Confessions of a Single Parent (Actress)

Well, the year started with the death of one of my favorite artists, Natalie Cole. And each week another amazing person rolled on out. As of today, there must be a kick ass concert going on in heaven as I write. With each death, I was reminded of the living. And this year continues to remind me of the half-life that many of us exist in. The level of poverty in the country continues to increase. Here, in Philadelphia County, we rank #1 in the top ten cities for poverty. One of the largest local companies continues to pay no taxes. Thank you Comcast! Philadelphia Public School teachers are now entering year #5 with no contract and no raises. The number of jobs sent overseas is on the uptick. There are many raising entire families on $8.50 per hour and we still fight for $15. The US has the best health care system, yet it is also still the most inaccessible (even with the Affordable HealthCare Act). Russia continues to befriend those countries who literally hate us. And we just elected ...

I want to take a moment to say what we have all been thinking. Well at least all of the Black and Brown people. I just want to say on behalf of all of us, Thank you President Trump. Yes. I am not on drugs nor have I been hit on the head. I truly want to say thank you for bringing racism out of its hiding place for all to see. You see, for far too long we have been hiding behind coded language like voter IDs, redistricting, gentrification, and all of those pesky laws and reforms that make the great majority of this country truly believe that America is no longer racist. Remember School House Rock and its melting pot? And my personal favorite....We now live in a post racial society. KKK who? Nobody needs to fear because today our President elect just asked a man who has a gold seal of approval from David Duke to lead his transition into office . If you are drawing a blank, the Klan. The KKK tweeted, "Excellent!" I can't make this up. We will no longer have arguments abo...

It is no secret that 2016 has been a beast. Not only did we just recently elect a fascist, and remember just how racist America is, but the number of deaths this year have been multiplying since January 1st. It appears as if everything is going to hell in a hand basket and it feels as if the entire world is spiraling out of control. This is the time that we all need to to take stock of the life that we are living. Are we living in our truth? Or are we living a half-life filled with fear and doubt?  Despite the crazy, this year has actually been much better than the previous one. And each year, since I started living in my own truth, my pathway has become less filled with obstacles, and more light continues to fall on my journey. Is it perfect? Hell no. Perfection is not the truth that I seek. My truth is found in the mess, my relationships, my struggles, and most of all my ability to be a fully realized human being. Many of us are afraid to live in our truth because that means w...

Dear White People, please do not and I repeat do not wear a safety pin to identify yourself as an ally to the Black, Brown, LGBT, or in other words, the rest of America. 70% of the voters in the 2016 election were white and both the popular vote and the electoral college were mere votes apart, It was not a landslide. It was a message. And important message for ALL of us. NO ONE WILL SAVE US FROM THIS DEBACLE! WE MUST AND SHOULD BE PLANNING TO HELP OURSELVES. In fact, I believe this truth that was revealed on November 8th, is exactly what we needed to cease being complacent. Now I am all for marches, rallies, and folks speaking out. But, today, this month, and for the next year, I am looking for ACTION PLANS, And I will be the first to admit that I am unsure of what it should look like. I do know that it cannot continue to start with any savior or missionary mentality because those are by products of a colonizing mindset. It must start with a stream of truth. Dear White people stand u...

This morning, I was awakened by my daughter wailing at the top of her lungs that Donald Trump is the 45th President of the United States. This was followed by a slurry of words that I could barely make out in between her tears and gasping. Things like, concentration camps, civil wars, where are we going to go, what are we going to do, and the last thing hit me to my core as I held her, HE IS GOING TO KILL US ALL!! Yes, my daughter yelled between tears, He is going to kill us all!! Then I finally looked at the results that I had been avoiding for the last 12 hours and realized just how close this damn election was. It was close enough to see that Trump did not win by a landslide, but he won by a mere thousands of votes.The red throughout the South, Midwest (Kudos IL) and North was blinding. Then I took to social media and quickly realized who had voted for who and why. The crazy thing is that I have not shed a tear nor am I in shock. I am just angry and numb. Angry because EVERYONE ...

Welcome to the audition hamster wheel. You know the one where you continue to audition and get called back but then do not book the gig. You feel awesome in the room. They are laughing or crying during your audition and you are feeling, awesome. Then you come home to silence and no gig. Maybe if I say it louder, the cheap seats will understand. NO GIG! NO GIG! NO GIG! I feel so much better now. You may ask yourself, Is this where you give up? Where you lay down and say well I tried, time to go back to a normal existence where rejection does not exist. The truth of the matter is rejection is around every corner and in every aspect of life. Actors, performing artists, and other artists are simply faced with it on a constant basis. This is when you jump off that hamster wheel and find breath and actual living before you lose it. This is when your spiritual toolkit becomes handy. It is vital that you find joy in this business. It can be in writing, producing a short film, practicing yoga...

This month has been filled with scheduled community meetings at 11 Philadelphia Public Schools that have been pegged to be changed as a result of their School Progress Report, an evaluation that scores schools on a scale of 1 to 100. The evaluation is based largely on academic factors but attendance and climate is also rated. On October 27th, Newsworks published an article by Dale Mezzacappa and Avi Wolfman-Arent, which discussed the differences between the meetings that occurred at Kensington Health Sciences Academy and Benjamin Franklin High School. There were vast differences in the level of engagement. Kensington had about 150 in attendance and Benjamin Franklin had 10. One is a smaller school with a staff and principal that have been there longer, and Benjamin Franklin has a new principal who has been bounced around to a few places. At the end of the day regardless of the level of engagement at any of the 11 meetings, The higher ups at the School District of Philadelphia have a ...