Salmon Festival 2008

Learning a Little Bit About Community Service

On Tuesday, the last day of our weekend, Malcolm and I uprooted the collards and kale that had been planted in the spring, and took three big garbage bags full to the Oregon Food Bank, and one big garbage bag full to Mountain Valley. You all should have seen the size of the worms that came up in our little plot. We still have lots of yummy collards and broccoli in our back yard, but it was definitely time to rejuvenate our side garden bed.

We donated 31 lbs of produce to the Oregon Food Bank, and the children at the school got to have collards in all their lunches for the rest of the week at Mountain Valley. I am so excited that he loves eating things that he sees growing all the time.

Sometimes, I hear doubts from other parents that Malcolm can understand all the things that I explain to him, but I think that children understand far more than we give them credit for and I can tell by our conversations that he gets most of it. We are entering an age where we are beginning to have really exciting conversations, on a simple levels, but about an amazing range of topics about our world.

On the trip to the Food Bank, I explained to him that our family had some really hard times when it was very difficult for us to afford food, especially good food and that many people helped us so, now when we have extra food we want to share with others who need help like we did. I left it at that. We dropped off the food and went home for nap.

Here is a picture of the inside of the food bank where we dropped stuff off.

The Obama Post

Today I woke up early for a Saturday to drop off the goodies Nathaniel and I had made at the "Bake Sale for Change" for Barack Obama's campaign. I still ended up running late so Nathaniel cooked breakfast from Malcolm while I dropped stuff off, and then came back to get Malcolm dressed we could go canvassing, and be back in time to see his little friend Sophie when she came over. I have tried to do as much as I could for Obama. I figure I have done most of the major campaign activities at least once. I absolutely do not want my son to believe that it impossible for a Black man to be president. I want him to believe and keep saying "Yes, we can!" I feel that it is imperative for his cultural identity, and self-esteem. So my dear little freedom fighter, here is mama's list of what I have done so far to make sure that we turn this country and world around so that when you inherit the earth it will be inhabitable. Your mama's Obama list

1. We went to Obama's largest rally in the country that took place prior to his nomination acceptance speech, and waited for two hours on the hottest day of the year in Portland. I nursed you in the grass while spoke and then you sat on your Baba's shoulders and shouted "Yes, we can!" with 75,000 others.
2. Mama donated to the campaign (her first time ever donating to a political candidate's campaign).
3. Mama and Malcolm registered voters at the Farmers' Market.
4. Mama phonebanked for the campaign (once so far)
5. Mama canvassed in our old neighborhood in East Portland which is full of undecided voters, many of whom are new immigrants. We educated some of these immigrants on Obama's stand on issues important to them.
6. Attended a concert fundrasier
7. Bought lots of Obama shirts and stuff
   

Now, I do not know how I will fit it into the schedule, but I am also going to try to canvass or phone bank for the Portland Children's Initiative too so I can make sure that we maintain our early childhood fund in the city. Beyond that baby I am just trying to community building, justice, nonviolent communication and love at your school, and raise you to be the best person that you can be. I am including pictures of some of the goodies that we ended up with from the bake sale and Aunty Jessica picking blackberries for Malcolm and Sequoia on our way home from canvassing.

Today Sophie, Malcolm's long-lost love from Mountain Valley, came over for a playdate after all of our morning Obama-oriented activities were over. It was great to see her after a few months away. I am continually astonished by how much young children develop in just a few months. After a few minutes of adjustment she was ordering Malcolm around and he was accommodating her. They were just the little pair. Sophie would fill Malcolm's wagon with blocks and then tell him when to dump it out, and they would squeal with joy. Then they would give each other turns pushing the other in the wagon, they played dress up and ate goodies from the Obama bake-sale for snack. It was all a great hit. Then we went into the yard to chase the chickens. Sophie did not want to leave, so Malcolm blew her a kiss. Then was the magical moment. Sophie bent over and give him a sweet little kiss right on the mouth! His first one! It was one of those little aaah! moments for both of the mamas. It was very sweet, and they both blew each other kisses and Sophie was strapped in her car seat to go take her nap.

I have to admit, I was very relieved Malcolm had missed her so much. I know that he is going to have to grieve people coming and going, but I really don't want him to have to yet. I really want him to have deep roots and people that he grows with. Maybe this is so important to me because I felt like I never really had roots. We moved around a lot, and it was hard even to keep up with family. I didn't have those long last friendships from early childhood, and I didn't have a sense of a cultural community either once my dad stopped being around. I really want Malcolm to have a strong sense of community and who he is, and all the people that love him.

Here are pictures of him with Sophie.