I woke up this morning and was already on pins and needles. I cried. Not because of school, or the break up, but because today I wish that my grandfather, and grandmother, and my cousin Mgn, and all of my black relatives who died could be here today. I'm scared. I'm hopeful. I'm scared.
Rr called me this morning and we went down to the Fire Station together. We voted. My friend KD sent me text messages about hope, and history. She told me that he would be the first black president of the USA four years ago. I voted for Hillary in the primary. KD and I had fought about it. She called me a chicken then. She might have been right.
I'm a hopeful chicken right now. I'm also sort of frantic. I miss CNK like crazy. I want to talk to him. I want to know what he's thinking about all of this.
My mom sent me the best e-mail and she gave me permission to paraphrase and then post it here. She's been calling people in Indiana on behalf of Barack Obama. Mostly just leaving messages about where the message recipient can go to vote. Here is her story:
"So I called people in Indiana again today. Didn't get too many -- in
fact got lots of disconnected numbers. Must be dragging the bottom of
the barrel. Of the people who did answer here is the best conversation I had...
Woman on phone in Indiana: Well I voted already
Mom [in her head]: [she sounds so friendly I assume she means for Obama]
Woman: I gotta tell you... I don't go with that Obama
Mom [in her head]: [Oh no! I'm chatting up a McCain voter... my heart is breaking]
Woman : No... I don't usually go with that. And he really doesn't have any
experience.
Mom [ihh]: [Why argue with her... she's already voted.]
Woman: People say that and it's true. But you know what. You aren't born
with experience. No one is born with president tattooed on their
forehead. No, he'll get it. I had to go for him.
Mom [ihh]: [What IS she saying? She DIDN'T go for him, she DID go for him? Put me out of my
misery!]
Woman: I did. I voted for him. Usually I don't go for those kind of people. Well I never have. But you know. We can change. We can learn. NOW I'M STILL NOT FOR MIXING 'EM UP. NO NO NO, I DON'T GO FOR THAT. But I had to vote for him. I had to do it. We're in big trouble here. Well things aren't going to change overnight. But at least he'll get us going in the right direction. And you know what?! My neighbor voted for him too! We all did.
None of us had ever gone for one of them before... but we all voted for him."
My mom told me that is made her cry a little when she got off the phone.
We can change. We can learn.
I'm completely terrified. It's 6:45pm CST and so far McCain is up...I'm hopeful anyway.
We can change. We can learn. Just a few hours now. Don't forget to breath.
Showing posts with label family reunion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family reunion. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Friday, July 25, 2008
When last we met...
So again, a long time since the last entry. Both of my fans (me and my mom) have stopped checking the site. I blame my lack of updates on two events in January:
1) I started dating CNK again.
2) A week after we got back together my house was broken into and my computer stolen.
I am not saying that there was any kind of causal relationship between those two events. CNK is an engineer and not a crack-head.
Please don't write in to tell me that not all crack-heads will steal your computer and that not all engineers won't...I know.
Regardless, I'm pretty sure that if CNK had broken into my house and stolen my computer he would have given it back by now because I definitely made him, and everyone around me, sorry that it happened.
So now it's July, nearly August, and here is the update in abridged form:
January 2008 - CNK and I give it another go. I am thrilled. I get ready to make him a "so-glad-we're-back" dinner and come home with a bag full of groceries to find my front door has been smashed in with a shovel. I know it's a shovel because I don't own the one inside my front door and my neighbor is missing the one she keeps on our shared front porch. She was home at the time that it happened but just "figured [I was] making a lot of noise at the front door". I think she must have been confusing me with her roommate who installed a full drum kit beneath my study. I call CNK and B to come rescue me. Neighbor and her roommate also hang around with us. Cops take TWO hours to show up and three phone calls. We all freeze on the porch while the squad car drives past us and doesn't stop.
On my third call, the dispatcher asks me if there is any kind of landmark that the officer can look for. "There are five people standing on the front porch waving and shouting at cop cars" I tell her. Among the items stolen were: my computer, my DVD player, my backpack, my ability to shut the front door for two days, my ability to sleep comfortably in the apartment for one month, and a half-full bottle of Chambord raspberry liquor.
February 2008 - I don't really remember anything of significance. I mean, it's not like my house got broken into again. Oh, CNK takes me on an awesome valentines date. We have the worst meal ever but it's so bad that we laugh about it the whole time and then he takes me to a show at the Virginia Samford. It was fun but we get sleepy and so leave early to sit by his apartment's pool, wrapped in jackets, eating jelly beans and chatting.
