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…
Clumps of wrinkled, white flesh hang from grandmother’s face and pool in the nape of her neck like turkey waddle. Her eyelids…
“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…
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 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…
Dear God, It’s your Ugandan daughter, with the 4C hair. As you know, I was born in Mengo Hospital between day and…