Daughter Leni Continues Role As My Black Entertainment Alerter

My daughter Leni, who you may remember from an early WJSS post, Some Of My (Virtual) Best Friends Are Black, is keeping up her role as my alerter of all black entertainment news.The other night she told me I just had to watch the new reality TV show, The Beverly Hills Nannies, because I would like this one particular nanny since he was both gay and black.  Leni has figured out  how much I obsess about connecting with people who are black, with what she considers clues, like my copy of the book, How To Be Black, by Baratunde Thurston, on our bookshelf, and her belief that all of my friends on Facebook are black.  I also liked, with her comment about the TV nanny, that she figures I also have a soft spot in my heart for people who are gay.  She's right.  I do.And, so does she.  My older sister, Leni's Aunt Sarah, is a lesbian, and we've always been open about it from the time Leni was pretty young, so it's not a big deal.  She accepts it, and is even able to talk to her friends about it.  A favorite memory of Leni outing Sarah a few years ago, when Leni was around 10 years old, went like this:Leni:  Did you see the Simpson's episode when Homer thinks he's gay?Leni's friend:  Yeah, that was funny.Leni:  Yeah.  My Aunt Sarah is gay.  She was born that way.....and that was before Lady Gaga's song.I didn't catch the reality show about the nannies, thankfully, but Leni didn't miss a beat with keeping me alerted to more black entertainment news."You have to watch Olympic gymnastics with me," she said excitedly yesterday.  The two top U.S. picks--one from the girls' team, and one from the boys, are both black!  Gabby Douglas and John Orozco!"Yay, black Olympians!  And, yay, for the bond Leni's eye to her Mom's obsession creates for the two of us.  I'll take anything that brings us closer since  Leni turns thirteen in December and it's becoming all too apparent that I'm getting edged out in favor of her friends, and so also begins the cycle of me being seen as uncool, intrusive, and simply, plain annoying, just about every other day.I hope Leni won't soon give up her role as my Black Entertainment Alerter, because, sigh, what will be left after that?