The Musings of a Latte Queen: Narratives of Everyday Life

Small town politics are always personal. Politics are always local. Yes, we have the national and state elections, the national and statewide issues that affect our lives, but it is the local, the immediate, that has an impact that is felt before the ink is dry. Such is the case with two school board issues in two towns I'm affiliated with. Never mind the closing of the Chicago Public School by Major Rahm Emmanuel, never mind the creationism seeping into the curricula in those red-states, never mind the charter school potential takeover and privatization of education across the nation, no, the local issues of these two towns have an immediate impact. In Jefferson City where I grew up, there is a proposition to make my alma mater one massive mega school instead of dividing it up into two high schools .  There are over 600 students in the graduating class, one has to take a meal to the graduation ceremonies held at Atkins Stadium just to keep from falling out from hunger. ...

Spring break week has been a wonderful opportunity for me to get caught up on some much needed rest, this campaign has been exciting and exhausting. It has also given me an opportunity to read and watch the actual night of one of my favorite shows and not try to catch it on Hulu . Last night, after being out putting up yard signs, spending time with teachers and voters, I settled in for Scandal on ABC , one of my guilty pleasures. There was a scene when the crisis team of Abby and Olivia Pope had to come to a couple's home to do damage control. The wife, a CEO, in her presumption of privilege fast-walks across the room, commanding the presence, with her hand extended "glad you could come, you must be Olivia Pope," toward Abby, the white, red-haired, employee of the black, dark-haired boss. Why, in 2013, are we, well educated black women still presumed to be incompetent and our secretaries presumed to be our superior? Are we a threat to some social order that a...

Reaching a certain stage in my life and career, I've decided that the status quo is worthless, useless, and not fit for public consumption. Now, it is easier to just "keep it the way it has always been" because doing anything else requires a sense of bravery and a dose of courage that the average person is afraid to use. It is in us, we all at times do it, question the "powers that be," talk among our little group about how we "wish things were different." But, that qualifier, as we, are you, willing to step out for the "something different" that will affect your life? Are you, am I, are we, willing to hold those in "position of power" accountable for the actions they take that affect our lives, our livelihood?  What are you afraid of? I am probably solidly in the middle of my life, or as my late father used to say, "I have more days behind me than ahead of me," and knowing that, I refuse to be silent, to be inti...

I looked up the other day and realized I have been too busy to write! That has never been part of my life, me, a writer, too busy to write.  How did that happen? I have also been too busy to take my Coursera Modern and Postmodern class.  Again, how did this happen? On January 11, 2013, I filed my candidacy to be a Board Director for the Kirkwood Public Schools. Things have been moving at an accelerated pace since then. I've met wonderful parents, teachers, staff, and citizens who care deeply about the education of our K-12 citizens.  I've been to coffees, PTOs, and more board meetings than I can count.  I've chatted with my campaign manager about the size of my flyers and how many I wanted to print, I've made my family endure my absence and way too many unwashed loads of laundry. The campaign has given me a fresh perspective on running for public office and also on how much work it takes to maintain one's individuality. I am an independent candidate wh...

At some point, you have to stop being polite and speaking in collaborative terms and tell it like it is. The Sequester is here, happening, and simply because a bunch of rich, old, white, conservative men hate answering to the black President, the one who came up through the social reforms that enabled many previously poor people to step into the middle class, and like the President, the upper income class.  The Sequester is white male resentment being played out on the public stage.  It is a manufactured crisis and they refuse to compromise, the very ones who redistricted themselves into a majority in the congress, the ones who insist on a super majority. I once told my many white friends, back in 2007, that it is about to get very ugly in America and they had some power to make a change, simply by speaking up the way many black, Latino, and liberal minded people have for decades, for the past 30+  years. Why are the American people being pushed aside? The rich w...