While browsing a Barbie site this morning, I came across this picture. It bought back memories of a childhood incident. I laughed out loud.

I know you won't believe it, but I'm a child of the 60s. And when I was a young chick, I loved Twiggy. I mean LOVED Twiggy. I liked the fact that she never smiled. Why I found that interesting-Who knows? I even wanted to dress like Twiggy all the time. In fact, on my Twiggy lunchbox, she had on a pair of white go go boots. Every day at school, while I ate my lunch, I would long for a pair of those boots.

Well, finally, I convinced Mom to buy me a pair. She took me to Rich's in downtown DC. The guy measured my foot and retreated to the back of the store. I remember being soooo anxious. I was scared that they wouldn't have my size and if I didn't get anything, I couldn't get a treat out of the "treasure chest" that they kept for kids. Now, looking back on it, I realize that they were only dollar store trinkets, but back then those treats were to die for.

So anywho, the guy comes back with a box and announces that it was the "last pair." The last pair. That's when I made the decision. The WRONG decision. The decision that I would take those boots home, NO MATTER WHAT! So Mister Man takes the white patent leather boots out of the box and they were gorgeous. It reaffirmed the decision. He put the boots on my feet. They had a long zipper on the inside of the leg. But even before he zipped them, I realized that my toes were folded up inside the shoe part. And I also remembered that he had said, "THE LAST PAIR." I grinned in triumph, but also in pain. I couldn't even walk to the mirror.

For some reason, the psychic powers that Mom usually possessed had taken the day off. I had fooled her. That, in itself, was a great feat. I proclaimed that I loved them. The guy asked if I wanted to wear them home. I KNEW I couldn't walk, so I declined. Mom gave me a headtilt and I thought the jig was up, but she paid for the boots and we left, with me carrying the bag.

I NEVER wore those boots. EVER. I would make up an excuse everytime the subject came up. Of course, it didn't take Mom long to figure it out. I learned an important lesson--what good is having something if you can't use it? I've never forgotten that lesson.

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Ok, so yesterday, I found out (AGAIN!) that I'm old and old fashioned. My daughter and I were discussing prom and I suggested a limousine. She looked at me as if I had suggested that they walk to Senior Prom in potato sacks.

"Who does that, Mom???? WHO DOES THAT????" Now, instead of me simply retracting it and abandoning the subject, I took the Old Fashioned Mom route--"Well, when I went to prom, folks rented limos and went to dinner, prom and then the after-parties." Hmmph. I forget her exact response, but I do know that the word "stagecoach" was mentioned.

So, again dear readers, since you are very diverse in age I'll ask. Are limos for prom really "played out"? And more importantly, when did I get old and old fashioned? It had to have been recently. Like last week, or maybe last month. Were any of you there when it happened? Was there a flash of lightning or did my new-fashion simply slink away one day?

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I've been on Facebook for about a year now. I've reconnected with so many folks that I know I couldn't have found any other way. But, it's made me long for folks that I still can't find. There are some people in my past that I desperately wish that I could speak to again.

One is my elementary school librarian. She was great. I loved her. She was the first person that I met that shared my passion for books. Of course, I knew that folks read. But I didn't know anybody else that would rather read than eat, sleep, or do anything else. Until I met her. She introduced me to books and authors that I had never even heard of. She explained the Caldecott and Newberry awards to me. She listened to me. She even gathered a group of my friends together and somehow got us into the American Folklife Festival down on the grounds of the National Mall. Wait, I don't mean that we attended the Festival, we were IN the festival! I think we did it for 2 or 3 years straight. About 10 years ago, I tried to reach her through the school and was told that she had retired in the 80s. I surely wish that I could find her. Last year, I searched the internet and found a person with her name in the Denver area. I called and left a message, but no one returned my call. I often think of her. As a small child, I'm sure that I didn't convey to her what a huge influence that she was on me and how she impacted the person that I became. I'd like to thank her for caring about me.

Are there folks in your lives that you wish you could reconnect with? Why? Have you tried? Why not?

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Where were you during those three weeks in October when two men held the DC area hostage, killing ten and injuring three others?

I remember it vividly. A year after 9/11, things were just getting back to normal, when all heck broke lose. I lived in Montgomery County, Maryland, a county that typically had 15 murders a year. Everyone knew immediately that something was amiss when we had 5 murders in 1 day. For the next three weeks, life was anything but normal. Every trip outside the house was tense.

I worked, but I pulled my children out of school when a young man was shot at school. I've always said that 9/11 was the single most terrifying day that I'd ever lived through. The Beltway Sniper crisis was 3 weeks of terror. Friends checking on friends. Family checking on family. Neighbors checking on neighbors.

