It's a New Day!

Dear Malcolm,
We Did IT ! We elected an African-American president in the true sense of the word, and more than that we elected Barack Obama a man of almost unspeakable integrity and compassion with a great sense of history. He was inaugurated 6 days before your real third birthday. We watched it at Mountain Valley with other Black children. I had you and Maya both on my lap. At points in the speech you applauded on cure, and at points you jumped up and a\down hands in the air chanting "Yes, we can."

I can not explain to you the shock that I feel at this whole event. I am still taking it all in. I am so happy that I can tell you now that you can be anything that you want to when you grow up, and not feel on some level that I am lying because of the plight of Black men in America. I feel that on the day that man took office that for the first time I became an American. Even though I was born on this soil. Even though my fathers' ancestors built this country as slaves. Even though my mother's ancestors arrived here on the Mayflower, and later became syffragists, I never felt that I was an American. I always felt too alien to have that title apply to me. I seemed to belong to all the wrong groups, or at least not to belong to write ones. Now, seeing a Beatuiful Black Man and Black Family stepping into the doors of the white house built by slaves like our ancestors as President and First Lady, and hearing him recognize people of all faiths but especially the Muslim community, recognizing people of all kinds, queer, straight, poor, rich, Black, white, and every hue in between, I feel healed but shocked.

What we have overcome my child! How far we have yet to go, but how much we have overcome! Someday you will learn how your grandmother was beaten fighting for injustice. Someday you will know what your parents went through just trying to be who we are, and how hard it is even to figure out how to love each other because of all the oppresions we must live through.

This world that we live in now is crazier even than the one I inherited from my parents. I thought that there was no way that you would live in a better place than me. I thought surely you would still face racial profiling as well as global warming, terrorism, and endless war, but now something is better than it ever has been. Some healing has happened, and if nothing else we have managed to give you a gift, a better more hopeful world than I ever imagined.

I am finally starting see what Dr. King must have felt like living in the times he did. I now see that we also live in great and historic times. I am still trying to process what I can do to heal from the past and rise to the call that the present is putting forth. I need a moment to get some rest, catch my breath, to figure out what direction God wants me to go, but I am so happy that you my beautiful milk chocolate sweet, sweet son can grow up in a world in which your humanity will be more recognized and your potential more acknowledged than was ever possible before.

Please take a moment to look at these photos. How beautiful are the Obamas? Do you see President Obama laying his hand on the same bible that Abraham Lincoln used. History has a way of coming back in cycles. There have been so many invocations of Dr.King that I think that at times I have felt him sitting next to me. In my mind, Ihave seen him embrace President Obama with pride and then whisper "Mr. President, there are a few things I would like to discuss with you tomorrow." Let us believe that Dr.King is doing the work of saints and ancestors and guiding our president still.

Thank you America for being able to take a risk, and for being willing to finally look at the racism within us and say "Yes, We can" anyway.

Malcolm, I can not wait to see what you will do in this world.

The Birthday Cake

Uncle Curtis and Uncle Nathaniel baked and decorated Malcolm's beautiful train cake. It was quite an effort. The began baking the night before the party at 6:00pm and went until around 3:00am I think. Then they continued on the day of the party from 12:30 to 4:00. The party began at 5:30. It was beautiful! We have a community with lots of dietary restrictions so it had no dairy or wheat flour ( they used oat flour instead), but the icing had about 6lbs of powdered sugar. It was as sweet as their affection for you Boo!

All Aboard for Malcolm's Birthday Part 4

All Aboard for MAlcolm's Birthday Part 3

All Aboard for MAlcolm's Birthday Part 2

All Aboard for Malcolm's Birthday Part 1

We had Malcolm's birthday party at the Children's Museum this year. It was superfun as Malcolm and I are bound to say. Malcolm helped mama and Grandma pick out the train plates and train birthday hats and everything for his party. He also approved the choice of the Children's Museum, and almost all of his friends showed up. We really have made a tradition having a wonderful time when we have a community celebration of Malcolm, and this one was a great hit. Malcolm has so many friends that we had to have an after hours party so we could invite more children, and we did have about 24 children (not including babies in arms) in attendance.

