“When I was a little girl, around the age of three, I held my hand up to my mother’s and said “I don’t match you.” I then did the same thing to my father and said “I don’t match you either.” This is not going to be a piece about a mixed girl “trapped between two worlds” or anything like that. This is a review of the film Passing. However, this film, along with many other moments and elements of my life, made my head swirl around the concept of race, the complexity of it, and my place in it. In addition, it is an incredibly somber vignette about repression, and light skinned privilege.”
Nope... but Maybe?, a Review
“This summer, the highly anticipated Jordan Peele film Nope premiered in theaters. Months before the movie premiered, fan theories spread all over the internet. Many suspected that the film would be an allegory for COVID and hold themes surrounding a plague as in the trailer, OJ (Daniel Kaluuya) asks his sister, Emerald (Keke Palmer) “What’s a bad miracle? They got a word for that?” Some predicted a message along the lines of people are the real monsters and the aliens are coming to save us from ourselves. Others believed the film was simply playing with casadastraphobia, the fear of being sucked into the sky, to thrill and terrorize audiences.”
Like It Is
A Love Poem's Responsibility
A Look into Lauren | Woman of Rivers
“I think I grew up close to spirit, spiritualism, and prayer—around a lot of women and men I would consider prayer warriors, pastors, and teachers. All those elders and mentors influenced my work, specifically in the way they led by example. My commitment to sharing my weekly collective readings is specifically rooted in that practice. Even if I wasn't filming it, I was doing it. And sometimes, I do that practice without sharing.”
How to Build a Country for Black Girl(s)
Self Portrait
What's Not Inside the Cage
Lovecraft Country Review
f*ck waiting for a day, this sankofic every-day!
Channeled Messages for Your Life Path #
Community
“We've made it to our beautiful and scenic rooftop. Here you have a full view of the city on all sides. Ignore the construction, and sorry if it feels like I'm screaming. To your left, you can see the cityscape… I actually don't know what they're building down there. I think it used to be a residential lot, but I'm not sure— Oh, you're right! There are still some houses down there, so I guess it was. I guess they were abandoned hou— They're turning it into a Whole Foods, actually. Yes! I know a lot of our customers are excited about that.”
Meditations for Healing, Hope, and Revolution
“I am writing to share with you a meditation/refection & resource project that aims to offer a little peace, comfort, and hope during this moment that is filled with oh-so-much injustice and suffering. Our hearts are full as we witness folks all over the world demanding justice. I hope that these meditations will offer you, your loved ones, and your community network an opportunity to recharge and reflect during the intensity and passion of this moment.”
How Danzy Senna's Forward of "Oreo" by Fran Ross Contributes to a Legacy of Anti-Blackness
“So what is to be done? We must refuse to accept insecure, anti-Black readings of Black literature when we see them. In addition we must, going forward, let go of the idea that our duty as scholars is to establish a canon of Black literature. If this is something that is going to happen, it will happen over time as we continue to revisit and respond to work from our past and our present.”
buttermilk
“when West Africans were forcibly positioned for labor in the american south, their diets changed to a skimpy ration of salt pork, cornmeal, rice, lard, molasses, and greens (collard, mustard). these foods, low in nutritional value and often the scraps of the plantation, were transformed by those same Africans into what is now given the misnomer “southern food.” the shining feature in this cuisine being: fat.”
A Conjurer at the Crossroads
“She was more than a brave woman who stole away hundreds to freedom and safety. She was a diviner and a conjurer. They called her Mama Moses for the prime magician himself. When the road to freedom became muddled or disappeared, she’d fall asleep and awaken with the knowing. Suddenly, the road ahead would become clear and she knew just how to lead her caravan to safety…”