2020 has been a beast of a year, and we’ve still got a third left. I don’t dare ask what’s next. I’m confounded by the deaths of the Black Mamba and the Black Panther in a world reeling with loss. My pain flares anew at memes that question whether my Read more…
Oh hair. It’s a busy subject, a hub for much physical judgement. For many women our image is entangled with our tresses. For black women it’s an even knottier affair with as many twists as we have curl patterns. Allow me to unbraid the journey to my current moment of Read more…
The day just won’t start. Like a cold engine on an early winter morning. The sky is grey and lacks brightness. That is a light lie. Winter mornings can be blindingly bright. The cruel sparkle of frost and ice flash a warning to proceed with care. Everything is on display Read more…
I need to rest. Unplug and decompress. But I remember the old adage “evil never rests”. Black bodies are hanging from trees again. Pockets of subversive violence shatter the belief that the world is waking up to the entrenched racial biases of society’s status quo. There is a rabid minority Read more…
A long time ago at a party in LA a young man told me I “wasn’t long for this world”. He was looking at my palm. He had no credentials and it was completely unsolicited. His tone was sober despite the Ecstasy and alcohol I had seen him ingest. To Read more…
Pandemic days. Every day is not the same. That is a myth perpetrated by nostalgia. I’ve clocked many hours on Zoom (a platform I knew nothing about 8 weeks ago). I wonder if the blue light protection in my glasses is diminished every time I clean the lenses. Thoughts ricochet Read more…
I am a failed bulimic. I couldn’t ever get the purge part right. I loved the eating part – if it was a food I loved I just wanted to keep enjoying the delicious sensations. I would ignore the protests of my stomach to satisfy mouthfeel cravings.Chocolate, yes. But also Read more…
I started this year with a forty day gratitude challenge. It seems a lifetime ago. The challenge was a mental health exercise which seemed timely then and prescient now. A wise friend once told me that while you’re practicing gratitude you’re incapable of having a pity party; it’s like sneezing Read more…