Here are pictures from our celebration. I will post additional ones later. Jessica also sent me a link to pictures that she took at the party, but I have not quite figured out how to download those pics in a way that I can post them here.

These pics show him and some of his friends, and also the beautiful birthday room that we had at the Children's Museum. There are too many to attach to one post so I will have to split it up among a few posts.

Introducing Luna Paka

We adopted a young neighborhood cat, he is older than a kitten, but definitely still not a full grown cat. We met him the first few times at night and named him Luna, which really is a very common Mountain Valley name. There are several children and animals named Luna in the Mountain Valley Community. Anyway, Malcolm has really been struggling with how much he misses his Daddy, who he no longer refers to as Daddy or Baba, but has regressed to more of a baby state referring to him as Dada. Luna brings him a lot of comfort, and he really likes taking care of him.

Malcolm as Dinosaur Dentist

His First Ski lesson

Debra Lynn loves snow, and when we had this snow fall she started asking to have Malcolm over to play in the snow. For Christmas she gave him her old pair of skis that she and her brother used to use when they were growing up. Malcolm had not been very happy with the snow either since mostly it has meant that he has not been able to get to see his friends and his community, but he was thrilled to spend time with Debra Lynn, and she did seem open a whole new world to him with the skis. He loved skiing down the little hill between out houses, and it did rescue Christmas to me in a way. After getting stuck trying to get to a Christmas gathering and not making it, it was quite beautiful to see them skiing as the sun set and the moon rose on our quiet, snow-laden street.

Opening Presents

We had a sweet little Christmas overall, although I really do have to say that has been too white. We are all tired of getting stuck trying to get where we are going, and did not make the Christmas party later that day, but Malcolm did enjoy opening his gifts. Most of his gifts were made of natural wood.

Overall, Santa brought him wooden trains, and wooden food for his kitchen. The veggies that you can cut are a great hit with him. However; Santa did also bring him a rather odd green dinosaur that he can rde on and that makes strange noises etc. I am not quite sure about this dinosaur perhaps an errant elf snuck her in.

Snow Storm

Here is a picture of the snow storm, but I will add more because the snow got deep enough the cover the little orange wagon, and my legs up to my knees.

'Tis the Season

Here are pictures of Malcolm decorating the Christmas tree and making gingerbread cookies at home.

Malcolm and the Chickens

Malcolm loves his chickens, and he has gotten really good at helping me take care of them. However; things on the chicken front have really taken a bad turn as Portland faced the worst snowstorm, or really set of snow storms in the last 40 years. Chloe, my favorite little red hen was killed by a raccoon who also tried to get in the coop to finish the job with the last two yesterday, but I brought them into the house and safety. When are not covered in a ton of snow, Malcolm always checks their water and likes to stay outside playing with the chickens, watching them eat, and imitating the way their beaks move.

Ms. Sophie's Party

I was going to write about our blissful day after Thanksgiving at the beach before posting these pictures, but did not find the time to do it justice, and now of course I am sick again. In the days of sickness in the winter months, I think that it is best for me to just get the pics up as fast as I can, last year sickness kept me from posting for months and I still feel bad about that.

We did have a wonderful time at the beach though. We just went because Boo wanted to see the ocean. We went with Uncle Nathaniel( boo calls him Uncle Nanyel), we ate wonderful seafood, chased the tide, and flew kites until we were exhausted and cold. Malcolm loved like at the sea life including a visiting heron and jellyfish, but alas I left my camera behind that day.

Here are the pics from Ms. Sophie's b-day party. He is still talking about taking the max train through the tunnel with the light on and then getting out to see Sophie. Ok, I am going to get these pics posted so I can get back to taking care of my cold.

