On Senator-Elect Rand Paul

I’m a Black Democrat mainly because it has been the party of my generation that has most represented diversity, attacked inequity and has seemed to be most passionate about creating the American vision that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. forced our country to embrace. Unfortunately, the Democratic Party has illustrated an inability to effectively propose and pass legislation that takes us in that direction – locally, on the state level and in DC – partly because they have not been able to lead in being fiscally responsible. I argue Democrats are just as guilty as the Bush administration in boosting the national debt.

During the latest campaign cycle, I was frustrated with the Democratic candidates to whom for some reason I felt beholden to support. They appeared arrogant, uninformed, weak and politically inept. Jack Conway seemed to wear these characteristics in high fashion and as we all know was badly beaten by Rand Paul. I was not surprised. I am, however, surprised to be in agreement with much of what Senator-elect Paul has had to say after the elections about what he wants to accomplish as part of Kentucky’s delegation to Washington.

This morning on ABC’s This Week, he focused his discussion on cutting the national debt by forcing legislators to develop a balanced budget through an amendment. He said both defense budgets and domestic programs have to be cut. He suggested cutting back the number of US soldiers and forcing other countries the US assists to pay more for their own defense. Paul would like to get rid of all earmarks and implement an across the board cut on entitlement funding. In criticizing earmarks he used the Department of Transportation as an example of how projects get funded without much regard to what’s available while being fiscally irresponsible. That may mean that with a Paul Senate, the controversial Ohio River Bridges Project may just sit on the shelf as a dream deferred. He said he would not vote to raise the debt ceiling and wants to repeal the healthcare bill. Except for the latter and cutting entitlement funding (which I do think should be in play in cutting the deficit but not to the extent that Paul wants), I agreed with much of what he had to say. He at the very least seems diplomatic and is set on creating rules for Congress in efforts to bring some order to how our federal government works. For that, I commend him. It is weird to say out loud, but my opinion of his social positions do not seem as relevant as does his passion to force legislators “out of campaign mode” and to work to change how Washington does business. If my ability to give Rand Paul a fair chance to represent Kentucky illustrates anything, I hope it shows the chance that Congress can let go of party politics and do the work to make us a prosperous America again… Plus, he can’t be half as bad as Jim Bunning!

Reflections from Fancy Farm 2010

For those who don’t follow Kentucky politics (and to my out of state readers), the annual Fancy Farm picnic has become the unofficial kick-off to the fall political season in Kentucky. The picnic is hosted by the St. Jerome Catholic Church in Fancy Farm, KY – Graves County. It is a very nostalgic, classic Catholic church picnic – BBQ, Bingo, bluegrass-honky tonk, ice cream: the whole nine. Several factors influenced my decision to attend this year’s Fancy Farm picnic. First, I have never attended and since I was a child I can remember local media making the event seem like such a big deal and I always wanted to know what it was all about. Second, after entering the political arena as a candidate for the Louisville Metro Council District 6 seat I have definitely been moved to become much more politically active. Third and the most influential was John Cheves’s recent article, “The white world of Kentucky politics,” printed in the Lexington Herald-Leader in July of this year. I could say lots about the article, but I won’t at this time. The overall message from the article for me is that there are very few Blacks that hold elected office in the state and the white politicians don’t see Kentucky’s Black population as a significant constituency. Nor do they think issues related to race are important to Kentuckians. My visit to Fancy Farm was my way of opposing those views to Republicans and Democrats. It’s not that I didn’t think Kentucky politicians and the general electorate think this way, but it gives a different feel to know they are not bashful about sharing these views.

