The Musings of a Latte Queen: Narratives of Everyday Life

Carnival barkers, blatant racists, strange strange women, uber wealthy conservatives, and the storms. I couldn't articulate my anger, disgust, disappointment, and just plain rage at the events of yesterday and even leading up to yesterday.  It would be that April was the month of crazy and almost too much going on like being on a roller coaster all month, all of it because some white men can not stand the fact that a black man is the President and are trying to undermine him and destroy the nation. In April, we had the budget proposal that wanted to give more tax breaks to the wealth with the promise that they would produce jobs (it has been a year since the mid-term election and still, no jobs, unless you count McDonald's 50,000 hiring spree or the new Chik-fil-A that opened up in Des Peres).  They want to pay for this on the back of seniors.  They lie, lie, and lie so much that the media follow them around like lap dogs, scraping up every piece of file spew that com...

I went to work out on Monday, trying to take my husband up on his 100 days of fitness challenge.  I turned on the treadmill to do my 20 minutes and settled in for a bit of mind-wandering ease.  My townhouse complex has a gym with flat screen TVs, that morning it was tuned in to one of the morning news shows. The news shows were all reporting about the upcoming nuptials for the crown prince in England.  This automatically led the next segment to talk about romance, regrets, and a survey between men and women.  Not surprisingly, women had more regrets in the romance department and men had more regrets in the career department.  I think the respondents were of varying age, but the ones interviewed looked to be in my age bracket - those that sit between late baby boomer (born in 1964) and early gen x (born in 1965).  We are just old enough to have lived through some regrets and just young enough to make some changes. My legs were doing all the work and sinc...

When I stop to think about the eight of all that is on my plate, I often want to just pack my bags and run away to a quiet place, a serene bed-and-breakfast with a nice, comfy, clean bed that I didn't make, on clean sheets I didn't have to wash and fold, with towels I didn't have to wash, and coffee I didn't have to make.  There are times when I wonder what was I thinking that day I went to work or that day I got on that train, when my life was altered in ways that I am still processing. Then I look up and my youngest daughter runs to give me a hug and my little me-me reminds me how much she is my shadow and I know that plans change, dreams alter, and opportunity reinvents itself. 2012 is a year I'm looking forward to because it will be a shift, a change, a realigning of dreams. Only another woman, a mother (unless you are the Duggars, of course) can identify with the desire to have a moment back when it was pre-husband, pre-child and the only thing set before...

Japan has been on my mind and in my heart a lot lately. My son is there, he is a Petty Officer in the United States Navy. It has been a long weekend of watching and wondering and praying and watching. I didn't know the earthquake hit because I was asleep in the wee hours on Friday.  When I woke up to start my day, I came downstairs to turn on Facebook to connect with my family.  My brother posted an urgent message to my son to check in.  Then I read all the rest and my heart felt like it leaped into my mouth. My son did check in, he is in far southern Japan, in Iwakuni, far from the earthquake epicenter and far from the tsunami devastation.  He assured me all the military personnel were fine, the Navy moms could breathe a momentary sigh of relief, then our collective mother hearts began to look in sheer awe at the force of nature and the loss of life. Japanese people are a very loving, giving, and cohesive people.  This disaster shattered a nation with...

I announced to my family last week that I am planning to pursue my doctorate. The kids all thought it was cool and my son asked me if they would have to call me "Doctor Mama" now. I smiled because he was just passed toddlerhood when I entered my MBA program, he is now 16.  He and I could potentially be starting college in the fall of 2012. Why now?  Well, I always wanted to but after I graduated from the University of Iowa, Tippie School of Management in May 2000, thought I should do what other newly minted masters of the universe should do...go to corporate America.  I went a tiny step down and didn't go into CPG - the usual career path of marketing MBAs is brand management for the likes of any company product you find in your kitchen or bathroom - and went to a privately owned greeting card company. My choices were somewhat limited because of the location of some of the CPG companies.  California and New York didn't even hit the  list, I had sons. ...

A few months before President Obama was elected, I told a group of white friends that things in this country are going to get bad, really bad, especially if Barack Obama was elected.  I admonished my Bridges Group to be watchful and to speak out, given that part of our monthly discussions were in attempts to see each other as human beings and understand our journey in this country, how the isms have affected our worldview. The events that took place in Egypt reignited something in parts of our country, the silent people who didn't want to speak against the Tea Party and what they were up to with everything from assaulting President Obama's birth to condemning First Lady Michelle Obama for trying to combat childhood obesity, finally decided to speak out when it hit home. Wisconsin is the birthplace of unions and while black men were excluded from this fraternity of manufacturing working class several decades, the very presence of unions meant a chance for fair wages, collectiv...

Today, the people of Egypt found that their perseverance, peaceful protest, and the voice of power reached to the airwaves and enacted a change the will be felt for generations.  The Pharoah, Mubarik has stepped down as President, and the "arc of History" has bent to the people of this country, this ancient land, this place of history, and I am happy. The other day, I was in the audience at the St. Louis Public Library, Schlafly Branch, and heard Isabel Wilkerson give a talk on her recent book, " The Warmth of Other Suns" and spoke to the immigrant heart that resided in my dad, in many relatives of black people who south a better life, much like the Egyptians today. Earlier this week, my son brought tears to my eyes and rendered me speechless when he did a breathtaking performance as Walter Lee Younger in the KH Players performance of "A Raisin In The Sun".  He brought a rawness to the role from deep down and I felt a power resonate inside him.  There...