Remember Me?

Wow it's been forever since I have been on my own BLOG to check things out. I will have to send out an email to everyone telling them that things are good again. I hope everyone is doing well. My life is slightly out of control but guess what? School is almost out for the semester. How cool is that?

Take care and I will try to post more often.

Lazy Days Of Summer Are Over

The lazy days of summer are over. What can I say about us? Not too much. Things have been good. School will start again soon for all of us. Oh but a wonderful, restful summer we had. It wasn't bad at all. Here's a picture to enjoy that depicts how I feel now. Rested, refreshed and calm. Summer breaks are not too bad. Everyone needs one. I am really quite happy that school is starting. I've been a little lazy and crazy these days. For some reason I am having some difficulty getting this to operate for me today so I must make this short. I hope you enjoyed your summer and I'll write to you soon.

I've been silent long enough

I've been silent for way too long. I've been relaxing in a fog of nothingness. You know how every once in awhile you just want to take a break from everything. I did it but how selfish of me to do so.

That's the perfect lead right into something important to say. I put a link to a BLOG you may want to check out. It's to 'body on the line'. One of my professors is turning out some unbelievable posts. It is something else because no one necessarily agrees with everything that another person says or does. With that in mind I think you should check it out what she has to say. She is really turning up my moral heat.

I wonder how anyone can condone human suffering and oppression and still call ourselves Christian or civilized. Many of us seem to forget the love verses in the Bible. With that said check out her BLOG. She is not a Christian person just an ordinary citizen of this planet like us all but her points are eye opening and moving. I think there is something everyone with any working compass can see something of value in what she says.

You know this won't really be a post all about my professor but take this one last thought before I move on to another point. How many of us are willing to go as far as she has for anything we passionately believe? It is a lesson for us all to take the time to put ourselves on the line for others and the sake of what's right. We get so wrapped up in impressions that we forget that THE WORLD DOES NOT REVOLVE AROUND US. Check it out. She seems to post a few times a week. If you miss getting there once a week at least you will really miss out!

So, with that said...I need to be more diligent with my posts as before. Things as you know are changing for us left and right. With all of the changes though we still manage to stay sane. I invite you to keep coming back. I am back in reality and look forward to returning from the outer reaches to say something worth listening to. So, keep the picture I posted in mind and come back later to sit awhile with us, we have your chair and your pole ready.

So Much Goin' On

There has been so much going on with us. We keep busy you know with school and kids, family and all of those things just like everyone else. We don't look at ourselves as anything overly special. Mostly we are thankful for the life that we have.

Each of us knows that things could be worse or better. We just got back from our much needed vacation to Washington. It was good times. The boys enjoyed meeting and seeing relatives that they had never met or hadn't seen in years. You know how kids can be, they may not admit to themselves right now that they genuinely had a great time per se but they did.

The most inspirational part of our trip was meeting Uncle Simon and Aunt Bonnie. They along with everyone else showed us such a wonderful time. Grandma Barret was so very kind to us to let us stay with her. We all felt more blessed from the trip than anything else. It was nice on the one hand to be away from our busy lives and doing something as a family but it was also nice to be a part of the lives of others.

So often all of us get so wrapped up in what we are doing that we forget about others on some level. We forget about what it is like to relish in the richness that being around kind and generous people can do to the human soul. Kindness is more refreshing than anything in life. It's love really. We call it kindness because we do not know its real name. Simply put it's love.

Jesus said to love one another the way that He's loved us. Those words have meaning to me more this week. So do all of those other cheesy sayings like love conquers all. It's true though. Evaluate your life for a minute. Think about how your kindness (aka love) has changed others in some small or large way. Are you getting the picture? I hope so. Life goes beyond our day to day titles of wife, mother, sister, husband, brother, father, child, niece, nephew, uncle, aunt, co-worker, friend, etc. We experience life in sections of relationships. Each with its own set of norms and boundaries. But with another cheesy statement, love has no bounds.

Love moves freely in each relationship that we allow it to. To put us next to one another in special kinds of ways. It captures things that we can't see on the surface and draws it to a place so near to us that we feel and experience it in a way that produces things like thoughtful stares and radiant smiles. It takes the human spirit and refreshes us more than I can describe.