The trip to Fancy Farm was a three and a half hour drive from Louisville southwest in the direction of Owensboro, Hopkinsville and the western edge of the state. Making that drive and passing beautiful land and small farms made me remember what I love most about this state. Although I wasn’t raised on a farm, as a child I spent time in Peytontown in Madison County on family farmland in which my mother and her siblings were raised. My mother described the farm as “growing up in the Garden of Eden” as it related to the fruit trees, flowers and vegetable garden they raised. They were diversified small farmers when diversification was the norm and simply out of the necessity of raising a large family. This tie to a farm and land ownership is what bonds me to the thousands of farm families across the state. I see this bond as crucial to moving our state forward and if not caressed properly it will continue to divide our rural and urban communities, preventing us from developing policies and programs that improve the health and wealth of Kentuckians across the Commonwealth.

Gerome, my significant other, and I arrived about an hour before the political speeches were to commence. St. Jerome Catholic Church sits in very close proximity to the newly built Fancy Farm Elementary School (a fact that organizers touted during the opening remarks of the political speeches) and seemed to be situated in the center of the town. Surprisingly my first observation was that the picnic was filled with young people! Whether they were enjoying the many children’s activities at the picnic, assisting their parents serving food, teenagers just hanging out or young adults working with a political candidate’s campaign, youth were everywhere. That was encouraging and exciting as the state is suffering from a brain drain in just about every corner of the Commonwealth. We spent the time walking around, eating and just taking in the atmosphere and sun – it was indeed hot, but bearable especially with ice cold water, lemonade and ice cream!

Without a space under cover, we found the most shaded and comfortable spot for us to the right side of the stage crowded by Rand Paul and Republican supporters. As the bluegrass/honky tonk band retired, folks began settling for the speeches to begin. We definitely stood out as we were two of no more than 20 Black attendees or fewer and were in the middle of a sea of Paul supporters. I agreed to an interview with Jim Williams of 84 WHAS who was probably just as interested as everyone else that we were there. I told Williams that though I would vote for Jack Conway I was mostly interested to hear from both U.S. Senate candidates and wanted an opportunity – which I did not get –to connect with Conway’s people to express my discontent with the direction of the campaign. I think he is being too soft, not standing firm on his beliefs and spending too much time trying to appear as a Republican. The remarks I had for Williams were related to my frustration with the Democratic Party locally, statewide and nationally and that my fear is that should Tea Party candidate Rand Paul win the Senate race, it would send waves across the country. But most pressing for me is a Paul win giving credence to the Republicans in Louisville’s mayoral race and eventually affecting the gubernatorial race next year. Conway and Fischer are both running as though they are not concerned with this reality.

I’ve been reading different reviews about this year’s Fancy Farm event. Joseph Gerth from the Courier-Journal and the blogger from Barefoot and Progressive have good ones. Check them out.

I thought Governor Beshear was just OK, but definitely corny. I guess I can’t expect the Governor of Kentucky to have much swagger, but hell he should! I wasn’t taking notes during his speech and quite frankly I forgot anything he had to say. Mitch McConnell used the national Republican scare tactic of connecting other Democrats, in this case Jack Conway, to President Obama and Speaker Nancy Pelosi as evidence that Conway is “out of touch with Kentuckians.” As the loser to Rand Paul during the primaries, I guess Trey Grayson shouldn’t have expected a warm crowd. The crowd was cold; he was boring, talked too long and was blasted off stage by the band for going over time – hilarious!

Reports suggest Conway did well. I gave him a C+/B-. He spent time touting his work as Attorney General and the need for there to be accountability in the Senate seat. Then he went on this “accidents happen”tangent referring to Paul’s reaction to various issues and concluded that with his best line: “What did Mitch McConnell tell the GOP when Paul won the primaries in May? Accidents happen!” He ended his speech with a great line from President Bill Clinton, “Nothing is wrong with America that can’t be fixed.” He didn’t mention President Obama once.




I was actually looking forward to hearing Rand Paul and was totally disappointed. I assumed as one of the leading Tea Party candidates that he would come out strong. Instead, he began a lecture on the nation’s antiquated tax and regulatory codes. He almost put his own supporters to sleep! He went on to attack national Democratic leaders and to connect Conway to them.

