Long one

Thursday, but it feels like Friday, which is oh-so-nice. We took the kids on a field trip today. They went to Chipotle and then to the National Portrait Gallery to check out the Recognize and Champions exhibits. I'm always annoyed that no one likes to go to the museums as much as I do, because we have such a wealth of interesting things to see here in the DC area - AND it's all FREE. I don't take advantage of it often enough, so I was glad to go today. My kids were well-behaved, Mr. D's group was, as I like to say, "off the chain". So much so, that security had to come and tell them to keep it down.

I promised my kids a reward on Monday for their good behavior. Even my boy J. and my girl P., who are a little wild and a little ADHD, respectively, were good. It was a good time, although the kids worry me because they weren't too excited about the fake Mexican food, which means they are going to freak out when we take them out for pho' next week.... I, however, will be one happy, happy girl with my delicious Vietnamese. YUMMM!

Other than that, I met one of the guys who hangs out on the corner all day. They call him Frenchie (he's actually French) according to J who knows EVERYONE. He's got this little accent which is quite charming, but I just thought it was amusing that he was the first of the corner guys to actually ask me out - he suggested we go play pool sometime at Buffalo Bill's on Dupont. I gave him my classic, "Oh, I don't know, I live all the way down in VA, and it's so far...."

Oh! And I jumproped with the girls today. Who knew I still had it in me?! Haha... They did this little rhyme to count how many "husbands" I had as I jumped, and I made it to ten, which P. proceeded to shout out across the playground: "Oooh! Miss Frances gonna have ten husbands!" M., one of the boys in my group for the fieldtrip yelled back, "Yeah, I'm one of them."

They start so young....


Besides the work stuff, I spent a lot of time thinking about A., about last night, about our conversation and the forgotten discs of dough for empanadillas in the freezer. I think I listened to "Travelin' Soldier" twice on my way to work this morning.... I don't know what it is, but he's under my skin - in a good way. He's a good man in ways that few men are. I wrote something a few months ago, a little piece scrawled on a post-it note after work one day. It was about being swept up sometimes by love or attraction or whatever it might be. Sometimes it comes slowly, quietly, paulatinamente, and sometimes you just fall. The last line was "química instantánea". Instant chemistry. That was it with A. It was just this catching of the eyes across the room, a moment's wait, an invitation to dance, and there it went. The rest just flowed. *sigh* It is what it is, and there is purpose for everything. Even if someone is only in your life for a brief moment, there can still be a greater impact. I think of Peter on the Plane, Ni-Ni, my girl S. in CR, among others. All these people who made me a better person despite being in my life for as little as an hour.... Maybe that'll be A. Or maybe he'll be someone I run into again later in life. We'll see.


Last two points: I'm reading Che Guevara's Bolivian Diary, and it's kind of heart breaking. I don't agree with all his ideology, but there is so much beauty in what he writes, and I love his passion for justice, for politics and mobilization. I love that he wanted something and gave himself to that. I hope I can be so passionate and dedicated. I'm reading through July right now, and his asthma has been bad, he's running out of medication, and the cave where they'd stored their reserves was found and raided. I'm so worried that he's going to die because of the asthma even though I KNOW the CIA and the Bolivian army are going to capture and execute him in October.... Anyway, that, and the situation in Colombia with the freed hostages just have me thinking, a bit about revolution, a bit about justice, a bit about passion and the pursuit of a the greater good.... Which is probably with this piece by Nikki Giovanni at the Recognize! exhibit hit me so hard today. Am I allowed to say that I really like her? Me? A suburban Puerto Rican girl? I do.

Anyway, this is the last point:

It’s Not a Just Situation:
Though We Just Can’t Keep Crying About It
(For the Hip Hop Nation
That Brings Us Such Exciting Art)

By Nikki Giovanni



You don’t
Just wake up and brush your teeth and make up your bed
and put on your favorite pair of blue jeans

You don’t
on other evenings
Just sneak away from your sleeping lover
Just to grab a bite of Quik Stop
Just to hop a train

You don’t
Just visit the 24 hour superstore
Just to get a few cans
of spray paint
And
Just happen to have a case to put them in

You are not
Just out of yellow
So you’ll
Just shadow with grey this time
And
Just shy of metallic blue you will
Just fill in with electric orange

You are not
Just bored
Or hungry or silly or
Just crying for attention

You are
Just, if there is a
Just
Trying to be an artist

You are
Just
If there is any
Justice
Trying to find a way of not
Just surviving but living

You are just
trying to show the beautiful soul of your people
You are just
trying to say “I’m alive”
You are just
determined to be more
than what the powers who
Just hate the idea of you want you to be

You are just
trying to discover the route
of the neo underground railroad
so that your kids can
Just be free

You are just
being a man
You are just realizing
your womanhood
You are just singing and smiling
because you
Just don’t want to cry anymore

You are just
falling in love
because hatred is too hard to bear

You are just
determined
to be the very best you and
You just guess
you better not let anyone take that away

You are just
a person
with a big heart and wonderful talent
That you just
think should be shared

Put a button on it
people

‘cause suspenders
Just
won’t
do