The art of living · you rise, truer
Supremacy
Not winning. Arriving. The slow rising into your truer, wiser, more grounded self — the one you were always growing toward, even on the days you couldn’t feel it. And then, gently, the line carries you back toward the next storm. We keep becoming.
Latest Supremacy
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Keep what matters to you!
A couple of days ago, my daughter shared a drawing of all the things she loved. She call it her tree of love. Her name was nestled in the middle of a big green tree and surrounded by all the things that matter to her like playing music, writing, sleeping, swimming and doing somersaults. This…
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Keep grants as stories with lessons from Lorraine Hansberry!
Of what use are grants? If you think about this deeply, you will discover that it’s use are infinite. Of course some use it for their research. Some to propel their careers. I have always believed they can be used to tell stories. I remember the very first grant I wrote over 14 years ago.…
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Keep knowing that failure is an option!
Failure is always an option. That’s my mantra these days. I have failed in so many aspects of my life. The one that I keep doing these past days is motherhood. No, mothering is not easy. It has never been. It takes effort and patience and moving in some direction even if it seems like…
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Keep beginnings of grants!
‘Like desire, language disrupts, refuses to be contained within boundaries.’ These opening lines of bell hooks essay on ‘Language’ in her book Teaching to Transgress is my muse for today. Not only for the meaning behind these words, but for the simplicity of the lines. I am in the final stages of prepping for my…
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Keep change at the last minute!
Change happens in the last minute. I saw it for myself tonight during a UFC fight. Champions are made at the last minute too. 56 seconds till the end. I am not a fan of UFC. Never actually watched a fight until tonight. Two Black men were fighting. One Nigerian, another a Jamaican-born, British guy.…
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Keep the gift of misery with grant writing
Grant writing is writing full of misery. Suffering, despair, anxiety, pain, torture, even hell. It has taken years to see that this too is a gift, not pleasure. But a gift. I am on a quest to understand the purpose of this misery and why it matters for writing your best grants. Not your most…
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Keep persisting Class of 2022!
I sat through my first pre-commencement graduation at Saint Louis University today. There were many many highs and tearful moments. Some made me smile and others brought tears to my eyes. Imagine working so hard for your degree, even knowing what you will do upon graduation, just for the Lord to call you back home.…
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Keep all your invisible inks!
The images you have of me. Mother, researcher, doing work in far away places. All of them are true. But those that are invisible. Everything hidden, under, and in between the lines like Toni Morrison’s invisible ink, are the bones that keep me tall and erect. One day, I will leave you hoping to see…
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Keep being rooted!
Being rooted in all I do is free. I know my roots. I know my struggles too. I have lived through their lessons. Freedom takes a long time. With despair and fear, and a sprinkling of failure buried deep within. I have seen darkness of what it means to work. Roots buried deep only know…
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Keep ambition with global health!
Ambition to me is tied to what Ngugi wa Thiongo once described as a ‘quest for relevance.’ It is a search for a liberating perspective within which to see ourselves clearly in relationship to ourselves and to the other selves in the universe. He would go on to suggest that this question depends on the…
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Keep dreams!
Dreams begin here. With people like you. Sitting and pondering. Drinking and eating. Laughing and living. Loving and living life, our way. A dream, to sit by the ocean and think for self. To live among others like you keeping things worth keeping. To simply live. All will do. For where dreams begins, life lives…
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Keep knowing that which is in you is lit for them!
Call it dismissal. Call it ignorance. Call it visible invisibility. Call it being black and female in academia too. But know that your straight up sharp, single handled ignorance of my light, whatever you choose to call it, will not provoke this fire burning within. Not when we are legions. We are not bent or…