I am Empowered. Hanging with the President will do that to ya.

Remember this guy, right here?

Love of my life, tiny comedian and musical genius?  Something odd happened to me once I had him. I was always pro-children, I was never grumpy at a kid throwing a tantrum {maybe I might have had a judgement about mom or dad, but not the kiddo} and I always thought education was the most important thing ever. But since having The Boss, I see him in every child. I see the curiosity in his eyes, I watch him explore and I want him to be supported and encouraged at every step of his life. I want that for every child.

“I remember going to a school back in my organizing days and seeing children — young children, maybe five or six — eyes were brimming with hope, had such big dreams for the future.  You’d ask them, what do you want to be when you grow up?  They’d want to be a doctor; they’d want to be a lawyer.  And then I remember the principal telling me that soon, all that would change.  The hope would start fading from their eyes as they started to realize that maybe their dreams wouldn’t come to pass — not because they weren’t smart enough, not because they weren’t talented enough, but because through a turn of fate they happened to be born in the wrong neighborhood.  They became victim of low expectations, a community that was not supporting educational excellence.”-President Obama

I was born into the right neighborhood, with all the resources available to me and I still fell through the educational cracks. I don’t want this to happen to The Boss. Or your kids, or yours or yours or yours or any child.

So when the lovely Justice Fergie from MamaLaw asked me if I would like to be a part of the White House Blogger pool and ‘cover’ President Obama’s speech on Education reform at the National Urban League’s Centennial I responded instantly YES!!!

Then I sat down, pinched myself and called my mom  Y’know just to make sure I wasn’t in some sort of alternate universe. After that I set about assembling a Michelle Obama inspired outfit. I mean really, me? Invited to see President Obama speak and give my take on what he had to say?  I myself am not exactly a stellar example of the American education system at work. I was smart and funny and I got away with a lot…I got scooted along from grade to grade on my charm. I was not doing the work and the school system was not working for me. So being invited to see our President speak was just, well, mind blowing. And let me tell you, Mr. President does not dissapoint.

“…we’ve got an obligation to lift up every child in every school in this country” - President Obama

Yes, I dragged myself from my warm bed and braved the Metro and found my way to the convention center in order to make our 6:45 a.m. press check in time.

Let me just say the reporters and photographers were incredibly welcoming to us, even using their amazing cameras to photograph us and take many pictures with our point and shoots.

{why yes that does indeed say White House Press Pool *faint*}

I joined my fellow bloggers TechSavvyMama and DumbMom and was delighted to meet some new and amazing women bloggers. I was given this opportunity  because of Blogalicious – as if I needed a reason to love them more! After an hour or so we were escorted into the press area and anxiously awaited the arrival of our President. Finally we heard what The Boss would call a Tekko (helicopter) and I swear to you all, early wake up or not, we all were amped up! The tweets were flying as fast as our smart phones would carry them! President Obama had arrived.

The energy that overtook the room when he entered the stage is something I am not sure the English language can describe. It was profoundly moving to me to experience it, and it was even more profound due to the location and reason for the gathering. One hundred years of the National Urban League celebrated with our very first African American President. Just profoundly thrilling to me. I tear up just thinking about it. {I’m expecting my literary prize any moment…one paragraph with the word profound used three times. Must.Get.Thesaurus.}

President Obama didn’t mince words and I wish I could capture they way he not only gently chides us for our shortcomings (and his) and yet spurs us to action all within one sentence. I remember during the campaign feeling like oh yes! we CAN change the world, we CAN educate our children and feed our poor and get our economy back! He inherited quite a country didn’t he, and he has had to chip away slowly while we all wish he could wave some magic wand and make everything better. But he calls us to action with Race to the Top education program. He calls on us as parents to be more involved, to be involved in every part of our child’s education. Sign me up Mr. President.

Fixing what’s broken in our education system is not easy.  We won’t see results overnight.  It may take a decade for these changes to pay off.  But that’s not a reason not to make them.  It’s a reason to start making them right now, to feel a sense of urgency — the fierce urgency of now.-President Obama

{We may or may not have gotten up on the photographers platform to take photos. It was AMAZING! And no, we didn’t fall off. But we could have. That would have been really slick huh?}

{photo by TechSavvyMama}

Along with our President’s important reminder that we must all actively work and put time and effort into our kids and country the National Urban League has asked us all to take the I AM EMPOWERED pledge. I took it and I hope you will too. What I love about it is that it breaks tasks into smaller tasks that clarify ways we can and should actively participate.

Here is the pledge:

I pledge to responsibly commit my time and talent to ensure that our nation is empowered to acheive the following goals by 2025:

• Every American Child is ready for college, work and life
• Every American has access to jobs with a living wage and good benefits
• Every American lives in safe, decent, affordable and energy efficient housing on fair terms
• Every American has access to quality and affordable health care solutions

And can I just say that our President is one heck of a charming, handsome, straight from the movies President? A total hottie?

Yes I can.