We were so relived when it all ended. I was also saddened when it was revealed that one of the snipers was so young, and had lived such a tragic life. I know that he killed without regard, but my heart still breaks when I think about him. I also think of Conrad Johnson, the last victim, who I knew from the neighborhood. He was murdered in the early morning on this very day, seven years ago. I think of all the victims and their families, especially this time of year. And I think of our police chief, Charles Moose, who was thrust into the national spotlight. Many folks didn't care for him, but he was always TOPS in my book...

I wonder if we'll ever understand what it was all about?

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Ok. I confess. I watch Dr Phil. hehehe...Anyhow, this morning Dr Phil played referee between two groups of women--Working Moms vs Stay at Home Moms. I had no idea how controversial this was. There was major attitude and at some points, insults were hurled. I thought it might come to blows.

Both groups thought their way was the best and the other way was the stupidest thing that they had ever heard. Whatever happened to doing what's best for you and your family?

I'm a working mother. My mother was a working mother. I never really gave it a lot of thought when I was growing up. Heck, I LOVED that my mom worked, that meant that I ate!!! I also have friends that had stay at home moms. Those moms were cool too. I don't think either option is an automatic "best." Again, folks should do what's best for them. And if you are on the outside, looking in--STAY IN YOUR LANE!!!

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So, this was Homecoming Weekend for my daughter. But Homecoming has drastically changed from the ones that I remember. When did it change?

First of all, why can one not find a simple, conservative evening dress for a young lady? It seems that if she isn't willing to "let it all hang out," she will be hard pressed to find something suitable. Why is everything strapless or mini skirt short? Why are slits way up the thigh or plunges so deep in the back that you have to remind yourself to "say no to cracks"??

And what about the costs of the dance? Whatever happened to having the homecoming dance in the gymnasium with paper streamers and ballooon arches? My daughter's school rented out a local nightclub, which was fine with me until the pricing was announced. It was on a sliding scale--the first week that tickets were available it was $75 PER PERSON. Every week afterwards, the price went up $5. Wow wee. Luckily, my daughter got a free ticket for doing well on some standardized testing last year.

Some kids rented limousines and went all out. I kept scratching my head. This is HOMECOMING not PROM. Gee whiz--When did it change????

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Today, my daughter takes her final SAT tests. Amazingly, it carries a lot of weight with college admission departments. I'm not sure that I understand why.

Certainly, you need to know the mathematical value of pi to succeed in life, right? And surely, you'll have use for dissecting sentences regularly as a "grown-up," right? I think we should totally reinvent the SATs to make sure our youth are truly ready for life. We can test their knowledge on things like balancing checkcards and changing tires and how to properly behavior in the work environment. Wouldn't that make more sense?

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In our house, we sometimes have wacky conversations. This past Sunday night, during one of them, my 12 year old son announced that he doesn't watch movies that are older than him, because they are OLD. We all laughed because MOST good movies ARE older than him, he was born in 1996!

Well, yesterday was a school holiday and he and I spent most of the day watching tv together. And, as usual, I let him choose what we would watch. While he may not watch MOVIES that are older than him, he doesn't seem to mind watching GAME SHOWS that are older than him. We watched Password, Match Game, Family Feud and others. The episodes were hilarious--Gene Rayburn, who passed away in 1999, hosting episodes that featured Richard Dawson, Brett Sommers, Charles Nelson Reilly, and Fannie Flagg. Not only did he watch for hours, he couldn't figure out why they weren't saying obvious answers like microwave, cell phone, and internet. You should have seen his face when I told him that those shows were from the 70's. How funny!

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It's a sad day in my neighborhood. After a lengthy undercover operation, several government officials were arrested and charged with corruption. These officials include a former city commissioner, and the SITTING county school board member, in whose area I reside.

This is the one that shocks me the most. While I've never been particularly fond of her, I have worked with her since I've come to Florida. Last year, another dear friend ran against her and, though I campaigned vigorously for him, he lost. She's been our school board member since 2000 and had much more support and money.

Her house of cards started to unravel last month, when she failed to submit a required financial disclosure statement with the Florida Commision on Ethics Last week, she announced that she was taking a medical leave, but whispers of a pending federal indictment swirled. Then, this morning, she was arrested at her home. She's been charged with bribery, extortion, and wire fraud.

How can we expect of our youth, what we don't expect of ourselves? I'm speechless at this...

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Ok, I know you all won't believe me, but I tried not to blog about this. I really did. I didn't want to do it. But I had to. It's been burning in me and though I've been dowsing it regularly with that new Dasani water with lime essence, the flames keep coming back.