March 2008 - - People continue to not break into my house. I really appreciate it.
April 2008 - B turns 28. This is infuriating because I have been getting even deeper into my 30's and he's still only in his 20's. Jerk. CNK and I throw him a little sushi birthday bash and we all have a great time.
In addition, CNK takes his PE exam so suddenly we can see each other more often and not only from 10pm-10:30pm on Fridays. It is a difficult adjustment but we make it. I have a successful committee meeting where they tell me I have enough to graduate in December! YES!...(spoiler alert, the July entry will dash all excitement you may have for me). My friend DP comes for a visit and we see Allison Kraus and Robert Plant which was surprisingly fabulous.
May 2008 - I try to write a paper. I fail. I try to write a paper. I fail. I try to write a paper. I fail. I try to write a paper. I fail. My boss yells at me. I yell at her and then cry. I try to write a paper. I fail.
June 2008 - - Everybody moves or gets married. I help CNK move. He helps his friends move. My friend's Lx2 get married, I miss the wedding because my cousin gets married in ATL on the same day. My mom comes out for the cousin's wedding. We also see our dearest old family friends and spend an entire day in IKEA. It's my birthday month. I refuse to get my hopes up and end up having a truly nice time, making a large dinner of crab legs and salmon, which I don't eat...I'm a vegetarian. I receive absolutely lovely gifts from everyone. Wine, cookies, shoes, serving bowls, a backpack to replace the one that was stolen, bookcases, flowers, and paper masks of my face mounted on bendy straws that say on the back "The world would be a better place if everyone was a little more like M---"
I'm very relieved that they say "a little more" because it saves us all the trouble of picturing the petty, stressed-out, crabby, snarky horror that would be if the world were a LOT more like me.
Most significant though, my distant cousin, Mgn, dies. I find out at the wedding when I ask after her as I was expecting that we would be at the same reception table. Her death was sudden and efficient, just like her. The funeral at Spelman College is amazing. Her family legacy is amazing. I get to see people who I will miss by not attending this year's family reunion and I wish I could thank her for the opportunity, as strange as that sounds.
July 2008 - Work continues. My training grant is renewed for a year and suddenly my mentor doesn't think I'll finish in December. Now it seems like it will be next June but I'm sure that has nothing to do with the additional six months of free funding. More people move. CNK and I help his sister in T'loosa and his friend in B'ham. I try to write a paper...I sort of manage but not really. I collect more data, it's actually decent.
And there it is, seven months in a nutshell. Nothing to it. As of this morning my house was still okay. I think it helped to remove the shovel from the porch and to get a real doorframe that's not made out of rotten wood. I haven't replaced the computer or the chambord but it's been really nice to have a backpack again.
If you get a chance, check out the links to my cousin Mgn. She really was an amazing woman and worth knowing.
I'll write again soon, or at least in the next seven months. Honest.
1) I started dating CNK again.
2) A week after we got back together my house was broken into and my computer stolen.
I am not saying that there was any kind of causal relationship between those two events. CNK is an engineer and not a crack-head.
Please don't write in to tell me that not all crack-heads will steal your computer and that not all engineers won't...I know.
Regardless, I'm pretty sure that if CNK had broken into my house and stolen my computer he would have given it back by now because I definitely made him, and everyone around me, sorry that it happened.
So now it's July, nearly August, and here is the update in abridged form:
January 2008 - CNK and I give it another go. I am thrilled. I get ready to make him a "so-glad-we're-back" dinner and come home with a bag full of groceries to find my front door has been smashed in with a shovel. I know it's a shovel because I don't own the one inside my front door and my neighbor is missing the one she keeps on our shared front porch. She was home at the time that it happened but just "figured [I was] making a lot of noise at the front door". I think she must have been confusing me with her roommate who installed a full drum kit beneath my study. I call CNK and B to come rescue me. Neighbor and her roommate also hang around with us. Cops take TWO hours to show up and three phone calls. We all freeze on the porch while the squad car drives past us and doesn't stop.
On my third call, the dispatcher asks me if there is any kind of landmark that the officer can look for. "There are five people standing on the front porch waving and shouting at cop cars" I tell her. Among the items stolen were: my computer, my DVD player, my backpack, my ability to shut the front door for two days, my ability to sleep comfortably in the apartment for one month, and a half-full bottle of Chambord raspberry liquor.
