that they enjoy to doing together I am not sure how grandma makes it up the stairs without me hearing the floor creek but here she is at my door she doesn't knock she barges in Serenity I just got off the phone with Anne grandma's eyes are sharp knives I look away why didn't you go to your session she asked I'm thinking maybe if I sit here long enough without saying anything she will just punish me and we won't even have to talk about it do you hear me I asked you a question grandma closes the bedroom door sits on my bed and asks me again why didn't you go to your session today I don't want to talk to Anne anymore why not there's no point I answered what do you mean there's no point grandma starts fessing at me she goes on and on about Anne being a person and how it's not fair to just leave her sitting in an office waiting for me she has feelings too she fesses and fesses and fesses I just can't believe you would do something like this what were you thinking why would you you want to know what I'm thinking I'm thinking that talking to Anne is stupid and so is talking to God neither of them really care about me they just like to see me cry I can't stop the words from coming out now I don't ever want to go back to see Anne and I never want to go back to church again I expect grandma to hush me but instead she just let me talk she lets me scream and yell about how unfair it is that I don't have a mother when I loved her so much and how Ricky died when really he was just doing the right thing by sticking up for a friend I tell grandma that I am so mad and angry that every time things start looking good they go bad it's not fair grandma it's not fair my eyes are so full of hot tears I can barely see grandma holds me and wipes my tears away with her pump hands and now I can see that she is crying with me serenity baby who told you life was gonna be fair well what's the point what's the point of going to church and praying and doing right if nothing good is ever gonna happen to you baby if you try to tally it up like that you'll never have peace of joy you don't get rewarded right away for good deeds and every time something bad happens doesn't mean God is out to get you grandma rubs my back and I cry softer and softer the peace comes over me like at the end of a rainstorm grandma licks me in my eyes and says now I know I haven't baked in the kitchen for a while but you do remember the main ingredients for a cake don't you I really don't want to talk about her cookbook right now but I say yes and what are they I sit back against my pillow and face grandma well you need eggs flour oil I tell her right grandma says now tell me would you ever eat a raw egg no grandma I have no idea why she's asking me this would you ever take a spoon and eat spoonfuls of flour or drink a cup of oil I am grossed out just thinking about it grandma that's nasty exactly those things don't taste good by themselves do they know but what happens when you mix all those ingredients together bacon in the oven with something sweet it tastes good I answer grab my smiles real good if I'm baking it then she takes my hands serenity baby it's the same way with life the deaths of loved ones friends hurting your feelings these are all kinds of things that happen in life that don't feel good they're just downright awful but I know from experience that all those hard hurtful things get combined with the good joyful things and somehow the good outweighs the bad grandma shifts her weight and makes herself more comfortable on my bed you know how many times I've cried in my life so many I can't count then grab my smiles but guess what I can't count the laughs either I've had plenty of both grandma says it's been a tough year serenity baby I know but it won't always hurt this bad grandma let's go up my hands the next time you look at a cake with all that pretty frosting I want you to think about what it took to get it to look that good she makes eye contact with me it's the same with life you never know but not so sweet things have happened in someone's life even the life you think is perfect you understand what I'm saying yeah grandma stands up and walks to the door now I'm not gonna make you talk to Anne but if you don't want to go back you need to let me know so I can cancel it and let her know do you need to think about it before you make your final decision yeah I tell her okay we'll talk about it tomorrow grandma says goodnight and closes my door I changed my clothes and getting to bed I can hardly sleep thinking about what grandma said I know my grandma isn't with I know my mama isn't with me but right now it feels like she is I hear her telling me I told you so and she did when I was younger mama would read to me at bedtime I always wanted her to skip to the end so I could know what would happen especially if there was a scary scene I wanted to make sure that the characters would be okay mama would say you can't truly enjoy a happy ending if you skip through all the bad parts so I read that because I wanted to give an example of a character that's going through something pretty devastating but learning how to cope with it in healthy ways I don't write books for children to help them escape reality I write to help them cope with it help them deal with it and so I you know I the truth is that our young people are going through a lot and they're witnessing a lot and Serenity has the worst thing that happens to her and I wanted young people to have an example of how can you be angry and sad and own those very real emotions but also deal with it and talk about it and lean on the people who care about you I also want a young people to have an experience of reading the many ways that black men show up for their families the father in this book is so horrible he is the worst kind of man he is the stereotypical black man that sometimes shows up in movies and books and I know that that person is real but I also know that so many men who are not that so I want to be responsible as an author and make sure that if I'm going to have that negative character that there's someone that counteracts that and shows the many ways people exist and so Danny the her brother is learning masculinity in a different way from his grandfather who is one of my favorite characters in the book the grandparents are pastors