The crowd at Fancy Farm was the most interesting and entertaining to listen to and watch. From Paul supporters’ flip-flops with the words “cap” and “trade” printed on the bottoms to Conway supporters’ “Rand Paul’s Waffle House,” they seemed to have put lots of energy into representing for their candidate. I spent most of my time while listening to the speeches watching one of the youngest Paul supporters. He appeared to be about 4 or 5, adorable red-head. He sat on the edge of the stage where the band sat during the speeches with a woman (perhaps his mother). He held a Rand Paul fan and watched and mimicked other supporters throughout the event fanning and yelling almost on cue. It illustrated to me the teaching and indoctrination that conservatives are providing for their children. Regardless of their politics, Republicans are proud of who they are and work hard to continue that work presently and for generations to come…Democrats should take notice.

Gerome and I attempted to take a bus of 50 to Fancy Farm, but weren’t able to plan enough ahead of time. Nonetheless, it was great for the two of us to attend alone. I plan to attend next year and organize others in Louisville to go to Fancy Farm to illustrate there are urban dwellers in Kentucky who are watching and care deeply about the politics of the Commonwealth.

Finally, She Speaks Again

As excited as I was to start this blog, its unfortunate I have not given as much time to it as I thought I would. I really appreciate my followers' support (official and unofficial followers) . Its because of my readers that I'm up late tonight writing this post...Since my last post, there has been a lot going on - in our world and in my own.

Follow up from the first two posts...

I have not lost as much weight as I had planned. I have lost 10-15lbs, increased exercise and am working hard to decrease my intake of bad food. My goal for the future is to establish a more consistent exercise regime and get on the weights!

I'm happy to announce that I assisted the staff at the Louisville Metro Public Health and Wellness Department secure a $7.9 million grant from the Center for Disease Control - funded with stimulus funds and part of First Lady Michelle Obama's initiative to improve the health of America's children. I hope Metro and her partners are able to use the funds in a real way to increase the availability of healthy and local foods in Louisville's underserved neighborhoods and radically change the way in which Jefferson County Public School system feeds and engages its students...

Its late and my mind is way too scattered to write anything of much substance, but I will end with a list of topics I have been thinking about and hope to write about in the future.

• Louisville's 2010 Mayoral Race
• The impact race has had on President Obama's administration
• Crabs in a Barrell: Louisville's Black Middle Class
• Louisville's Loss of Young Professionals
• To Be Loved...
• The lack of conversations about farmers and our agricultural system as we engage in talks about eating healthy
• The debate about busing and neighborhood schools
• Texting
• The importance of an informed and active electorate
• My Hair!

Just a few "things that make you go, 'hmmm..." - Arsenio Hall

The Inspirational Michelle Obama

Aside from President Obama acknowledging his criticism of the Supreme Court’s decision to allow corporations to run advertisements during political campaigns; his desire to end the “don’t ask, don’t tell” ban towards gays in the military; and his ideas about forgiving student loans for public servants, one of the most talked about aspects of the President’s first State of the Union address was his wife: Mrs. Michelle Obama.

Because purple is my favorite color I sort of assumed that I was the only one mesmerized by seeing Michelle in her purplish/plum Isaac Mizrahi dress. But soon it was evident that her presence and beauty had many buzzing. During the pre-speech show on ABC, George Stephanopoulos was heard questioning whether Michelle’s dress choice (in addition to Vice-President Joe Biden’s purple tie and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s lavender suit) was a statement of her husband’s desire to not be left or right, but to appeal to middle America. The blogs were blowing up about her – everything from the price of the dress to who was asked to sit in her box. The ultimate accent to her conservative, yet edgy look was witnessing her being “embarrassed” (as her husband said) as she motioned the house to sit down after a standing ovation from President Obama’s acknowledgement of her mission to fight childhood obesity. All that said it’s very apparent that when Michelle walks or talks, people look and listen.

But why?