February 2008 - I don't really remember anything of significance. I mean, it's not like my house got broken into again. Oh, CNK takes me on an awesome valentines date. We have the worst meal ever but it's so bad that we laugh about it the whole time and then he takes me to a show at the Virginia Samford. It was fun but we get sleepy and so leave early to sit by his apartment's pool, wrapped in jackets, eating jelly beans and chatting.
March 2008 - - People continue to not break into my house. I really appreciate it.
April 2008 - B turns 28. This is infuriating because I have been getting even deeper into my 30's and he's still only in his 20's. Jerk. CNK and I throw him a little sushi birthday bash and we all have a great time.
In addition, CNK takes his PE exam so suddenly we can see each other more often and not only from 10pm-10:30pm on Fridays. It is a difficult adjustment but we make it. I have a successful committee meeting where they tell me I have enough to graduate in December! YES!...(spoiler alert, the July entry will dash all excitement you may have for me). My friend DP comes for a visit and we see Allison Kraus and Robert Plant which was surprisingly fabulous.
May 2008 - I try to write a paper. I fail. I try to write a paper. I fail. I try to write a paper. I fail. I try to write a paper. I fail. My boss yells at me. I yell at her and then cry. I try to write a paper. I fail.
June 2008 - - Everybody moves or gets married. I help CNK move. He helps his friends move. My friend's Lx2 get married, I miss the wedding because my cousin gets married in ATL on the same day. My mom comes out for the cousin's wedding. We also see our dearest old family friends and spend an entire day in IKEA. It's my birthday month. I refuse to get my hopes up and end up having a truly nice time, making a large dinner of crab legs and salmon, which I don't eat...I'm a vegetarian. I receive absolutely lovely gifts from everyone. Wine, cookies, shoes, serving bowls, a backpack to replace the one that was stolen, bookcases, flowers, and paper masks of my face mounted on bendy straws that say on the back "The world would be a better place if everyone was a little more like M---"
I'm very relieved that they say "a little more" because it saves us all the trouble of picturing the petty, stressed-out, crabby, snarky horror that would be if the world were a LOT more like me.
Most significant though, my distant cousin, Mgn, dies. I find out at the wedding when I ask after her as I was expecting that we would be at the same reception table. Her death was sudden and efficient, just like her. The funeral at Spelman College is amazing. Her family legacy is amazing. I get to see people who I will miss by not attending this year's family reunion and I wish I could thank her for the opportunity, as strange as that sounds.
July 2008 - Work continues. My training grant is renewed for a year and suddenly my mentor doesn't think I'll finish in December. Now it seems like it will be next June but I'm sure that has nothing to do with the additional six months of free funding. More people move. CNK and I help his sister in T'loosa and his friend in B'ham. I try to write a paper...I sort of manage but not really. I collect more data, it's actually decent.
And there it is, seven months in a nutshell. Nothing to it. As of this morning my house was still okay. I think it helped to remove the shovel from the porch and to get a real doorframe that's not made out of rotten wood. I haven't replaced the computer or the chambord but it's been really nice to have a backpack again.
If you get a chance, check out the links to my cousin Mgn. She really was an amazing woman and worth knowing.
I'll write again soon, or at least in the next seven months. Honest.
Monday, August 6, 2007
In the days of the underground railroad, 7-layer dip only had one layer...bean (dedicated to P)
Okay, so another story from the reunion:
I had one cousin who showed up to the family registration drunk, and wearing an oversized white-tee. When I say 'oversized white-tee' I mean the damn thing looked like a dress with jeans underneath. I hated the skirpants look (skirt over pants) when it was popular for girls a few years ago, I really can't understand why it has now moved on to men. Anyway, he showed up with a beer and some Hennesy in hand, stinking, and loud. He had to be at least my age. He was politely tolerated but just barely. After watching the family photo DVD we were invited back up to the hospitality suit for some chips and dip. Not having finished the plate of cheese and cantaloupe that I stole from a different family reunion (guilt, I threw it out) I was more exicted about onion dip than usual.
When I got up to the room, cousin white-tee was there, busily scooping up grocery store 7-layer dip. I debated waiting until he was done, since he was still doing his best to look intimidating, but hunger won out and it's hard to be really intimidating when you're wearing a cotton dress over your jeans.
Me: Hi
WT: Hey
Me: Can you tell if there is meat in that?
WT: Yeah.
Me: Yeah there is?
WT: What? No, not in here. My friend's girlfriend makes this and she puts meat in it. I like it when she makes it. It's really good. But there isn't any in this one.
