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 →
Working Title Gospel
I’ve been itching to write my own gospel. A little bastion of ideas and thoughts so deeply held that they’re woven into the fabric of my life. Kind of like The Gospel According to Shug Avery–something real and true. Something I’ve had to create and live into to dispel all the hurt and ache my... Continue Reading →
The Nitty Gritty: Ecology of a Cracker Childhood
I've been thinking a lot about place lately: how where we are from constructs who we are. And I've been drawn to books that explore place as internal landscape. My mother's family is from South Georgia. Although I grew up in Florida, I always considered myself a dis-placed Southerner. According to my Northern oriented friends,... Continue Reading →
Book Review: Rubyfruit Jungle
The first time I read Rubyfruit Jungle, I was 19 years old, recently out, and head-over-heels in love with my girlfriend. I devoured the book. It was mouthy, cocky, and brash—most of the things I wasn’t but really wanted to be. But most importantly, Rubyfruit Jungle offered me the gift of seeing some of my own life experiences, my... Continue Reading →
Book Review: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
I pulled this novel out of a stack being cleaned, sorted, and packaged for the bookstore. I try not to do that very often. If I did, we'd be inundated with books (we already are, truthfully). But I've heard about this book since high school, and somehow managed not to have read it yet. So,... Continue Reading →