Tag Archives: best

The Importance of Being (John) Ernest

Posted on September 27, 2006 | Leave a comment
Prof. John Ernest with me and Kristin at our college graduation

Prof. John Ernest with me and Kristin at our college graduation

I went to college with a mission: I wanted to learn more about Being Black. Problem was, $10,000 of my scholarship money for New York University had fallen through on the day of my high school graduation. I wouldn’t be attending school in the diverse Mecca-lekka-hiney-bro Melting Pot known as NYC.

Nope. The University of New Hampshire would be hosting my education in Being Black. It was as unlikely a place as one could find for increasing cultural awareness. There were 78 Black students out of 13,000. If you were counting me, there were only 77.5 Black students. We do what we can with what we have, though, and what I had was a course catalogue listing a 500-level course for Introduction to African-American Literature.

Any time I’ve ever wanted to understand anything, I’ve turned to books. From cooking to interior design to tarot card reading, if there was anything I’ve wanted to understand, I just buried myself in every chapter and verse I could get my hands on. I thought if I could read about other Black people, their history, what they had been through . . . maybe I would understand a little bit more about myself. Continue reading →

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Best Of, Life

Tagged , , , , , , , ,

The Baby Powder Incident

Posted on August 31, 2006 | 3 Comments

This entry is a continuation of “Slow Pirouette for the Dancing Girl.”

Me as a kid, and my mom and dad

Me as a kid, and my mom and dad

When the police and DCYF officials came ready to knock down the door of the apartment I shared with my mother in the projects, the real blow was to my mother’s psyche – not the metal frame as it shook on its hinges. She had already lost custody of one child. When they took me away that Easter day, I felt like I was the one disappointing her, not the other way around.

By nightfall, I found myself in a warmly-lit kitchen. My new foster mother was clucking her tongue, looking sideways at me.

“Poor thing.” she said. Continue reading →

→ 3 Comments

Posted in Best Of, Family

Tagged , , , , , ,

Slow Pirouette For The Dancing Girl

Posted on July 5, 2006 | 4 Comments

I stood with my feet firmly planted in the middle of a mental breakdown. I was seven years old, there was broken glass all around me and half of my hair was cut off. My small body was red all over and my mother was at the dark green metal door to our apartment in the Beechland Street projects of Roslindale, Mass.

Who was at the door? It was my teenage baby-sitter, Jeannie. Jeannie had heard the crashing, yelling and screaming. My mother – she had one ear to the door and she was looking back at me, listening to Jeannie ask if everything was okay and holding a finger up to her lips as if to say, “If you don’t tell, no one will take you away from me.”

Then Jeannie’s parents were there in the hall. They wanted to hear my voice – make sure I was okay. They had heard about the time my brother was taken away. So my mother motioned me over to the door. I looked at it. It was like a warehouse door. Industrial grade. With paint you could scratch off with your fingernails. The door looked back at me. Continue reading →

→ 4 Comments

Posted in Best Of, Family

Tagged , , , , , , ,

Snapshots: Heat and Porcelain

Posted on June 19, 2006 | 2 Comments

“If one woman were to tell the truth about her life the world would split open.” – Muriel Rukeyser

The Virgin

The Virgin

BLOOD AND COTTON

There it was then. If I hadn’t been robbed of my virginity the first time, then this second time definitely did it. There was blood in my underwear. Blood in the toilet water. I didn’t tell many people about this second time because of the first. What virgin gets raped by two different men in the space of 60 days? Continue reading →

→ 2 Comments

Posted in Best Of, Life

Tagged , , , , , ,

Ode to the Old Derryfield Country Club

Posted on May 6, 2006 | Leave a comment

There is only one place in Manchester that has my heart. It’s a place that actually only exists in my heart now that it has been torn down. The old Derryfield Country Club. Oh, yes, a fancier, cleaner and more expansive one has been built in its place. It’s got one of those flashing electronic display signs advertising its prime rib special and Sunday brunch. But it isn’t home.

Let me tell you about my friend, the old DCC.

I started attending reggae Sundays at the deck back in 2002 with my best friends Heather and Stacie. We’d usually be groggy, rolling out of bed after a Saturday night adventure – we’d pull my mattress out to the living room, make some mac ‘n cheese, and flop down and watch the 1 o’clock Pats game on the bed in the living room. Around 4, we would put our hair in pigtails, swap tank tops and make the short drive to the D. Continue reading →

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Best Of, Friends

Tagged , , , , , , ,