My Friend Andrea...

So...in my last blog I committed a great and grave sin...I forgot to put Andrea Nordick, Kandace Creel, and Homely Dog in my list of people that I want in my big old marriage souffle.

So, in order to atone for my temporary alzheimers...I am writing a blog all about my friend Andrea. Now...lemme see...the first time I met Andrea Nordick, I was sitting on my front stoop...watching the MayDay Parade at Powderhorn Park. At the time I was working for YouthLink, and I had made a good pal and lunch buddy one Miss Lindsey Selvig. At the time...Miss Lindsey was dating one Andrea Nordick. We won't talk too much about their adventures in love land. The day I met Andrea...she kind of looked at me...smiled...and then stared intently at the life size paper mache crickets with children inside of them that were making their way down the street. You have to see this parade to believe it folks.

I really didn't see Andrea for the next couple of months following our brief introduction...but as fate would have it...my galpal negress extraordinaire Miss Quiana "High Kick" Perkins recruited both Andrea and I to be adult group leaders for a kick butt summer program called Unity Summer. It wasn't long before Andrea and I were yucking it up at the UU church trying our hardest to distract Quiana while she was trying to impart important lessons about changing the world to the youth in her summer program. More than once Andrea and I were close to complete annihilation...but we managed to survive Quiana's wrath.

After the end of Unity Summer, Andrea did a little disappearing trip from my life. Things with Lindsey had gone the way of yogurt in a heatwave...not pretty...not pretty. For a time there...it looked as if Andrea and I had parted ways forever...but the Fates had other ideas in mind. At some point after Unity Summer, Andrea had taken a job with those people I like to call the little bitches in green...better known as the Girl Scouts. In August 2004, I got an email at YouthLink from Andrea encouraging me to apply for a job at the Girl Scouts...I did...I got it...I hated it...but that's not part of this story. It was during my time at the Girl Scouts that Miss Nordick and I laid the foundation for what is now a fantasmic friendship. Something about Quang's spring rolls and meatballs on a skewer...it just brings people together.

Over the last year...Andrea has been one of the most supportive, most loving (in her own twisted and diabolical sort of way), most open people in my life. Andrea is brilliant...and part of her brilliance is that she isn't afraid to ask questions. And when I say that I want you to understand that she will ask questions about issues...particularly issues of oppression...that most white people wouldn't go near. She does it in a way that is respectful and about personal learning and growth. She has become one of my closest friends, and I value her presence in my life. Love you Andrea Nordick...now get off my back about the dang blog entry. You got one all to your lonesome ;-).