a sensual legacy of longing

My fetal memories, my introduction to language, my first physical relationship to the Earth’s magnetic pull, the air I first screamed to inhale, the food I tasted through my mother’s lactation, the sounds, scents, climate that first touched me was across an ocean from where I am now. It may not mean much, except that…

a plea to the moderate

The only question that now needs asking is the same one it has always been, which side are you on? There is no neutral, no return to normal, no “just respect the laws”, no voting our way out of this one.

facing the writing self

I haven’t been writing. at all. a few social media posts. a few well structured emails. mostly from a sense of obligation. Not from the instinct to write. because that voice is very small, and very easy to put on mute. it is a little voice that looks at me sideways when i’m spending my…

Why rage now

So yes this is the moment to get into the streets, to harness the power we gain by coming together and to understand that Black folks have always been fighting for all of our humanity, to save our souls now on this earth. The demands for basic respect is to save us all from participating in the dehumanizing impact of being a person who ignores the humanity of others.

Remedial Decency for white people

Okay white people here is our remedial course on being a decent person: We do not call the police because a Black person asks us to leash our dog. We do not call the police because a Black person is wearing a hoodie. We do not call the police because a Black person walks too…

Darwin and fairness

People in positions of privilege and especially white people love to harp on the concept of fairness. It is one of many code words that reveals how little they care about the legacy of racism. This is going to be a sloppy attempt to decipher some of this code. Evolution and thus I am the…

incomplete and insufficient

This strange time is making us consider mortality, yes in some very real ways but also to face that shadow, the strangeness, the unknown, to confront our feelings about death and dying. At what age were you introduced to the concept of dying? Did it come from the death of a pet, the death of…

a wonderful piece by a new friend

A Year of No “Two weeks after that, while I am standing in the basement marvelling at my good fortune, the walls spontaneously catch on fire due to faulty wiring.”

you are your circumstances and other ineloquent, obvious points

Know-Thy-Self. Seems that enlightenment is defined by a person’s ability to simplify their sense of self and meditate upon it. Or that pop culture offers quizzes, personality tests, astrology, self-diagnosis to then self-help. All has contributed to a reinforced obsession with the self – a hunk of marble for us to chisel and polish. Our…

51

I am excited to be able to report that I did not do any cleaning today. I did not scour the stovetop, I did not wash my delicates, I did not disinfect the toilet, I did no laundry or folding. All these things need to get done, they have been taunting me each time I…