and they have now taken Serenity and Danny to live with them and so both Serenity and Danny are just experiencing a whole new way of living they've never seen a man wash dishes they've never seen a man apologize or cry and so in this scene this is the beginning of them seeing that things are going to be a little different at their grandparents home we've been back from the retreat for a week now it's Saturday morning and I wake up to the sound of slamming doors and yelling voices grandpa is standing at the foot of the steps screaming at Danny young man get back down these stairs right now I hear Danny open the door but he doesn't go downstairs he is standing in the hallway yelling back at grandpa what do you want you already said no what else is there to talk about Danny has found new boat and it's today I get out of bed and go into the hallway what's the matter Danny snaps at me none of your business leave me alone grandpa keeps fussing Danny you don't walk away from me when I'm talking to you and you don't slam doors and throw tantrums in this house you understand yes but what I don't understand is why I can't get the shoes grandpa size didn't I just buy you shoes at the beginning of the school year yeah but those are ugly Danny the answer is no no new video games no new shoes grandpa starts to walk away you ought to be grateful for what you have there are kids in this world who wish they had even one pair of shoes grandpa is out of sight now he's walked toward the kitchen still mumbling about how ungrateful the youth of today are and how materialistic we've become Danny is mumbling to my daddy would have gotten for me he says but not low enough because grandpa is making his way up the steps before Danny can say anything else what did you say grandpa short of breath because he is talking and walking up the steps at the same time you're right your father would have got you everything you wanted but son I'm gonna give you what you need when grandpa reaches the top of the stairs Danny backs up fear has come now and he raced all that boldness and attitude he flinches and puts his hands out to protect his face what are you flinching for why are you jumping back grandpa is yelling loud his voice is like thunder an unexpected roar now grandma is at the foot of the steps James leave him be leave him be she says why did you flinch up like that huh answer me James grandma is coming up the stairs to answer me Danny doesn't sound angry anymore now his voice is soft and low I thought you were gonna hit me grandma is upstairs now the hallway seems tiny with the four of us standing here the silence is loud no one speaks or moves until grandma puts her hand on my grandpa's back James leave him be grandpa gently touches Danny on his shoulder like I said I'm not your father he keeps his hand on Danny's shoulders and it must feel like a heap of coals because Danny's anger felt melts away and now he is crying grandpa repeats himself son I'm not your father I'm not like him grandma gives me a look and so I go back in our room I hear her walking down the stairs Danny and grandpa are still in the hallway neither of them say a word all I can hear is the sound of crying from both of them so again I want characters to feel real situations to feel real but I also don't want it all to be pain and struggle so we are talking about joy tonight and I want to share some joy that's in this book as well where kids can just be kids right you know we're not the things that happen to us and sometimes I think it's great that we have spaces where young people can process what's going on in their lives and where we use books to help them cope but I think it's also okay to just say let's just have fun today what do you like to watch on TV what is your favorite music and just let them be young people so that they're not defined just by tragedy or struggle so let's talk about joy let's talk about resistance I want to say you know I believe joy is not happiness happiness is brought by external things joy is internal joy does not change when circumstances change happiness does Dr. Robert Hayton describes joy as unreasonable happiness because it doesn't seem to need a reason it is a happiness that is based on nothing in other words it doesn't need a cause or an effect in order to exist joy is an inner knowing a kind of peace that anchors the soul when chaos is erupting I love the same joy is an act of resistance to be able to laugh and love and trust and give and celebrate in times like these is its own miracle poems and poets like homage to my hips and homage to my hair by Lucille Clifton and the reasons I love chocolate by Nicky Giovanni Gary so toes old about food and tennis shoes taught me how to hold on to my joy how to say I am not the tragic things that happen to me or my people so many writers and poets whose work I love and teach wrote about beauty and love and the mundane everyday things during the worst things that were happening in our nation Langston Hughes Wendell and Brooks my Angelo yes they wrote about struggle they also celebrated life put words to the simple things as if to say this hate will not steal my laugh this sadness will not destroy my soul it is easy to laugh and smile when everything is well sometimes the laugh that comes through struggle the dance that comes while mourning is the most profound I try to have a balance of struggle and joy in my work and in this scene kids are just being kids so we're gonna read a scene I'm gonna read a scene from Sunday school class anybody go to Sunday school class when you were younger this is the moment that happens right before the church service and they are in the middle school group having class Miss Valerie stands at the front of the room before we begin class I just want to remind everybody that there's no gum chewing in church two girls and a boy spit their gum out in the garbage can I slide mine to the back on the right side Miss Valerie turns the lights off the DVD starts and a voice comes out that says children do you know what Ephesians 6 says it admonishes you to obey your parents Maria sighs this is so stupid the DVD starts playing in slow motion and then it skips ahead Miss Valerie turns the lights on and goes to the DVD player I don't know what's wrong with this thing she says she takes the disc out and wipes