Pick people who will reflect your true self back to you. They are guides. They are a pain in the ass, but they are guides.
When the Truth Gets Real Truth-y
Tequila Never Made Me Feel Like This
Every morning of my late twenties dawned with sickening dread. Every morning. I’d wake up and immediately begin the slow slide into the murky depths of shame. And fear. And regret. Anxiety gripped me like a vise, making it hard to breathe. I hated myself, pitied myself, held dear a storied mythology of myself. What... Continue Reading →
Self-Love & Self-Care: thinking on the words of bell hooks
Using a working definition of love that tells us it is the action we take on behalf of our own or another’s spiritual growth provides us with a beginning blueprint for working on the issue of self-love. –bell hooks, All About Love People talk a lot about self-love and self-care. From a practical standpoint, though,... Continue Reading →
Rural Florida & a Sign
Once, years ago, I found myself driving though a rural part of Florida. I was headed to work in the late afternoon, teaching writing to folks who thought writing had nothing to do with what they wanted to do with their lives. It's real bleak to share the thing that brings you joy with folks... Continue Reading →
Secrets Are Small Soul-Deaths
A woman who carries a secret is an exhausted woman.Women Who Run with the Wolves, Clarissa Pinkola Estés I gave up being exhausted in late 2008. For 33 years, I'd been collecting secrets (big and utterly minuscule) and stacking them precariously in various corners of my soul. Which meant I couldn't round a corner without... Continue Reading →
I Survived My DUI Stop. But I’m White.
Another black man was killed by police in Atlanta. Shot in the back while he was running away. Know the egregious act that ended his life? He was drunk. And he fell asleep in his car in a Wendy's drive-thru. This is a story I should be hearing in an AA meeting in a church... Continue Reading →