Me: Okay, thanks
WT: Why you askin?
Me: I'm a vegetarian so...
WT: *snorts* Well you know, they couldn't be worrying about that back in them underground railroad days!
I swear that is an actual quote and I will never forget it. He looked me dead in the eye when he said it too. Like I might start crying at the challenge.
I stared back at him and said, "Right. Well I guess it's a good thing we aren't there then. You know, what with the meat they had in the bean dip and the slavery and all."
We left it there.
I considered telling Cousin White-tee that back in the days of the underground railroad slaves used to sing songs and sew quilts that contained the directions to freedom so that they could pass the information along without being caught. Who knows, maybe they also passed along recipes for bean dip that way? I think the words of the old underground railroad song sum it up best:
Folloooooooow the drinking gourd, folloooooow the drinking gourd. For the Old Man is awaitin' for to carry you to bean dip, follow the drinking gourd. Well the river bends between two hills, the ground beef will show you the way, and it's left foot, peg foot, sour cream on, follow the drinking gourd.
But it wouldn't be fair to end the story here. I must say that the next morning, cousin white-tee showed up in the hotel lobby. This time he was considerably more friendly and was wearing his family reunion t-shirt (giant peach on the tummy) tucked into tan dockers with a brown leather belt. He behaved himself for the rest of the reunion and was actually quite pleasant and well spoken. I met his mother the next day. She is a high school teacher, one of many in the family. When I asked her who her children were she introduced me to her 18 year old daughter and then said "My son is the one who had too much to drink yesterday and showed out. Did you meet him?" I admitted that I had, but I left out the part about the bean dip.
Better to save that sort of thing for the internet.
I had one cousin who showed up to the family registration drunk, and wearing an oversized white-tee. When I say 'oversized white-tee' I mean the damn thing looked like a dress with jeans underneath. I hated the skirpants look (skirt over pants) when it was popular for girls a few years ago, I really can't understand why it has now moved on to men. Anyway, he showed up with a beer and some Hennesy in hand, stinking, and loud. He had to be at least my age. He was politely tolerated but just barely. After watching the family photo DVD we were invited back up to the hospitality suit for some chips and dip. Not having finished the plate of cheese and cantaloupe that I stole from a different family reunion (guilt, I threw it out) I was more exicted about onion dip than usual.
When I got up to the room, cousin white-tee was there, busily scooping up grocery store 7-layer dip. I debated waiting until he was done, since he was still doing his best to look intimidating, but hunger won out and it's hard to be really intimidating when you're wearing a cotton dress over your jeans.
Me: Hi
WT: Hey
Me: Can you tell if there is meat in that?
WT: Yeah.
Me: Yeah there is?
WT: What? No, not in here. My friend's girlfriend makes this and she puts meat in it. I like it when she makes it. It's really good. But there isn't any in this one.
Me: Okay, thanks
WT: Why you askin?
Me: I'm a vegetarian so...
WT: *snorts* Well you know, they couldn't be worrying about that back in them underground railroad days!
I swear that is an actual quote and I will never forget it. He looked me dead in the eye when he said it too. Like I might start crying at the challenge.
I stared back at him and said, "Right. Well I guess it's a good thing we aren't there then. You know, what with the meat they had in the bean dip and the slavery and all."
We left it there.
I considered telling Cousin White-tee that back in the days of the underground railroad slaves used to sing songs and sew quilts that contained the directions to freedom so that they could pass the information along without being caught. Who knows, maybe they also passed along recipes for bean dip that way? I think the words of the old underground railroad song sum it up best:
Folloooooooow the drinking gourd, folloooooow the drinking gourd. For the Old Man is awaitin' for to carry you to bean dip, follow the drinking gourd. Well the river bends between two hills, the ground beef will show you the way, and it's left foot, peg foot, sour cream on, follow the drinking gourd.
But it wouldn't be fair to end the story here. I must say that the next morning, cousin white-tee showed up in the hotel lobby. This time he was considerably more friendly and was wearing his family reunion t-shirt (giant peach on the tummy) tucked into tan dockers with a brown leather belt. He behaved himself for the rest of the reunion and was actually quite pleasant and well spoken. I met his mother the next day. She is a high school teacher, one of many in the family. When I asked her who her children were she introduced me to her 18 year old daughter and then said "My son is the one who had too much to drink yesterday and showed out. Did you meet him?" I admitted that I had, but I left out the part about the bean dip.
Better to save that sort of thing for the internet.
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