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…
Part I: Just For Me I look forward to the tri-annual ritual. My mother prepares to sacrifice her firstborn to the white…
The day Chiamaka disappeared, her father left the house in precisely three pieces. The first piece left at sunset, when the world,…
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…
Sydnee glanced at her phone and saw a text from her mother, Marilyn. Sometimes she wished she had never taught her mother…
When I was surrounded by white people, knee-length plaid skirts, and crucifixes, I told my mom I wanted my hair to look…
Quickly and carefully, I crossed the street with my best friend at the time. Her name was Jalia, a tall and skinny…
Virginia Woolf once said: Writing is like sex. First you do it for love, then you do it for your friends, and…
“African-American girls always score higher than their white peers when it comes to self-esteem,” one of my High School teachers lectured. I…
I changed jobs earlier in the year. It was the type of job that had me jump from plane to plane and…
Black bodies are the world’s playground. Full of color, music, song, dance, cheer, and laughter that delights the masses. It is the…