She is the First Lady of the United States and that title alone carries weight. But you could surely argue (and hopefully not with anyone who claims to have a sane mind) that Mrs. Obama commands attention in her own right. Unlike her husband, she is undoubtedly an African-American – a Black woman, a sista – from the South side of Chicago. Born to working-class parents, she attended public schools as an adolescent and teen. She went to Princeton as an undergrad, majoring in sociology and African-American studies and later to Harvard Law School. After successfully working for a corporate law firm in her hometown where she met her husband, she worked for the City of Chicago in planning and development, later founded an organization to encourage young people to get into public service and held several posts at the University of Chicago. She’s a mother, a daughter, a sister and since being thrust in the public eye has become an inspiration and positive representation of a Black woman to the world.

For me, the latter is very important. Unbeknownst to many Americans, Black culture is world-wide. I remember my first and only international trip to Malaysia that made that fact evident to me. On an elevator in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, I heard an instrumental jazz rendition of a Mary J. Blige song and thought, “Wow, our culture is known and loved everywhere!” That can be a good thing and not so flattering. Everything about our culture isn’t what I would wish to share with the world. So to have Michelle Obama stand on the world stage as a Black woman when so often we have been seen as video hoes, welfare queens and God only knows what else, is quite refreshing! Not only is she beautiful and smart, but she’s very charismatic and carries herself with grace and poise wherever she goes.

Recent tabloids suggest the Obamas may be having marital problems. I hope that’s not the case and if it is that they work it out. As a Black couple and family, they tell America - Black America especially – that marriage, family and success are attainable. And yes you too can have this. I love that early in the Obama Presidency, that Barack and Michelle have opened themselves to telling their story of how they made it thus far. Michelle honestly lets us know how hard it was for her to follow her husband’s political aspirations and become the woman he needed her to be – whether that was setting aside her career aspirations, staying home and raising their family or joining the campaign trail. She allowed herself to be flexible and amenable to what he needed and it has paid off for them and us.

And her platform – fighting childhood obesity has the ability to make our country healthier and wealthier. I recently watched her give a speech about this passion. As a critical observer, her approach was pretty safe. Decreasing children’s TV time, slowly adding fruits and vegetables to children’s diets and getting them more active were her top strategies. And though she admitted that together parents, government and grassroots groups will have to share in the responsibility of ending childhood obesity, she missed some of the more powerful possible outcomes of this issue.

Childhood obesity is about how we engage our children – what we expose them to or not. It’s about how we as adults eat and how we feed our children. It’s about how we’ve allowed our food system to be overtaken by corporations with great advertising budgets, taking us out of our kitchens in to the drive-thru line. A true stab at ending childhood obesity would be to dramatically change our food system – how we get our food, where the food comes from and how we consume it. To change our food system would be to alter who gets food subsidies for producing our food – rewarding small, family farmers who use sustainable farming practices and placing penalties on large corporate farms whose owners care less about how the food is produced and more about the amount yielded. If this happens, Mrs. Obama would have helped her husband create more small businesses that create more jobs whose employees buy more stuff (hopefully made in our country) and put that money back into the local economy. Not only will our children become healthier but so will our economy.

I was so excited to hear that White House Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford would be preparing the first family’s meals with food from their own garden. It’s further promising that Mrs. Obama invites children to help out with the garden. The garden is a connection to understanding the larger challenges those children may face trying to get that same food when they get home – depending on where they live. It’s my hope that Mrs. Obama will get those stories and factor food policy into her childhood obesity fight.

Michelle Obama has become an American icon - not just because of her fashion sense and beauty or because she was raised on the South side of Chicago and attended two of the country’s top Ivy League schools. It’s because of her personal sacrifice and her illustration of the American dream to the world. In her own words, "And in my own life, in my own small way, I've tried to give back to this country that has given me so much. That's why I left a job at a law firm for a career in public service, working to empower young people to volunteer in their communities. Because I believe that each of us--no matter what our age or background or walk of life--each of us has something to contribute to the life of this nation."

