calliecritturs
Posted : 11/11/2008 7:39:47 PM
It's funny -- I grew up in an extremely "white" rural/small town area in western NY, but when I was little (like 1st grade?) my best friend was a black girl and back then I just didn't know it was a big deal. One day I pricked my hand while we were playing "stone school" on my front steps and Vanessa grabbed my hand and her eyes got REAL big and she said "it's RED ... your' blood is RED!!" I asked her what she expected and she gave me a dumb look and said ... "Well PINK or ... something"
We spent the rest of the morning playing with a flashlight between the webs of our fingers and toes trying to 'see inside' (and of course she had to *** HER finger so we became blood sisters ... OF COURSE!!!)
But it honestly wasn't until later when I saw Miriam Makeba on television one night that I realized there was a whole culture I knew nothing about. In my little town her music really just wasn't all that accessible but I discovered the library lent RECORDS!! Whoooooooeee!!
I must have borrowed to all they had on her 100 times.
She brought understanding and a broadening to my life and experience that were beyond compare. I wasn't aware she had passed away. Thank you SO much for posting that. I sat here and just played several of those videos to trip down memory lane.