The Girl Who Loved Her Father Like Salt
A story from my childhood... This was a book that was read many, many times as a child.Mom read books with my older brother and me, we were on the floor.We did not connect with each other or her, we did not look at the pictures.We did not touch.The father asked how...
Joy in the Brushstrokes
Last week, someone asked me what I do for a living. I braced myself and said, “I write for a consulting firm.” I sensed their stilted reaction and backpedaled. “I’m just glad I get paid to write.” They cleared their throat. “I knew someone with a 9 to 5 once.” He knew...
Busyness
Busyness is my drug of choice and it is why I don’t ask for help. Busyness is a trustworthy way to numb out. Busyness is a trustworthy way to create the illusion of being productive, chasing the social capital of achievement, of future accomplishments bringing...
Acknowledging Racial Trauma
Audio share
Racial Trauma Inventory
Coming into ACA meeting Zoom land, I was initially reticent at putting on my camera in a mostly white environment, ashamed of my face. On a few occasions, when I have switched on my camera mid-share, others have been abruptly turned off. Having said that, I have...
This is a first telling of my story.
This is a first telling of my story. Nine images and two poems. When combined sequentially they illustrate the "big picture" while each individual file offers a specific slice of life. My voice was stolen from me as a child and at 50 I am finally learning how to...
FILLING THE HOLE
It was 2004. I was incarcerated in Wisconsin’s Dane County Jail. I had forged checks on the account of my seventy-year-old friend, Miss Milele Chikasa Anana, one of the most prominent, renowned, highly respected members of the African American community, Madison,...
We Will Let Our Light Shine Wherever We Are
As I sit here again, being the only person of color in the room, I tell myself WE are allowed here. WE are going to let our light shine wherever WE are. My critical parent showed up to tell us our lines aren't straight. And WE say... of course they aren't; we are...
Mother Earth
I love listening to her heart beat,"Beat, beat""Beat", "beat"In my mother's wombFirst split,Second split,Ingesting her painFourth split,Eighth split A world full of possibilitiesI was chosen for herShe for ISixteenth split, thirty second split In my mother's womb, I...
I Will Not
I will not self-abandon.I will not lend my worth.I will not dance for you, but for me.I know peace is the answer. I will not succumb to oppression. I will not bow down to the white male. I will not forget my purpose on Earth. I will not be defined...