Even though I have three degrees, a reasonable portion of health and strength, and a few good brain cells regenerating, it took me quite awhile to figure out that when the “Official Sample Ballot” arrived overseas a few weeks ago… nothing else was coming. Since I received an “Official Ballot” envelope with the “Official Sample Ballot”, quite naturally I waited for the “Official Ballot” to arrive. After emailing and calling voter registration support contacts, I found out it would be okay to use the “Official Sample Ballot”, sign it and fax or fed ex it back before Nov. 6th. Yikes, I wonder who else has been a little confused about voting outside of the country or by mail?

Confusion may be the order of the day, however, we won’t be serving it in the Spoet Cafe! In fact, when all is said and done, there is one victory we have clearly already won! Please join me in a walk down memory lane, back to those historical First Day Reflections.

First Day Reflections

What is so powerful about this 56th
Inauguration,
in this particular season, for this
generation?
If you don’t mind, I’d like to share,
why my heart is full and I so deeply care.

(On The First Day)
This first day means for the Obamas in ALL
of us,
and the millions who traveled by air, train
or bus
to be a first eye witness at the dawn of a
new day,
even though “so what”, some haters may still
say;
that everyone tuned in is making History
today.

(On the First African American President)
Obama, Obama
Change we can see
Obama, Obama
We are family
Obama, Obama
Our bright and rising star
Obama, Obama
You know who you are
Obama, Obama
African by Nature, a Kenyan birth
Obama, Obama
American by Nurture, citizen of heaven & earth
Obama, Obama
You are Diversity
Obama, Obama
We made History!

(On The First African American First Lady)
Some struggle and strain
to find a frame
for comparison
yet there is none,
for she is her own show
don’t you know?
A woman of style and grace
she fills up the place,
with pomegranate beauty from the inside out,
loves God,family; makes her man smile and
shout!
Nothing phony, dull, lacking or shady
Michelle Obama is our unique First Lady.

(On First Day Legacies)
You and I really can walk the diversity
talk;
be the change we see, if we follow and not
balk.
Don’t sit on that idea, move it from your
head
on to paper, or pass it to the next player
instead.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. threw
the vision;
with steadfast focus and a major decision,
President Barack Hussein Obama caught it,
made it touchdown plain
with promises to do it again and again!
Today we wear the pearls
in memory of four little girls
Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson,
who died before our work was done;
Cynthia Wesley, and Denise McNair
on Sixteenth Street they too were there,
in a basement of a church
where evil would lurch,
not even given a chance
to actualize dreams, or dance.
Yet, because of them this country began to
shift;
we now vow to protect precious ones, a
double gift:
Malia and Sasha Obama who can play with
puppies,
catch and explore their many possibilities
to stretch the vision on 1600 Pennsylvania
Avenue.
Now my dears what will you do?

There is an Obama in you, an Obama in me
We have a wonderful, powerful legacy,
Claim it, without apology!
Yes we can, yes we did,
our light cannot be hid.
Obama embodies hope for the future,
he’s a sorely needed surgical suture;
flexible, fluid, fierce, clear and kind,
winning the ever present battle for the
mind.

Obama, Obama
Change we can see
Obama, Obama
We are family
Obama, Obama
Our bright and rising star
Obama, Obama
You know who you are
Obama, Obama
African by Nature, a resilient Kenyan birth
Obama, Obama
American by Nurture, citizen of heaven &
earth
Obama, Obama
You are Diversity
Obama, Obama
We made History!

s.t. porter
01/20/09