Celebrating Our Differences
When people find out I’m a writer, or they finally meet me, an inordinate amount of people tell me they want to write a book, or they have a book in them, but they don’t have the time. I smile, trying not to grimace because the typical person…
I was invited to speak at Unity Church of Chattanooga. Preceding me, a young man entered the mic at with a prayer. This prayer took me Home to a place where I would enter into an affirmation of what life might be through listening to this voice/these words. …
Just south of Memphis, I start receiving waves from strangers. I’m in a different world,far removed from urban dangers. Now I’m looking at the billboards advertising local greasepits. And I’m hit with a sudden craving for fried catfish and grits. I roll down the windows to catch that…
Her Chicago kitchen smells like the warmth and glow of family, and her home studio reflects the precious time spent cultivating each piece of her jewelry. It is creatively designed. Karen Gill has created a bit of heaven with a whimsical flair, but she takes the craftsmanship of…
Freedom is My family Coming over On boats To try And die In a place Where opportunity Is more important than Survivability. Freedom is The bra burners The sitters The marchers The ones who Got raped Got killed So that I Can stand in A booth…
Derrick Charles is always at work. Whether painting, creating a mural, or providing visual art for jazz or Spoken Word, he is giving Chicago a heartbeat. Born in Chicago, Charles studied at the International Academy of Merchandise and Design in Commercial Arts, but is mostly self-taught. His works…
Alice Suell, born 1910 in Vidalia Louisiana, was an active member of Olivet Baptist Church: “In 1938 I waited anxiously in the crowded Chicago Union train station for my four young sons who had traveled on their own from Louisiana. I had been in Chicago for one year…
As I walk away, I can hear her breathing heavy. She is fighting the gigantic urge to scream after me to ask me to stay. I have left a half drunk steamy cup of rooibos tea on her mahogany coffee table that she kindly made before she knew…
Closure eludes me. Or maybe it’s an illusion. Or maybe it’s an urban legend like Bigfoot. Does anyone ever really have closure? People talk about it, but is it really a real thing? Seriously, does closure exist? Maybe I just can’t see it, because I’m always spinning like…
What’s on my mind in the middle of the night when I’d love to be sleeping but insomnia strikes: I’m reading a lot of posts these days about women, angry and in a rut because of their ex/jobs/money/current love life, etc… Girls. I feel you. I really…