The Musings of a Latte Queen: Narratives of Everyday Life

What About Our Daughters?: Another Black Woman Gang Raped While Neighbors Listen to Screams...and DO NOTHING!#links#links Man's inhumanity to man. I pray that someone would call if this were my two young daughters or myself. This is one of the reasons I stay home, to protect them. This is one of the reasons I work with the girls in an "at-risk" neighborhood, to protect them. I had the local police come in a month ago to teach the middle school girls self-defense because as this report and statistics show, black women are raped and assaulted by black men. Black men, fathers, rise up, please, we implore you. Will you protect us or will you assault us? We are the only ones who can make ourselves better, this is not something that is the fault of the "man" or lack of anything but decency. Black women, protect yourself. Black community...come on people! We can do better than this! Poverty is the ruin of the poor.

I found this poem on B-Serious' blog and thought it was worth musing about! I then read his comments about Reach B.L.A.C.K. and after reading Come on People by Bill Cosby and Alvin Poussaint, M.D., I can't agree more that the power to make change is in the same hands of the people who literally built this country. Poetry: Poetic Politics Let America be America Again by Langston Hughes Let America be America again. Let it be the dream it used to be. Let it be the pioneer on the plain Seeking a home where he himself is free. (America never was America to me.) Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed-- Let it be that great strong land of love Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme That any man be crushed by one above. (It never was America to me.) O, let my land be a land where LibertyIs crowned with no false patriotic wreath, But opportunity is real, and life is free, Equality is in the air we breathe. (There's never been equality for me,Nor freedom in this "...

Jack and Jill Politics: Is America Addicted to Bigotry and Racism? Just sayin...

To say my husband and kids got on my last nerve this morning is a colossal understatement. Last night, after returning from a glorious life production, I came home to a tornado. My family room looked like a herd of elephants trampled through it and left disaster in its wake. My fourteen-year-old son was standing in the midst of the fray looking like the Cheshire cat. My husband and girls had just returned from an outing. It was 9:30pm on Sunday evening. I calmly stepped over the obstacle course and told my son, "I expect this clean by the morning. Oh, and tomorrow is trash day, you should gather it up and take it out tonight. You really don't want me to have to wake you up at 6am!" With that, I turned and went upstairs to take a bath. After I relaxed and put on my pajamas, I resisted all urges to go back downstairs. It was about 10pm by then. The girls were coming up the stairs with their still-awake chatter so I let them spend a little time playing in the bathtub. I al...

What About Our Daughters?: Ain't I A Woman PSA#links#links Enough said. Turn off the TV. Don't buy the CDs. Boycott the companies that promote misogny. Pull up your pants. Put on a proper shirt, cover up the girl friends. Read a book. Talk. Go for a walk. Explore the world and yes, I am a woman!

What About Our Daughters?: Statement of Black Men Against the Exploitation of Black Women Ok my brothas, it's time for you to speak up for us! We're waiting...

What About Our Daughters?: WAOD Weeps: Black Woman and Child Brutally Killed By Teens..With a Television#links What is causing the fights and quarrels among us? What happened to us?

This afternoon I walked in another woman's shoes, so to speak. I have a van. It is a 1998 Chevy Venture. I filled it up this morning - $81.11 - on my way to drop my son at theatre practice. I drove home, parked it, went inside for the rest of the day. It was time to pick him up so I buckled in the girls and headed for I-44. My usual route is I-44 to I-270 to I-64 - pretty simple until your tire blows out. The initial "blump" on the highway alerted me to impending inconvenience. I pulled over on the shoulder and peaked out the drivers side door, it was low, but not completely flat. I inched back, the exit just ahead. The gas station sign promised air and relief, but ended up being on the other side of Manchester, an agonizing mile. The van decided it just couldn't make it the last few feet and instead let out a loud "PLOP, BLOOM, BLUMP, BLUMP." I immediately pulled into the parking lot of a business just to my left, God had favors waiting, thankful t...

Jack and Jill Politics: Barack Obama's Speech on Father's Day#links

We came together last night and sang Hannah's song. Family from California was in town, it was the night before Aunt Hannah's Home Going Celebration. We met at my house late in the evening to fellowship, remember, hug, eat, and laugh. Thom felt the love in the room and I'm sure his mom would've appreciated us doing what she did all her life - love. Aunt Hannah was a gracious woman. Her gentle spirit, sparkling eyes, and constant smile will be remembered. She has left us physically, but never spiritually. The laughter was like music in Thom's ear. For the first time in weeks I saw my cousin relax. He has been in a tornado for the past four weeks from his mother's diagnosis to her death. Even in her final stage, Aunt Hannah was granted her desire. She asked to not suffer long when it was her time to go, she had been a caregiver her whole life and I'm sure her prayer was for her son. In the last days of her life, she still greeted well wishers with a wa...

