Nikki Giovanni and painting cabinets

For the culmination of our Dr. King celebrations, the school invited Nikki Giovanni to speak and read some of her poetry on Friday night. She blew everyone out of the water! She speaks in a sort of stream of consciousness, quite rapidly, and with an honesty I've never experienced before. She only read about 4 poems, but the introductions to each piece were worth the trip to campus. She spoke of her relationship with Rosa Parks, gave an in-depth telling of the Emmett Till story, and shared the tale of the last bit of her mother's life. She is absolutely charming, quite funny, and manages to be a huge inspiration while she speaks of oppression and fighting for justice. After a standing ovation, she was followed by the Rainbow Dance Theater. They were great dancers and put on a great show, but I took issue with some of what they tried to represent, or more the manner in which they proceeded. I felt they trivialized issues of equality, and were engaging in what some call "cultural prostitution," most likely without realizing it. Anyway, Nikki Giovanni was a tough act to follow, and I think most would have been satisfied just having heard her speak and read a bit.

After the show, we had a small reception with the dancers, Nikki Giovanni shook my hand and signed a book (!), and a group of us went to Applebee's to celebrate a successful week's efforts and be in community with each other.

The rest of the weekend was dedicated to being at home, doing home-y things. We did laundry, cleaned the kitchen, baked bread, re-cleaned the kitchen, sorted recycling, and decided to paint the kitchen cabinets!! They're now blue, to match the walls, and waiting in the garage to be re-installed.

I think I'm coming down with a cold, but I'm determined to fend it off. Can't have anything slowing me down!