The Art of Growing in Purposeful Silence

Harriet Moore Addie Mae Collins Denise McNair Carole Roberston Cynthia Wesley Viola Gregg Liuzzo Alberta Williams King Alberta Spruill  Kathryn Johnston Tarika Wilson  Aiyana Stanley Jones Darnisha Harris Malissa Williams Rekia Boyd Kindra Chapman Joyce Curnell Ralkina Jones Alexis McGovern Raynetta Turner say her name. 

The following video is comprised of clips from F.L.A.W.E.D.'s Pop-Up Gratitude Panel at La Maison D' Art in Harlem, New York.  Rule Number 8: Trust your spirit. There are lessons that we are supposed to learn when we find our mind constantly drifting to an experience that we'd much rather forget. Don't beat yourself up for dwelling. Don’t run from your pain. Push through and allow yourself to hear the moral of your story. Nothing happened by chance; in that moral lies the wisdom that you were supposed to gain from the situation.  Rule Number 7: Set boundaries but do not mistake ignoring someone for the same thing as forgiving them. A wise woman once told me, "If you don't have to block them anymore, you know you've forgiven them." Investing time in holding grudges and avoiding a person does not aid in the process of forgiveness; it prolongs your despair. There is strength waiting to be garnered on the other side

December 15th, 2015 10:11PM NP: Light Above the Trees - Keiko Matsui my favorite moon. i'm not alone when i can look up and see the crescent smiling at me. ive  been spending my solitude  reading poetry. gives me peace of mind and aids me in the never ending battle to remain sane. poetry is my safe place, honestly, because sometimes it makes absolutely no sense to me! i look at the words and frown like what the heck does this meannnn?! but that's why i love it. sometimes, it's only for the writer. helps me to remember to practice my craft like no one is looking.  ride the train with no destination and write.  close my bedroom door and  paint first,  then write.  sing like no one can hear me,  then write.  read anthologies written by the greats, then write.  was reading gwendolyn brooks' poem "the crazy woman" when one of my young girls called ... said she ain't been inspired lately but still feels like she has so much

"I do nothing and yet nothing is left undone." Lao Tzu December 13th, 2015 9:40 PM  Now Playing: Electric Relaxation - Tribe Called Quest  Last night, after leaving La Maison d'Art, I sat on a bench in front of the park on St. Nic and 135th for a few hours, straight chillin, without a care in the world. Can you imagine? All dressed up in my black pumps and ruby woo. By myself. A Saturday night. Under the new moon in NYC. Today, I kept the party going - not blogging, not finishing lesson plans, not grading papers. I didn't do a got-damned thing! It was lovely! I am mastering the art of doing nothing.  Before I could begin to do this, I had to understand the difference between being lazy and doing nothing.  Lazy is:  -Having an idea but lacking the motivation to attain it - most often because of the overwhelming amount of effort it will take to complete  -Not the same thing as tired; yes one may lack energy, but it's different from being

So he had been on trial for a month. He was arrested over a year ago. And we are just hearing about this?  13 sistas were assaulted by him, in secret. The youngest, a 17-year-old, whose DNA was found on his pants after he forced her to give him head on her mother's porch, said she never told authorities because, "What kind of police do you call on the police?"  Is there a greater word for vile? If so, rename Daniel Holtzclaw after it. He is the epitome of why we don't have trust in cops now! He was strategic. He would only sexually assault black women with criminal records. He chose victims that have already been silenced by society. And the fact that it didn't make national news proves his theory to be correct.  Are we not supposed to care that the prosecutors tried to justify his crimes by attacking the character of each woman individually. Media, are you saying that Black women being raped by white cops is not as egregious as Black men being

he was no poem more like a caption he was space on my timeline

I am grateful for completing 100 days of writing gratitude list with my best friends. I am grateful for this journey toward EMOTIONAL STABILITY . I am grateful for therapy last night. I felt my happiness and how much I have overcome since the last time I spoke to her. November was a month of hard growth but beautiful acceptance. I am grateful for having a therapist that is always unbiased, even when it hurts  I am grateful that the hurt always pushes me to evaluate myself and become a better woman I am grateful for learning that I do not have to be controlled by my feelings and I do not have to act on my emotions. I can acknowledge them and let them go.  I am grateful for ALL of the life lessons in womanhood that I have learned through my friends, mentors, and life itself. My mother didn't teach me the things she should have but Source never left me in the dark, ignorant, and naive, without sending me amazing teachers. I am grateful for not needing valida

While I was in Cuba, one of my students in Baltimore was killed by a 13 year old. There was no march for that. I can name many other students that have been murdered under the age of 18. No protest for them either. I'm withdrawn tonight, after reading about the Laquan McDonald rallies ... Honestly, it's the same old bullsh't. The violence in our communities only gets national attention when it's police brutality. I hate when people stand on their soap boxes and say that, but it's true. When will we fight the real problem? How will we even begin to undo what has purposefully been done to keep us exactly where they want us to be - dead, broke, or in their private prisons! Who is giving us these guns? Why don't we riot about n'ggas killing n'ggas? Jesse Jackson is out in the Chi, front and center, listening to the mayor give speeches, why isn't he in the projects teaching people that us killing each other is exactly what they want us to do. Prob

I had a fancy ball to go to last night but nothing to wear. Okay, fine, maybe I did already have something in my closet I could've I put together but I needed a reason to go to the thrift store. The Goodwill on 181st and Amsterdam was calling my name.  Passed the Nigerian security man who always stands at the door to check every patron's bags before they begin shopping 1 . Headed straight to the left. The dress section. I had the patience to look through every single patterned piece on the rack but my effort was to no avail. I waited too late and now I wasn't going to be able to go to the ball as the Black, vintage-Cinderella. Whatever. I'll just have to look for something in the cheap-cheap 2 .   I squeezed by the hearty bottoms of the elderly Dominican women. Permiso . They ignored me and continued to inadvertently produce the beats they were making. The metal of the hangers scraping and sliding over the chrome of the racks blared a rhythm that was ma

Grateful for taking time to love myself again and understanding that just like we fall in and out of love with our lovers and have to fight for the relationship and learn how to re-fall in love with them again after we fall out of love with them, we have to do the same with ourselves. Fight of our self love sometimes. Never give up on our personal relationship with self. Which is really and truly a personal relationship with Source. 

When I can't afford to be in those cute boutique bookstores in the city, I hit the thrift!  "The mystery does not get clearer by repeating the question, nor is it bought with going to amazing place. Until you've kept your eyes and your wanting still for fifty years, you don't begin to cross over from confusion."  " For education among all kinds of men always has had, and always will have, an element of danger and revolution, of dissatisfaction and discontent."  "Blacks and whites alike, for different reasons, pretended that all children were the same. Rearing a black child was just like rearing a white child. We believe there is a difference." Vintage sequence number, for the win.  I didn't get the fur but couldn't resist trying it on :)