Join me on my path, my way of walking on this earth—my thoughts on my (inner) world and the (physical) world we share. Of course, there are notes about writing.  This is an important part of who I am! But I am also mother, aunt, sister, speaker, teacher/friend to many women in prison, a justice reform activist, a seeker of The Truth. Since my walk has changed many times in this lifetime, be prepared for a ride—up and down and sideways and even occasionally backwards—and always incredible. I remain equally thankful and awed by the way life unfolds.

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Lordie, Where Does the Time Go…

English: Fireworks over Copenhagen the night b...

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Little Wings, Big Flight

Mehkai in her butterfly wingsMy sister bought a pair of purple wings for her granddaughter. They cost a dollar; they gave us a reminder worth much more. Mehkai is three and her face shone when her grandmother helped her stick her arms through the bands that made her wings a part of her body. She turned her head over her shoulder to catch a glimpse of the sparking purple wings strapped to her back. Clearly, Mehkai was pleased to have wings. A moment later, she held her arms out straight in the air, then flapped them up and down and took off, racing around the room. We smiled. She was flying!

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My Decade Old Promise to the Spirits that Left on 9/11

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What I Know For Sure

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Letting Go to Find the Real Presents

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It is Well

Wright & Teague Delphi Rings

Image via Wikipedia

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Sista Girl Gone Home

I was on the road when I heard that author L.A. Banks had died on August 2nd. She left the earth way too soon. She was 51. (Do you hear me God, just 51!) I’ve never read one of her books.I have stacks and stacks of unread books. At least one of hers in them, somewhere. I bought it after meeting her when she and I were partnered to talk to  a class at her beloved Philadelphia High School for Girls. I wouldn’t normally pick up any of her Vampire Huntress Legend series and I didn’t know about her works in other genres until later.

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The Bigger View of Life

Sunrise in the Penhouse

Two shots of life from the top

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Telling the Truth

I was watching this Youtube link Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow, posted on her Facebook page. (see below) It is from a program Michelle organized in her ongoing attempts to educate the public and hold elected officials responsible and urge them to revamp our judicial system that overincarcerates black people. Anyone who watches this video has to be struck by the emotional presentation by retired police major Neil Franklin, executive director of Law Enforcement Against Drug Prohibition. He chokes up recalling some of the things he did in the course of being a police officer fighting the “War on Drugs.
” Someone on Facebook commented that telling the truth is transformative.

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Who Did Gil Scott Come Here To Be?

After interviewing people about Gil Scott-Heron, I thought about my grandfather’s death. When my grandfather died I remember lamenting that he had not had an opportunity to do many of the things I thought he would have loved. He talked about traveling, yet he seldom drove far from his Washington, D.C. home. I had a list of regrets with his name on them when he died, but now I can’t remember what else was on the list.

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