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…
Read More
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…
More
“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…
More
It’s here – midnight & indigo issue no.11! Featuring new short stories and essays by 10 emerging and established Black women storytellers from the…
More
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…
More
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…
More
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…
More
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…
More
The fireflies hovered in front of me, their green bodies emitting a radio buzz with their wings. Crickets hummed and perched themselves in trees as…
More
When Sunduq was four she got stuck in the hope chest in her grandmother’s bedroom. Her family looked for her for hours, eventually calling the…
More
When you’ve got moxie, you need the clothes to match. When you haven’t got it, they need to match even more. The more the clothes…
More
I stood at that door knowing the second I knocked on it I’d be a murderer. I had just limped two miles up the bayou…
More
Naomi smiled when she received Amir’s note to ask her out during History class because it confirmed her beliefs—that she was different and special, destined…
More
“You real fine and you pretty,” the smooth words rolled past his toothpaste commercial level white teeth and thick coffee bean shade lips. Before a…
More