Thee Silver Platter w/ Tali Payne

BABY LET ME TELL YOU, (In my New Orleans voice)   I must admit when I first start writing this "about me" post, I froze up. It is so much easier to write about other people or do research on a current events than it is to write about yourself. Perhaps life has truly humbled me. Often I found myself in a battle of deciding what is important to say and if this sounds professional-- ultimately, I've questioned myself "is it perfect?" I've written articles, stories, Q&A's and plenty of paragraphs about myself and nothing has honestly seemed right.  However, I am learning that it doesn't have to be perfect the first time around and I am affirming that everything will fall into place. "Faith is taking the first step, even when you don't see the whole staircase." Hi, I'm Tali Payne and this is website is my re-entrance into the world of writing and broadcast. This site has been an on-and-off thing for over 10 year, I...

Last year was the first year I decided to celebrated Kwanzaa, it was a solo journey that I felt drawn to st udy. The days of knowledge and cultural love as the year came to an end was just what my heart needed. Illustrious and honored is what I felt as I studied the purpose of Kwanzaa. I did not have a huge celebration or any type of group gatherings, but I made it my responsibility to study the meanings of each day. I did some research and I watched some films to gather a clear understanding of what Kwanzaa really was and why this holiday is just as important as other holidays. Throughout my research I discovered the word Kwanzaa derives from a phrase in Swahili that means “first fruit.” The phrase is “matunda ya kwanza” and this American celebration was originally founded by an Africana studies professor by the name of Maulana Karenga in 1966. Kwanzaa is a seven-day cel ebration of African-American culture that starts on December 26 and ends on new year’s day. Each day of the...