Tuesday November 8, & Wednesday November 9, 2016: Oatmeal Raisin and Oatmeal White Chocolate Cranberry, A Tribute to Maezinha and Paizinho

Maezinha and Paizinho, respectively mean mother and father in Portuguese.  Maezinha and Paizinho are words of endearment.   I love my parents so much.  If I had to think of their favorite cookie, it would be an oatmeal cookie.  For my father it would be oatmeal raisin and my mother oatmeal white chocolate cranberry.   In Cape Verde there were not many opportunities unless you had money. Neither one of my parents had money.  My father's family was poorer than my mother's family. Because my parents were very studious and did well in school at a young age they were very successful.   My dad became a judge at a very young age, and my mother was a school teacher. From my dad I learned so much about history and justice and my mom taught me activities to do with little ones that involved story telling  While they accomplished so much in Cape Verde when they came here anew, they began as factory workers.  Eventually, my mother would work in a copy center in an engineering company and my dad would be a community liaison for the Mass Migrant Education Program. I feel that my love for teaching, social justice and community comes from the stories they shared. The literacy project I imagine here is on community literacy---a project that puts together some of my favorites things my mother and father taught me.  I hope you enjoy today's sample.

Monday, November 7, 2016 Featured Cookie: Chocolate Chip, A Tribute to Papa Santinhu and Lila

On November 1, 2016, my maternal grandfather, Papa Santinhu, turned 102.   My paternal grandmother, Lila, who lived to be 101, always had her born day celebrated on November 7.  The chocolate cookie sampled on these days are for them.  Not because it is their favorite cookie, but because they were my first literacy educators.

I don't know if I would be able to tell a story or write and perform a poem the way I do if it wasn't for the way they told me stories. In their honor this week, I finish out the a chapter in my book called, Kene Ki Tembu.   In Cape Verdean Krioulu, it means who had you and in African American languages, who keeps you?(Kynard).   I use it as a decolonizing method of research and evidence that requires a sound knowledge of your People and who they are, and I am turning this into a literacy project for youth where they learn ancient history and tell the story of who they are and their People are historically.  Sample and put your order in for them cookies!!!