Foundation Employee Annual Giving Campaign

Wondering which fund you might want to support in the Foundation? How about the Way to Go Single Parent Scholarship? This scholarship was started by Jill Mason and provides small awards to single parents who are enrolled in at least six credits, have a 2.5 GPA and have applied for the FAFSA. Forty-two students were awarded Way to Go awards this semester.

One of last year’s recipients, Takeyla Benton, was featured in the Yahara Journal. Here is her piece:

aMILLIONMILES

aMILLIONMILES from happiness
with a pen and my journal
in my mind I've ran this race
aMILLlON times
cried aMILLION cries
wrote aMILLlON lines
while denying this destiny was mine
how can writing be anything more than just a pastime
so I write a list to decide
what the hell to do wit' my life so I can die satisfied
my heart tells me to write
but the reality is I gotta get my money right
so I work 'til I'm numb
emotionally constipated
bloated with rhymes and lyrics
and so much poetry that in my sleep my soul longs to be near it
in everyday conversation my ears can hear it
there's so much I want to write
that it keeps me up at night
and on the verge of homicide during the day
in every way
I'm longing for a literary laxative
to release my flow from this uptight life I live
flushing me aMILLlONMILES away from this stress
but that a whole notha mess
and a whole notha poem aMILLIONMILES away
on a day
when I'm not Mommy
or Baby
or boss
or have to hear about how much that or this costs
or have to hear about how I ain't doing it right
or have to be a brotha's love slave when I really just feel like getting
some damn sleep at night
-well maybe I can do that some nights
but tonight
I just wanna write aMILLlON sonnets
aMILLION villanelles
and tell some folks to just go to hell
aMILLION prose perfectly composed
in neat lil' epic rows
wrapped up in cute lil' ballade bows
hung perfectly in a frame outside my do'
under a big red sign that reads "don't disrupt this bitch's flow"

If you would like to help students like Takeyla please consider a donation to the Employee Annual Giving Campaign. The Way to Go Single Parent is just one of hundreds of funds to choose from. For more information contact tweisheipl[at] madisoncollege [dot] org (Tricia Weisheipl) at (608) 246-6958.