A beautiful dedication to the First Lady of the United States.
Thank you New York Times.
Category Archives: Girls
Women’s Equality Day
Supposedly, that’s today… Is it really or just a hashtag?
Yesterday, I bumped into an acquaintance that I hadn’t seen in a while; she is blessedly pregnant. She is going on 40 and never thought she would have children because that’s what she’d always been told.
As I shared a bit about pregnancy and motherhood, I asked her how she was doing.
It’s been interesting.
She said that about three or four times, but with a smile so I wasn’t worried. What she said next changed that… her employer does not have maternity leave.
[A quick aside: I worked for an employer with no maternity leave, however this was a small non-profit and there was short-term disability after seven days.] But we are talking about a large, stable organization.
Not only is there no maternity:
- There is no STD until 90 days;
- Can’t use the sick leave bank (even as a participant) unless you have a cesarean; and
- You can’t have leave donated to you.
Her plan: bank as much leave as possible until December, tap her savings and get back to work as soon as she can.
But they have FMLA so at least she’ll have a job to come back to…
It’s 2016 y’all! Happy #WomensEqualityDay!!!!
Belated Father’s Day
My First Love
Trips to the beach
Weekend shopping sprees
You holding my hand in yours,
Protecting me from the world.
I was your “Boop”.
Tall, lean and caramel brown;
A clefted chin and
Beautiful smile.
Your singing drove me to breath-taking giggles-
I thought no one could compare…
My hero
My king
My love.
Lonely days of waiting melted into lonely nights
And inconsolable tears.
Years went by.
You came back, charming as ever.
With your sincere words and tender kisses, that would lead to
Days unaccounted for
Unexplained.
Broken promises,
Money borrowed.
The shock of your fist knocking me to the floor.
The flashing lights,
Me giving a statement
As a crimson print settled onto my pale cheekbone.
At graduation you came smiling
As if you had a hand in my milestone.
Be nice and smile for the camera, said mom.
You had no right.
My hero
My king
My love.
So save the apologies
And personal attacks on my integrity.
You were an asshole long before the rock
Became your motivation.
I remember Mommy on the floor of my room
With a blood-stained Afro.
Me, wide-eyed in four-year-old feety pajamas
And you, swooping down to take me.
I remember our trip to Florida in a yellow, foreign car
You shimmying up a tree to get me a coconut.
Then twenty years later without decency or restraint, you shattered that tender memory
with the truth-
A truth that would have changed my identity.
My hero
My king
My love.
So excuse me.
Excuse my contempt.
For you
Your family and
Your life.
Excuse my hardened heart
And inability to trust.
That mean streak that everyone loves to hate-
Lovingly molded by you.
Excuse me,
For shielding my children
From your poisonous nature
And lobotomizing you from my life.
As a woman, my journey continues.
For the one to console me
Who will guide and protect me.
To rub my hair
And tenderly kiss my forehead
As a father would.
To rescue me
From the world
From myself
From you.
A girl never forgets her first love.
Emojis Strike Again
Last year, emojis scored the Word of the Year. Then, we learned of more globally-inclusive and representative icons to complete our digital chats.
Well now, we have female emojis that move away from the stereotypical. Thanks to some designers at Google, these female empowerment emojis could be coming soon.
The team chose professions dominated by women as well as ones that show a rising female workforce, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the US Department of Labor.
Since 78 percent of women use emojis, we want what we want…
His and Hers Ride Hailing Services?
As a mother of an out-of-town, non-driving female college student, I am a HUGE Uber supporter. Just the other day, I was remarking about how the creators Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp had truly earned their billions. I love, love, love that I can see a picture of the driver, license plate and make/model of the car picking up my daughter who is 250 miles away. I know when she’s going and where! She doesn’t ever need cash or have to wait for long periods alone.
The female-only ride hailing apps are an interesting, but not surprising development. Given the unfortunate Uber-related assault cases and personal feelings of female acquaintances, safety is a real issue especially at night. However, from a legal standpoint I understand how such services present the proverbial “slippery slope.” I hadn’t even thought about opening the door to discrimination or exclusivity regarding other groups. It is unfortunate that in our “civilized” society, women have a need to feel safer.
What Makes Me…Me
Congrats to Akilah Johnson, a DC high school student who won a national contest by Google. Her doodle is featured today.
Glimmer of Hope in Dark Times
I’ve been having a hard time staying positive and seeing the light in this world of ours. Everywhere you look there is violence, despair and hate. But lately – no doubt due to the holiday season – I’ve learned of a few people who refuse to give up or give in.
