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Almost one week ago today I stood in line at the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections to vote in the 2008 Presidential Election.
It was a crisp Sunday afternoon in Ohio and early voting lines had not received a lot of publicity in Ohio so I was not expecting to have to wait long. As we approached the board I said to the Mr., “There’s a lot of people voting today. We’re going to have to stand in that line.” The line was coming around E. 30th Street from Euclid Avenue which is not really that long, but again I wasn’t prepared for the wait. As we approached the parking lot we were pleased to see that we would be able to park in the lot and wouldn’t have to go off looking for a spot. As we exited the car we found that there were in fact two lines – one entering from the front of the building (as I described earlier), and another coming from the rear entrance. The latter line is where we began our journey to participate in the making of American history.
As I stood talking with Keith in line I did not feel awestruck, or emotional about the occasion. I have followed the campaign, but as I reflected on this day I think I have intentionally tried to keep my emotions in check. As a black woman in America I have seen the tide change right before my eyes and I guess I have been bracing myself for the worst.
The crowd was mostly black with a few caucasians mixed in, and everyone was orderly as the line continued to snake its way through the board offices. Many of the voters were elderly men and women coming from Senior Citizens buildings or from many of the churches in the area that had provided vans to transport voters.
I marveled at a couple of the older women who were dressed to the “nines” and smiling proudly as they no doubt cast their votes for Sen. Obama. You could see the joy and pride in their eyes as I’m sure that over the last 20 or so months they have chatted about how they never thought they would see this day.
Even after witnessing all of this I was not yet anxious or overly excited. I did recognize the significance of the occasion and snapped a few photos to record this historic event.
I didn’t really think about the act of voting until the following Monday morning as I listened to the Tom Joyner Morning Show and listed to Tyler Perry’s call-in. Perry was so elated and pumped about the prospect of voting – FOR THE FIRST TIME – that he called into the show. I had heard him on the show weeks before talking about the fact that he had registered and encouraging others to do the same, but to hear him in line talking about voting made me take another look at this election.
I thought about my mother who has been so wrapped up in this election and the joy she regularly speaks of and the emotion that I heard in her voice the night Sen. Obama accepted the Democratic nomination. I also thought of my five year old niece who still has not come to terms with the fact that Obama beat Clinton in the primary election. This election is historic in so many ways, but I’m glad it will soon be over.
So whatever your party affiliation or political leanings, take the time out of your busy schedule to vote early or on Nov. 4th!
Vote!

This post is Way overdue! I started to write this last spring when my friend and former writing group partner Lori Johnson’s first novel, After the Dance, was published and life got in the way, but timing is everything. A few weeks ago when I began a new post I saw this post and said I’ve got to get back to that and talk about After the Dance but I’m always leery of posting about things that are pretty old, I guess that’s the journalist in me.
Well congratulations are still in order for Lori as the audio book version of After the Dance was recently released and Amazon is offering a special on the purchase.

After the Dance is the fresh modern love story of Faye and Carl. The two are neighbors in a townhouse development and Johnson takes us through their courtship from the vantage point of each of the main characters.
Faye is a strong “big boned” girl in her mid-thirties with her own standards for relationships and she’s definitely not seeking a long term arrangement. As the fellas are often accused of, Faye is ready willing and able to “hit it and quit it”, allegedly with no regrets. Here’s a little excerpt letting the reader into Faye’s view of relationships as she explains her single status, “Yeah, I’ve heard it all before and really couldn’t care less. It’s not hard to get a man – if that’s what you want. I just don’t happen to want one – not to keep, anyway. To me, having a man is about as emotionally satisfying as having a fish in an aquarium or some other kind of pet. I’m not into pets. That’s not to say that I don’t have, well, certain needs and desires.”
Carl is a forty-something brother working days at UPS and studying for his MBA in the evenings. He’s a man trying to get ahead. Recently divorced, Carl has become a homebody and good Friday evening to him is relaxing with a cold brew and watching movies. He’s also basically a good guy despite the indiscretion that led to the demise of his marriage.
The tension between Faye and Carl is evident from their first meeting, and Johnson really brings it home when Carl decides to offer his assistance to a slightly stranded Faye “Instead of thanking me with a big pretty smile and a few kinds words, she said-without even looking up, mind you-“I’m perfectly capable.” Can you believe that?! “I’m perfectly capable.” You know I wanted to cuss, man, but hey, I played it off like a gent.
I said, “Well, I can see that, Ms. Fix-it, but it certainly wouldn’t hurt to have a couple more hands on the job. Or would it?” “
That’s just a taste of Johnson’s down home use of language and situations to present an enjoyable story of a modern romance between tenured adults.
So, stop by your local bookstore or library and pick up After the Dance I’m sure you’ll enjoy this debut novel as I did. To learn more about Johnson stop over to Lori’s Old School Mix.
To hear an excerpt of After the Dance, the audio version. Click here.

Months have passed without so much as a twerp listed here on my blog and that is not a good thing. Nearly two years ago, at least I think it has been that long, I started this space to help serve as a catalyst to writing but those of you who have traveled this road with me know that it didn’t really work. There were spurts of regular postings with some good feedback letting me know that I’m not writing to space. In the end I just kept letting life and some level of fear interrupt me. I seek to change that with this initial re-posting.
Part of my dilemma has been understanding what the true purpose of the site would be. I don’t want it to be a soapbox where I rant and vent about my life, but from time to time I will find it necessary to discuss some of the adventures in my life. The other problem I have is that I don’t know if I necessarily want to publish to the site some of the pieces that I am working on – both fiction and non-fiction, but I will attempt to share some things that I think are noteworthy.
All in all I think we will learn and grow together. I plan to be more diligent and post at least once a week and I won’t be afraid to post something that is not necessarily news in the journalistic context because if you didn’t know an event took place until you stopped by here it really is news.
The journey begins anew. Look forward to a few book reviews and posts on the ongoing saga of “Street Lit vs. Literary Fiction.”
I hope you will take the journey with me and leave a comment or two to let me know someone is reading!
Ciao

As the mercury drops residents of the midwest and northeast portions of the country are fighting to stay warm and often the measures they take are fatal.
In just that last two weeks, Clevelanders have heard horrific tales of house fires as a result of electric space heaters or other such devices to keep their homes safe. The most tragic was the story of the three sisters who succumbed after their home went up in flames as a result of a problem with an electric baseboard heating system.
These tragedies have prompted me to ask all to become more familiar with these devices before using them in your homes, and to take all necessary precautions to prevent these scenes from repeating themselves.
For more information on electric space heaters and safety check out the site referenced here.
Our prayers and condolences are offered to the Ogbuji family as they continue to mourn their loss. A fund has been established in the memory of the girls at KeyBank.

I’ve been away for a while, but I’ve been working on some of my other creative muses. The pic below is of a pair of socks I made during the “Peas Love Pink” Breast Cancer Awareness event held at Miss Chickpea’s Funky Fibers, one of my two new local knitting shops. It’s a great little shop in Hudson, Ohio with lots of great fibers and staff!