So, me and Dear Daughter went to the photo studio on Saturday. It was quite an experience. And how things have changed. When I sat for Senior Pics, I wore some old rag, they threw a cap and gown over it, snapped a few poses and I was done. This newfangled stuff was different. They took the senior pics with the drape and boa and that was fine. But now they have "PERSONALITY PICS." Huh? What the heck are personality pics? I quickly found out.

Personality pics are informal pics that you get to choose your own outfit for. In theory, it makes sense. Athletes pose in their uniform. Twins pose together, etc. However, in reality, it was NOTHING like that. Kids showed up with suitcases of outfits, some changing 10 or more times. They treated it as if it were their own personal photo shoot, complete with hair and makeup, usually done by Mom, but sometimes there was an additional person that the family had paid. It was unreal.

My daughter wore jeans and a tshirt, as she felt this adequately portrayed her personality but most of the girls had VERY suggestive outfits on. Things you would see in a men's magazine. Cheeks hanging out of shorts, boobs hanging out of tops--and, lest you forgot, these are high school KIDS. And again, parents were actively participating. The photographers had to admonish parents for running into the shot to unbutton yet another button and hike up a skirt a bit more. There was even one angry Mom who left in a huff because the photographer wouldnt allow her daughter to until her bikini top and use her hand to hold the tiny piece of fabric in place. What???

Is it me? Is it? Am I the ONLY parent in South Florida who doesn't wish to have my daughter's body on public display? I guess I can see why the kids would want to do this, but why would parent's allow it? What does this say about us as a society?

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As most of you know, I love a good snack. In fact, snack time is my most favorite time of the day. And it shows...

But I digress. I do, indeed, love snacks. I'm even willing, in most cases, to try a new snack combination. Many years ago, FOJ Stacey, invited me to try her movie snack combo. She mixed chocolate covered raisins into her buttered popcorn in the movie theatre. I tried it and, sure enough, it was delicious. Ever since, I've been buying popcorn AND raisinettes at the concession stand before a good flick.

But, I saw something yesterday that stopped me cold and rendered me speechless. And that is NOT an easy thing to achieve. While, people watching, I saw a young man, in about his early 20s, I would guess. He was in public. He had a small backpack. He was only about 6 ft from me, so I'm SURE of what I saw. He reached into his backpack and pulled out a package of regular Ramen noodles. He opened it and pulled out the seasoning packet. He opened the seasoning and sprinkled them on the hard, uncooked noodles. He then proceeded to eat the noodles--UNCOOKED. He bit and broke off small pieces of the noodles and crunched them like chips. I could NOT stop watching him. I have NEVER seen that one before. Took him about 5 mins or so to finish the pack. He took out a napkin, wiped his mouth, and chased it with a bottle of water. Of course, this all happened roughly 5 hours BEFORE I got my new Flip video camera. But now I have it and it's fully charged. If I ever see him again, I will capture video of it. See, THIS is exactly why I need one...

Have you EVER seen anyone eat uncooked ramen noodles? Have you done it yourself? Is this something I should try?

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Lately, I feel like I've needed the help of readers more and more. Today is no different. Please help me with this question--WHY would you NOT want your child to hear an address from the President of the United States, advising him/her to stay in school and stay off drugs??

Please help me. To me, your own political affiliation should not even come into play. What difference does it make what party the President represents? Isn't this a message that any parent would want their child to hear? Especially coming from POTUS?

I'm very unclear on what the fear is? Will he say something that, when played backwards, will have a new meaning--like Missy Elliott did a few years back? Will he turn them into Democrats? I think he realizes that kids don't vote.

Please. If you have school aged kids in your life and do NOT want POTUS to address them, please tell me why. I simply don't understand. For the record, my kids will be present and accounted for on Tuesday.

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As many of you know, I am from Washington, DC. Today, on his 68th birthday, I'd like to honor one of my hometown heroes--John Thompson. John is the former basketball coach of Georgetown University. He was the first Black coach to win a collegiate sports championship in 1984. He also coached the United States basketball team in the 1988 Olympics.

Mr Thompson is a native Washingtonian, as well. He went off to the NBA, and came back to coach high school basketball. He did so well, that he was approached by Georgetown University to coach college level ball. He was an amazing coach and under his tutelage, many pro basketball players got their foundation. He is responsible for launching the careers of such players as Sleepy Floyd, Allen Iverson, Alonzo Mourning, Dikembe Mutumbo, and Pat Ewing. Twenty six of his players went on to be drafted by the NBA, including 8 in the first round.