it on her skirt then she puts it back in we start watching the DVD again this time we get father a young boy is told by his parents not to ride his bike past a certain point but he does it anyway the little boy is in the middle of the street when a car comes speeding by the DVD starts skipping forward again Miss Valerie turns the lights on okay what is going on here she searches her desk for the remote control and realizes it's not there who has the remote Miss Valerie stands with her hands on her hips there are small sounds of giggling from behind me and I turn around a row of boys are laughing and all of them have their hands in awkward places in their pockets or tucked under their folded arms I look at Danny who was sitting in the last row next to a boy named Ricky Ricky is the same age as Danny but he is so tall that he looks older than all of us his shirt is wrinkled and tucked halfway in his khaki pants his hair is braided straight back and cornrows and his lips are shining like he put on too much chapstick Danny and Ricky are hiding their hands too the only difference between them and the other boys is they are the only ones not laughing I know it's them I am very disappointed in all of you Miss Valerie says she is trying to sound older than she is she is not a real teacher she is in college and only graduated from high school last May she makes us put miss in front of her name because it shows respect she says but I think she just wants to seem important do I have to check everyone's hands Miss Valerie starts walking through the rows of metal chairs those of us in the front hold our hands up with all 10 fingers stretch wide by the time she gets to the back I feel Maria tap me on my leg I look down and she is tapping me with the remote it's been passed from the back row I turn around and say to her I can't get I don't want this take it no no no no don't give it to me put it on her desk Maria whispers no my grandmother can find out I can get just do it I take it and run on my tippy toes and Miss Valerie's desk I put it next to her Bible and rush back to my seat before she can turn around to see me Maria nudges me stop looking so guilty two girls Karen and Sabrina are sitting at the end of our row and they can't stop laughing soon we are all laughing and I wonder does God think this is funny Miss Valerie comes to the front of the room and begins to lecture us about playing in the Lord's house one of you has the remote and I know it you mean that remote Maria says she points to Miss Valerie's desk Miss Valerie looks at the desk then back at us I'm telling your parents she says it's been there the whole time Maria says then Deacon Harris walks by ringing the bell and the whole class cheers because we realized we have just wasted the whole hour we get it from our seats and head to the door wait a minute Miss Valerie says someone has to share during the wrap-up session we all get quiet we have nothing to share because we didn't do anything didn't think about that did you Miss Valerie almost smiles at the fact that now the same kids who just drove her wild will be in trouble because they have nothing to share with their parents Ricky shouts well if we don't have anything to share they'll think you're not a good teacher Miss Valerie rolls her eyes and grabs a picture off the wall who's is this she shows it to all of us like kindergarten teachers show picture books as they read I raised my hand good you're sharing today what what am I supposed to say talk about why you do this picture what it means to you what Bible story inspired I don't know say whatever you want Miss Valerie hands me the picture and we all leave class during the wrap-up session when Deacon Harris asked who's sharing from the middle school class I realized that I am nervous and that I really don't want to do this and I think how Danny and Ricky and the rest of the class owe me Miss Valerie to I stand at the front of the congregation and say I drew this picture after we had a lesson about heaven because it sounds like a place I want to go I hold my picture up and show it to everyone it's a picture of heaven streets paved with gold silver gates grandma looks at it and she is smiling and clapping and everyone joins her I colored the angels brown like my mama so I like to just let kids be kids and I also want to let young people have a moment on the page to raise their voice and to say who they are again thinking about the character being an example hopefully for the reader who's reading the book so when watches rise the way that joy is resistance is through care a character named Jasmine who is a plus size girl dark skin and very proud of her body and not ashamed of it and she raises her voice in this joyous way to say I'm here I'm beautiful this is who I am I'm not gonna apologize for taking up space and these are the stories I bring with me so this is a definition poem from the book that she writes it's as if you would look into the dictionary and see a hair and tell the story of your hair I always tell young people you bring stories with you in this room right now so many stories are here memories favorite songs favorite foods recipes that have been passed down generation to generation fears questions and I when I'm teaching poetry say it again people all of that is welcomed here and that's all the material we're gonna create from so this is a definition poem written in Jasmine's voice and it's called this body this body a definition poem skin noun one sensitive dry see dove soap oil of Olay shea butter see middle school pimples plumping up the night before picture day always on the chin or nose too dark see slave see Negro see age seven see yourself playing on the playground when a white girl says you must eat a lot of chocolate since your skin so brown hair noun one see assimilation see smoke from the hot comb crochet in the air burning a sacred incense see your mama parting your hair bringing iron to nap hold your ear baby she tells you so she can press Africa out when black girls ask is it real say yes when white girls ask can I touch it say no to see natural reference Angela Davis Dorothy Pittman Hughes call me or is out twist yours like black licorice like the lynching rope used on your ancestors next let it hang free hips noun one reference Lucille Clifton and every