A place for Huey

DEAR SUGAR, The Rumpus Advice Column #72: The Future Has An Ancient Heart By Sugar May 5th, 2011 From: http://therumpus.net/2011/05/dear-sugar-the-rumpus-advice-column-72-the-future-has-an-ancient-heart/   Dearest Sugar, Light of My Thursday Afternoons: I teach a few creative writing courses at the University of Alabama where the majority of my students are seniors graduating in May. Most of them are English and Creative Writing majors/minors who are feeling a great deal of dread and anxiety about their expulsion from academia and their entry into “the real world.” Many of their friends in other disciplines have already lined up post-graduate jobs, and many of my students are tired of the “being an English major prepares you for law school” comments being made by friends and family alike, who are pressuring them towards a career in law despite having little or no interest in it. I have been reading a handful of your columns to my students in...

Hello everyone, The position I was offered back in February has been extended till May. Again, I am fully committing to that and as such, will not be able to keep up with this blog. The good news is that I have a lot of writing to share and new and creative ways I would like to use this platform come May. I hope that all is well with you. So till May, Love and blessings. “There are years that ask questions and years that answer.” -- Zora Neal Hu rston, Their Eyes Were Watching God

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 ...

"I am getting a couple of people to write letters to their older selves. I recently read Gabrielle Union's letter to her younger self in Essence and thought that there might be value in writing something to our older selves. While we learn a lot with age, some things get lost as well - ie. spontaneity, love, empathy, persistence, etc (from what I've seen... :)). So perhaps you can add your writing to this - something you cherish now that you don't want to lose sight of as you get older or something you had/knew when you were younger and want to incorporate back into your life." December 22, 2012 Dear Ruth, Writing a letter to your former/future self is really cheesy. You hate reading this already. You’re racking your memory trying to remember what compelled you to do this. So while you’re figuring out exactly how embarrassed you should be for finding a letter like this, let me remind you of the person you once were, or rather, the person I am n...

  I excitedly shared the video above with some friends a few days ago because it rang reminiscent of my first story, A friend for the end of the world . In sum, the video is the second episode in a series about relationships and women and its unique twist is that the footage is taken from the video-recorder of one guy, THAT Guy. My first reaction to the episode was that not only was it a good story but it very much reflected the narratives I hear and see everyday. As I wrote to my friend, I saw many parallels between the beginning of my story and this episode (although the intent of my story was to explore the circumstantial/trifling way people meet and the dark yet beautiful way they end up being perfect for each other); that is, being tricked to a person's house for Chinese food and a movie and having that evolve into something deeper, not good or bad, but deeper. Part of the conversation with my friends became about agency: are you ever “tricked” into such a cir...

"I am getting a couple of people to write letters to their older selves. I recently read Gabrielle Union's letter to her younger self in Essence and thought that there might be value in writing something to our older selves. While we learn a lot with age, some things get lost as well - ie. spontaneity, love, empathy, persistence, etc (from what I've seen... :)). So perhaps you can add your writing to this - something you cherish now that you don't want to lose sight of as you get older or something you had/knew when you were younger and want to incorporate back into your life." Letter to my older self   May this song reach your heart May your ears love the sweet melody Every note, every chord I've arranged them for you and for me At the time of your reading this, I hope that you are many things – successful* with work, family, love, spirituality. I’ve learned not to plan too intently on the future because those plans are never mine alone....

A couple of ideas/ readings/thoughts driving this poem: 1. I often reflect on Gabrielle Union's letter to herself in the October Issue (2012) of Essence Magazine in which she writes to her younger self/ other women about loving her "deep Mahogany skin" and generally, colorism in the Black community and in Hollywood. Everytime I post A Letter from the Young, I think of it. 2. I just read this article on BBC about colorism in Africa: Africa: Where black is not really beautiful . My problem with the general debate on colorism in Africa, which I have heard many others echo, is with this notion that women and men who bleach their skins are more insecure, less conscious, have more self esteem issues, and/or are more susceptible to subscribing to the "white supremacist mentality" than the rest of us. In some circles, they are even vilified. I truly believe that this is unfair. Firstly, saying that African women/men who bleach their skin do not love being Black or...