Love has been given a bad wrap; Lovesick puppy...and a ton of other things I can't get to come to mind right now. Don't be tripped up by these uniformed sayings that are just cliche's in the end. They are just goofy ways to say more nonsense than anything.

Love and kindness are not interchangeable really. kindness is something we might do out of obligation. Love is something we do for no other reason but for the sake of love itself. Nobody seems to have a definitive answer on love. It is because it is. I sound like an overly sappy fool but I'm not. I just arrived back from a journey, a vacation that changed my life is all. I have a deeper understanding of why each and every one of us is here. We are here to get by and do the everyday mundane. We are here to hold jobs and be too busy to call someone or write them a letter. We are here to make friends and stab them in the back as soon as they turn on you. We are here to build people up and them shatter them like glass hitting the floor. OF COURSE NOT!

Maybe you are a person who has stumbled on my BLOG and are thinking this girl is absolutely crazy. Not any crazier than everyone else. We all do things that other people think is wired and wacky. No worries. The real question though is who do you love? Do you love your family, do you have that feeling inside that you can't describe either when you think of people that you love and they love you back? Have you been touched by their suedo kindness which is only love in hiding? I bet you have.

It feels pretty darn good doesn't it? To think of the peace and comfort that one of those loving relationships you have and share with at least one other person. Pass it on. Don't bottle it up inside and hold it so tightly that you fear if some of it oozes out that it can't be replaced. Love is the strangest thing on the planet because the more of it you give away, the more you get back.

I've taken it a bit too far but it's fun to let yourself go for a minute or two. We had a super vacation. I love more people in my life. I got an opportunity to add to my love list. It felt good for us all to recharge and replenish, to refresh ourselves outside of our daily, weekly, monthly, same ole same ole. Even if I barely have time to sleep these days I feel better for who I am because I've had an experience with husband, children....all of those other people that are a part of our interconnected fabric of family.

Pick up a phone, write a letter, an email, or simply say a loving pray to the one who listens about the one(s) you love today. Get refreshed in yet another day of So Much Goin' On.

Dawn E Pooh

Seattle Washington Pikes Market 

Tribute

This is an great tribute to the troops. I don't normally do things like this but click on the word Tribute above and it will take you to the website. Enjoy.

Dawn E Pooh

Skating Motion

Here is a link to Boo's BLOG. You should really check it out. He spent a lot of time working on it and I am very proud of it. Tell your friends. Just clik on the title.

Dawn E Pooh

This book is a must have if you would like to get more information about Denver. It is full of pictures some pictures that I have been able to use as references to pictures we have in our family picture collection.  

Email to Junior High Principal, Vice-Principal, 8th Grade Counselor and Teacher

Here is a copy of the email I sent to the school. It's all pretty easy to read. I just encourage everyone to always stand up for your children no matter what age they are.


Hello,
For those who do not know me, I am Dawn E Pooh and my student is Son of Dawn E Pooh. Here’s a brief rundown of the situation. I just so happen to be doing some research for a course I am taking and the subject matter is African American Mathematicians.

Son of Dawn E Pooh had a little situation in class with Mr. Junior High Teacher yesterday and was told, (paraphrasing of course), "there are no black mathematicians." Initially, I was shocked that Mr. Junior High Teacher would say such a thing. The remark itself is factually inaccurate. Then the real me that’s lived in Idaho for 12 years kicked in and I chalked the statement into a mental category that I call, "figures." "Figures," simply means that it figures that my son would get an answer like that because we live in Idaho and unfortunately, characteristically, diversity takes a back burner in this state often times. I want you all to know that I hold absolutely nothing against Mr. Junior High Teacher because Son of Dawn E Pooh adores mathematics and Mr. Junior High Teacher as well by nature of the subject that he teaches.

But why the email then? I want to bring this to your attention so that you can evaluate what kind of harm offhand remarks can bring in education. I know that my son has ALWAYS enjoyed mathematics. Part of the original reason that I wanted to do research on the subject was to show him that his love for mathematics is not unattainable if he chooses to seriously pursue the subject. My husband and I are rare cases. Not all parents of color in Idaho have the same access to higher education and/or opportunity that we do.

