Microaggressions at the Market

Some may say, “Don’t worry about it. You were merely being friendly.” But the truth is I felt the need to protect him with my whiteness. It is uncomfortable to accept the harm my whiteness has done. I want to shirk my guilt by saying I shouldn’t be blamed for something I didn’t ask for. I mean really the tentacles of systemic racism were here long before I was born. I didn’t ask for the entitlements I’ve benefited from and I certainly haven’t been racist. Have I?

Love, Loss and Puppy Dogs

Annie was everything I didn’t want in a dog, yet everything I needed.  But my story doesn’t start with Annie. It starts with Chocolate, a lab shepherd, who also happened to be the best dog ever.  I found him from a flyer pinned to a bulletin board at the market with the word “Puppies!” in bold across the top.  There was…

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All The Reasons Why

I’ve been circling around writing for the past few months without actually writing; like a movie shark circling around a bloodied limb but never clamping down with its razor sharp teeth. But as with most things I try to avoid, eventually I come to a dead end and I am face to face with it.  I wondered…

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Love Letter to Nassau

Dear Nassau, Thank you for your Junkanoo drums vibrating deep into my bones. For Straw Market bartering, beaded braids, drunken tourists and cruise ships that line your harbor. Does it bother you they rarely ask to see all of you? Thank you for people that work hard but laugh harder whose words flow in easy…

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I Am Dry

A poem about finding the calm within oneself regardless of the weather swirling around you.

My White Skin

  Each day I walk around in white skin enjoying the safety and privilege that entails. I did nothing to earn this, but I have benefited from it from the moment I was born. Those I love the deepest, my husband and daughters, are the most beautiful of black.   One day my grandchildren will…

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Shake, Shake, Shake Your …

  “Shake Dem Halloween Bones” by Mike Reed is a children’s book that combines colorful illustrations of children dressed in fairy tale costumes with a catchy chorus. “Shake, shake, shake dem bones now.  Shake, shake, shake dem bones now.  Shake, shake, shake dem bones at the hip hop Halloween Ball”. We read the book and sing…

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Pieces and Parts

We’ve got pieces of us we left behind. Parts of our heart we may never find. Pieces of paper waiting to file. Parts of secrets locked deep for awhile. Like chapters in novels or hours in a day, Breaths in a lifetime.  Scenes in a play. Life is just pieces and parts. We have pieces of…

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To TV or Not to TV?

I grew up before the internet, video games, cable TV and smart phones had been invented. My childhood electronics included a radio, alarm clock, record player, and television. I learned about the world from news my parents watched or from folded newspapers tossed on our porch in the sleepy hours of the morning. I would…

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Snake

A snake knows when to leave its skin behind and does so without fanfare or fuss. Oh, to have the freedom of a snake. Free of guilt and fear. Free of the hamster wheel of thoughts cycling through the endless what-ifs, responsibilities and possible regrets. A snake simply slithers from skin that has become rigid…

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What Do You See?

As soon as I walk into the gym I feel as if all eyes are on me saying, “You don’t belong here with your chubby belly and flabby frame.”  Like Harry Potter, I wish to hide beneath an invisibility cloak so I can go about my workout unnoticed. Since these cloaks only exist in magical…

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I See You

“Mom, come watch this video that’s going viral,” my daughter said.  I watched the video of Chris Ulmer, an enthusiastic teacher, speaking directly to each student in his class.  He had the youthful energy of a teacher still fresh with the notion that teachers can change lives. “You are funny.”  “You are an amazing student,”…

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