He was also a very controversial figure. John preached education and demanded that his players, often from underprivileged families, take advantage of the Georgetown academic system. He talked most players out of entering the Draft before graduating. He often had profanity filled tirades, but he cared about his kids. And it showed.

Outside of DC, John was often criticized, but around town, he was and still is a hero. Happy 68th, Coach!

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It is only fitting that September, my birth month, is Library Card Sign Up Month. I have been reading all of my life. As a child, the library was one of my favorite places. Didn't really matter what kind of library--Public library, School library--heck, I even spent time at the nearby Walter Reed Medical Library. Don't ask how I got onto Walter Reed's base--that's a post for a different time.

Anyhow, Library Card Sign Up Month has been observed since 1987 and it's the time when public libraries remind parents that a library card is the most important school supply of all. However, in these tough economic times, I would venture to say that an adult library card is a good idea as well. The cards allow you to check out books for no charge and I can get lost in a book for hours at a time.

Do you have a library card? Does it get much use? Why not? Take some time this month to introduce a young person to the public library and be sure to get a card for yourself as well!

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Today is a very exciting day for you--rather than the regular ramblings from me, I've invited a special friend to ramble instead! She'll definitely bring you an angle that I never could, as she is a teenager. This is her first attempt at blogging and I think she's an excellent writer. I sure that years from now, I'll proudly say that I knew her "when." Here goes...


In my almost 16 years of life, a great deal of things (including but not limited to: my family, my friends, strangers, celebrities, and everyday life in general) have managed to make me extremely angry. But the latest offender to make it on to my 'Things to Get Revenge Against' list is Tide. Yes, that's right. A friggin' laundry detergent has managed further my progression into an angry black woman (the official countdown to September 8, 2014 has commenced).

You may be wondering what could cause me to be so angry at the Tide company. Did they test some new products on third world orphans and give them some terrible case of hives? Did their CEO say something racist? Well, that's entirely possible. I don't watch the news so all that could've happened and I wouldn't even know (if it did happen my, conscience can be clear because I don't even use Tide). No, what has me so enraged is their latest commercial; so, really, I guess I'm mad at their PR company.

In case you haven't seen it, the commercial is about their latest detergent, which is specially formulated to run in cold water and, therefore, use less energy. The inner child and music lover in me could really care less about the good-natured environmental benefits. They're more concerned with the song running in the background: 'Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)' by Digable Planets. The first time I saw/heard that commercial, I swear I died a little inside and every time since. It wasn't until ten minutes ago when I was sitting in a Chinese food restaurant when the doggone thing came on the TV again that I finally decided enough was enough.

WHAT WAS THAT CRAP?

Of course, I've already had my own vocal rant with my personal argument backboard (my mother) and she, of course, responded with, "Well, the song is 16 years old."

I, of course, responded with, "So?"

In blowing my poor mother's response clearly out of proportion, I come to the conclusion that, in a few weeks, when I turn 16, people are allowed to use me in commercials no matter how stupid it makes me look (love ya, ma). I'm waiting for the day somebody figures out a way to use Prince's 'Purple Rain' on a commercial so I can respond with, "Mom, it is 25 years old."

I'm not necessarily opposed to using songs in commercials. In some cases, like Bacardi's latest using Matt and Kim's 'Daylight', it's alright (let's ignore the fact that I'm underage and I’ve seen all the multiple edited versions of the commercial because I keep watching late night TV). I like the song, the commercial is artfully done, unlike the Tide commercial the song is edited well so it doesn't sound as choppy, and, most importantly, THE SONG IS NEW (relatively).

Using new songs in commercials allows the television viewing audience to hear songs that they may not have heard if their local radio station offers little-to-no variety (hint, hint, STL). Using older songs, however, only makes people like me who actively listen to music suffer for a month and a half while the thing is circulation. Need I remind you of 'This Will Be' and eHarmony (and the fact that you can’t hear that song without cringing)? I thought not.

I'd just like to point out that the minute I finished this, the music video just came on my TV. God must really love irony (and making me angry).

So, we've bailed out the banking industry, we've invested millions into the auto industry--including cash for clunkers, we're helping homeowners. But why is it that in the world's most powerful country, our education system is far inferior to our European and Asian counterparts?

When are we going to dump some cash into educating our youth? Why can't our kids compete in the areas of math and science? Why are public school budgets being slashed to bare bones all across the country? Why aren't we holding our elected officials accountable for these decisions?

What message does it send to the students--are cars and banks more important than them? Are they truly our most precious resource? Do we have "jacked up" priorities?

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