You look like a diva, even more beautiful.

At Camp Diva, my non profit organization, we have these types of conversations all the time as a way to help girls of African descent prepare for their passage into womanhood.

I am a cultural omnivore, one whose daily commute is made possible by attachment to an iPod an iPod that contains Wagner and Mozart, pop diva Christina Aguilera, country singer Josh Turner, gangsta rap artist Kirk Franklin, concerti, symphonies and more and more.

At Camp Diva, Angela Patton works to help girls and fathers stay connected and in each others' lives. But what about girls whose fathers can't be there because they're in jail? Patton tells the story of a very special father daughter dance. em em

Like a woman, just like a woman.

It's like a wave. Like a wave.

Like a Morandi like the little bottles composing them like a still life.

Clap like a birdie. Clap like a birdie, step in time Clap like a birdie, step in time

Be good like a child. Be happy like a child

Oh, I like a job like that!

It's a chattel mortgage, just like furniture, just like a car.

She went like a grandmother and came back like a tiger.

She went like a grandmother and came back like a tiger.

A man like you can't last in a country like this.

I felt like a fight, Father. I felt like a fight.

How can a man like me trust a liar like you?

Better to live like a coolie than die like a hero.

He grins like a baby but he bites like a 'gator.

Any man who leaves a woman like you... on a night like this, with a man like me... deserves it.

Jupiter's to the earth like a... like a football is to a marble.

I like her a lot. I like a lot of girls a lot.

I don't like being treated like a child.

Tom doesn't like being treated like a child.

What's a guy like that look like, anyway?

It's like... Like sitting in a hot tub?

Or do you like living like a pig?

I'd like a garden like this for Taro.

I like you. You're like a big cat.

The daughter of Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard, like a hut in a field of melons, like a besieged city.

The daughter of Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard, like a hut in a field of melons, like a besieged city.

The first creature was like a lion, and the second creature like a calf, and the third creature had a face like a man, and the fourth was like a flying eagle.

The first creature was like a lion, and the second creature like a calf, and the third creature had a face like a man, and the fourth was like a flying eagle.

Oh Roberto, that, too, is like a dream, like a wonderful dream.

Like the son of a village, a village like this I need...

What is a guy like you doing in a job like this?

What's a pretty girl like you doing in a place like this?

A guy like you won't sleep long in a bed like this.

But it's kind of like flipping a six or a nine. Like a six, if you flip it over it looks like a nine.

And this noise is like a shhhhhhhhhhhhh, like that.

Or, not so coincidentally, like a tube like this.

It's like a Noah's Ark. It's like an archive.

I'd certainly like to see a play like that.

Crawl! You act like a dog, crawl like one!

A word like any other. Just like the town.

You behaved like an ia'iot, not like a man.