It wasn’t easy growing up so far away from close family. All of my mother’s siblings and her parents lived below the…
For seven days straight, I’d dreamed of snapping green beans at my Nana’s feet, on the floor in the dining room, up…
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…
The Traveling Refugee. She watched her ancestors burn and hang. In the land of the free. In the land of the brave.…
I typed the letter on a regular morning. But obviously, it was a courageous morning. I typed the letter in the dark…
My story will be faithful to reality, or at least to my personal recollection of reality, which is the same thing. The…
Once, a former co-worker of mine stopped me in the middle of working, calling my name. I turned to him, with no…
“Every human being is intended to have a character of his own; to be what no others are, and to do what…
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…
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.…
“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…