It’s All Here…
You can’t have something you can’t imagine, and you can’t imagine something if you don’t believe you belong. My roots are in the land -- my ancestors’ souls rest there. We may not “own” much land, but ownership in this lifetime does not override the yearning and the knowing and the belonging of a soul.
When things are better, when I’m in flow, when I am outside often, when I'm creating, sharing, connecting – it’s much easier for food not to be the thing I look forward to, which makes controlling my bodyweight easier. That cycle isn’t unique to me. We all go through ebbs and flows of feeling uninspired, feeling stuck -- it’s completely normal. The added pressure of fearing the accompanying physical weight is what makes the ebbs of life feel harder.
Straight hair signals a closer proximity to whiteness, and I wonder, is that playing the game, or is it selling out? I suspect it comes down to how I use it and how I internalize it. If I know who I am, and that I am just playing with dead follicles on top of my head, am I selling out? I don’t know the answer.
I grew up surrounded by a loving, powerful, Christian community -- there are many like it all over the U.S. I was supported, I was loved, and I was taken care of. People in my community knew that it was their responsibility not just to take care of their own kids, but of all the … Continue reading Calling All Christians’ Attention to the Border
Although it was a downer, the whole interaction was surprisingly sweet. He walked me home, and on the way I was looking for Venus, which is in conjunction with the moon tonight. He told me his friend did an astrology reading for him earlier; she told him he would encounter an unexpected Venus. We know I am Venus.
Leaving Calaveras is never easy for me, but as I drove away that night, with the hills in my rearview and the moon guiding me with her light, I couldn’t help but beam with tremendous gratitude, both for my connection to such a beautiful place, and to the people who enrich that beauty with a combination of valuable skills and intuitive humanity.
This morning as I walked to work, minding my own business, listening to a podcast, I saw a black man approaching me with a raised fist. I had just passed another man who was clearly struggling with an addiction, who mumbled under his breath as he lurched toward me on the sidewalk. I pretended not to … Continue reading My hair is not your politics, it’s how it grows out of my head.
When I moved from California to Texas at age four, I was reading full books and writing at a 1st- grade level. After being iced out of one upscale community that wasn’t keen on having a single black mother as a neighbor, my mom moved us into a different district, specifically for its public schools. … Continue reading Young, Gifted, and Black? Prepare to Fight for Your Education
Today is international women's day, and next Monday is The Bachelor finale. The juxtaposition of the two events on my social feeds already had me thinking, but then a friend posted a Facebook meme that asked a fundamental question about The Bachelor, and the people who watch it. The meme reads: The bachelor is … Continue reading How is The Bachelor OK?
If the year 2016 taught me anything, it is that our time has come. No amount of online petitions or Facebook posts will stand in for the work that needs to be done by all of us, everywhere. Right now we are in a fight for the heart of this country, and in 2017, I choose to believe that there are more of us on the side of peace and love than on the side of fear and hate.
