i was minding my own business going about the errands and excitement of a regular saturday full of karate classes and community service when suddenly my steering wheel started to creak and my wheels started to moan. i immediately thought to myself, ‘ain’t nobody got time for that.’ but the more i drove the more…
Category: Articles
Mrs. Delores Bennett, Patron Saint of the North End
i was a young nonprofit executive completely full of myself. she came into my office rattled off a list of to do’s so fast it made my head spin. i thought i was smart. i thought i was caring. i thought i understood what working for the people meant…then i met Mrs. Delores Bennett. she…
when your to-do list includes bread, laundry soap and a blog domain
it didn’t occur to me that my businesses failed because i didn’t plan for their success. hmm…that applies to a lot of things, doesn’t it?
#goals
when i am an old lady i will walk the streets in layers of gold yell sweet nothings into the wind mime for catholicism and speak secrets to children while ladling double fudge brownies into pie tins for parties i haven’t been invited to when i am an old lady i will stare out at passersby and…
how poetry saved me from being just another ‘angry black woman’ or why i write
there was a time in my life when i was a hothead. and we’re talking the whole screaming profanities, fist drawn, feet shoulder distance apart, knees slightly bent, shoulders squared, ready to pounce and destroy rage filled angry. my primary trigger: someone i cared about was threatened or harmed. if you threatened to touch a…
why clean underwear takes precedence over the colin kaepernick ‘controversy’
i had a real conversation with a true to life white woman who votes republican. and we talking ‘i may not like trump but i’m going to vote for him because i’m a republican’ republican. it was an out-of-body experience and i realized during the conversation that i primarily only have conversations with people who…
i may hate back to school shopping but i so love my kid
i’m going to preface this story by stating: black mothers are historically known for complete intolerance of public foolishness as displayed by their children. like if you ever happen to happen upon a black children in full tantrum you will notice other black children collectively holding their breath and clinching their teeth silently praying for…
grief, community organizing, and why a clean garage can literally save the day
the fourth of july weekend of 2016 sent me through a soul searching roller coaster ride. i was more 700 miles from my home, driving with my parents and young son after having spent a weekend with my aunts and cousins in hot springs, arkansas, when i learned that 2 men more than 1,000 miles…
on holding space for single mothers at the end of their rope
“ms. o, get your boy! cause i’m three minutes off his ass!” she came huffing and puffing into my office not because she had just walked up three flights of stairs but because she had just chased her 15 year old from out of the bathroom and into his classroom. “i’m gon kill him! i swear…
i can see the elephants from here
i love the circus. and when i say i love the circus i mean i love it! i love the clowns i love the acrobats. i love the tight rope walkers. i love Love LOVE the ringmaster. I LOVE THE CIRCUS! whenever the circus is in town i’d go. i’d get ‘not quite front row’…
fearfree living 