"I am getting a couple of people to write letters to their older selves. I recently read Gabrielle Union's letter to her younger self in Essence and thought that there might be value in writing something to our older selves. While we learn a lot with age, some things get lost as well - ie. spontaneity, love, empathy, persistence, etc (from what I've seen... :)). So perhaps you can add your writing to this - something you cherish now that you don't want to lose sight of as you get older or something you had/knew when you were younger and want to incorporate back into your life." Dear Lorencio, I presume that’s what we prefer to go by now. I mean, Life being everything I envisioned at this point and everything. I want to start this Letter by saying THANK YOU. Thank You for staying the course and continuing to believe in ALL our Dreams & Aspirations to their Fruition. Thank You for Taking Care of Mom and not only Raising the standard of Li...

"I am getting a couple of people to write letters to their older selves. I recently read Gabrielle Union's letter to her younger self in Essence and thought that there might be value in writing something to our older selves. While we learn a lot with age, some things get lost as well - ie. spontaneity, love, empathy, persistence, etc (from what I've seen... :)). So perhaps you can add your writing to this - something you cherish now that you don't want to lose sight of as you get older or something you had/knew when you were younger and want to incorporate back into your life." Stay the Course (To be Opened 03/13/XXXX) Soundtrack: Is that all there Is? (Whichever cover suits you out of the ones available at your respective points in time) Lukewarm feelings for your umpteenth anniversary of existence. Another year older, another year out of the way… as they, no- wait, I say. "Tu Fui, Ego Eris," as the artfully morphologically mutilated latin adag...

In a moment of restlessness at 3 this morning, I picked up my memorabilia box. The box is a timberland shoe box I have had since high school. In it, are my journals from middle school, birthday cards, keepsakes, awards, and notes to and from my friends. It seems like very early in life, at 10 or 11 years old, I knew that I wanted to be a writer. My journals from 6th grade read, "I can't wait to write my first book this year. People may say it is impossible but you can do it". I never knew I had such intentions. Until this past summer, I thought that I had always wanted to be a lawyer. Since maybe time eternity. I think what is dawning on me is how magically things fall into place; how we already know who we are meant to be. And really part of this experience is discovering and rediscovering this again and again. When I graduated college, I left spiritually and emotionally drained. In retrospect, my college career dimmed my light...but then forced me to kindle it ane...

I reached out to a couple of people with the following prompt: "I am getting a couple of people to write letters to their older selves. I recently read Gabrielle Union's letter to her younger self in Essence and thought that there might be value in writing something to our older selves. While we learn a lot with age, some things get lost as well - ie. spontaneity, love, empathy, persistence, etc (from what I've seen... :)). So perhaps you can add your writing to this - something you cherish now that you don't want to lose sight of as you get older or something you had/knew when you were younger and want to incorporate back into your life." And a few people have accepted the challenged - some different types of people. So as the year 2012 ends, I am going to post a couple of these responses. I think it will be great way to end the year on this blog - to culminate with different voices on what matters to people. Moreover, I think these letters will be in...

After Hurricane Sandy hit the Tri-State area, I wrote a post I never shared about some of the things I learned in and after the disaster. It was in part a post about how eerily reminiscent the events in New York City during that time were to the story Octavia Butler wrote in  Parable of the Sower. It was also about dealing with disasters and mass tragedies. It seems becoming to return to and reflect on that post in light of the shooting that took place in Newtown, Connecticut today. My condolences are with all of those who have been personally affected by this tragedy and may those who died rest in peace. It is hard to write this post because I feel so many things and have so many thoughts at this moment. I just hope that this makes sense. There is a lot of talk today about what ought to be important in the national political agenda. From gun control and metal illness to journalism or media discretion and discrimination, a host of concerns already in play in the public dis...

