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Keep being fire!
Read more: Keep being fire!Have you heard about Fire? Not the real thing as in flames or burning or combustion. But a quarterly literary magazine set up by Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Wallace Thurman, Aaron Douglas, Richard Bruce Nugent, Gwendolyn Bennett and John P. Davis, to do one thing one only (in my opinion): to express the truth…
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Keep the public in public health!
Read more: Keep the public in public health!In a 1989 conversation with Charles Rowell, Chinua Achebe shared a story about the goddess of creativity. He described this as the earth goddess, called Ala or Ani by the Igbo people. Not only is she responsible for creativity, he mentioned that she is also responsible for morality. For her, art cannot then be in…
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Keep being a burst of light for public health!
Read more: Keep being a burst of light for public health!I am in the business of light making. It is messy, very complex with turns that keep winding. When rich countries get 40-60 percent of Covid vaccines and others, especially countries in Africa, get only 3%, you will understand why I choose light. When racism, especially structural racism is at the heart of why we…
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Keep Pidgin English and other broken English in mind!
Read more: Keep Pidgin English and other broken English in mind!Bell Hooks took me on a journey today. The past few days have been full of work-related rejections with academic papers I wrote, one protocol and another a debate paper that I will dwell on another day. For now, transforming the language used by the rejectors is a profound passion. Bell Hooks reminded me of…
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Keep positive affirmations with children!
Read more: Keep positive affirmations with children!I often underestimate the power of positive affirmation with children. I got a brilliant reminder from a letter in the mail today. It reminded me of why saying positive words to children matters always. Especially in cards. The letter was from my son’s school teacher. It stated that he followed directions. He was also kind…
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Keep being as patient as vultures or Udene in Igbo!
Read more: Keep being as patient as vultures or Udene in Igbo!I saw a vulture up close today. It is as menacing as literature has depicted it to be. My middle son actually saw it first. It was perched on our grounds and it stopped him in his tracks while running towards me. He kept saying I can’t come and I kept saying, just come. He…
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Keep Clef Club in mind as you remain a bold black woman in academia!
Read more: Keep Clef Club in mind as you remain a bold black woman in academia!When generations look back at the history of this nation, they will ask questions? Like why is the story of this country so incomplete? Why do we know so little of what it truly meant to be enslaved? Or why did it take 156 years for us make Juneteenth a holiday? They will also ask…
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Keep the love of Fathers in mind!
Read more: Keep the love of Fathers in mind!Brene Brown in her book ‘Daring Greatly,’ defined love, not as something you give or get, but as something you nurture and grow. She noted that it’s a connection that can only be cultivated between two people when it exists within each one of them–we can only love others as much as we love ourselves.…
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Keep empathy for crying children at water parks!
Read more: Keep empathy for crying children at water parks!My son loves to go to water parks. It always ends in disaster. I also seem to forget this happens all the time. Today maybe the last time. We planned to go to a water park awhile back. Today was the day. The kids have been waiting for it’s arrival. It began like most days,…
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Keep daylilies and their ‘beauty for a day’ in mind!
Read more: Keep daylilies and their ‘beauty for a day’ in mind!I am in love with yellow daylilies. They started blooming this week at the back of our home. Naturally I was drawn to their colors. Something about yellow flowers in the middle of scorching summer heat was calming to me. Daylilies scientifically are known as Hemerocallies. Hemero for ‘day’ and Callis for ‘beauty.’ In essence…
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Keep being light always!
Read more: Keep being light always!I once said to myself, you are in the business of being light. To do so, I became prepared for light to guard my thoughts, my words, my actions and all I profess to be. By light I leaned on words from the Bible: A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. By light,…
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Keep storytelling!
Read more: Keep storytelling!Fiction has the power to help us discover new things. Like the unexpected turns life can take if we follow a path not often taken. Or the extent to which stories can take us to new places and new spaces all with the power of words combined in a graceful manner. What if non-fiction did…

















