I was trying to formulate a post in reaction to Obama’s acceptance speech last night and was having trouble coming up with the words.  My good friend sent me an email this morning about her thoughts and it was right on the money.  She gave me permission to share them with you. 

When I was in elementary school I wrote an essay on what I wanted to be when I grew up. It should come as no surprise to you that I wanted to be the first Black President of the United States of America. The next year, I started NCS (National Cathedral School) and while I learned that I was capable of anything, I also learned that as a woman, as a Black woman, anything was not possible. I learned that the American dream was not my dream, that I could be wealthy but I would never be powerful. Even as I watched pioneers like Ron Brown, Colin Powell, Condeleza Rice and Oprah, (Don’t laugh. She changed the face of television.) I still didn’t believe. Even as I preached everyday to my students the importance of an education, the opportunities that are out there waiting for them, the power they have to change the world, I didn’t think that I would ever see real and meaningful change in this country.
 
Tonight I felt something that I haven’t felt in a long time. . .Hope. Tonight, I changed. Tonight, I believed. That’s saying a lot because I can be a bit of a cynic but I do believe. Tonight I saw a man who looks like me, like my brother, like the kids I teach everyday , accept the Democratic nomination for President of the United States and I watched anything became a little more possible. More possible for me, for my students, for my kids (if I ever have any, mom.).   What I witnessed tonight may have been the death of my plan to become the first Black President but it was the resurrection of something much more powerful, my ability to dream.
 
Yes! We Can!
 
Candice
Believer

Priya is in town, she’s headed to the Cape for a wedding this weekend, and a group of us met up for dinner last night.  We went to Alibi/Scampi at the Liberty Hotel, which I’ve been to one other time (when their lack of attention scored us a free tab) and rather like.  I hadn’t seen her since she got married earlier this summer and it was great to spend some time together. 

Being a Wednesday night, we really couldn’t get all wild and crazy.  In fact, after dinner we tried to go dancing, but to no avail since this town is basically dead until the weekends.  If only we were in NYC :)  We still managed some old-people style debauchery, which basically entails drinking expensive cocktails and acting like asses.

August has been a pretty busy month for me.  A few weeks ago I rented a Zip Car (love!) and headed to The City to see Anna and Leif.  Anna was celebrating her birthday, so it was a great time to visit.  I decided to spend the extra money on the Zip (instead of the usual Chinatown bus) because I wanted to bring Toby along.  Leif has a huge crush on him, so I couldn’t show up ended handed on his doorstep…cause I’m pretty sure he would have turned me away

I’ve only been to the city a few times now (one time was during a blizzard), so I’m still in tourist mode.  Leif took me on a walking tour and in some random-ass part of town (I guess it’s not “random” it just seemed that way) was the exterior used for the Friends building.

I’m still not sure what direction I’m heading in at all, when we leave the house, but he lives near a really cool dog park that Toby loved visiting.  Here’s a shot of Toby being good in the car:

Coincidentally, I had to clean out the car before returning it on Sunday and there was SO MUCH TOBY HAIR.  Anyone who has ever come within 10 feet of this dog knows that they will have Toby DNA on them for the rest of their lives.  Especially if he’s sitting on anything you own

Anna and her friend Steve have the same birthday and so we all celebrated together at a nice spot with an outdoor patio bar (don’t ask me where, it’s on Delancey Street).  The weather was amazing and the drinks flowed…a little too well.  I think my downfall was ordering a round of Patron shots.  I’m an idiot.

Speaking of “celebrities,” has anyone from his party pointed out to McCain that Arnold is the governor of California?  You know, since he was an actual celebrity before office.   Or how about that guy, what was his name….Reagan?  Isn’t some “wrassler” governor somewhere, too? 

Or did McCain only mean people that were celebrities just because of who they are?  In which case, Paris fits but not Britney.  She at least tries to sing.

Besides my troubles with Delta (see earlier post), I had a great visit to DC.  I went down for the week to celebrate my old roomie’s birthday.  On Friday we went to the Sculpture Garden to listen to jazz and drink sangrias at the fountain.  There was a huge crowd in attendance - this is a weekly even held throughout the summer. 

I had the chance to visit the new KIPP building, which is gorgeous, and see some of my old students.  The kids here were fifth graders when I first started working there are in seventh grade now - and look so much older to me!  It was great to get a chance to see them and get bombarded with hugs.  Definitely worth the trip.  I dropped in on the Big Dog BBQ on Saturday to see some old coworkers and bask in the HOT sun (which lasted approximately 20 minutes before I needed to seek some shade).

For poor communication skills.  See, Delta and I have never had a very strong relationship.  I’m more of a US Airways kind of girl and when it’s possible, I’ll always choose JetBlue.  However, I needed Delta recently for a trip to DC.  When I arrived on Friday morning at the aiport, I discovered that they had cancelled the flight - BUT, they had automatically placed all of us on a US Airways (cause they rock) flight leaving 15 minutes later.  Excellent.  Score one point for Delta.

On the way back to Boston, I arrived at the airport and everything seemed a go for the 1pm flight.  We were just about to board when they told everyone there would be a delay.  Apparently a big storm was heading through and they would update us at 2pm.  Storm came and went and they made no annoucement at 2pm.  Various rumors were spreading through the gate - other airports were shut down, some flights were taking off, our plane was here and ready to go - but there was no official word from Delta.  There was, what we thought to be, a Customer Service desk, but everyone working their claimed they could give us no information.  Or book us another flight.  Or basically help us in any way.  They told us to go visit our gate agent (who had been MIA since her original annoucement that our flight was delayed) or call the Delta Customer Service number.   What these people were doing, what their job is, I have no idea.  I still don’t.

There were basically no gate agents at any gate.  There were Delta agents walking around, but they all claimed to 1) not know anything and 2) not be able to help us.  It was really frustrating.  You could see the irritation in people’s eyes, voices, actions.  Delta was dropping the ball, big time.  

They told us they would update us at 3, and when that time came and went with no word, I sought out a worker and told them they we needed an update or they were going to have a angry group of travelers on their hands.   So the woman said she would track down “our gate agent” to make the official annoucement that she herself could have made easily.  It was truly the worst breakdown in communcation I’ve seen in a company in a long time.  Completely useless employees walking around, unable to offer any assistance or keep their word.

That’s really what it came down to, for us.  We understood that we might not be able to depart, storms were headed up the coast, but we needed them to stand behind their promise and just keep us informed.  If you tell us that you will update us every hour, do it!  Even if it’s just to say you have no news and we can’t take off.  Leaving us standing around, waiting on some invisible agent to speak, is unprofessional and rude.  No wonder no one wants to fly these days.

I finally made it out of DC, but only becaused I called Customer Service and was able to rebook my flight.  The 7:10 flight finally took off around 8:45.  I felt bad for the people that went upstairs to rebook their flights, as suggested by the fake Customer Service people at the desk that serves no purpose, because none of them were able to get a ticket for that evening. 

That was the other thing; they made people leave the gate, go back upstairs to the ticketing area, and get new flights.  Then they had to go through Security all over again and there was a HUGE backup there because of it.  Honestly, worst system I can think of.