Jack and Jill Politics: On First Ladies Named Michelle.....and Diane

Death comes in a whisper and last night, it called my Aunt Hannah's name. This beautiful spirit and gracious woman took her last breath surrounded by those who love her. Hands were holding hers and tears streamed down the faces. Words of love and reassurance were uttered to her still listening ears. She was calm and in a twinkling, left a body ravaged with cancer that came on her like a tornado, leaving internal devastation in its wake. Aunt Hannah didn't want to have a long, lingering illness. God granted her wish. It was only Mother's Day that I came to visit her in the hospital after the final tests revealed C-A-N-C-E-R. It was not to be one that would allow operation or radiation. She came home on hospice care about two weeks later. God was granting her wish. She had spent her life caring for others as a wife, mother, aunt, sister, grandmother, friend. Her legacy was evident by the myriad of faces that I saw during the times I was at her home. Classmates from 1957 were ...

Jack and Jill Politics: CBC Clinton Supporters Go A-Beggin and A-Shufflin

There are some moments in time that just make you want to smile and say "thank you Jesus!" My weekend was filled with moments like that. It all began on Friday when, despite the rain storm that pelted down on the St. Louis area and the evacuation to the basement, the promise was awaiting. My husband and I hosted some out-of-town relatives for Harris-Stowe State University's dinner theatre production of "Having Our Say." It was beyond believable the performance of the two actresses. The evening was made even more special to have my family members and my husband's family and friends join us! We all laughed and cried at the bantering of the "Delaney Sisters." That night was the kickoff for the family celebration. Friday night filled my heart with anticipation as I went to find my cousins. There were people I hadn't seen since I was a little girl! The metro area was filled with Fosters, Allens, Jameses from all over - Chicago, Louisiana, Ohi...

Jack and Jill Politics: Tim Wise Stirring the Pot

The wealth of the rich is their fortified city but poverty is the ruin of the poor. I've been mulling over this verse from Proverbs 11:22 for quite some time. Initially it came to me as I was preparing a lesson for the girls I disciple on Saturdays. The message is not that being poor in and of itself is wrong, it is the mentality that comes with poverty that ruins people. This truth has never been more real to me than since I moved back to my birth city and started working with a group of "at risk" middle school girls. One of the times we met we talked about dress and one of the things I always say is "cover up the girl friends." Well, during the course of our lesson, one of the girls commented as to why she should change how she dresses "just to get a job." I immediately told her that I wouldn't hire her with an attitude like that. My lesson turned toward business and the importance of appearance. Then it dawned on me, perhaps they don't want ...

Family is very precious. Their presence in my life is worth more than gold, rubies, or diamonds. My essence and very existence center around my family after my relationship with Christ. Tonight my heart is heavy. One of my Aunts is losing her battle with terminal cancer. Her only child, my dear cousin, sent a message to the family that now is the time to speak to her. She is standing at the door we all must one day walk through. I feel loss. I just moved back to my family's main base. I've only been "home" a few months and was looking forward to reconnecting with this large clan. Some I have seen, some I haven't. We all have lives, we are getting settled in, I have kids. All the things that consume that precious commodity called time. Then time ran out. My phone and fingers have been texting and dialing across the country. How could this happen to us? One precious cousin, my mother's generation, suddenly passed away in December. We had no expecta...

Today I celebrate life! I wish my father were alive. I would call him up and chat about yesterday. He would be so proud. A black man is the nominee for the highest office in the land! The world is standing up to applaud America. Finally in America, possibility is alive! Today I celebrate liberty! I took my daughters and little cousin up to the coffee shop. I didn't have to cover myself or wait to have a man drive me. My girls could run freely around the fountain at the town square. We didn't see tanks, guns, or armed men. Today I celebrate the pursuit of happiness! I watched the girls as they tugged, tussled, and talked through their first days of summer vacation. I listened to their imaginative play. I tried to ignore their pleas for a third snack. I read a book, I drank a latte (okay...two), and I talked to a friend. When I go to bed tonight, I will smile. This is a good day in America. I don't expect this historic nomination to change the oil prices or pric...

This morning I woke up and feel REAAAAAALLLLLLYYYYY proud of America! The United States of America has made history! Senator Barack Hussein Obama is the Presumptive Nominee of the Democratic Party for the Presidency of the United States of America! Wow! America the world is applauding us! 1442 Columbus "discovered" America. 1619 Slaves (Africans, black people) in Colonial America 1776 The United States won freedom 1820 Missouri came into the Union 1838 The Trail of Tears and the Cherokee Nation 1865 Slaves were "free" 1868 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution 1920 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education 1958 Little Rock Nine 1963 President Kennedy Assassinated 1964 Civil Rights Act 1965 Voting Rights Act and ALL black people could vote 1968 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Assassinated 1996 Hopwood vs. University of Texas Law School 2000 Supreme Court decided an election 2001 9/11 2003 Invasion of Iraq 2005 Hurricane Katrina pulled th...