My formative years taught me that emotions were chaotic and wild. I learned that if I wanted to be a man, I needed to have a strong grip on things, to detach if necessary.
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Note: This article contains descriptions of Bridgerton that some readers might consider to be minor spoilers and links to articles that contain spoilers.Can Black folks get a moment of peace? Can we exist without always having to address our collective trauma? Since the start of the pandemic, I have found myself implementing every imaginable method […]
It’s no secret that the past two years have been a time of great loss. The Black community has lost some of our greatest heroes and icons as well as our neighbors. The impact of one heartbreaking story after another can, at times, feels like too much to handle. In times like these, we need […]
As I’ve walked the streets of places like San Juan, Havana, the Bahamas, I have become aware of a Black culture that I reside just outside of. There is a dash or dollop of Africa that you can hear in the music, see in the radiant colors of the people’s skin, and taste in the […]
Here it goes again. I opened my email to read the results of my lease-to-purchase application. I have settled for a lease option at this time because there is an urgent need to move. I share a bedroom with my two daughters, aged six and twelve. Let me tell you: the twelve-year-old drives me crazy […]
About ten years ago, I went through a period of grief following the deaths of two friends. Grieving is never an easy process, but what made it even harder for me was that all of my closest friends were also grieving these same losses. The people I normally turned to for support were struggling too. […]
I wish I had taken the chance to learn more about my parents’ parents. In many ways, they shaped the woman that I am today. Growing up, I didn’t appreciate the moments I got to have with my grandmother and grandfather. After losing my grandfather, I wish that I had not taken those moments for […]
“I knew who I was this morning, but I’ve changed a few times since then.” Alice, “Through the Looking Glass” Amidst the sound of ice falling as it hit my window sill and the chilly breeze from a not-so-sealed front door, I took a sip of my once piping hot coffee, which had reached room […]
One day, I came home from elementary school excited to tell my parents what I had learned during Black History Month. I proudly recounted the narrative that I had learned: Harriet Tubman freed the slaves, then Rosa Parks sat down on the bus because she was tired, and Martin Luther King Jr. ended racism. My […]
Our nation has been in an extended period of mourning. Even in times of celebration and triumph, we are not far from the losses that our communities have undertaken. Lent is usually about voluntary self-denial, but the past year has denied us and deprived us without our consent. It almost seems superfluous to observe Lent when we are still wearing the ashes of mourning from last year. Yet I still hope…
Black un-dignity is a gift from God because it’s a stumbling block to the indignity of racism. God has given Black people the beauty of our culture for the ashes of oppression.
We started the Cultural Artifacts episodes in 2015 because we wanted to encompass the awesome things — books, albums, podcasts, sermons, people, events, movies, TV shows, and so on — that we’ve consumed in a given year. (Here’s the kicker: it doesn’t have to come out in the given year. It just has to be […]
It’s the most wonderful time of the year! And also, our favorite episode(s) of the year! Every year, we recap our favorite “cultural artifacts”. These can be books, albums, people, movies, TV shows, events….ANYTHING that got us through the year. There’s only one catch: these items do NOT have to come out this year. They […]
Every year, we recap our favorite “cultural artifacts”. These can be books, albums, people, movies, TV shows, events….ANYTHING that got us through the year. There’s only one catch: these items do NOT have to come out this year. They just have to be consumed this year.
Read Part 1 of “The Gift of…” Hope is this beautiful gift that emerges from the darkest places of our despair and longing. It is what we cling to when sorrow grips our hearts and rivers of sadness flow from our eyes. When pain cripples our bodies, when we are met with loss, failure, unmet […]
“Bells will be ringing the glad, glad news/ Oh, what a Christmas to have the blues” “Please, Come Home For Christmas” by Charles Brown Amidst the gaiety of the Christmas season with all of its lights, candy canes, well-wishes, online deals, cheesy romantic movies, and syrupy-sweet classic holiday tunes on endless rotation, the song “Please, […]