Maurice Kie, Life Pieces to Masterpieces in DC: A young man and after-school program uses art to help young children cope with living in neighborhoods stricken with gun violence.
Tiffany Anderson, Jennings School District in Jennings, Mo.: A school superintendent who actually cares about the students and implements innovation RESULTS to real problems.
Amy Peake, entrepreneur in England: Empowering women in other countries with employment by making a necessity – sanitary pads.
Journalists out there: we need these stories YEAR-ROUND! Apologies that we make 
you think we only want “reality”,
depravity, terror and salaciousness.
To anyone reading this post, you’re welcome. 🙂
Crime and Punishment, Part II
Didn’t mean to leave you hanging!!
The judge found my daughter not guilty of APO.
I was not permitted to remain in the courtroom until closing arguments. I was also able to hear the judge’s ruling and his reasoning for it.
Crime and punishment was at the core of what the judge said that he was looking to hear.
1. Did the alleged bite that my daughter gave the transit officer occur AFTER and as a result of her being hurt by the officer?
2. Was the force used against her excessive for the “offense.”
He stated that he now knew the answer to both of his questions. He chastised the officer for not being truthful and cooperative in his testimony.
I’ve never heard the phrase escort someone to the ground. I don’t even know what that means. Be truthful, you threw her to the ground then put your knees in her back.
The judge then stated that after obliging the prosecution and giving consideration to granting more weight to the cop’s testimony, he did not appreciate the number of times his answer was “I do not recall.”
You do in fact recall, but wouldn’t answer the questions. You heard this young lady telling you that you were hurting her.
I was only on the stand briefly and kept my cool. I wanted to grab the prosecutor by the neck, but luckily she did not approach. She tried to minimize the photos of bruises on my daughter’s arms, leg and wrists that I took which were entered into evidence. Obviously did not work. FAIL Ms. Prosecutor!
I am so truly happy with the outcome because although truth was on our side, the law was not. Her attorney argued using exceptions to DC law on assaulting a police officer. They include when someone can not breathe, they believe their life is at risk (and I forgot the third). It is now wonder that Mr. King reportedly began his opening with three phrases:
Help. You’re hurting me. I can’t breathe.
I have so much more to say on this issue, but for now I am grateful.
Crime and Punishment
We have a serious problem in this country because all too frequently they are mismatched.
My daughter and I have received a flagrant introduction to the justice system. The justice system assumes that anyone whom becomes engaged with it is familiar…
Today is my daughter’s trial. Another sentence I never saw myself forming. We are trying to get an APO charge dropped from July when she was roughed up and arrested for unknowingly not paying the complete Metro fare. She was assaulted, arrested, had to spend the night in jail, shackled and arraigned and now is on trial.
The fact that she has to zig zag between exams from here to Philly is infuriating! Her focus should be on school. Was what she has already endured not enough?
Here I sit, in the hall of the court building, waiting to testify. Friends and family are in the courtroom for support since I can not be present, lest her testimony impact my own. So I wait…
They’ve Arrested and Assaulted My Daughter for .75
I received a good Samaritan call from a young lady, telling me that the police just handcuffed my daughter at a subway station. She said they slammed her on the ground and put their knee in her back. Of course, she is 18 now…
I try to stay calm and find out what she knows- not much. Is she alone? Yes. Is she alright? Yes, just crying. Was is DC or transit police? Don’t know.
I wasn’t far because she was almost home from a girlfriend’s house.
Fast forward.
They pulled her off the bus for not paying the full fare. They left out the part about slamming her on the ground/knee in the back… She wouldn’t give info for a citation, so they had to take her in. But she wouldn’t get in the car.
One cop says she’s being charged for fair evasion, another tells me assaulting an officer. WHOA!!!!!
They walk away to huddle and wait for a supervisor. The supervisor is super NOT helpful and backtracking during our conversation. Oh, she’s in school/college? I didnt know that… Does that make a difference? I’m done talking. Please tell me what needs to happen now…
I walk over and ask my daughter what happened. She says she went in her bag to get .75 and they grabbed her off the bus.
He didn’t have a right to touch me!
I remind her that she is supposed to be careful with police. I tell her that they are going to arrest her; it’s a police matter and I can’t change the fact that she has to go.
Please get in the car. And it would behoove you to be nice once you’re there. It could be the difference between a citation and release or staying overnight.
She got into the vehicle.
After 10 minutes, I approach the huddle to find out the hold up. Let’s get this going. After six police vehicles and eight cops, we can go.
So here I am. In the waiting area of the Seventh District. Waiting to talk to someone and see what happens.
