I began writing on Substack last June when my life felt at an all-time low.
My first subscribers were mostly people I knew in real life and online. Some of my first subscribers have supported my work for the past 20 years or more, while others are recent friends.
“The Water Spirits Will Carry Us,” published last week by Memoir Land, made a huge splash (pun intended). We have 51 new subscribers and counting. I wrote this post because I wanted a fun way to introduce myself to new subscribers and reacquaint myself with others who have traveled many journeys with me.
Without further ado…
- I worked at a Kidnap and Ransom Insurance firm with Mexican cattle ranchers as my clients. It was one of my first jobs after college.
- I’m originally from Philly but grew up in the suburbs of South Jersey. Most people think I’m southern because I spent most of my adult life in North Carolina until eight years ago.
- My favorite job was dancing in a cage at a gay bar during my senior year in college. I dated the D.J. I told my mom about it, and she came to dance in the cage with me.
- My mom was third runner-up in the Miss Black America pageant 1968. It was difficult to grow up as the daughter of a pageant contestant. I didn’t like my looks until my 50th birthday last year.
- My Spanish is terrible. I studied Spanish literature and drama in Seville, Spain, and have been in Mexico working on my quest to learn to swim, dive, and map sunken slave ships. Yet, many people here speak English. I have mastered “restaurant Spanish” and can order a meal like no one’s business.
- I love to cook. Or maybe I love taking cooking classes. I learned how to make tamales, macaroons, beef bourguignon, and Thai curry chicken. However, slapping some peanut butter on a cracker will do in a pinch.
- I wrote my first short story at seven and my first one-act play, using the week’s vocabulary words when I was 12. My short stories were about traveling to faraway lands like Paris, London, and Atlantic City, which seemed exotic to a 7-year-old.
- I don’t like Las Vegas. I first visited the city two years ago during a writing and emcee gig for an industry conference. I never played a single slot machine. But I had a lovely bowl of clam chowder for $12.
- I secretly dream of having my photography shown at an art gallery.
- I posed nude for photographers and art classes while in college. I was shocked to learn that one of the photos of me hung in a gallery in Washington, D.C. I learned this while attending a show opening to support one of the photographers at National Geographic, where I worked as an office assistant in the Photography Department. One of the magazine’s freelance photographers pulled me aside, directed me to the photo, and asked, “Is that you?”
BONUS: I sprinted out of the gallery, recalling my skills running track in high school. My nickname on the track team was “Lightning Bolton,” even though I came in last in every race. But I was killer on the field hockey team.