The Newest Blog...

The current blog .....


is under the old one because I started it first but published it last....please scroll down to read it ...when you see the Purple Gye Nyame .....you've arrived

coming soon the my blogspot....

"I Know What This Is !"

I just drove my 87 Volvo through the High School Homecoming Parade at Crenshaw and Slauson for the Sophmore Class ..."Class of 2011 Rocks the Vote" was our theme...details and more coming soon

all love
danna

My response to an awesome blog !!!!!

My Blog will make sense as long as you read the following...

A blog by Dr. Yolanda Pierce from www.princetonprofs.blogspot.com called the Kitchen Table that I highly suggest you subscribe to... She and her partner typically address their blogs to one another so here is an excerpt ...Dr. Pierce writes ...

Melissa,

I had a wonderful, but brief conversation with a colleague this morning. As a political progressive, he was joyous in his opinion that we are looking at an Obama/Biden win in November. He was very thoughtful in his analysis of both the benefits and the limitations of a Democratic presidency after 8 years of Bush. As we were parting, he added that the greatest benefit that will come from an Obama win is that it will strike the deathblow against racism in this country.

I paused in my tracks. I said to him that an Obama presidency will surely strike ONE blow against racism, but we've got to keep the hits coming. Racism's deathblow is a long way off. We cannot afford to let down our guard against racism, overt or covert, in the likely event of an Obama presidency.

...Melissa



I thought I would share my comment on their blog with you guys.....(edited for imnprovement)

These ladies are my sheroes and I believe they have to a good degree received the contemporary torch as passed by bell hooks (my first shero)

As I read their blogs, I am always saying ..."that's what I said" (not always as articulately :-) or "that's what I was thinking".

Here goes ...

I have explained to a girlfriend that despite the deep trenches to which I support and volunteer with the Obama campaign, I am clear what this means for some African Americans, most African Americans and all African Americans or any minority or cultural group that suffers with any of the "isms" listed in this eloquent blog. There is a difference in what it means for each subgroup particularized by class, education and the varying shade of minority you are.

An Obama presidency does not end the white supremacist filter through which many Americans view minorities or the unfortunate lens of self hate steeped in white supremacy through which some African Americans actually see themselves.

I explained to the same friend that while Obama's background was meager his foreground (undergraduate, graduate and professional present) has been anything but humble and we must understand that his opportunities and his choices have made for what we hope on November 4th will be an unbeatable combination. It is this unbeatable combination that Americans en masse appear to be responding to. The first half of the story without the second would draw the same "looking down the nose" response it regularly garners without the second half.

We must all work to level the number of opportunities on the playing field for EVERYONE who is in anyway (nuanced or overwhelmingly) disenfranchised by the current systems and institutions that leverage their persistent racist survival of our backs.

Death to racism can be certain as long as wisdom, patience, passion, intelligence and love are our guides.

all love
danna "that one" kiel

Going to the Bank...I love it

I OWE.....

Before I launch into why I love going to the bank I owe you the following images ...my too pink Michelle Obama shirt, my purple gye nyame which made me feel like a "crayola god"...I couldn't get that pink shirt in a picture...


There is also a conspiracy a "foot" that I wanted to share. It is a conspiracy that only mothers (or whomever buys shoes for the kids and pays attention) I think will understand. I mentioned in my last blog that I bought Ali new shoes from Target for which I was very proud. I always want my child to look like his mother has good sense.

Anyway I find that every time I buy shoes that fit perfectly he grows out of them ASAP like within a month. I find however if I buy shoes half size to big (THE ONLY OTHER OPTION), he never grows into them before they get worn down and it is time for a new pair. Let me know if that happens to you.

The Lincoln Stuff....this is more stuff I owe....FYI...Lincoln did not free very many slaves...

Okay so when the Emancipation Proclamation was handed down to the Union....slavery was already over...it had been abolished....the slaves he would've been freeing were already free...Viriginia and Delaware the 2 northmost southern states were not mandated to comply as Lincoln did not want those 2 states to secede, as well...the Southern States had already seceded ...for a moment in time ...Lincoln was not their president, the Emancipation Proclamation was a federal mandate that did not apply to them as they were all state run and not part of the Union...they had their own crazy laws addressing slavery

The Real Reason I started this blog, and posted a week later ...

Finally....why I love going to the bank....it has nothing to do with the money or that fact that my bank has not bought anybody or been bought...it is the conversations I have with the tellers one of whom is a student I taught, another who aspires to be an actress and is actually going to school (in LA what a concept) and just overall nice folks. Last Wednesday when I walked in I saw tellers whom I'd never seen before. One in particular was a Latino gentleman. He become my teller and waved me over. I was depositing the latest pittance document that the state weekly confuses with something called child support. They even type those words on the check to make me think that's what it is....

