“You were ashes.” As I stood in the doorway of my sister Everette’s bedroom just past midnight, tears were warm and sticky…
“You were ashes.” As I stood in the doorway of my sister Everette’s bedroom just past midnight, tears were warm and sticky…
Thousand Oaks, California I flew from coast to coast when I was nine years old. My father found work in August and…
Grandmothers Some little girls, with plaits and blemishes, cook rice and jerk chicken as the heat crawls down their spine in the…
At first, there was only the Sun. Shining brightly, he illuminated powerfully in space. Sun knew he was a burning ball of…
It was cold on the way to Grandma’s house. Mom had plucked Tye and Jordan from their beds at some still-nighttime hour…
“They’re making fun of my Arabic,” whispers my cousin as he squeezes next to me. I roll my eyes, unwilling to move…
I don’t like the gloves the nurses leave here. They’re rubber and have powder on the inside. The powder cakes up when…
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…
I typed the letter on a regular morning. But obviously, it was a courageous morning. I typed the letter in the dark…
If I walked to the window in the kitchen, the little one right above the creaky sink, I could look out over…
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…
My mother never gave me the family recipe for candied yams, so I gotta figure it out myself. Everyone else already has…