Racial onversations Between a Yankee-Latina & a White Southern Man

Gov. Sarah Palin. Stand-up comedian?: Racial onversations Between a Yankee-Latina & a White Southern Man

2009-10-01T13:33:00.000-07:00

Gov. Sarah Palin. Stand-up comedian?: Racial onversations Between a Yankee-Latina & a White Southern Man

Racial onversations Between a Yankee-Latina & a White Southern Man

2009-09-30T10:19:00.000-07:00

Racial Conversations between a Yankee-Latina and an honest Southern Cracker (his choice of words.) Sept. 30, 2009

"Mr. Tim" comes to my house every few months to fix my sink disposal. He is a large Southern white man with a gentle face and kind manners. "Mo'nin' ma'am! How the young ones doin'? They shua gettn' big those two." His smile and his belly remind me of Christmas in March, April or July. "Why does he carry a tool box instead of a bulky sack of toys?" Okay, okay, back to my sink disposal and racial issues story in the South.

Mr. Tim grew up in the sticks of south Geo'gia. The thick folds of skin in his face speak of a long and tiring life. "Maybe he's a vet? Even a World War II vet?" He limps and he huffs as he struggles up the long and winding Victorian steps. "Will he still be alive?" I wonder in sadness "the next time my smelly disposal stops working?" I like him and worry about him. Why does he keep working his a-- off? Things must be tough.

"Weah ya' from again?" (Down here in the South they always ask people like me where we are from.) "You a Mexican?!" "No, sir," I say, "I am from New Joisey & New York but, born in Chile. You can say I'm Yankee-Latina." "Never heard of one of those." he says, I'm a cracker." "A what?" I ask, "I always thought crackers were salty things you eat with soup." "I know Chili," he adds. "Is it chilli in Chili?" "Don't know." says the Yankee-Latina, "Can't afford to go. But crackers go real good with Chili, I hear!" And he smiled that smile. It's November 2008. I've been recruited by the Georgia Latinos for Obama to find Latino voters in the Savannah area. Not an easy task. Most are Mexican and undocumented. The rest are here on professional work visas & frustrated that they can't vote in American elections. But I work tirelessly and hang a 12 foot Obama sign in the middle of Savannah's historic district. "We live inside a Gone With the Wind postcard, I tell my kids. Try to appreciate it, okay? And so what if they think I'm the maid. At least they won't bother me for directions. "No speak English, sennora. Sory."

--- Hundreds of tourists walk by or sip wine in horse-drawn carriages taking photos of our city's stunning 18th & 19th century architecture. The parade never ends. I still wonder what they thought when they saw my oversized red, white & blue banner with the word: "LatinoObamaManiacs" peeking out of a 400 year old oak tree in the South? "Darling, is this part of our tour?"

Locals, though, either honked in support or gave it the finger.
My neighbors didn't say a word. They like my husband, a sweet gringo from Minnesota, and wonder how I ever "hooked" him.
Eventually, other neighbors began to put up signs. "Palin-McCain."
So I put up, "Palin-McCain More of the Same."
Our downtown intersection became a big deal.
The media came to take photos.
Little girls carrying signs, "No More Stinky Boys in the White House! Hillary! Hillary!"
Michigan Congressman John Conyers also came to Savannah & we struck a pose in front of the famous banner. Conyers wore a "Hispanic Unity w/ USA" t-shirt. We looked so cute together. Our smiles as big as the poster. We were so excited about the 2008 election. But not Mr. Tim. He seemed sad. He shook his head, looked at my kitchen floor and still with that gentle smile said, "you know, ma'am, an old cracker like me ain't eva' gonna vote for a black man. I can't. I just can't."

Obama vs. Palin-McCain (the way she says it, Palin first)

2008-09-19T07:22:00.000-07:00

I'm a little confused. Let me see
if I have this straight....

If you grow up in Hawaii, raised
by your grandparents, you're
"exotic, different."

Grow up in Alaska eating moose
burgers,-- a quintessential
American story.

If your name is Barack you're a
radical, unpatriotic Muslim. --
Name your kids Willow, Trig and
Track, you're a maverick.

Graduate from Harvard law School
and you are unstable.

Attend 5 different small
colleges before graduating, you're
well grounded. -- If you spend 3
years as a brilliant community
organizer, become the first black
President of the Harvard Law
Review, create a voter
registration drive that registers
150,000 new voters, spend 12 years
as a Constitutional Law professor,
spend 8 years as a State Senator
representing a district with over
750,000 people, become chairman
of the state Senate's Health and
Human Services committee, spend 4
years in the United States Senate
representing a state of 13 million
people while sponsoring 131 bills
and serving on the Foreign
Affairs, Environment and Public
Works and Veteran's Affairs
committees, you don't have any
real leadership experience.

If your total resume is: local
weather girl, 4 years on the city
council and 6 years as the mayor
of a town with less than 7,000
people, 20 months as the governor
of a state with only 650,000
people, then you're qualified to
become the country's second
highest ranking executive.

If you have been married to the
same woman for 19 years while
raising 2 beautiful daughters, all
within Protestant churches, you're
not a real Christian. If you
cheated on your first wife with a
rich heiress, and left your
disfigured wife and married
heiress Cindy the next month,
you're a Christian.

If you teach responsible, age
appropriate sex education,
including the proper use of birth
control, you are eroding the fiber
of society.

If, while governor, you
staunchly advocate abstinence
only, with no other option in sex
education in your state's school
system while your unwed teen
daughter ends up pregnant, you're
very responsible.

If your wife is a Harvard
graduate lawyer who gave up a
position in a prestigious law firm
to work for the betterment of her
inner city community, then gave
that up to raise a family, your
family's values don't represent
America's.

If your husband is nicknamed
"First Dude", with at least one
DWI conviction and no college
education, who didn't register to
vote until age 25 and once was a
member of a group that advocated
the secession of Alaska from the
USA, your family is extremely
admirable.

OK, much clearer now.

Gov. Sarah Palin. Stand-up comedian?: Gov. Sarah Palin. Working Mom?

2008-09-09T09:46:00.000-07:00

Gov. Sarah Palin. Stand-up comedian?: Gov. Sarah Palin. Working Mom?

Gov. Sarah Palin. Working Mom?

2008-09-05T10:17:00.000-07:00

Is V.P. Candidate Sarah Palin really a true working mom?

Is she really raising her own kids? Or she more about breeding more little Republicans and having others take over the raising of them after they get home from the hospital? Mmmh....I wonder.

"She's a beautiful woman," I thought when I first saw her. And she has 5 children, and one that she just birthed 5 months ago.

" I have mom friends who are also beautiful yet, something doesn't fit here. This woman standing behind the podium looks so...so...so-well-rested." That's it!! SHE is sleeping through the night. This look is NOT just about her in-born physical beauty. Beautiful working moms around the globe, no matter how pretty, all have that "tired look" to them (to us.) -- Sarah Palin does not have this tired mom look.

So I think we should be asking, "why the heck not?"

Gov. Sarah Palin. Add stand-up comedian to her impressive resume

2008-09-04T21:52:00.000-07:00

Gov. Palin sure had me howling during her acceptance speech. I didn't want to like her but, I was having a good time watching and listening to her during the Republican Convention. Great one-liners, great timing for every punch-line, then I heard a comment about what Tom Brokaw's daughter had just said to him on the phone: "Dad, I found myself waiting to hear, "Live, from New York! It's Saturday Night Live!!"

I don't want a comedian nor a PTA mom (though I am one myself) for President or for Vice President. I want an enlightened leader & someone way smarter than I am. (Besides, she ain't no Hillary.)