Memoir writing can be myopic. We focus on specific relationships and events and the meaning we derive from them. Memoirs like Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Mary Kerr’s The Liars’ Club, and Frank McCourt’s Angela’s Ashes are modern classics partly because of their tightly woven storytelling. However, we’re missing so much by focusing on a …
People often ask me why I am on a quest to learn to swim, dive, and map the wreckage of slave ships to honor my ancestors. Why am I so drawn to the ocean? Is it a grave or a place of liberation? I explored those questions and more in a speech I made as …
A Short Story CW: Language and sexual content Noah lost his legs because he picked the wrong time to take a push. He won three hands that night before he pushed himself away from the card table. Trash talk and laughter trailed away as he walked into the latrine. I don’t know whether Noah was …
You learn who you are in Mexico by knowing who you are not. “Where are you from?” the cab driver asks as you slide into the backseat of the pine-fresh taxi. Faux leather seats gleam in the brightness of the midday sun. He turns down the volume of the talk radio program he was listening …
I went to Mexico City to search for Frida Kahlo.
Frida is everywhere in Mexico. The famed Mexican painter and feminist icon’s image is on the 500 peso, t-shirts, journals, handbags, and the compact mirror I carry in my purse. Knitted unibrow and braided black hair framed with flowers, Frida’s face graces street art and murals worldwide.
Restorative Communities: From Conflict to Conversation is the culmination of four years of research, interviews, writing, and outreach in Detroit, MI, and Kortrijk, Belgium.
Detroit Rising: How the Motor City Becomes a Restorative City wins film festival laurels including “Best Web Series” and “Best Documentary Special Mention from the Cyrus International Film Festival and the Venice Shorts Festival, respectively.
A mother and son embark on a hiking trip. The son loses his balance during a challenging vertical climb. His mother grabs him before he tumbles several feet below to the rocky ground. Relieved that he is safe, she clutches him tight. It’s been a long time since she held her son to her breast. …
“Welcome. What you pay attention to, grows.” The battered, wooden sign greets visitors to De Heerlijkheid van Heule, an organic farm on the outskirts of Kortrijk, Belgium. Heerlijkheid van Heule roughly translates as “Glory of the Hill” in Dutch. Operated by Oranjehuis, a group home for at-risk youth, the farm combines the simplicity and beauty …
Read more “Tilling the Soil of a New Reality: An Organic Farm in Belgium”
“You’re doing great,” Natalie, the swim instructor, said. “Try again.” I took a deep breath and submerged my face in the frigid, pool water. The images of my enslaved African ancestors flushed my memory as I blew a slow blast of bubbles. I gasped for air as I broke the water’s surface and rubbed my …