Going Outdoors While Interracial — It was one of those gloriously bright, extremely windy and slightly brisk days that feels like Fall up north, and feels rare and magical in Southwest Florida. As we hustled to the boardwalk leading to the beach, long strands of my curly hair got stuck in my lip gloss, which…

Identity in the context of projected racial ambiguity. — Holding conflicting ideas in our heads, recognizing contradictions inherent in taking certain positions or landing on particular perspectives, is something most of us aren’t used to doing. Corny pun notwithstanding, Western-educated people have been taught to think in terms of “black and white.” Relatedly, the construction of “race,” designed to…

I don’t remember the last time I cried like that. A mournful howl that ran from throat to knees and caved my chest in. I can still remember the smell. Sharp, bright, herbal. The streaming lifeblood of pines, palms, oaks, sawgrass, pungent arboreal panic and pain. The cracking and popping…

In Spirit, At Least, Black and LGBTQ People in the US Could Be Considered Refugees “I’m moving to Canada,” joked white straight cisgendered liberals when it was reported in 2016 that Trump was taking the White House. A tongue-in-cheek, vague fantasy that most didn’t intend to really follow through on…

!!TRIGGER WARNING: Explicit discussion of physical and sexual violence!! Saying mean things is not “violence.” There, I said it. And though the wrath of those who toss around this potent word to describe everything from social media slights to offensive opinions may be forthcoming once I publish this, that wrath and criticism won’t be “violence” either. I understand that the meaning of words can change…

You’re there to oppress their peers. — Opponents of education (a.k.a. the truth) would like to make you believe they’re trying to protect their children. That they show up to school board meetings in angry droves of bleached hair and US flag t-shirts out of “concern.” The self-proclaimed “anti-woke” parent mob would like you to believe their…

March 10, 2023 Nature is what’s always been there for me. As a lonely child, when the shouting and occasional crash of a thrown object tore into my ears, echoing, I went outside. Found space in the smooth, cool dirt beneath the enormous tree–I wish I could say with certainty…

Learning to trust your gut and speak up — I was wearing tight zebra-print pants. I recall them vividly; they were soft with short faux fur and flared legs. Late 1995, it had to have been, because I was on my way back from visiting someone in the county jail. I broke up with him in the mid-90s, so…

January 12, 2023 It takes a mind-blowing abundance of ignorance and arrogance to tell a stranger that what happened to them, didn’t. I’ve been running into this lately on the interwebs. I state a fact about my life experience — something that directly happened to me — and some narrow-minded…