I’ve been reading Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom by Catherine Clinton. It’s been an eye opening read. I grew up learning about Harriet Tubman and the role she played as a conductor of the Underground Railroad. I knew that because of her more than 300 slaves ran away from slavery and found freedom in…
Tag: Women
The Case for Hogwarts (Raising a Wizard in this Muggle World)
My son is brilliant. I know most people believe their children are brilliant and bombard complete strangers with pictures and statuses about how their children’s brilliance outshines the brilliance of the average star…but my kid actually is. Trust me on this, I’m a professional. I know kids. They’re my genius. So with my genius kid…
Working From the Heart (A Lesson in Keeping It Real)
When I was in college I was a part of this big time summer research project. I was triple excited about it because UM basically paid me to read books and write about them. I was like, “Read. Write. Money. Sign me up.” There was only 1 professor on campus at the time who…
Mama in the Hood or The Greatest Show On Earth
Today I told him, “There ain’t one dummy in this family! You Will NOT BE THE FIRST!” Mamahood is hard. It’s an ever vigilant watch over every detail of someone else’s life. Somedays I feel like a CEO in full possession of my team and lair. I delegate and shit gets done. On time. The…
Advice to a Young Miss On the Occasion of her Coming of Age
Today, I was speaking with one of my students about a ‘first’ she will experience this week after a traumatic loss. She responded to me, “I’m just trying to be strong.” I started a conversation with her with, “What If I told you I don’t want you to be strong?” As I went for my…
39,653 Hours Till I Retire, So Today I Walk
Today I met with a financial advisor. He was a nice man. He used all kinds of big financial words, threw around the term ‘economic forecast’ and even ventured a conversation about ‘mutual funds.’ Having been a working woman for 23 years, I’ve had a dance or two with financial advisors so today I just…
Big Hairy Goal Meets Blog: Love or Nah?
On October 16th, I will walk a half marathon. This is either the bravest or the dumbest idea I have ever had in my whole entire life (and I’ve had some pretty harebrained ideas). A half marathon is 13.1 miles of nonstop movement. In addition to committing myself to endure 13.1 miles of nonstop movement,…
vivacity
balls drop & bounce & bounce & bounce kitchen dishes broken dryers layers & layers of clothes shoe shopping pants fittings & the list goes & goes & goes walking singularly it falls to you vision keeper dream weaver no second but a village of helpers so you’ve no right to scream headed to the…
rainbow hunting 101 (not just for colored girls)
i have been holding my breath holding my hands holding this bill holding it back holding it in while holding it down now at this closing stage this ending phase this last part this new start breathing is no longer a luxury there are full minutes of standing still when you are not…
PTSD, an improper diagnosis because post is past and this is our present
preamble: discovering breasts under my nightgown was one of the most traumatic experiences of my childhood. from that very moment i was trapped in a world with a constant bombardment of sexual attention so aggression i simply could not breathe. they no longer saw me. the me, i had been. the somersaulting-head-standing-singing-and-climbing-trees-daydreaming me was lost. overnight, i had become flesh…
fearfree living 