I spent most of my childhood wondering why black people didn’t fight more. Why hadn’t black women poisoned the families of slave owners if they cooked all the food? Why hadn’t they killed the babies if they had to nurse and raise them? (Thank you to Alice Randall for The Wind Done Gone.) Why, if black people outnumbered white people …
An Introvert’s Guide to Social Wellness: Musings of an Angry Black Woman
Part 6 of a 6-part series. Radical, Militant, Uncompromising Self-Care: A Black Woman’s Manifesto. Thus let me live, unseen, unknown; Thus unlamented let me die; Steal from the world, and not a stone Tell where I lie. Alexander Pope Ode on Solitude I want to run away. I’ve wanted to run away all my life. I used to sit …
I think therefore I am angry.
Part 5 of a 6-part series. Radical, Militant, Uncompromising Self-Care: A Black Woman’s Manifesto To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time. James Baldwin After completing my self-care practice inventory on January 1, 2018 and seeing I had no intellectual practices, I wept for myself. So …
Realism is a bitch.
Part 4 of a 6-part series. Radical, Militant, Uncompromising Self-Care: A Black Woman’s Manifesto. I was recently certified in EQ-i 2.0, EQ 360, and TESI. During my pre-training coaching session, the coach who had reviewed the results of my assessment, which showed almost no optimism but very high reality testing asked, “Are you an optimist or a pessimist?” I said, …
Are you there God? It’s me Adriane.
Part 3 of a 6-part series. Radical, Militant, Uncompromising Self-Care: A Black Woman’s Manifesto. I believe; help my unbelief! –Mark 9:24 (NRSV) ag·nos·tic noun a person who believes that nothing is known or can be known of the existence or nature of God or of anything beyond material phenomena; a person who claims neither faith nor disbelief in God. My …
My Body Hates Me. It’s Mutual.
Part 2 of a 6-part series. Radical, Militant, Uncompromising Self-Care: A Black Woman’s Manifesto. I have been at war with my body for as long as I remember. At first, my mom was at war with my body. It didn’t shed baby fat fast enough. My breasts got too large too soon. The hourglass figure needed to be hidden because …
Radical, Militant, Uncompromising Self-Care: A Black Woman’s Manifesto
Part 1 of 6 This is my tribute to Erica Garner and every black woman who has succumbed to the health risks of being a black female person in the United States of America. In May of 2011, I went to my water aerobics class early one morning after the spring semester had ended. While taking a shower, I felt a horrible …
All the women are not white, but the ones who are didn’t vote for you.
Dear Hillary, It’s been a week since the election. I’ve been trying to imagine how you must feel. At some level, I get it. I know what it means to be a highly qualified woman who is forced to the margins by a mediocre man. But I can only imagine how gut-wrenching it is to actually have the majority of …
Not Just Old Wine in New Bottles
“This isn’t new.” “We’ve been doing this for years.” “This is just the next step.” “You’re building on what we’ve already been doing.” These same things have been said for decades in school reform—centuries if you look closely enough. There is a cyclical process where someone has a bright new idea, turns the lives of practitioners upside down, and eventually …
Not Our Problem to Solve
Dear Hillary, It’s me again–your younger black Wellesley sister down here in Memphis, TN. As you begin DNC convention week, I’d like to offer a few thoughts on what I, as a black woman, would really like to hear. And, perhaps more importantly, what I would like not to hear…from anyone…at all. In brief, don’t ask us to “come together” …