Good Morning!

We are 23 days into a new year and 4 days into the new administration of President Obama! Wow, I like how that sounds. You know how much I love dancing, Chicago Steppin’ to be exact, so much so that if at any moment you catch me without anything to say just ask me about my dancing and I light up and can go on and on filling you in on the latest with my new dance partner (yay!) and how we are going to take the world by storm!

But anyway, this morning I realized I have already started a new hobby, one I am a little worried will take me over and yet, I am a little surprised hasn’t before now. I am officially addicted to watching CNN and following up on how our new President is doing! Is this really bad? No, not at all. But I am worried because I believe I’m not the only one in my demographic who has a sudden interest in what is going on in my government and in the world. But why? Why haven’t I read the paper more or watched CNN instead of Bridezilla? My dad has always subscribed to the paper for as long as I can remember and he would encourage my sisters and I to read it (as long as we put the paper back in order if he had not read it yet J) and I can still be found skimming the pages of the paper and yes daddy, putting the paper back in order even if I picked it up in a public waiting room. I guess some habits are hard to break after all. But I find myself wanting to know about the orders signed by the President and asking what are the duties of the Secretary of State?

I want to know and I can’t absorb enough information soon enough. Maybe this is the energy the President has sparked in young people, maybe this is the reaction I have been anticipating within myself as a result of his election. Maybe I want to know for myself because I don’t want to rely on the information edited and shaped before it is given to me on the nightly news, I want to know when they criticize him whether they have a real basis for doing so. During election night, I was happy but not moved to tears, actually I received celebratory calls and texts from friends but something inside me would not allow me to celebrate or jump up and down. I just kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, for someone to say, “SIKE! We were just foolin’ wit’cha!”

But now, it has come to fruition, Barack Obama is our 44th President and I need to participate as a United States Citizen. This means something totally different than doing my best as a young woman, which is what I believe most of my peers have been striving for, not really feeling part of the established government. I really feel like there is a place for me here in this country and in my community. These feelings I never expected. But now that I am able to identify them I am able to express them to you. Wow, this is an awesome feeling and I hope to build upon it from here and see where it takes me. In the mean time, I will keep soaking it all up and dancing of course.

Peace, Detroit Luv & Soooooul!