Mrs. Obama, we thank you for your service and look forward to seeing what more we accomplish based on your selfless inspiration.

I Want to Be the Biggest Loser

The new year - every year - to most people signifies a clean slate - an opportunity to make a change. A new job. New mate. New house. Different city. A plan for financial success...For many of us we say we want to lose weight. So in the month of January, the gyms are flooded and personal trainers have more business than cab drivers during Derby. But somehow and way too often we lose our motivation and by the end of February, the gym traffic is back to normal and we quit the diet that made our lunchtime at work and happy-hour hard to get through.

Before going off to graduate school and having my first child, I was pretty satisfied with my weight. Sure I wanted to be smaller. But for someone who has always been overweight, 190lbs and a size 14 was good for me. I didn't have a gut and I could buy jeans from Banana Republic that fit me perfectly! I was a vegetarian (though I ate fish and had turkey during the holdiays). I exercised very sparingly. However, after having two children - which inherently changed my eating and exercise habits - I had become a size 18/20, weighing about 235lbs. So when the new year came around, I made a promise to myself not just to join the gym or get on a diet - neither of which I've done - I decided I would change my lifestyle to reflect the type of physical health I longed to have.

Upon making that decision, I was blessed to be able to join a "Biggest Loser" contest with staff and friends of my neighborhood's community center: a weight lose challenge. The contest runs from January to April 30th with the chance to win some cash (anytime money's on the table, I'm game). My first weigh-in was January 6th: 227lbs. I was horrified, but I just made a challenge to myself to change it. In less than three weeks, I've lost almost 10lbs and I'm looking forward to the next weigh-in in a few days to see my progress.

I'm still working on developing a more consistent exercise routine, but currently I workout to one of two Billy Blanks DVDs and I go to the community center to run a mile, shoot ball or use one of the cardio machines. For me, cardio is key and right now I'm getting in about 30-45 minutes, 3-5 days a week.

More importantly, I've changed my eating habits, but I am NOT ON A DIET. I want my weight lose plan to be a lifestyle change so to put myself on a diet would be to set myself up for failure. I've made a conscious decision to eat to live and not for comfort....The following are highlights of my altered diet (I started with a one-week detox):

• Replaced sugar cravings with fruit and smoothies. Smoothies/fruit drinks are easy to make at home with a blender. I usually tend to use a banana (for potassium and natural sugar). Apples, berries (straw-, blue- and black-), kiwi and mango are others I mix and match with a variety of different 100% fruit juices or just water.
• Reduced red meat intake. I've been surprised by how easy this has been given my family's desire to have it. So sometimes I have to make myself a different meal. Replacing ground beef with ground turkey is an option as well. Or sometimes I just have no meat at all.
• Increased my intake of fish and poultry. Tilapia, salmon and tuna are easy additions. I love turkey products and more and more the grocery stores are offering more turkey-based products and cuts. BTW - A turkey thigh is a great cut of meat and its large enough for two servings.
• Beans and nuts for protein. Beans are cheap, last a while and allow creativity in the kitchen! I put nuts - walnuts, sunflower seeds, pecans - in salads, have them with yogurt and granola or alone as an afternoon snack.
• Water, water, water! I've never been much on soda so drinking more water has been easy for me. I try to always have a bottle or glass near me - all day long - and drink it between meals and with snacks when I'm feeling hungry. A friend suggested drinking water before a meal to get fuller faster.
• Cut out most corn-based products.
• Eat dairy sparingly.
• Eat very little bread and pasta.
• Increased grains.

Overall, my food strategy is to eat a large variety of good food and cook nutritiously. I reward myself on the weekends with a nice dessert and/or serving of bread:-). I read labels on processed food I buy and make a huge effort to eliminate high fructose corn-syrup.

In the next month, I look forward to enhancing my exercise routine by making it more consistent and incorporating weights. I want to find 3 new foods and/or meals to add to my diet. I want to lose more weight and by April 30th I want to be the biggest loser!