Friendship

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Textual Healing – Week #2

[caption id="attachment_1088" align="alignright" width="300"] Textual Healing Session #2, September 15, 2018. Photo by Jess Gilliam, Ignite the Voice, Inc.[/caption] On Saturday, I led a discussion and journaling activity on the topic of Rejection in Session #2 of the 6-week series, "Textual Healing," sponsored by Ignite the Voice, Inc. The majority of the middle and high school-aged participants were able to recall scenarios where they had experienced rejection - mostly in the areas of friendship and from authority figures. As I…

Is Jesus for Poor People?

[caption id="attachment_1053" align="alignright" width="296"] Me and Celebrity Christian Donnie McClurkin. I wonder if he's rich.[/caption] This morning, I dreamt that Keegan-Michael Key, of the TV Show Key & Peele, kept clotheslining me. He kept hitting my neck in the right place to make me lose my breath. He thought it was funny, and he was trying to make the people around us laugh. I wasn't laughing. I was starting to panic in the dream because I didn’t know how to make him…

Butt…

[caption id="attachment_1003" align="alignleft" width="149"]Me in 2014, around the time of the Brad Jackson incident.[/caption] An old college classmate smacked my ass in a diner a few years ago. I didn't know this was considered sexual assault until recently. His name was Brad Jackson. He was one of the first people I met at Southern Connecticut State University after transferring from Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University. He was friendly to me when I didn't know many people at my new school.…

Your Baby is a Bastard

Bastard (definition): A person born of parents not married to each other. After you get married, it seems like the first question people ask you is, “When are you having kids?”  If you've had a baby, but haven’t gotten married, people ask you, “Well, when’s the wedding?” I have a 5-month-old son named Alexander. His father and I have been together for three years. We are not married. At least once a week, someone makes it their business to let…

Behind the Story: Miss Light

I don’t really feel like I can take credit for writing the “Miss Light” story because it came to be while I was half asleep. Saturday night around 3am, I experienced sleep paralysis and woke myself up exerting so much energy trying to turn over. “Write about your friendship with God,” a voice in my head said. “What?! How the heck am I supposed to do that?” I thought back. “Don’t worry, I got you. Grab your notebook.” And out…

Miss Light

[caption id="attachment_883" align="alignleft" width="260"] Getting ready to go out; staring at my own image.[/caption] My friend Imani invited me to spend the weekend with her at her apartment in Harlem. “You should definitely go,” said Miss Light, my most supportive and oldest friend. She was energetic and optimistic. She smiled bright and could light up any room. “Imani’s never invited you to her house before. You should definitely go," she repeated. “Okay,” I said. “What are you going to do this weekend?”…

The Prodigal Friend

[caption id="attachment_866" align="alignleft" width="401"] Taylor and I, freshman year at FAMU.[/caption] Taylor staggered into my dorm room in the middle of the night. Her speech was slurred, so I could only make out the part about her coming from some type of initiation party. She was wearing a short, light blue dress, and she had brown, curly braids. My roommate must have let her in. Taylor said a few words, then giggled. Then she fell into our dresser and giggled…

Election Grief

Denial. Bargaining. Anger. Depression. Acceptance. I am grieving. Yesterday I took lots of naps, ate macaroni and cheese and cookies, and started lots of fist fights on Grand Theft Auto. While I am disappointed that President-Elect Donald Trump will be my next president, I am more upset by my peers who supported him throughout this season. You have disappointed me. Yes, I actually mean you…as an individual. You – the former classmates, the former coworkers, the people I’ve danced with,…