For a generation* so enthralled with the idea of (intimate) love, are we completely lost or conflicted on what it means? Please share your opinions. I want to see where others stand on this question. By now, almost anyone who follows mass media/popular culture has read or at least heard of Chris Brown's self-penned article No More Apologies in the hip hop magazine XXL. In it, Brown reveals that "love is something he is still learning". "It's just an obstacle I have not mastered yet", he says. Love is Brown's Achilles heel. Firstly, it is hard and almost impossible to talk about Chris Brown without reference to the domestic violence incident which occurred between him and Rihanna in 2009 (and his recent twitter feud with comedian Jenny Johnson). In fact, that incident substantiates my argument that a good deal of us, millennials, do not know what love is or what it means. But this post is not about domestic violence ( this is a good read on domestic ...

If I fell in love today, I would give it all up. We would go into the wild. I know that you are supposed to go on those kinds of journeys alone, to have those revelations by yourself, but I want to go with someone. I want someone to share and keep those memories with. Nothing else matters. The only one thing I'm sure about is love. Intimate love. Because I felt it once a long time ago and everything was alright; the emotional pull of things did not compare in gravity to that feeling and that experience. But apart from love, I'm truly ambivalent about everything. Everything. I have contradictory and conflicting feelings about almost everything else. I am writing this because I know I have quite a voice; at least in writing, I sound convicted about most things. So people call me a feminist, womanist, marxist, socialist, intellectual, etc. I don't care about those labels. Call it whatever. More so than any other motivation, I want this blog to be a space where people who l...

Ever since I decided to give my poetry some serious consideration as a craft, an art, I have unconsciously (till yesterday) been reading a lot of poetry. And I see it everywhere. I hear it in peoples everyday conversations. I notice it in my own. Music now seems even more poetic for me than it did before. My sleep is constantly interrupted by thoughts I want to write down but I am defiant and I lie in bed awake in silence or I grab my ipod. Occasionally, like this morning, I oblige and wake up mid sleep to write things down. This is the writer's affliction and anguish: when the impulse arises or you feel an inkling that a thought is taking shaping in words and something creative is about to form, you obey. It's like having to purge, you feel sick until you do so. My point is that I've been reading a lot of poetry and I am going to share a lot of it on this blog though not as a part of my Poems for 72 Days series. Although I intend to share some of my closest friends poetr...

Remember how excited you felt when the nerds actually found love in Ashton Kutcher's show Beauty and the Geek, when they finally get the girl? Or anytime Michael Cera's character in a movie gets to see a girl's boobs. Maybe I am the only one. I am always cheering. I love it when nerds/ awkward people win. There is something really endearing about the nerd coming into his/her sense of self and and as a consequence of being him/herself and not through any malice, just sh*ts over on all the people who tried to play him/her/etc. Cue my love for Youth in Revolt and Social Network. I feel like I just got the girl; I am finally at the place where I am embracing and celebrating my way of thinking about things - my nerdyness/"intellectualness"/inbetweenness. Here is the story of how I got to the place of uncertainty and doubt in the first place. I wish it was funny or awkward but it is actually quite sad. Surprisingly, it began at my liberal arts uber progressive colle...

So a couple of things driving this post: *I have been listening to Kendrick Lamar's album good kid maad city non-stop this past week and in it, he makes a lot of references to the female derriere. For this reason, I have been thinking non-stop about hip-hop's fascination with "the ass"; even "conscious" rappers can't excape this fate. *I am also reading Feminism is for Everybody by bell hooks and I have been thinking about how her work applies to some of the subjects/issues I think about.  *Yesterday, I watched the episode of Behind the Music on Nelly in which he addresses the controversial card ass swipe in his Tip Drill video. Personally, one male friend of mine insists on calling me Venus Hottentot as a compliment. Around the Bronx and generally in the city, I have been called Black Nikki, Serena Williams, among other things. So I have decided to use this post to kind of work through some of the ways I think about the physical "asset...