Friday Reflections

1.) Friday greetings to all! Let's get into it.

2.) Republicans have serious daddy issues and it's kind of odd to watch. 

No reason for a Fall photo in the thick of summer except I just like how it looks quiet. 

Book of the Month: The Wedding People by Alison Epsach

Hi party people (very apropos for this post), welcome to another Book of the Month! This month's book is such a delight, I'm eager to get into it directly. I went into this clueless about what the book was about and it turned into such a complex, unexpected, and beautiful story. When we meet Phoebe, she's walking into the Cornwall Inn, wearing a green dress and some fancy shoes but no luggage in sight. As she joins the line to check in, she is immediately mistaken for one of the guests at a wedding happening at the hotel. Meanwhile, she's literally the only one at the hotel (this was just coming out of the pandemic) who isn't there for the wedding. The bride thinks she's accounted for every possible mishap and disaster, except there is no planning for Phoebe, who has reached rock bottom and is at that hotel for completely different reasons from the wedding people. And yet somehow, as if always destined, the two women are exactly where they need to be and just when each needs the other. The book takes us through what happens over the course of the week in what is a funny, tender, complex, and very human story arc. 

"My Boyfriend Hates My Hair, What Should I do?": On Black Womanhood and Hair as Resistance

Y'all, we got published! 

I can't believe I am just posting about this here but life happens.  I wrote an essay for The Progressive Magazine; not surprisingly I wrote about feminism and hair, two things I love! 

I wrote about Feminism, and how important it is to remind every little girl you know that changing who she is or “making sacrifices” for a boy is not what God intended for her.

I wrote about hair. But not in the way you think. 

I had read about this little girl whose boyfriend “hates her hair.” Each time I have to type out these words, I throw up a little in my mouth. In any case, I give Kamsi an answer to the question she asked. But before that, I try to provide a bit more context for her so she sees what damage patriarchy has done. I remind her she’s fighting against not just her silly, little boyfriend, but an entire system designed to remind us Black girls that left to them, we would never be enough. So, we must NEVER leave it to them.

Here is the full essay, as published on The Progressive below:

Friday Reflections

1.) Is this the first Friday Reflections of the year? Oh jeez...I just checked and yes, it is. Well, better late than never. 

2,) Female 4-star GENERALS and ADMIRALS talk about their formidable rise in the military.

3.) The most hated person on wall street.

4.) In Good American Family, Ellen Pompeo leaves the hospital. 

In Defense of Church

On a The View  episode over a year ago, there was a conversation about the rise in senseless shooting in America. This past week alone, there were two mass shootings. Knowing this country as well as I think I do, I have a feeling there will be more posts on this blog about the senselessness of guns so buckle up. It's a hard conversation, not because there is no solution (it's a very very easy solution at that), but because we are afraid. Afraid of sending our kids to school. Afraid of going to the mall. Or the grocery store. Or the club. Or the wrong house. Or the wrong driveway. Shoot, we are afraid to live, it looks like. But conversation for another time. 

In the panel discussion I reference above, Sara Haines talked about the rise of porn, violent video games, and decrease in church attendance. She got a lot of flak for it in the comment section. I think it may have been because this requires a lot of nuance. It's not that she is wrong. Those things are problematic and destructive of people's minds all around. The real elephant in the room is that these things are happening in many other countries and yet, there are no mass shootings in those places. Which suggests that one problem we have is...guns. But a particular segment of our leaders has been bought and paid for by the ghoulish NRA. So, again conversation for another time.

A Hopeless Saturday Gives Way to a Joyous Sunday: What Easter Means to Me

I had a different post planned out for this week. But it's Easter. Well, Easter Monday in saner climes. In America, no one really cares. 

In any case, Happy Easter! 

I know Christmas is the big deal to everyone. But Easter is just as much of a big deal too. It's Easter!

Breaking Records, Breaking Chains: How Cory Booker's 25-Hour Speech Outlasted Hate

When Senator Booker started his quest to disrupt the Senate for "as long as I am physically able" one week ago, most people didn't pay him a lot of mind. After twenty-five hours, they didn't have a choice. Everyone was talking about it. What am I talking about? I'm talking about Cory Booker standing on the Senate floor for over twenty-five hours in a record breaking event. On Monday, March 31st, he took the Senate floor and began a speech condemning this current administration's cruel and inhumane policies. He did not sleep. He did not eat. He did not use the restroom.  In the end, It surpassed the previous record set in 1957 by segregationist Senator Strom Thurmond, who filibustered for 24 hours and 18 minutes to oppose the Civil Rights Act. So it was that Senator Booker started the speech at 7PM on Monday and told us he would use his time to disrupt the normal business of the U.S. Senate as long as he was physically able.