Thanksgiving kids

We had a lovely Thanksgiving this year, although of course we are still missing the Daddy who is in Kenya and very quiet.

In the morning Uncle Curtis came over with his parents for brunch. Nathaniel, Malcolm and I made a fritata, coffee cake, sausage and coffee. The chickens helped too by providing us with some nice fresh eggs for the fritata. Truth be told Uncle Nathaniel did more of the cooking and I did more of the talking, but no one should really be surprised by that.

Later we went over to Ms. Willie's for dinner with our church family. It was a lot of fun. Here is a picture of the children who were over for Thanksgiving dinner.

Grandma' House

We went to Grandma's house right after the election. Grandma was retiring and we went as part of a big surprise party. Then when we returned we celebrated Baba's birthday and then he flew to Kenya. We still have not heard much from Kenya and we miss him. Here are some pictures from our time in Colorado.

Yes We Did

I can not believe that it has taken me so long to write this post, but I want to take a moment to reflect on how incredible it was to see Barack Obama elected. Geoffrey and I had made plans to go out that night to the convention center and watch the results come in. We were going to make a date of it. Despite the fact that Obama was ahead in the polls, I was sure that it would be a long night. I didn't trust the polls after the last election. Nathaniel brought us dinner and we all ate and watched the early results then Nathaniel put Malcolm to bed and Geoffrey and I went out to a coffee shop where I knew the results would be on TV. We had hardly settled into our mochas at 8:00pm Pacific time when the electoral count went to 284 and the coffee shop erupted in joyful screams. I was so shocked! I could not believe that it could be over so early! That it was real, and that unlike the election of 2000 where the initial results were later reversed, that it would not be taken away. Geoffrey started screaming in the streets nad the neighbors around the coffee shop joined him. As we drove to the convention center we heard John McCain's concession speech on the radio and called my mom on Geoffrey's cell phone. When we entered the convention center there was amazing drumming playing and Geoffrey stopped and had his picture taken with the drummers who were also protesting the war in Iraq. When we finally settled into a room to watch the acceptance speech, the enormity of the event came over me. Malcolm, you will never know what it is to grow up in a world where a Black man like you can not be president. You will hear stories that I tell you about the experiences I had growing up, or that your grandmother tells you about the freedom rides, and how you and I and Sequoia and your Godmother and many others all worked hard organizing for Obama to make a change, but now you will grow up with so many more possibilities! The next day I saw Jesse Jackson interviewed. He had the sort of after glow that follows only momentous occasions like the birth of your child or great political achievements. His face reflected his years, his relief, and his many exposed spiritual and emotional wounds. He said that he could not sleep the night before. The cameras showed the video footage watching Barack Obama's acceptance speech at Grant Park the night before, tears were streaming down his face. He talked about what this meant for him and how he remembered his grandfather a Black man that could not even read, and now a Black man could be president. Later I saw an interview with Andrew Jackson who said that Martin Luther King did not even believe that Black people would make into Congress until Malcolm's generation. He talked about the pain of the civil rights movement and for the first time, I really came to understand and appreciate how much my parents' generation suffered. I began to understand why my mother still will not tell me what happened to her on the freedom rides. I began to understand why Jesse Jackson made inappropriate remarks under his breath. I know my own pain from racism, but I have never seen a whites only bathroom or drinking fountain. To me that reality lies only in stories and story books and for Malcolm a time when race or gender alone determines your ability to take public office will lie only in stories and story books. For so long I have felt outside of the US, but suddenly I feel completely a part of it. For the first time I feel that this is my country too, I am excited to make phone calls to decision makers and to participate in my government and to make it work for my children and the world. For the first time in a long time, I feel that we as a people can come together look at the reality of what divides us and overcome it. We have a long way to go, but I must thank this Senator from Illinois for giving hope back to me, so that I can also bare the burden of working so hard to make this world better for my son. Thank you Mr. President-Elect for showing me that yes we shall overcome. In fact Yes, we did!