I slid my check and deposit slip through the glass and with slight pause but little hesitation my 1st time teller says "this is all you get". Now I am certain all tellers are forced to read what is on checks because they have to key the figures into the computer, but I am sure somewhere in the code of conduct manual it explains that they cannot converse with customers about their economic plight.

I was so tickled and thought "the pretense was over". We quickly launched into the madness that I endured on my court date back in July when the court officer explained to me that Ali's father had worked out a $20 per month payment agreement on the past due child support he owes me and the state. The candidates have been talking hatchets and scalpels and this fool is trying to catch a waterfall with children's motrin medicine cup. Our conversation ended with him telling me, "you are a strong woman and you don't need this anyway." (I get the compliment...but we will always take the money...whatever it is ....it spends)

What a lift!!!!!
Marketing and Promotions

Y'all Know I gotta pay bills and for these airline tickets for me and Ali's trips to Tuskegee's Homecoming and to the Inauguration in January

www.cafepress.com/InaugurateObama
www.cafepress.com/NextFirstLady
www.cafepress.com?NextFirstLady2
www.cafepress.com/kaliahklothing2
www.cafepress.com/kaliahklothing

Anybody who reads this blog....please check out my radio show Change Is Now....live or archive or search"djdannak" at iTunes
www.blogtalkradio.com/djdannak

10/18 Financial Manager and Guru George Thompson
10/25 Alabama Senator Bobby Singleton
11/1 Drs Yolanda Pierce and Melissa Harris Lacewell (check out their Kitchen Table Blog at www.princetonprofs.blogspot.com)


all love
Danna "that one" Kiel

Trying to get back to you....

(This was drafted last week 10/2)

Back with you .....catching up I sat our deceased bird outside trying to hold on for a burial. Her soul is already in heaven and I finally disposed of her earthly remains last Thursday (10/2). My son doesn't know, I will talk to him about heaven for animals in greater detail today....no I am not exactly sure what I will say. We don't have the African Finches yet, but we are trying. My son's father is trying to research a specific pet store. I am trying to give him reasonable nudges and he seems genuinely on the case.

Most days (actually everyday), I am unaffected by Ali's Father's presence on Earth since Ali's birth. I was shocked that he text me the other night to share that he was watching the Obama Channel on Dish Network(73) and did I know if it would continue running through the campaign. Civil conversation seemed reasonable given the nastiness that followed a July 2nd court date where I would not sign in support of the re-instatement of driver's license that was suspended because of the back child support he owes Ali.

Goin' off with hand on hip... I would not sign because it was predicated on an "awaiting" job for which I saw no material proof existed . Further it was a job for which wages would and could not be tracked therefore disabling the state's ability to garnish, which is how we collect the current pittance that does not resemble "child support". Those are however the words typewritten on the check. It was also based on his agreement to pay the courts $20 per month toward the balance of what he owes Ali and Ali's half brother who is 5 ( that I just learned about the day before July 2nd court date) in back child support. By the way...Ali is 6 years old.

Moving On... it's still been a blessed week...it was payday Tuesday. I am proud to have bought Ali new sneaks last night. Yesterday my order of my own creations arrived from my Cafe Press store, www.cafepress.com/NextFirstLady. Its too pink, it didn't look that pink on the computer screen. When creating anything, it is hard to reckon what you want and hope it will look like with what it inevitably turns out to be when UPS drops it off. I also stayed up late last night figuring out and then teaching myself to make colors from the RGB color wheel. After making the perfect shade of purple and 3 different shades of Maroon, I felt like a Crayola god. It was a charge !!!!! I now need yellow ....

Marketing and Promotions.... My other stores: www.cafepress.com/NextFirstLady ;

www.cafepress.com/NextFirstLady2 ;

www.cafepress.com/InaugurateObama ;

www.cafepress.com/kaliahklothing ;

www.cafepress.com/ObamaRoad (under construction but worth a walk through) ;

www.cafepress.com/kaliahklothing2 (under construction, but worth a walk through)

Obama Road... I participated in a volunteer phone-bank for which I brought two Obama supporters over to the "yes" column for volunteering. We have at the high school where I work an activity called SSR (sustained silent reading) ,that used to be call DEAR, "drop everything and read". Last year I never read. This year I completed "Trying to Sleep in the Bed You Made" and I am on to a self published effort by a friend entitled "Through The Storm". I am a Math Maven by trade and a reader by great desire followed by great effort. This is huge for me.

At Work.... I spent my professional day frazzled by ordering text that I was hoping would arrive soon....my students are making it along without it but we are in fact under murky water and would like to come up for air....

I also had an amazing conversation with my boss today that made me feel like a member of the team...I am bench player of sorts this year trying to figure out my full contribution ...today was a step

In General...

I am striving to be the best mother I can to Ali so he and I can soar together