Yesterday was our agency's silent auction spring fundraiser. I decided to get in on the action and I bid on something that wasn't getting any play: Two tickets to all 5 Cincy Salsa Cruises this summer. I didn't really know what it was and I like both Salsa the food and I imagine I would like Salsa dancing, so why the hell not. I ended up winning so guess what I am doing this summer? Salsa dancing on a boat on the Ohio river! http://www.cincylatino.com/modules/edito/edito.php?idedito=70
I don't know if they teach you how to salsa dance, but after 5 trips down the Ohio River, Todd and I had better be able to dance! (Please note that these are NOT overnight trips, they are just Friday night events.)

Tonight I did some presentations about dating violence for an afterschool basketball league. They do educational sessions to try and educate the kids on a variety of subjects.

It was awful - truly awful. Think about the factors working against me:
1) It is a friday night
2) It was in a gym
3) The kids had been playing basketball (adrenaline pumping through their bodies)
4) There were about 75 kids in each session.
I had a microphone and I was still yelling over them, they were making fun on me and making "meow" noises. I had a feeling it would be a tough group, but I really didn't expect them to be this disrespectful. At one point on of the coaches took the microphone from me and said (I'm not making this up) "All y'all are embarassing black people! I thought we raised you better than this. Sit down and show Ms. Kimberly some respect." (I go by Kimberly at work...I needed a change.) But seriously, how does the only white person in the room respond to that? And what pressure do you think it puts on those kids? I suppose it's nothing new. The way race is structured in the United States, anything an African American does reflects on his or her entire community. It was interesting and disturbing to hear it put so bluntly, though. I wonder how it would have affected me if I was flat-out told that everything I did reflected on all white people. It's a lot to live up to.