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

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!!!!