A GREAT-GREAT-GRANDDAUGHTER’S MUSING When genetic technology tells you you’re not who you’ve always been told you are, somebody’s got some ‘splainin’ to do. No, my daddy is my father and my mama is my mother. Like most genealogical quandaries, mine goes much deeper than that. It, like many African-American familial …
A Reflection at 60* Sixty years ago yesterday just one woman made just one decision that imprinted far more than just one person—not only has it informed my path my entire life, but also it’s deeply affected many in my extended family. For apparently just one reason (incompetence or racism: …
Then, Now, and Always I’ve been smitten with words since the age of three when I’d repeatedly beg my mother to “MAKE ME READ.” Yes, even in early 1960s Baxley, Georgia, years before ever setting foot in a classroom, I demanded impossible transformation: to be instantly gifted with the power …
How I Discovered, “Discovered,” & “Was Discovered” by Toni Morrison INSPIRATION: the gift of breathing in that which sustains. That is what Toni Morrison has been for me since 1978. Apart from my mother and grandmothers, Toni Morrison stands as the woman who shaped my life in the profoundest of …
