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 that hates so fiercely their venom targets children. They will desecrate a place of worship. The idea of transforming that mindset exhausts me. But my Read more…
Read books. Lots of them. Read as many as you can while you can. I tell this to my teenage nephews because they don’t know that time will become a precious commodity. There is never enough time for reading. Right now the only demands for their free time are sports and streaming. I try to lure them with the promise of new worlds if they’d only allow their eyes to be their passports. They’ve actually 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 say I was uneasy is an understatement. I was glad when the woman beside me projectile vomited and hastened my date and I to call Read more…
I’m sick of this dialogue. I’ve been having it since I was a likkle girl. At first it wasn’t so much a dialogue, but the diatribe of daddy’s instruction on how to navigate the double standard. Triple if mommy was talking. But mostly it was daddy with his regular lectures on race and our place on that tightrope balanced between two worlds. Monday to Friday was PB and J but weekends were for guava jelly Read more…
I have a three syllable name. It is not uncommon for people to immediately want to truncate it. The other day a man I’ve met a handful of times called me Kim in greeting, it was warm and friendly and harbored no ill will. I don’t remember what automatic acknowledgement I gave, a smile, a nod, or a wave but my nephew who witnessed it all laughed. “You did not like that at all.” It’s 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 like pandemic pinball. I think about snacks. I think about hydration. I have no-Zoom days but they are few. I take regular breaks to ensure Read more…
We are mostly water. A gallon of water weights 8.34 pounds. The human heart on average is less than a pound. To be all heart is not nearly that substantial. The biggest human brains are 3.5 lbs at most. But what is the weight of the largest organ, the skin? What is the weight of your skin? Melanin rich skin weighs more. It is thicker. It must be. It remains resilient to the lashes of Read more…
When I was a girl, the aunties were everything. They had the best outfits, told the best stories, gave the best presents. They also unleashed the worst punishment. They could have me in stitches one minute and then cut me down to dejected outcast with a stinging word. Jamaican aunties are unabashed truth talkers. And they know how to make a point, in fact they will make it five different ways to be clear. But Read more…