“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…
“Curse this damned place. I don’t want anything to do with here.” Holson, my best childhood friend, slammed the door and headed…
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…
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.…
On Christmas night, I found peace in my mother’s rendition of a Jody Watley song. Only inches from the speakers, Mama sat…
My mother was born with one kidney when most of us are born with two. This sole organ singlehandedly cleansed her system,…
337. It’s the number of miles from New York to Virginia. It’s approximately 3 two-hour movies or a season and a half…