If POTUS Has Lincoln, Will Michelle Tap Jefferson In Our Quiet March Towards Racial Reconciliation

Anne here, having a very "real morning", reflecting . . . no, being swept away into the meaning of FOTUS planting seedlings in the White House Kitchen Garden. I cannot get her photo below out of my mind.

Why do I feel that this woman . . . this gorgeous African American woman . . .  is trying to hammer America back together again?

Bottom line, between gardening, and POTUS and FOTUS hosting a Seder at the White House last night, I've had a most emotional few hours. 

The lines of demarcation between Anne of Carversville and Michelle-Style have come crashing together this morning.

There no way out. I'm trapped in the tempestuous, psychological reality of why I began writing this Daily Gumbo blog in the first place.

Like FOTUS, I am trying to plant seedlings. I am a follower in her shadow . . . a groupie.

I've got her covered; I always say that "you want me in your fox hole".

It was all too much for me last night, when Obama Foodorama wrote that FOTUS may have planted seeds from Thomas Jefferson's Monticello in the White House Kitchen Garden.

At about 8am this morning, the tears came. And they haven't stopped.

To my Michelle-Style friends who don't know the "emotional me" -- although I think it seeps through here pretty regularly -- I invite you to read the Journal piece I just wrote on Anne of Carversville: Are Thomas Jefferson and Michelle Obama My Key to Psychological Reconciliation in the Land of Lincoln.

Tapping Into the National Psyche

My clients and I have lived through these moments, in varying degrees over the years.

This is what I know for certain: the Obamas are tapping into the national psyche in ways that we are only beginning to understand. Their sensitivity to small symbols is astonishing.

I did write that if Michelle didn't plant seeds from Monticello . . . well either lie, or get some at once and call the kids back.

There is way more happening to the national psyche than we understand right now. My own psychological state is a harbinger of larger issues that are going on in America.

No matter how challenging things become (and it could get pretty bad, no matter the euphoric spin on yesterday's Wells Fargo profit and mortage rates), Cultural Creatives, together with this subset of Smart Sensuality women, will hang tough.

We have an opportunity to create a new America, a version that many of us don't totally comprehend yet.

I understand and respect the fact that not everyone agrees with this Obama strategy. But for myself, this is the American opportunity that I have wanted for so long. Even if the economy is more messed up than any of us comprehend, we can learn to row together as an American team in a global world.

When I see Michelle on her hands and knees,  planting small seedlings and putting seeds in the earth for nurutring and then nourishment . . . well, I am not only impacted but I must join her chorus loud and clear.

As an observer of American culture and trendmeister,  I assure you that we are witnessing profound imagery here.

Fixers & the Brilliant Troublemakers

The Obamas are the trigger. To date Lincoln has been the historical icon. Trust me on this one: the Thomas Jefferson symbolism is not a guest appearance.

As this short movie on the opening next week of the new visitor's center at Monticello reminds us, the contradictions of America go back to this man, this planter and bon vivant, intellectual, philosopher, gardener and slave holder.

Lincoln was the "fixer". Jefferson is our national contradiction in all it's dirty glory.

I, too, have stood more than once in the Lincoln Memorial, searching for answers and inspiration. But it is Jefferson who represents my convoluted soul, my senses and my passionate mistakes and contradictions.

Thomas Jefferson is my muse.

I want Jefferson in the Obama garden, growing food for a new communion, overseen by our sensitive and wonderful First Lady. For the first time in decades, I see the possibility for peace of mind in my life, and in the land called America.

Of course, this is our collective doing. But at rock bottom, it took the courage of a man and a woman, and their family, friends and believers.

Perhaps public moments of reconciliation and healing don't only belong in South Africa and Rwanda. Maybe Americans need them, too.  Or are these demons exclusive to me? Whatever.

FOTUS gave me a great gift yesterday, and I thank her profusely for nurturing my own spirit in such a symbolic way.

Yes indeed . . . she's something else, this Michelle Obama woman. Pretty darn amazing, actually.

Much love, Anne