Visiting my grandfather in North Carolina was nothing short of a civic wonderland. Before my feet had even crossed the flaxen welcome mat, I was being ordered, per our routine, to list each U.S. state and capital in…
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It wasn’t easy growing up so far away from close family. All of my mother’s siblings and her parents lived below the Mason-Dixon line. We’d do our best to stay in touch between the long car rides or flights that…
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“You were ashes.” As I stood in the doorway of my sister Everette’s bedroom just past midnight, tears were warm and sticky on my…
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It’s here – midnight & indigo issue no.11! Featuring new short stories and essays by 10 emerging and established Black women storytellers from the…
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At first, there was only the Sun. Shining brightly, he illuminated powerfully in space. Sun knew he was a burning ball of gas…too hot…
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It is a Saturday, and the sweltering Nigerian sun seems to have a point to prove, or a vendetta. I walk toward the cavernous hall, following my mother’s…
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Monday, August 29, 2005; 6:45 AM The vibrant, psychedelic colors of a long-forgotten Spongebob Squarepants episode draining into a black void were the first signs that something was…
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The first time my white neighbor called the police it was during the renovation of our historic house in the deed-restricted neighborhood where we live. This is my…
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On the first night the stars fell, the whole suburb rushed out of their beds and looked out their windows to see what kind of…
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I text Alicia that I’m outside and when she responds, I’m already ringing the doorbell. the text was just a courtesy. whether she’s ready for…
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No roads led here, this place like a scar of an old wound. No signs marked its location, no post hung with its name. There…
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When her reflection stared back at her, proud and plus-sized often went horribly in these pageants. Ronda knew her place at such events; had long-since…
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I have big breasts, but no real figure, unless I suck in my stomach and pull my shirt tight at the back to show off…
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Thousand Oaks, California I flew from coast to coast when I was nine years old. My father found work in August and in September, he…
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