June 2007 > Alumni > In Memorium

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Principal Leadership Institute Alumna denise brown, 1957–2007

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denise brown, who spelled her name with lowercase letters, was an artist, teacher and Berkeley High School administrator. An obituary appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle on February 14.

Principal Leadership Institute coordiator Lynda Tredway wrote this poem to her former student:

denise brown

Ashe

Kind of heart
Clear of purpose
Strong of spirit
Determined of will
Clarion call of concern
Everlasting purple, color her there at the top of the rainbow
Color her regal, robust and responsive
Color her magical and yet an ordinary folk
Color her life itself.

A boulder of a woman whose indomitable, yet
gentle, soul could cry, shout, be, rejoice and love --
She infused the air around her and made
each of us feel as if she knew our own special heart.
So that being in her presence
gave each one a claim
and the care to do right by this blessed life.

—from one of those she touched, Lynda, February 2007

Ashe / ASE is a Yoruba word meaning command, power, and authority and denise brown (always using small letters like bell hooks), signed her emails this way. Ability to make whatever statement you make come to pass or happen. You can also call it the ability to compel nature to bend to your will (nature; Animate & Inanimate objects).  This type of Aashe/ase could be Either God given (born with) or Acquired. The acquired one could further be divided into the following.

Physically Prepared (Herbs & Formulas)
Passed on (Psychically, through touch, swallowing of Objects, a gaze, or other methods)
Developed through austerities, observances of fasts and penance.
Regular practice of a particular process or routine (like regular worship of one's Orisha, Chanting a sacred name, or regular performance of a potent ritual).

The orisha in Yoruba and diaspora culture are the gods, the carrier of the word, and they pass on memory, history, culture as they sanctify..

 

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