3 posts from April 2008

Tea with my neighbor had been 'brewing' for quite awhile. For those of you who followed my Clean Start challenge, you will remember a neighbor who was thrilled that I reached out to her, but before she could enlist my good services, she wanted to get to know me and my daughter over tea and crumpets.
So a week ago today, after picking up my daughter from school, we rushed to get those last minutes tidbits and hurried home to welcome our guest. I was so nervous because I was throwing a tea party without a tea pot. I know what you are thinking... my grandmother and my mother would be flabbergasted and find it quite appalling as well. They would probably say..."Have we taught you child nothing?" Here is my dilemma. I grew up with a mother who knew how to throw a tea party like you had never had one before. She didn't lift a finger because we had three cooks, the English china was so beautiful that I thought it had been made just for her, and here I was in my apartment with no tea pot. My motto is: It is either the best or nothing at all.
I apologised for my nontraditional tea but we were so ecstatic over meeting each other that my tea pot worries vanished in the moment.
My neighbor is a 68 year old married woman with two children. She has lived in Watertown for 36 years, 30 of which have been in my neighborhood. The adage: Age is just a number, holds true in her case. She is vibrant, witty, energetic, adventurous, funny and a joy to be around. We talked about our lives, our families and brainstormed about the launch of a neighborhood committee and upcoming block party. We covered a lot of ground and knew that we were off to a great start. She took interest in my daughter's studies and marveled at her maturity, eloquence and poise. What touched me the most about their interaction was her encouragement of my daughter's dream of becoming a doctor.
When the evening wound down, she informed me that she doesn't normally have people over her house but since she had met such "wonderful and gracious neighbors," I was welcome into her home. "I would never have told anyone about this but after watching an Oprah show about the lives of hoarders, I realised that I am a hoarder. So when you reached out to me, I felt that for the first time, I could share this with someone" was an earlier confession of hers.
Our next task is to de-clutter her home. 
As I walked her home, I couldn't help but smile at the thought that our tea party had evolved into a kinship of sorts. It transcended cultural, racial and religious divides. She is Caucasian and Jewish. I am African and a born again Christian. Never under estimate what something as small as tea can do to make a difference in someone's life. So, the next time you bump into your neighbor, you might want to say, "Hey Neighbor! Lets have tea."  

The Red Cross won't comment on possibly contaminated blood pints that were supposed to have been recalled between 2003-2006, reports CNN News. There is no way of knowing if that blood was discarded or given to people in need of it. Copy and paste the link below onto your browser to read the entire story.  http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp ?Page=/Nation/archive/200803/NAT20080326b.html
And this is not the first time you would read about the Red Cross and its mishaps to put it lightly. But unfortunately, we are not taking about the wrong size needles or huge band aids. We are talking about life and death when some innocent patient gets infused with blood containing HIV, CJD, Hepatitis A, B or C. It really is a 'bloody mess.' So last Monday when I went in to donate blood for the second time, I was a little apprehensive about the whole thing. In fact, versus the last time I made it a community effort, I didn't feel right about publicizing this blood drive until I was absolutely sure that the process was safe and that there was no way one's health could be compromised by giving life (blood).
So this time, I asked the volunteer to take me through the whole process. I asked as many questions as I could possibly think of. The volunteer, a lovely young lady, assured me that all the pints, the tubes attached to the pints and the needles are made brand new, exclusively for the American Red Cross. She went on to explain  that the donor's arm is sanitized extensively before injected and that the workers constantly change their gloves eliminating all possible contamination.
I sighed with relief after getting  a better understanding of the process. She had no comment however, on the article above and I don't blame her. She proceeded to ask me all the questions she is mandated to ask to determine my eligibility to donate blood. Now I always get tickled when it comes to the SEX questions. They go something like this: "In the past twelve months, have you had sex with anyone who has the HIV virus... In the past  twelve months have you been in contact with someone with hepatitis A, B or C?" To which I answer, "I will save you the time. I haven't had sex in over ten years so please feel free to tick 'no' on all those." With a look of utter shock she informed me that she has to ask them anyway. At least she didn't offer to pray for me like the volunteer before. When I informed her that I was celibate, she let out a sympathetic laugh and said, "girl I will be praying for you." Go figure!
Anyway, I can now post flyer's through out my community letting my neighbors know that it is safe to give blood to the American Red Cross. When I say, "Hey Neighbor ! Let's Build A Community by giving life" It will be with much conviction and confidence that their blood won't get messed up.

What kinds of stories are deemed newsworthy by the media? "I wonder." Are they stories on murder, drugs, violence, war? Well, when I wanted other neighborhoods to adopt my idea of building a community where they live, I thought, "What better place to start than the my local media?" So I  wrote ABC's affiliate WCVB, CBS's affiliate WBZ, NBC's affiliate WHDH and last but not least, FOX NEWS, about our community.  Here's a copy of one of my letters: