R-E-S-P-E-C-T"This morning I heard the news. Our Black, Beautiful Queen of Soul has died. I remember listening to Aretha Franklin singing on a live recorded album at my grandmother Geri’s house as a child in NE Portland. My granny loved listening to Natural Woman. Watching black women in my family was my favorite past time. Listening to their stories, the smell of their cigarettes, the laughter, and the tears. As I became a young woman I kept listening to Aretha. She followed our generation from the stages and vinyl records to tapes, cds and online streams. She left the motor city and in my teenage mind landed right onto the MTV Video screens.