other big girl who knows how to work a hula hoop see Beyonce dance like her in the mirror don't be afraid of all your powers too you will not fit in most places do not bend squeeze contort yourself be big brown girl big wide smile big wild hair big wondrous hips brown girl be this body too my body is perfect and imperfect and black and girl and big and thick hair and short legs and scraped knee and held scar and heart beating and hands that hold and voice that bellows and feet that dance and arms that embrace and my mama's eyes and my daddy's smile and my grandma's hope and my body is master peace and my body is mine sometimes joy comes from knowing you have an extended family I know that some of the readers who read my books don't have the mom and the dad and the grandpa in the stories that I'm reading and writing and so I want them to think about their ancestors I want them to think about artists who've come before them to find family and people that are handmade and maybe not biological so in some places more than others Amar definitely has her family she's learning that history and figuring out where she comes from literally but she's also learning her cultural history where her roots connect and she's drawing strength from that as well so I'm going to close I'm going to read a little bit from some places more than others and end with the poem from piecing me together but I wanted to make sure you guys get to hear a little bit from Amara who is in Harlem she has begged to go on this trip and she finally gets to go and she has her camera she's such a tourist and her cousins are so annoyed because this is their home so they're like whatever yeah yeah yeah it's time square yeah yeah yeah it's the statue you know they don't care about all the things that she's like I've never seen this before and so she's never been to a place like the Schaumburg center which if you have not been you should go because it is a wonderful wonderful necessary place so she's going there for the first time and this is what happens when she arrives she's looking at the cosmogram on the floor and her grandpa is telling her the history of this space which if you don't know was created by mr. Schaumburg because he was told as a child that black people didn't have a history that they hadn't contributed anything to society that was good so he searched and researched and found all the things that we have done and this place is a research library that houses all this information they're standing at the cosmogram that has a poem by Langston Hughes people walk by coming and going the elevator deans voices echo footsteps tap against the tile but I don't move I breathe in this place think of all the activists and artists politicians and preachers and teachers who walked in here think how grandpa Earl said this place was created with me and mind I wonder if my ancestors saw me coming how far into the future could they imagine just the idea that people like Harriet Tubman Adam Clayton Powell and Langston Hughes were thinking that one day someone like me would exist in a free world makes my heart pound my eyes water I study the cosmogram which looks like a map like a blueprint of all the places black people have been all the places we bring with us I think about what Mr. Rosen said when he told me some things you won't be able to put in your suitcase some things are intangible and yet you carry them with you now I know what he means so that's just a little little taste of some places more than others finding home finding place and maybe a place that isn't yours she doesn't belong to Harlem but she belongs to Harlem and Harlem is hers I want to close by reading a poem but the closing poem and piecing me together we've talked about joy being a miracle the fact that we can laugh in times when there's such great tragedy happening in times when we're frustrated about what's going on in our world in our nation how do we hold on to joy how do we remember the things that are worth remembering to keep us going how do we stitch ourselves back together when I was writing piecing me together I was writing that to the backdrop of Sandra Bland all of that summer of great loss in our nation at the hands of police officers and the the stories of women weren't being told as much so I was digging to find well what's happening to black women and their bodies so this poem celebrates and honors the women that were lost and also the young girls that those videos that were viral about the girls at the swimming pool who were dragged by police officers a girl sitting in her classroom who got dragged out of her desk all of that made it into the book because I was like I cannot write about black girls without writing about what's happening to their bodies and so even if that's not your story I want you to just think about the things you've been through the good the bad I want you to think about how it is that you're still standing you're still here I want you to think about getting a journal writing your own story sharing your story with someone I tell young people all the time there's one thing that you can be an author but you can be a writer writers right you don't have to publish what you write you can still just write to get it out to release it to share it to put on record your own story so many times people are trying to speak for us on our behalf I think it's important to tell your own story this is black girls rising our black bodies sacred our black bodies holy our bodies our own every smile a protest every laugh a miracle peace by peace we stitch ourselves back together this black girl tapestry this black body that gets dragged out of school desk slammed onto floor tossed about at pool side pulled over and pushed onto grass arrested never to return home shot on doorsteps on sofas while sleeping and dreaming of our next day our bodies a quilt that tells stories of the middle passage of roots yanked and we planted our bodies a mosaic of languages forgotten of freedom songs and moaned prayers our bodies no longer disregarded objectified scrutinized our bodies our own every smile a protest every laugh a miracle our bodies rising our feet marching legs dancing our bellies birthing hands raising our hearts healing our voices speaking up our bodies so black so beautiful here still rising rising thank you.