mlk & obama days
Posted by laralynnian on 21 Jan 2009 at 09:32 pm | Tagged as: Uncategorized
Like most Americans, we found ourselves in a two-day-long celebration of MLK Day and the Obama inauguration. Kai was especially excited about both events, and talked me into helping him make a mini cake for Martin Luther King, Jr. using a mini pan and crazy cake recipe my parents gave him for Christmas. The cake turned out a little funky, but was full of good intentions.
Earlier in the day, we celebrated summer-like January weather at an outdoor toddler painting party. Melina painted paper, a plate, a muffin, and my hair – and somehow ended up with a red and blue mouth as if to honor the national historical significance of the Obama inauguration the next morn.
We all watched the ceremony from Kai’s school’s cafeteria, where parents were invited to join a school-wide assembly. My favorite moment of the day came just before the big event, when Kai’s teacher explained to 20 kindergartners the reasons for this inauguration’s special significance.
“Barack Obama is our first president of color. He’s also a very young president. And, he’s a president for everyone.” Leave it to a kindergarten teacher to have such clarity and diplomacy!
In the spirit of the great men we celebrated, we ended both days with an appropriate nod to community. On MLK Day Kai and Meli played with two newfound neighbor kids at a nearby park, and on Obama Day we had celebratory drinks at a newly opened cafe & wine bar down the street, with our newly formed, newly organized South Berkeley neighborhood association.