For as long as I can remember, my great-grandmother never let a night go by without turning on the electric candlesticks perfectly…
My favorite book as a child was The People Could Fly. I stared with fascination at the illustrations of people with backs…
Ukwangala kwachila ulupwa. Friendship surpasses family. Bemba proverb My sister came to me a few months after I turned two, right in…
I typed the letter on a regular morning. But obviously, it was a courageous morning. I typed the letter in the dark…
If I walked to the window in the kitchen, the little one right above the creaky sink, I could look out over…
I can clean my entire apartment in under two hours. That’s two podcasts or one catch up call with a dear friend…
I am embarrassed to admit that I loved Levittown even when it didn’t love me. It was my first home, and like…
My mother never gave me the family recipe for candied yams, so I gotta figure it out myself. Everyone else already has…
I can’t remember ever not wanting to be a mother. The lullaby to first tuck itself into my memory was Rock-a-Bye Baby.…
On Christmas night, I found peace in my mother’s rendition of a Jody Watley song. Only inches from the speakers, Mama sat…
“Wòch nan dlo pa konnen doulè wòch nan solèy.” The rock in the water cannot know the pain of the rock in…
My mother was born with one kidney when most of us are born with two. This sole organ singlehandedly cleansed her system,…
Grandma. I always just referred to her as that without any qualifiers. I said Grandma Sarah whenever I referenced my paternal grandmother.…
2011. The first boy I ever loved had dimples in both cheeks, a passion for basketball, and a smile that could melt…
Musu sat on a big rock. A beige bar of caustic soap stood vertically on the pile of dirty laundry at her…
Fresh Fear In Chicago, death smells like fresh grass and barbecue. When that last school bell rang at the end of the…