Photo by fania yang from Pexels I want to let you know that I am blocking you. I want you to know that it has nothing to do with your politics. It has everything to do with the way in which you feel entitled to invade my virtual space with negativity and criticism without ever asking me a…
Blocked
The Path
Photo by Simon Matzinger from Pexels It's taken me almost 40 years, marrying the best man I know, burying my father, birthing two kids and surviving a global pandemic to get me here, but I'm here. Today. I'm here. Now. I've inexplicably arrived here at the ledge, one leg extended. Eyes forward and up. Eyes not looking back.…
Travel Cost
To all the white people warning me about "carrying around white guilt"...There’s no need. To those fretting that I am too fragile, don't. I'm not. Let me be clear about this, accepting and confronting white privilege does not require the feeling of guilt. Guilt is a chosen emotion and in my opinion, it is a wholly…
Take off the blindfold
I took Instagram off my phone. I wanted to spend a week away from it. I've curated a demanding feed for myself since May. One that calls me to recognize my entitlement, invites me to think more critically, and strengthens my humanity. I've been following and posting with more intention since then. I've shared my…
Go outside!
I could sit here all morning trying to compose a more profound piece about the outdoors, about the trees and the smell of dust and the greenness of grass. But it's better to go outside. To let the light embrace me the way we are not supposed to embrace. It's best to offer our lips…
Empathy in Action – The start of a Conversation
Note: I wrote this essay at the end of May shortly after George Floyd was murdered. Since then, I have immersed myself in as much anti-racist thinking as I can. I'm raising two young children so it is challenging to find time to think and write and learn. But really, it is my children that…
Continue reading ➞ Empathy in Action – The start of a Conversation
to the ashes of my father
there is a prayer that i heard you say. you said, may god take your hearts and set them on fire. we burned your body after you left. your ashes rest on a piano in a room where we don't let the children play. when the buildings burn, like hearts, i think of your god…
Not them
if I fail to see the humanity of another person, then I am the problem. not them if I choose to step over the suffering of another person, then I am the thug. not them if I take everything from my life without thinking of those that lost theirs, then I am the looter. not…
Taking these next few weeks to lift up Black voices. This piece is from Inside the Kandi Dish. I've heard so many of my white friends share concerns that they "don't know what to do." Start by reading this: Dear White People, This is What We Want You to Do
starting and stopping
start turning around stop pulling up short start finding what's found stop refusing support start silencing the phone stop taking the rap start becoming a drone stop licking the sap start casting the stone stop kissing the dream start burning the throne stop swimming upstream start tugging the leash stop painting the face start posing…