Blog Blog Woof Woof

There are so many things about my dad that come to mind in relation to Barack Obama . I am constantly struck by the similarity of body movement. Every time I see the President walk I am reminded of my dad, every time I see the President sit or speak I am reminded of my dad. The photo here is from the White House flickr page. I think it is a wonderful photo but looking at the man in the photo I think of my dad. In life and lifestyle Papa and POTUS are very dissimilar but they carry themselves in a suprisingly similar way.We know about Barack Obama's life so I won't repeat it here but I will tell more about my dad. He was born in rural Middle Tennessee , oldest of two boys, his mom was a domestic and his dad a carpenter. If I understand correctly, some of his great grandparents were slaves (I think one of his grandmothers was a Cherokee and one of his grandfathers was a white man). My dad completed high school ( Pearl High School , class of 1936) and at most, a year of col...

I've been a little out of pocket recently - What does " out of pocket " mean anyway? - and there are several things to discuss. First, last week I was deeply saddened to hear Mitch Mitchell died . I hadn't thought about him in a long time but those who know me know my utter devotion to Jimi Hendrix . Hearing that Mitch died meant that the last member of the Jimi Hendrix Experience has died. Why that means anything considering all of the music that is available I don't know but I do know that I mourned for Mitch. I owe a lot of my sensibilities, especially music sensibilities, to that band. I owe MY definition of being black, or at least part of my definition, to what Jimi did while he was here and Mitch was along for most of that.  Second, because my father died of colon cancer I had to have a colonoscopy a couple of days ago. I will never look at Gatorade the same way again but I would love to have a sleep like the anesthesia offered once a week at least. I ...

I am filled with emotion. Barack Obama is the president-elect . How I wish Papa was here to see this. He would've loved Obama. I am excited - Barack Obama is the president-elect of the United States of America . I never believed a black man, even one as eloquent, conscientious and smart as Barack Obama, would be on his way to the White House. I am excited b/c my child will be born into a world where a black man CAN be president. I am sad b/c my father, a black man who grew during the depression in the urbanized rural south , who spent most of his adult life in a segregated world, who knew an awful lot but only had a high school diploma, is not here to see this happen. I am nervous b/c there are nutjobs in the world who would do Obama harm. I am nervous that my choice for president won't live up to my expectations, hopes and dreams and will not only let me down but give those nutjobs ammunition to say and believe stupid shit. PS: Barack has some incredible speech writers .