You Gotta Be - Des'ree (lyrics)

I heard this song today. KTWV "the Wave plays" it every so often and there is just something EXTRAORDINARY about the song. It's lyrics are not only flawless, but the music is indeed music.  There is guitar, drums and llush and ayered vocals.  The video ia amazing, a pure delight...the video is a triumph of expression.  The song brings an energy of refresh and renewal and then the delivery system is a stunning and beautiful creation of chocolate womanhood with amazing dimples and a magnetic smile.  As Jimmy Fallon might write in his Thank You" notes, "thank you music video director of Desiree's "You Gotta Be" for not being afraid of the extreme close up". 

"All I know is Love will save the day !" She sings this lyric to remind us to let LOVE be our guide.  If you believe the same as I then all I know is God (Mother/Father) is our Guide and God will surely save the day.

Friday night (along with 3 other cities (Chicago, Philadelphia and Miami)) I screened a documentary film by Janks Morton entitled "We Need to Talk, A Message to Our Daughters" and of so many issues and baggage tackled about what shapes the lives of women for much better, as well as, for the very worst the claim that we can stake for becoming healed and whole is to do the hard work of finding completion in Christ (For other believers I am asserting the spirit of the creator that rests in us is where we look to be made whole).

The movie's target audience was Women, but the message of finding completion in Christ (or your creator by the name with which you worship) is for our men because they too are searching.  The difference is in how our creator shaped our physical and psychological beings that drive us toward each other for completion. Because completion is in Christ Jesus and not one another, the trails we blaze toward one another are always destined for collision and calamity...

It is time to pick up the pieces by looking up to the fill gaps and spaces on the inside...it will take fortitude, courage and wisdom...because we gotta be bold, we gotta be wiser we gotta be hard, we gotta be tough, we gotta be stronger we gotta be cool, we gotta be calm, we gotta stay together...All I know, all I know love will save the day ....so now you sing...



Desiree
Gotta Be

Listen as your day unfolds
Challenge what the future holds
Try and keep your head up to the sky
Lovers they may cause your tears
Go ahead release your fears
Stand up and be counted don't be 'shamed to cry

You gotta be, you gotta be bad
You gotta be bold, you gotta be wiser
You gotta be hard, you gotta be tough, you gotta be stronger
You gotta be cool, you gotta be calm, you gotta stay together
All I know, all I know love will save the day

Herald what your mother said
Read the books your father read
Try to solve the puzzles in your own sweet time
Some may have more cash than you
Others take a different view
My, oh, my
he-eh-y

You gotta be bad
You gotta be bold, you gotta be wiser
You gotta be hard, you gotta be tough, you gotta be stronger
You gotta be cool, you gotta be calm, you gotta stay together
All I know, all I know love will save the day

Time asks no questions it goes on without you
Leaving you behind if you can't stand the pace
The world keeps on spinning can't stop it if you tried to
The best part is danger staring you in the face


Remember, listen as your day unfolds
Challenge what the future holds
Try to keep your head up to the sky
Lovers they may cause your tears
Go ahead release your fears
My, oh, my
He-ey-y

You gotta be bad
You gotta be bold, you gotta be wiser
You gotta be hard, you gotta be tough, you gotta be stronger
You gotta be cool, you gotta be calm, you gotta stay together
All I know, all I know love will save the day

You gotta be bad
You gotta be bold, you gotta be wiser
You gotta be hard, you gotta be tough, you gotta be stronger
You gotta be cool, you gotta be calm, you gotta stay together
All I know, all I know love will save the day

Got to be bold, Got to be bad
Got to be wise, no never sad
Got to be hard, not too too hard
All I know is love will save the day

You gotta be bad
You gotta be bold, you gotta be wiser
You gotta be hard, you gotta be tough, you gotta be stronger
You gotta be cool, you gotta be calm, you gotta stay together
Oooh, yeah yeah yeah

(Continue until fade)

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

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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

Don't call it a comeback...it is actually

Everyday I have these thoughts I want to share. Everyday I don't. I want to share that I am thrilled to be alive in a time such as the one we are in. Despite what the economy and the daily news tells us we have to look to powers of imagination and creativity that are greater than our world's circumstance might have us believe.

I am trying to get Obama elected and my heart aches daily for the women and children of the Darfur region whose plight doesn't crack the headlines or the feeds right now. My 20th year high school class reunion that was to take place 3 years ago (2005) in New Orleans was rained out...if you know what I mean. As we plan for a 25th I still worry about New Orleans. What is the progress on the Crescent City? Katrina's lessons prepared us for Gustave, Ike and Holly I think her name was, but where do we go from here? We keep striving and believing.

I am a lifelong learner currently working as a Math Intervention teacher trying to find my place in the world. Despite my skill area of math my greatest days as a teacher are spent listening to the lectures of History and English teachers who are working to shape thought through the lens of our country's ill written history. They both do an awesome job of aiding standard texts with truth without cracking the framework of the state's content standards or providing top notch instruction. Lincoln freed very few slaves....he's still a genius and inspired others to make change that moved us toward a more perfect union and the abolition of slavery, but I repeat the brilliantly written Emancipation Proclamation freed VERY FEW slaves...

If you have ever read this blog, you know I am driven by the life of my beautiful son who gives his all everyday to life and living even when his bird has died and his mother can't get to the pet store fast enough to buy African Finches instead of parakeet particularly since this is the 3rd parakeet to die and the first for him to actually grieve.

I grieve too this time because I put a lot of time, energy and emotion into keeping this one from the great "Up Yonder" within 2-3 months of purchase (like the others). She seemed to be doing so well. For that matter so was I. I changed water everyday and food every week. I did a big cage clean up about two weeks ago. I felt like I was ushering in a new era for us. Last week I took my eye of the ball, the bird actually. She ate all her food up in a week (which she never does before I change it) and her water evaporated and I missed it.

Between Wednesday and Friday it all went wrong. Friday night upon our return home from the Debates, she was gone. We should be able to get the African Finches this weekend and prayerfully, we will make it to 6 months with them.

I finally made it back to blogging because I was inspired by the writings of Dr. Yolanda Pierce and Dr. Melissa V. Harris-Lacewell (check their blog here on blogspot called "The Kitchen Table" IT REALLY COOKS!!!!), the blogging of Shavar Ross and learning that if you are a procrastinator like me and have not filed your taxes this year....the deadline for filing in time to qualify for the stimulus check is October 15th ...whew I was relieved ....3 months ago a friend mentioned file by October and as I pulled W2's on Sunday the 28th, I discovered the most important 1 (my primary full time job) is missing. I put in a request today to get a copy. I also logged on to turbo tax to get the party started. I am trying to get right...

I also made the decision today to actively pursue graduate studies next year and try to build the Career that I think I was supposed to have... an intersection between African American Studies and Filmmaking....the journey thus far though has been AMAZING!!!!