Come,sit, and share my latest read.

I just finished reading Barack Obama's "Dreams from my Father." Do I recommend it to others? Not really sure. It took me two tries to get through it, having to push myself a bit when I finally was determined to read it ALL. Having lived and taught and Saginaw, I think I understand many of the issues of racism and the struggles for betterment in our society. Having an intercultural marriage and children from two very different worlds, I understand quite a bit of the personal identity struggles of Barack Obama whose mother was white and his father an African from Kenya. I do believe there are many passages in the book that are truly insightful and I especially think my children would appreciate much of Obama's story. For our son, Miguel, chapter three deals with Barack's arrival in the United States (coming from Indonesia, yet with an African heritage) at about the same age when Miguel entered the rather 'elite' Handley School. The struggle to fit in for a preteen having a different cultural background in a closely knit school is quite similar.

For all my children, the sense of belonging that each of them feel when they visit Bolivia is very similar to Obama's awakening to his African heritage when he finally travels to Kenya to discover his roots and learn about his father. I'd like to quote a short section of that which is a conversation with one of the first Kenyan he meets in the airport upon arrival:

" I found myself trying to prolong the conversationm encouraged ...by the fact that she'd recognized my name. That had never happened before, I realized; not in Hawaii, not in Indonesia, not in L.A. or New York or Chicago. For the first time in my life, I felt the comfort, the firmness of identity that a name might provide, how it could carry an intire history in other people's memories, so that they might nod and say knowingly, 'oh, you are so and so's son. ' No one here in Kenya would ask how to spell my name, or mangle it with an unfamiliar tongue. My name belonged and so I belonged, drawn into a web of relationships, alliances, and grudges that I did not yet understand." (page 305)

Obama's visit to Kenya, as an economically independent and well -educated American is in many ways much like our visits here to Bolivia. The expectations that our family often has of us because we are American reflect the stereotypes that seem to dictate our relationships in subtle ways.

But is Obama pushing an agenda? I don't think so at all. This seems to be his way of coming to terms with who HE is and who his FAMILY is. His expressed desire for his own daughter is one that I also hope for my children: "I'm less interested in a daughter who's authentically African than one who is authentically herself." (page 435)

Come visit me and I'll let you borrow the book!