The Musings of a Latte Queen: Narratives of Everyday Life

He changed the world. The way we communicate, create, connect, he thought it, sought it, did it, and we live it. Through his entrepreneurial spirit, we launched into music we can carry with us and computing for every man, phones that let us see who we talked to and hand-held computers that left us amazed that we even existed without it. Watching the easy going style and ever-present blue jeans, glued to the tube with each new innovative announcement, secretly wanting one even as we slog away on our one not-like-that. Amazed at the brilliance and loyal following, what this could do for a child learning to read and an artist creating a graphic masterpiece. He changed the world. RIP, Steve Jobs, Co-Founder, Innovator, Thinker, Apple www.apple.com

I, like many others, was riveted and in a time-warp back to a decade ago, a time when our innocence was shattered like the glass that flew from the towers.  Our vision was cloudy and black, smoke filled, and it was hard to breathe, much like I can only imagine at Ground Zero.  I was numb.  Then and now, the day after, I feel like something sitting on my chest and it is hard to breathe. There has been times of great change that are accompanied by times of great uncertainty.  I have lived through those moments and it always seems like it is the most dangerous, most dark, most hopeless just before the emergence of something grand.  It feels even more like that when you think back, rehearse, review, and remember that you put your heart into something, into life, and wonder about the outcome. This summer, the summer of a decade, had many impacts, riveting, jarring explosions that have left the soul somewhat traumatized, perhaps like we collectively were on 9/12, ...

I remember exactly where I was when it happened. The boys were already at school and I was finally having a moment to take a shower and settling into my first full week at home with a new baby, we had just come home the Friday before. I had just dried off and put on lounge clothes, my new baby was in her little rocker seat, she was just six days old, my husband jumped in the shower before me, it was 9am and we turned on the Today Show, I sat on the edge of our bed to just breathe in the sunshine morning of Tuesday and the quiet of the baby. "Oh my gosh, honey a plane just flew into that building!"  I was watching as Katie Couric interrupted regularly scheduled programming to report what was then believed to be some kind of accident when a plane flew into the North Tower on Tuesday, September 11, 2001.   My husband quick stepped the short distance from our walk-in shower to our bed and looked at the television with me, we were both enraptured.  He picked up the bab...

We are in a precarious state of affairs in our country. It seems as if Mother Nature as well as the nature of an injured populace has reached a frenzie. There were earthquakes, floods, recordbreaking heat, and now, Hurricane Irene streaming up the eastern seashore, even shutting down New York City. It leaves one wondering what is going on?  Why are things shaking up so much and so many are feeling as if they are on a precipice. This summer, August, seems to be going out with a vengeance and leaving the rest of us spent from too much of everything. I think this was one of the hardest summers without a lot of relief.  There was a perfect storm of too many things happening at once with not enough extinguishers to put out all the fires I dealt with this summer.  I think I'm still waiting for a vacation! The election frenzy has been in full gear with all the GOP candidates spouting their own brand of insanity and the Democrats sitting back watching the circus unfol...

August 4, 2011 is a momentous day in history. Today, in honor and celebration of that nurturing soul, I pause and give accolade to my Mama-Sister, eDali Swizwe!  Today is her 58th year on this universe.  The atmosphere breathed forth someone who exudes vitality and life, is free spirited, deeply loving, and ever ready for an adventure.  I learned more than I even know from this Queen.  She blessed my life and nurtured my soul, today, I stand with the ancestors and say, Ase!  It is well that this one is so esteemed! There is another who shares the space and time with my Mama-Sister, our President.  I also pause for a moment to give recognition and honor to President Barack Obama!  He is celebrating 50 years and has given a fresh, energetic, strategic, and classy look to a Gentleman! Happy Born Day to a Queen and a President!

My husband asked me one day, almost two months ago, if I was still writing.  I told him I was.  I just took a summer to reflect. Life takes us on many journeys down avenues and into conversations with people we may have never encountered before.  It is also unpredictable, unexpected, and sometimes, unplanned. My summer of thought reminded me that this life I have and the vision, wisdom, and leadership I see for the future, for the young people I had the pleasure to mentor for three years, is greater than even I can imagine.  God truly does use our gifts and leads us to places only HE can ordain.

My hair has always been a barometer of sorts.  Whenever change is coming, I mean significant, life altering, big changes, it usually manifests in my hair first. I didn't realize this until I began a journey about two weeks ago of taking down my dread locs. My baby daughter, curly hair precocious one, asked to have dread locs.  Her hair is super, super curly, like both my parents, and would be harder to loc than a tighter curl like her big sister.  I told her she had hair like mine, after her many requests and longing looks at her sister and I.  Her big eyes and requests promoted me to take down a loc to let her feel my hair.  She said "oh mommy, you are right, your hair is like mine," I promised that beautiful little girl that I would start my locs over with hers.  I spent four hours putting her hair in two strand twists and then began the long journey to take down 120 locs.  I didn't want to just cut my hair off, the other method I've used when ...