You Never Miss Your Water...

I went to the Hollywood Bowl in August with Otim, Yusef and family to see Barrington Levy, Beres Hammond and UB40. Of course Beres turned it out with "Who say a big man don't cry? You never miss your water 'til your well run dry." And me and my extended fam were up on our feet jammin' to the cool reggae sounds of none other than the man himself. Otim couldn't figure out why Beres didn't get top billing, but there are some mysteries like Britain's unemployment form that UB40 took it's name from that will never be resolved. It was the first and only concert I attended this summer. I was supposed to see Seun Kuti (one of Fela Kuti's musically gifted sons) but was handling business on the east coast. Now it's back to the grind since the semester started this week. Yusef called last night before teaching his creative writing class at SMC (Santa Monica College) just to check in cuz he hadn't heard from me in a week. I told him I was busy on my grind...thinking, prepping and preparing for the opening week. Critical Race theory and the African Diaspora with a focus on culture and identity politics seems to be the appropriate flavor--what with Michelle and Barack Obama positioned for the upcoming presidency. I had students study Michelle's opening speech and Barack's acceptance. A truly historic moment (Can you feel it? huh, huh, huh?) Most people could and even though I was teaching I had a sense that something was in the air. Regardless of what set you claimin' (Republican, Democrat, Independent) like the Chambers Brothers sang " Time has come today." Or the Ojay's "People get ready, there's a change a comin'...." Both songs inspired folk to rise to the occasion and dare to have "The Audacity of Hope" as Barack proffers. Today I received an email from Michelle speaking about what she saw when he accepted the nomination. She said, "The first time I ever heard Barack speak was at a community meeting on the South Side of Chicago. He won me over with the same message that inspired millions last night. He told people who'd been knocked down that , despite everything, we need to set our sights on a better place around the bend--and that it's up to each one of us to fight for it."  I was moved by both speeches which conicidentally were made on the same day the Dr. Martin Luther King gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech on the mall in front of the Lincoln memorial in Washington, D. C. I watched Michelle and Barack speeches after my last class and after hopping on the 5 and heading north to Los Angeles. I was filled with anticipation because I had missed calls from friends who watched it as it was broadcast on CNN. One of the things that makes me get up in the morning and continue to teach despite Swartzenegger's budget cuts to education is when I walk into class and see the faces in the crowd, some familiar and some that I have yet to know...all hungry for knowledge, all eager for the promise of education and what that might mean to them and their family's future. I'm not naive enough to think Barack is the panacea or the super hero that will save us from government mismanagement and the fear and paranoia that's been bred over the last eight years in this country and around the world. But I do believe what he says about a quality education...that everyone deserves one, and that everyone must be able to go to college and become a participant in the long awaited change that only we as a unison, non-partisan society can bring about. We have much work to do and with Barack at the controls, the faith in leadership of this country may very well be restored. It's gangster...and I want to thank him for stepping up to the plate and thinking outside 'the box' with cats like , Cesaire, Chisolm, DuBois, Diop, Einstein, Ghandi, Lumumba, Mandela, Mother Teresa, Nkrumah and Ida B. Wells. Classes were full at City (some were overloaded) and I tried to stay within my cap, but refused to turn students away. I look forward to studying the events of the November election this semester. We are truly living in a historic moment that will ripple throughout time for decades to come.