I grew up in the heart of the Midwest during the 1970s, the era of peace, love, Vietnam War protests and what…
My body never belonged to me. It belonged to birthing pains and bloodstains, entry and exit wounds. It started as something someone…
My 10th grade English Lit teacher cannot pronounce my name. Ironic? I know. So, on the third week of class, I hold…
TGIF. LOL. BRB. TTYL. OMG. These are just a few of the text abbreviations that helped to maintain a character limit. Way…
An old black and white photograph of seven smiling Black women posing near the rear of a car is one of my…
I have big breasts, but no real figure, unless I suck in my stomach and pull my shirt tight at the back…
I don’t know how to swim. And funny enough, a little under 70% of Black people don’t. To make things interesting, my…
In the summer of 2018, when I was studying in Paris, a scam artist robbed me of five hundred dollars outside of…
Clumps of wrinkled, white flesh hang from grandmother’s face and pool in the nape of her neck like turkey waddle. Her eyelids…
The e-mail message was as jarring as the sound of an alarm clock on Saturday morning. Especially since I didn’t know the…
The clock on the kitchen wall said 8:45 pm. Fifteen more minutes and Trysten would be in bed. I stood in front…
Part I: Just For Me I look forward to the tri-annual ritual. My mother prepares to sacrifice her firstborn to the white…
My grandma’s house was always full. The hinges on the front door were almost invisible. In the heart of Cleveland, Ohio, not…
It is 2014. You are a Nigerian living in the United States. You are the parent of a U.S.-born child. The immigration…
I. Places that I am terrified of returning to: Shitty $49-a-night motels with dingy sheets and showers overrun with mildew smelling of…
At the produce markets that populated Church Avenue, if someone cut in line or pushed her while trying to squeeze past, my…