Confessions of a Single Parent (Actress)

  I am sitting in the library and simply feel transformed. I should have been writing here, but instead I struggled to find words and space in all the wrong places. Two years ago I was blessed to be nominated from my peers, nationally to be a Hermitage Art Fellow. This opportunity gave me time. Time to be quiet. Time to embrace my creativity. Time to simply write. It gave me confirmation and affirmation. As an artist, we are often told that we should focus on one thing, one talent, one skill. I am a testament to how much BS and fear is attached to that advice. When I look back on who gave me that advice, I realize that it was given because of their own fear to explore who they fully were. And had nothing to do with me.  The library is where I learned about books and reading and simply being. I remember visiting the main library in downtown Chicago with my mother and grandfather. I saw old movies. I listened to all kinds of music in the listening room. And I curled up and read ...

  “What are the stories one tells in dark times” Saidiyah Hartman Yesterday the US bombed Iran based on nothing more than lies and conjecture. The same lies and conjecture that keep people blind to the truth of Israel and Palestine. So this will not be a history lesson because my hope is that you will run to read and research the truth that has been a reality since the end of WWII. This is about what happens when something is completely destroyed. What’s next? In apocalyptic stories, the survivors are always left to rebuild, but since these stories are often written by humans, very few of them imagine a completely original way of being. In fact, only a few writers or projects come to mind, Octavia Butler, Tananarive Due, NK Jemison, Twilight Zone, and Sinners. America is very close to deciding who she wants to be and who she could be. And it must be imagined devoid of nostalgia. Because nostalgia is false and filled with memories of what never was or what only worked for certain pe...