SuperBabyMaMaaaaaaaz!!!!..... welfareQUEEN’s theatre production 2007
SuperBabyMama of the Month- Sharena Diamond Thomas
"So many people tried to tell me to sell them the car, that it was the alternator, and I should just give up, and then one morning, I just woke up and had my coffee and fixed my own damn car,” Sharena Thomas related to me as we were walking through our mutual struggles with children, food stamp cuts, side jobs and revolutions to share knowledge with other poverty skolaz at the Albany Bulb resistance camp.
We both walked up the small hill, with a backdrop of our Mama Earth's breathtaking landscapes, towards one of many tents where landless peoples were peacefully dwelling and now resisting the devil-opers and real estate snakkkes trying to evict them. As we walked, we laughed through the current act of what i coined in 2007 with the creation of the welfareQUEEN's play, our SuperbabyMama moments, which is just that, as single parents in struggle, we make it happen, By Any Means, and still, as our welfareQUEENs anthem states, raise all the world's people, like me and you and you.. As we walked we also carried our children, our problems, our solutions and our mamaz dreams on our backs.
Sharena and Lesley Phillips, conducted one of their power-FUL medic trainings for the residents of the Bulb and i did an interview for PNN before i had to leave to go to my other side job where I earn some money outside of the now-reduced food stamps i and my family currently struggle to survive on.
It was in that walk, and Sharena's beautiful story of by any means necessary-ness- and so many like it from my other many sista-mamaz, that I knew we must start the SuperbabyMama Awards at POOR Magazine. and this month’s soon to be created honor goes to my sista-mama Sharena who with no formal training in mechanics, tested, removed and replaced her own battery. She is also raising four children and has been involved in the village-raising of countless others, she, along with Lesley co-founded the self-determined, people-led self-help group called Peoples Community Medics. Sharena is also a community gardener, a beautiful soul and auntie to thousands.. to name just a few of her mad skillz.
Sharena is a member of the powerful crew of my other sista-SuperBabyMamaz like Needa Bee of Healthy Hoodz, Vivian Thorp, Jewnbug, Tracey Faulkner, Laure McElroy and Queenandi of the welfareQUEENS of POOR Magazine, Estrella, Talibah, Ingrid DeLeon, Ma’ at, Krea Gomez, Cyndi Mitchell, Terrilyn, Cori Ander, Linda Montoya and Mona Lisa and so many more. And don’t even get me started bout Denika Chatman, and Tracey Bell Borden from Kenny Harding Jr Foundation and Mesha Irazarry of Idriss Stelley Foundation, the amazing and fierce Corrina Gould and my ghetto-fabulous, single mama Dee who are just a few of the future recipients of this long-awaited and much needed award (and eventual ceremony).
All of them, all of us, superbabymamaz, mechanics, cooks, artists, janitors, drivers, advocates, revolutionaries, dreamers, lovers, writers, story-tellers, musicians and visionaries who also, singlehandedly with very little resources, often in deep poverty, unstable or unsafe housing, fighting borders, landlords, welfare systems, abusive bosses, houselessness, criminalization and colonization to raise the worlds people, By Any means Necessary. Always.
Sharena is raising money to get her lights fixed on the same car so she can drive her Medics where they need to go without unneeded Po’Lice harassment. To make a donation or just fix her lights for her, you can contact her at sharena43@gmail.com or contact us at POOR and we can get her a message. To suggest a mama or write a Superbabymama story contact us at deeandtiny@poormagazine.org. This wont be every month cause POOR is in fack Po'. SuperbabyDaddyz we havent forgotten about you. Stay Tuned! To read another SuperbabyMama story about Vivi T of POOR Magazine click here