This presents the obvious problem of the offhand remark that was made by Mr. Junior High Teacher. Such a comment could have been devastating to a child whose parents do not constantly highlight the accomplishments of people of color as a household practice.

What are we going to do about this as a group? My husband and I of course are going to continue to pump as much information into our kids that we can about their heritage and the richness that diversity brings to all communities. For you, "the professional educators," I don’t know what you are going to do about it but take a word of advise from me…

Remember that you hold a special authority and responsibility to a child who believes so much of what you teach them in your classrooms. This is a huge responsibility that makes you accountable to that child to not make potentially devastating and factually inaccurate remarks when dealing specifically with race and ethnicity.

My very last request is that you do not mention this email to Son of Dawn E Pooh. Son of Dawn E Pooh asked for some of my African American Mathematician information so that he can confront Mr. Junior High Teacher on his own. I want you to allow him to have that opportunity to stand up without fear as long as he is respectful about it of course and is not disruptive to the rest of the class.

Respectfully,
Dawn E Pooh

Another Round of Welcome

Hello to everyone else who is now reading this BLOG. We are so happy to have new family and friends checking out what we/I have to say about the world around us.

It has been a long sad couple of weeks. We recently lost Grandpa. It was a sad time but a joyous one too. It is comforting to know that he no longer has to suffer from his cancer. It is always hard to say goodbye to someone you love due to death but to see or know that someone is suffering and in pain is even more tragically horrible. I will not publish a long BLOG this time around. I need to give everyone else a chance to catch up on some reading. I encourage all of our new folks to take a look at what has already been posted.

Only one other food for thought...please everyone have a very Blessed New Year.

Gods love,

Dawn

Be yourself

I only have one statement to make today. Just be yourself. People are so pretentious trying to be something or someone other than they are. It makes me sick. Why is it that way though? Culture breeds it. People wear so many masks that after awhile I think even they don't know who they are anymore.

The good side is all anyone wants you to see. They want you to see all of the super fantabulous things about them but they are unwilling to expose the lies they live behind. I can prove the truth of that statement. Spend a day in a public place listening to the conversations of others. I walked by a conversation yesterday and a group of guys said terrible things about a certain group of people. I was repulsed and thought to myself, "are you not learning anything in college?" The truth of it is....they probably learned it from home as a child.

It's all good though. They were just idiots. I like to think one of them did not feel that way and maybe he was just too afraid to speak up. To him I say...just be yourself and stop pretending with your so called friends. Stay true to who you are and what you believe. You might just change the heart of others in the process.

Today The Gloves Come Off Because I Am Pissed Off

I recently wrote a response to an article I read in The Boise State University newspaper. The article talked about "Overpaid sports stars," but only mentioned two athletes, both of which were Black. I was offended by the article because of its content and because it suggested that sports stars are not humanitarians.

Well, well, well, what happens today, I pick up a copy of the newspaper and a classmate of mine wrote a response basically indicating that he was not racist and did not know anyone who was. Number one, I never called anyone racist. He took it to that level. I merely pointed out that the article was of poor taste and we should not look to African American sports stars to cure the world. Oh baby you bet I am mad TODAY (obviously).

The gloves come off today. Yeah...get your printer ready because I am about to go off. To suggest to anyone of color that they have never experienced any prejudice in America is laughable and more than insulting. I am deeply offended by anyone that has never in their life walked a mile in my shoes. Not just that, it ain't all about me. The sacrifices that have been made so that I can walk a mile without being lynched for speaking out about our society. Who died so I could be free--free to speak my mind, free to live in Idaho, free to have a job, free to do whatever my heart so desires in my life--the list goes on. Do we not understand that there have been many that have lost their lives so that I can be the person that I am today. It took over 100 years for US to be free even after we were liberated from slavery. To the contrary how free are we even today?

