Chaka Kahn

I entered Angeline's this morning, ready to embark on another five interviews. While I sat waiting for my 10 am meeting, laugher and some serious music started pouring out from the main sitting room. After a stroll over with the Center's volunteer coordinator, we found a group of about five women having the most fantastic Chaka Khan dance party. Other women, those not so into dancing, were sitting in their chairs, clapping along, laughing hysterically. It was the best possible way to begin a Monday morning. If I could dance, I would have joined them in a second!


And if I was blog savvy enough, I'd find a way to make it play some Chaka for you as you read. I promise, it'd lift your spirits immediatley and you'd start humming, "Ain't nobody. Love me better..." It's ok, you can blame me for getting it stuck in your head now.

When speaking with the Center's director later, she shared that music and dancing is one of the easiest, and sometimes the only way, for some women to interact and communicate with eachother. In fact, one of the women dancing had, only moments early, been pretty visibly angry during a questioning by the police.

While I continued waiting for my interviewee to show up, a man delivered a bouquet of roses. With the handover of the fresh flowers, he took out the haggard-looking ones from the previous week. Apparantly, the urban legend of the flower delivery is that a woman who was a former Angeline's client now pays to send the Center fresh flowers every week.

While the flower myth may or may not be true, and a local florist may, in fact, be the benevolent donor, women do stop by to share their accomplishments and progress. This past afternoon, while waiting for a different interviewee, a former client swung by Angeline's just to show the staff how well she is currently doing on her own. It's clear that many women who use Angeline's services develop a friendship and a trust with the staff and are eager to earn their bragging rights.