In this month where the women in our world get more attention, I salute you and the women in my life for extraordinary impacts on this planet.
Category: #SayHerName
Sisters Jennifer and Jordan Turpin Give Testimony to Life
It is my privilege to salute Jennifer and Jordan Turpin, two young women who escaped and started over after a lifetime of the unimaginable. David and Louise Turpin raised their 13 children in secret squalor and tortuous rules, until, to save her siblings, Jordan found the courage at age 17 to leap into the world she'd never known.
My Fave 2020 Reads
Warm winter wishes to all... I'm a fan of books but I also loved some short reads as my favorites of 2020. All are worthy time fillers to cozy up with in any season!
“I Came To Chicago To Work”
Dear Readers: Rachel Leรณn interviewed me for Chicago Review of Books on my latest novel SPEAKING OF SUMMER, the writing life and working in Chicago. Iโd forgotten how much we covered: the novel composition process, support (or the lack thereof) for mental health, inequities in approaches to men and womenโs meditative literature, unsafety for women. … Continue reading “I Came To Chicago To Work”
“You are not gonna silence me.” -Senator Stephanie Flowers on racist Stand Your Ground “rights”
Emmett, Trayvon, Markeis, Kalief, Oscar, Tamir, Aiyana, Stephon, Botham, Sandra, Amadou, Eleanor, Terence, Philando, Alton, Walter, Sharmel, Miriam, Tony, Jordan, Rumain, Rekia, Laquan, Eric, Michael...
No Excuses: 20 Black Male Soul Singers to Stream Besides R. Kelly
The ultimate power of evil is diversion, devouring, annihilation and blacking out of what is good. This is all our faults, not Kelly's. How many more men are out here for us to listen to, most of them much better vocalists than Kelly, and more romantic lyricists as well?
Remembering Maria-Hรฉlรจne Schneider…
46 years ago, a moving picture testified to sexual assault against a woman. It moved all around the world, in fact. Only, the world called it โart.โ Not much has changed since. This most visible example of a public rape frames sexual assaultโs most misunderstood and excused forms: coerced consent, false pretenses and pressure as permission. And people can still buy and sell this sexual assault on film to this day. Why?