Till April
Folks,
I have an important task/ teaching job for the next two months which will demand all of my time and mental fortitude. For this reason, I am deactivating/severing all of my social media accounts, including posts on blogger. I am truly grateful that some of what I have written have been of interest to you all. I am excited to say that by virtue of interacting with you all via this platform, I have come to realize that I want to dedicate a greater chunk of my work to writing - whether it is social commentary, poetry, or short fiction. I am truly grateful for the support and encouragement I have received from you all. Honestly, just seeing one pageview is encouraging. I have never felt as powerful as I do now.
Looking ahead, here are some of the things I will be doing during my social media hiatus and when I have time away from my job:
1. Read, read, read, read.
While I read indiscriminately and broadly on the web, I miss holding a book between my fingers and dedicating more than a half hour to someone's thoughts. These are some of the books I hope to read during this time and I am sure they will feed into my writing when I return:
Home - Toni Morrison
There was a Country - Chinua Achebe
This is how you lose her - Junot Diaz
2. Write, write, write.
Rather than dedicate two or three hours in the wee hours of the morning to an idea because I can not sleep, I am putting myself to task to write more researched, more organized, more thought-out fictional stories. I think both you and I are getting tired of stream of consciousness writing. So upon my return, I hope to have these two stories complete: a. a story exploring how Black girls come to an understanding of sexual identity, or what I would call the "sexual liberation story". b. a story exploring the lasting effects of growing up poor. I was watching TVOne's Unsung on music genius Isaac Hayes and one of the underlying commentary on his life was that despite the wealth and success Hayes enjoyed, he was emotionally and psychologically scarred by having grown up poor; that he always feared that people loved him because of what he had and did not see himself as lovable beyond that. I found that idea deeply provoking. To think of poverty as you would say sexual abuse - that despite how far one moves away from that experience, one is forever changed and scarred by it. So I will be writing something on that.
Moreover, I have a post on hip hop in my drafts. It is almost done. I planned to finish it and post it for about a week. It is called How hip hop taught me African history and helped me make sense of my Black experience in America. I like it. I am just personally overwhelmed by all of the things I want to say/have to say about hip hop. Perhaps I will put it in chronicles; have a part I, part II, etc. I would just rather wait on it - until I am sure that it makes sense.
3. I will also be following the developments in Mali, Guinea-Bissau, the Central African Republic among other conflicts on the African continent religiously. I am sure I will be writing in detail on this upon my return.
4. Live emphatically. Be with/listen to others more intensely. Do amazing things.
Just so that I can have more to journal and detail and put in stories when I return.
5. And as always, I hope that you are following your dreams, your heart, etc. As a friend reminded me of this earlier today, however cliche that idea is, few people follow through with it - making the action plan not so cliche. I do not know who reads my blog, except for maybe three people who have told me that they do, but I wake up every day rooting for every one. Life is hard sometimes. Choose love. Navigate and nourish your complexity and contradictions. Write - it made me feel more powerful. Or just be creative.
So till April,
Peace & blessings.
I have an important task/ teaching job for the next two months which will demand all of my time and mental fortitude. For this reason, I am deactivating/severing all of my social media accounts, including posts on blogger. I am truly grateful that some of what I have written have been of interest to you all. I am excited to say that by virtue of interacting with you all via this platform, I have come to realize that I want to dedicate a greater chunk of my work to writing - whether it is social commentary, poetry, or short fiction. I am truly grateful for the support and encouragement I have received from you all. Honestly, just seeing one pageview is encouraging. I have never felt as powerful as I do now.
Looking ahead, here are some of the things I will be doing during my social media hiatus and when I have time away from my job:
1. Read, read, read, read.
While I read indiscriminately and broadly on the web, I miss holding a book between my fingers and dedicating more than a half hour to someone's thoughts. These are some of the books I hope to read during this time and I am sure they will feed into my writing when I return:
Home - Toni Morrison
There was a Country - Chinua Achebe
This is how you lose her - Junot Diaz
2. Write, write, write.
Rather than dedicate two or three hours in the wee hours of the morning to an idea because I can not sleep, I am putting myself to task to write more researched, more organized, more thought-out fictional stories. I think both you and I are getting tired of stream of consciousness writing. So upon my return, I hope to have these two stories complete: a. a story exploring how Black girls come to an understanding of sexual identity, or what I would call the "sexual liberation story". b. a story exploring the lasting effects of growing up poor. I was watching TVOne's Unsung on music genius Isaac Hayes and one of the underlying commentary on his life was that despite the wealth and success Hayes enjoyed, he was emotionally and psychologically scarred by having grown up poor; that he always feared that people loved him because of what he had and did not see himself as lovable beyond that. I found that idea deeply provoking. To think of poverty as you would say sexual abuse - that despite how far one moves away from that experience, one is forever changed and scarred by it. So I will be writing something on that.
Moreover, I have a post on hip hop in my drafts. It is almost done. I planned to finish it and post it for about a week. It is called How hip hop taught me African history and helped me make sense of my Black experience in America. I like it. I am just personally overwhelmed by all of the things I want to say/have to say about hip hop. Perhaps I will put it in chronicles; have a part I, part II, etc. I would just rather wait on it - until I am sure that it makes sense.
3. I will also be following the developments in Mali, Guinea-Bissau, the Central African Republic among other conflicts on the African continent religiously. I am sure I will be writing in detail on this upon my return.
4. Live emphatically. Be with/listen to others more intensely. Do amazing things.
Just so that I can have more to journal and detail and put in stories when I return.
5. And as always, I hope that you are following your dreams, your heart, etc. As a friend reminded me of this earlier today, however cliche that idea is, few people follow through with it - making the action plan not so cliche. I do not know who reads my blog, except for maybe three people who have told me that they do, but I wake up every day rooting for every one. Life is hard sometimes. Choose love. Navigate and nourish your complexity and contradictions. Write - it made me feel more powerful. Or just be creative.
So till April,
Peace & blessings.
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