Denise Lee Porter

Image by qbac07 via Flickr

It’s almost official, Summer is over. You can try to hang on to her if you want but it’s not the same with the kids back in school and roads clogged with traffic. So here is my summer roundup, watched a lot of TV, read a couple of books, exercised - sometimes I did it all at the same time just to keep things interesting.  Swam in the pool next door once, got my tan for the summer (only swim once every summer, don’t ask me …

Back in 1997 when my teenage son began dating the blonde haired, blue-eyed girl next door, my reaction can almost be called hypocritical. After all, hadn’t I spent the years after my divorce specifically dating only Caucasian males?
Well perhaps it was this specificity in my past choices, which led me to believe (as many still do) that just as lesbians and gay men “choose” to be homosexual, so do teenagers “choose” to date outside of their race.  I was distraught over my son’s choice because I felt that in choosing …

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It’s summer, I’m traveling, I have Marching Band camp and I’m launching a new application at work. Finding myself in this blogging topics dead zone I checked Mamapedia to see if there were any questions that struck a chord. I stumbled upon a Mom whose 18 year old son told her that he is gay.  I thought to myself ” well there’s a topic with teeth “;  why? because I have been there and done that and quite a few years of experience that I can bring to …

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I  was combing through the bathroom archives (you know that thick stack of reading material that you keep under the cabinet in the loo?) and found  a “Best Life ” magazine from 2008. There was a great article in there about how one father handled the situation when his child was being bullied. This article stirred up a lot of emotions in me, partly because I was bullied as a child and also because an 11 year old here in GA (Jaheem Herrera) hung himself as a consequence …

I am a pretty emotional person who feels things deeply. Back in 97, I got up at 2 am to watch Princess Di’s funeral- and cried through the entire thing (she died on the day I finally received my bachelors degree and they buried her onmy birthday, should have been a great week for me, I know). When my dog Storm passed last month, I cried for days afterwards. And let’s not even talk about Tupac.
Of course I am mourning MJ and my husband knows this, so last night …

Michael Jackson and I were exposed to America in the same year 1969.  The Jackson 5 landed their first megahit “I Want You Back”  and I landed in New York City. Michael Jackson with (and without) his brothers provided the soundtrack of my life - and a beautiful and memorable soundtrack it is.
I remember house parties in Brooklyn apartments from Ebbets Field to Vanderveer where the kids entertained the adults by  mimicking the choreography of  “I Want You Back”, “ABC”, and “The Love You Save”. I wasn’t in love with …

Rest in Peace Storm
Back in 1994 my then teenaged boys chose the black pup with the white chest from a litter of brown pups. She was a beautiful puppy with white paws and  a diamond shaped white spot on the back of her neck which  was probably why my son Khalil named her Storm.
Back then I was working on my degree and Storm kept me company  when I stayed up all night doing homework. When the kids grew up and moved out and my husband went on tour with El …

In the average  month there are at least 300 resumes that come to me via email.  I am writing this post as a service to those of you who are  unemployed or underpaid and are seeking gainful employment.  If you know someone who is currently job hunting, please ,please pass these tips on; let them know that if they are serious about finding a job:

DO NOT have inappropriate music (I don’t care if it’s  rap,rock, country or gospel) on your phone message. After all why should a recruiter have to …

I got out of bed on Monday morning April 28th,1997 after a sleepless night
Papa was A Rolling Stone
and looked out at a beautiful spring morning. The birds were chirping like crazy, there was a nice little breeze and as I looked at the sky thru the 26 pine trees I could see from my kitchen window, I realized that my Daddy wouldn’t be seeing that sky any more.
I really took my Father’s death hard,  and today 12 years later I finally understand why. You see my Papa truly was a …

God & Religion
I was cruising Mamapedia looking for a topic for my next post and I found this very interesting question about talking to kids about religion. It got me to wondering just how did I learn about God/religion and what did I pass on to my kids?
My Mother raised me on a bedtime prayer that I naturally said with my kids at bedtime, and they say with their kids at bedtime:
“Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my Soul to keep,
If I should die before I …