Welcome! This is a great acrostic. We LOVE nurses, I gave birth with only a nurse midwife in attendance, and it was the best. Too bad the word "Nurse" ended so soon. You didn't have room for "can tell a joke about a dead mouse at the dinner table and not upchuck." My BFF's mom was a nurse, cardiac ER, and she was one salty woman who told THE most gross jokes, and we would laugh until our mashed potatoes were coming out our noses. Peace, Amy

The United States used to be a "melting pot," in which immigrants denied their heritage and became "Real" Americans. Now it's like a fabulous gumbo of many cultures and languages. As a Euro-American (yeah, you call call me 'white' but we were all begun in Africa, so I call myself "beige" or "melanin deprived"!), I find the concept of Black History month in this day and age a dinosaur. It was started because the Anglo power structure would never allow the history of early Black Americans, other than Geo. Washington Carver and Harriett Tubman, to be covered in the schools. Thus we began to explore the Harlem Renaissance (which gave me an entire career in jazz), the building and rebuilding of the oddly named White House by Black slave labor. We still don't deal with all the Founders who were slave owners, etc.

As for "speaking White," I think it's about speaking 'for the business world.' Even white folks speak very differently in interviews from how they speak at home. The difference is only that our culture isn't that different from business speak because EVERYTHING is owned and run by the white Powers-That-Be.

Thanks for a thought-provoking post. I'm currently writing a poem in collaboration with a woman of color who lives in Detroit. We have never met, yet we have more in common than not, being about the same age and economic situation. I was raised around musicians, so being racist was never learned because all were equal as long as they could bring the song at the parties!!! Amy Barlow Liberatore, Madison, WI

This place is a feast not only from entree to dessert, but also for the eyes! The colors remind me of a Frida Kahlo painting, or actually any Mexican artist. Bold. And bold colors are said to lead to a good appetite, so there you go! Room for ice cream. Isn't it wonderful to find a place where the entire menu is savory? I loved your blog style, by the way. Especially the ice cream sandwiches!! Peace, Amy http://sharplittlepencil.com/2013/02/07/dads-dyna...