Monday, August 29, 2005; 6:45 AM The vibrant, psychedelic colors of a long-forgotten Spongebob Squarepants episode draining into a black void were…
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…
Part I: Just For Me I look forward to the tri-annual ritual. My mother prepares to sacrifice her firstborn to the white…
“If y’all weren’t so difficult, maybe it’ll be easier to get a man.” “Y‘all? Difficult?” I repeat the triggering words as if…
The day Chiamaka disappeared, her father left the house in precisely three pieces. The first piece left at sunset, when the world,…
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…
“I love your hair. You did it yourself?” “Aww, thank you. I wish. I can’t cornrow.” “Wait, you’re a little Black girl…
“Then [Noah] sent out a raven, which kept going to and fro until the waters had dried up from the earth.” Genesis…
Hair like strong twine, sweet like the harvest of a California grape vine, to stop the spread of your smile is the…
“My name is Tavonne Carson. I’m six years old.” If she hadn’t said my name, I wouldn’t have believed the little girl…
The girl you ask to dinner will never show you her true face. Her deep, caramelized skin is carefully concealed beneath layers…
I guess I’ve been an art historian, informally I’d say I’ve always “geeked out over art,” since my teens in San Francisco.…
I hear my student say that word and I’m not surprised. I knew this student was going to say it because this…
“Good lord, girl. You swelling!” The girl looked down at her belly, then beyond it down to her shoes, at this she…