I find it appalling that when others give examples of successful African Americans that it is still ususally in reference to Entertainment Occupations. Yeah...print this one. I do not live to entertain. Yes, it does provide a way out of oppression for many that share my ethnicity but it is not the only way that any African American should ever be defined as successful or not. There are millions of us that make a difference in every occupation imaginable. Why because one by one someone came before you and made a way where no way was ever possible before. Why do history books (modern ones of course) say things like, "the first African American to..." Why do they say this? Because there wasn't one of us to do whatever it was before.

I am shocked and amazed that anyone could ever in our culture even suggest that racism is not really alive and well and to further indicate that we as minorities need to self educate more about what resources are available in our communities. Wait a fine minute. I know what is available to me. I know as a citizen of this country that everything is available to me. I am comfortable in knowing that anything I wish to participle in in my community should be open to me if I want to be a part of it. This is my right as a citizen of this country. Just because I am black does not mean that I am not informed of what opportunities exist in my community of things that I can take part in.

Before I came to college I never really wanted to be an advocate of racial equality or a voice for those who are African American in Idaho. It is the audacity of people who write such crap that make me want to be a voice to speak out more and more. It makes me so mad because the writer of the Letter to the Editor did not even get all of his fact checking done. He claims all of the Professors at the University are white. Not true. There are not enough Professors of various racial and ethnic backgrounds but there are some. Not only that, these professors all seem to be the very best. They are not just so so Professors but they all seem to be more than any average Professor.

I could go on and on for days. You get what I am saying. I want everyone to be clear with what my position is and why I feel the way that I do. I guess I should say that I have not ever thought of myself as the overly radical black woman. But, I can feel myself getting to be this way because of the relative ignorance of others. This is what cracks me up about the entire situation. I promise to try and wrap this up. This kid that wrote the Letter in my class, has he once reached out to get to know me? Did he find out how I felt or what I was about? Has he said more than boo to me? So...who really is racist? I'm not asking him to be my new best friend or anything but to accuse me of saying others are racist is ridiculous. Prejudice and narrow minded you betcha, many people are. But to not even get to know me on some level and then flat out accuse me of saying something I didn't even say gets my feathers ruffled.

Where do I go from here? Well, I have devoted a ton of time pulling the gloves off in my BLOG. I want to say so much to this kid in my class. Things that would definitely not show the rational adult that I am. Things that would confirm to him that even in my most eloquent of speech...that I still got that much black in me. But I won't instead I think I will invite him to the Ethnic Students Luncheon, if it is anything like the last one...he is in for more than just a lunch treat.

Reaching The World, One Gift...That Makes A Difference

Everyone that knows me, knows that I do not just tell people things just because. I want to express something to you that I feel is important. I was sending a free e-card to my husband and they had one of those advertisements. I clicked on it because it sounded interesting. It was an ad to send Bibles to Iraq. I was pleased to discover that it wasn't a fly-by-night company that is doing the Bibles for the Iraqi people. It is offered through the Campus Crusade For Christ.

As always...do not take my word for it. Check it out for yourself to see if it lines up with something you are interested in participating in. http://give.ccci.org/featured/bibles-iraq-im/. I encourage you to check out the website. There is a link on there where you can mail money to them so don't feel like you have to use the internet in order to send money to support this effort. I want to challenge everyone who has someone, a loved one or good friend who is serving in Iraqi as an American Military Member to send just a little something to help in this effort. It sounds kind of odd as a request but think about the big picture for a moment.

We all desire for the conflict in Iraq to be over. We also desire for the Iraqi people to have healing for the trauma they have endured for many years and also the trauma they have experienced in order to bring settlement to their country. Agree with me or not, it is my opinion that if we can bring the Gospel of Peace it can change the situation. The word peace just keeps haunting my brain. We can help change things for the Iraqi people.

A friend of mine, told me that she was interested in going to Iraq and laying down her life to help her neighbor. Would any of us do that? I know that other people are afraid to go to Iraq out of fear of being beheaded by some terrorist faction. If Campus Crusade is willing lets support them. They are reputable and your money will not be used to help a terrorist organization. Speak up y'all...everyone is afraid to do something. Go with your heart and do what you think is appropriate. Things will work out over there but if we turn our backs and expect others to do what we are unwilling to do now to support then it will take longer than it should to change our present situation.

