Bittersweet

Wow it has been a really long time since I have written anything. That doesn't mean nothing has happened. Lots has.

I am in London again this time for a joyous occasion. The lovely Katherine graduated with honors from Kings College and we came to party. We had a great day on Tuesday the 20TH of July and then again on July 24TH. The whole family was together but we forgot to take a picture. Andy was here for 10 days and we all had fun.

My parents in law have again shared their space with us and have been extremely tolerant and patience. 4 weeks is a long time and they have been happy to have us.

I thought about a lot of things today in fact this evening that made me think about writing: I read an article int he paper this morning about Nina Simone which lead to a google search which lead to some you tube videos of her performances. The woman was incredible. I did not know anything about her really. she gave an interview in 1985 telling why she left the country. She said they treated her bad. In the article I read how she described herself and how she felt about her self were commented on. She said she was everything white people hated about blacks. In particular i watched a video where she sang Feelings... she looked heavy medicated or high. her piano playing however was as though she did it by magic. it was passionate and unequivocally a gift from God. Her talent was not man or woman made it was spiritual.


I thought more to day about many woman who had hard lives or rather challenging lives growing up black in the United States. Billy Holliday, Martha Washington. Eartha Kitt. Bessie Smith Daisy Glen, Bertha Taylor to name but a few.

My daughter shared something with me that I had not really realized but up on reflection I can see how it happened. She said she was bullied because she was different. Mixed race is what she said. I thought to myself wow, she was a pretty child and people still found something to be mean about...I thought she would have it so much better than me. People no matter the generation can just be bad spirited