Nice Father's Day story, except for my lurking suspicion that it wouldn't be a story if her *mother* had learned to braid their adopted daughter's hair.

Yeah, I totally agree. Still sweet.

I am reminded of the mother at the day care center I used to work at, who couldn't do her daughter's hair to save her life. They were both African American. All of us staff people were relieved when the mother started taking the little girl to a place to get her hair done.

Black girls and their hair can be such a huge deal, though, that it magnifies the gender disparities through quite a lense.

I love it when I have stuff from my salad to joyfully share with everyone I may be eating with

You are the Nilliest ever.

I forgot to buy tomatoes yesterday, dammit. I saw them, all there, flaunting their vines, but I just forgot to pick some up. They are key in my omelettes and breakfast potatoes, and I'm being very lazy cooking these days.

This made me sniffle.

except for my lurking suspicion that it wouldn't be a story if her *mother* had learned to braid their adopted daughter's hair.

Well it wouldn't be a Father's Day story anyway.

My dad never learned how to do my hair when I was little. When I was in kindergarten, my mom was in the hospital for a few weeks (double bypass), and my hair became just one huge tangle. My aunt came stay with us for a little while to help out, and it took her a few hours to get the knots out.

Insert obligatory fresh-tomatoes-are-evil remark here. I hope it at least sends some ~ma Dana's way, because IIRC she is very right in thinking that, too.

Joining Nilly and Dana in the hate-raw-tomatoes corner. The smell, the texture, the seeds--blech! But, I like gazpacho and salsa.

Yes, I am weird.

Joining Nilly and Dana in the hate-raw-tomatoes corner.

And me.

But, I like gazpacho and salsa.

Me too! I think the spiciness cuts through whatever's yucky about the tomatoes.

I have been very restrained. I have only pointed out a couple of times that raw tomatoes are Satan's food, and this just proves it.

I think the spiciness cuts through whatever's yucky about the tomatoes.

Also, the lack of disgusting slimy gelatinous goo spiked with nasty bitter seed-bombs.

Ok. Thoughts about Obama's Father's Day Speech?

Addressing a packed congregation at one of the city’s largest black churches, Senator Barack Obama on Sunday invoked his own absent father to deliver a sharp message to African-American men, saying, “We need fathers to realize that responsibility does not end at conception.”

“Too many fathers are M.I.A, too many fathers are AWOL, missing from too many lives and too many homes,” Mr. Obama said, to a chorus of approving murmurs from the audience. “They have abandoned their responsibilities, acting like boys instead of men. And the foundations of our families are weaker because of it.”

The speech was striking for its setting, and in how Mr. Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, directly addressed one of the most sensitive topics in the African-American community: whether absent fathers bore responsibility for some of the intractable problems afflicting black Americans. Mr. Obama noted that “more than half of all black children live in single-parent households,” a number that he said had doubled since his own childhood.

Accompanied by his wife, Michelle, and his daughters, Malia and Sasha, who sat in the front pew, Mr. Obama laid out his case in stark terms that would be difficult for a white candidate to make, telling the mostly black audience not to “just sit in the house watching SportsCenter,” and to stop praising themselves for mediocre accomplishments.

“Don’t get carried away with that eighth-grade graduation,” he said, bringing many members of the congregation to their feet, applauding. “You’re supposed to graduate from eighth grade.”

I say that about 8th grade graduation all the time! It's such a giant deal here and people celebrate it all out. But really, it's sad because it's the only graduation for a large percentage of them.