If you don't like my idea find an organization that you know will really help and open your checkbooks people. There are millions of people counting on us to be the Christian Nation we claim to be.

Make sure you take advantage of the Comment link listed below. I would love to hear from you, plus others will be able to view your responses to anything that you see on here.

Pooh,

And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace. Who bring glad tidings of good things!"

Romans 10:15

Family History Project

For anyone who does not know, I am working on a family history project. It is so exciting to do such a thing. I am just abslolutely thrilled to be able to find out more information about our family. I am working on the Maternal side right now. It was so thriiling to get a copy of a marriage license from the State Of Illinois. To hold it in my hand and say to myself, "this is a part of my life history."

Often times I must say, that we as a people cannot do such a thing. Everyone is so mobile and busy or they just don't care. I encourage everyone to who knows something about us to email me so we can get this family history project going until we just can't track anything anymore.

For my family...be prepared. I will be conducting interviews in December to pick your brains.

Shoes

How is it as parents of more than one child that we just move from sport to sport or activity to activity? Let's talk shoes for a minute. Football shoes, wrestling shoes, cross-country shoes, track shoes, basketball shoes...the list goes on and on and on. Try having a boy or two and needing a pair of shoes for a special occasion. We have to know when we buy special occasion shoes that it's a one time purchase. Only to be worn once then two months down the road the shoes are usually too small to be worn again. Now, as a Mother of boys, I know why you see boys wearing tennis shoes with a suit during special events. I often thought it was so tacky as I was growing up. Some teenage boy who looks nice but then he wears his size 12 Nikes.

Now, the shoes on the other foot. I actually did it...nice decent clothes, slacks, tie, dress shirt, the whole nine yards. Do you think I was going to fork out a penny more for shoes that he would not be comfortable in, nor ever wear again. Heck no! There he was on his special day, all dressed up and a decent pair of Nikes...they were clean and did not have holes in them. There was no shame to my game. See, what you do is don't take any of the pictures down that low. Nobody will ever really remember that he had that nice black suit on with Nikes unless you take the pictures down that low. This is where we mess up as parents, don't take the pictures or the video down that low and nobody will ever know.

How did I get so off track. I know I wanted to say more than just this. I have to tie this all in somehow with the shoes. Shoes are important to us. We devote many hours of our lives, picking them out, trying them on and seeing if they fit. They always have to be the perfect shoe for whatever sport or event we need them for. Then, there is always that pair of shoes that's your favorite. The one pair that you just can't live without. I remember my very dear friend had a pair of shoes that she loved. She spent oodles of dollars getting them repaired once. I think it cost her more to have them repaired than she initially paid for them. It didn't matter, she wanted those shoes fixed just like new. Now, it seems shoes are so disposable. We don't acquire the attachments to shoes often times anymore.

You know at some point I have to again tie this all in. My question for you today is what shoes are you looking to buy? Sport shoes, dress shoes, cute shoes (reserved for only the young), comfortable shoes, work boots? Shoes are only temporary you know. No matter what you pay for them, they are still just shoes to worn once or thousands of times. They just get older, more worn or sit in a closet waiting to be worn again. So today my message is for those who bought a pair of special occasion shoes. You know the ones you wore once or only wear at Christmas time.

Life does not have to be like shoes. Maybe you made that commitment and cried out once. But, God does not serve your purpose anymore. You've put Him in your closet not to be touched any time soon. He's still there for you, you know He is. Maybe you don't know. Maybe you think all this Jesus stuff is just crap. I would classify you as the one who is still searching for that perfect pair of shoes. You know the ones that are almost what you want but not quite. Your life will be like that. You always shopping, hanging on to some new cause or drama you've got going on. I don't need to preach to you. I will leave you with only one challenge. Don't believe my feelings or comments about religion or Christianity. I don't ask that anyone ever just take my word for anything. The next time you are sick or you don't want to go out but want to cuddle up with a good book try cuddling up with the Good Book. Give it a read. Read the entire thing from the first book to the last.

Maybe it will be a shoe that fits...or the lost shoe you've been searching for.