The art of living · moving through
Survival
After the storm comes the long ordinary middle — the quiet, stubborn work of moving through. Not the triumphant part of the story, but the keeping-on when you cannot yet see why. These are the days we endured, and what they taught us in the dark.
Latest Survival
-
Keep this gift we gift back to God always!
Some describe you as skin, a luminous embrace. Some describe you as water, with your enduring grace. Some describe you as earth, seeing how you are endlessly unfazed, but I call you our soul, our son, with an unblinking gaze. Happy Birthday, our gift we gift back to God always. Your name is all you…
-
Keep dreams at a park!
We went to Pioneer Park today. A small park on Taille Street, off Manchester road. Four children were fascinated by the playground that lined the park. Three boys and a girl wearing a red tie dye shirt. Tall oaks lined the park. About 21 if sitting on a black park bench across from the restroom.…
-
Keep the knowledge and birthday of our Belle.
I would liken her to a star. Not those up in the skies, but the stars within. I would liken her to the moon. Not the kind that appears in the sky at night. But the moon within. I would liken her to the sun. Not the one that shines so brightly on a clear…
-
Keep this month of June, our month of beginnings, of love!
If you retrace the steps that led to Belle, move back to the paths we crossed and the people and places too. If turn back to the moments where our souls shivered in admiration of things simple, like falling rain, the heavenly scent of leaves after rain, the warmth of the sun, or song of…
-
Keep seeing the world as children and cicadas do!
We have held giant lizards, held tiny alligators, touched snakes as yellow as the sun and hummed to the sounds of cicadas. Summer is only just beginning And this summer in Saint Louis, is the season of children, of sitting in the shadows of children, sitting in their joyful lane, in a season where joy…
-
Keep this self-portrait!
A dreamer, a believer, star gazer and breeder, and a lover of full moons. Steady like black ants, marching, unwavering, persistent. Chatty, tenacious, stubborn, bold, full of hope, for no certain outcome and for certain outcomes. Impediments and struggle, Together with legacy and tomorrow Are like the sun and it flowers, A duality that matter,…
-
Keep motherhood as a site of resistance!
These thoughts came to me this evening. They are unfolding but for now, happen you tell the dreams that outlive you. Those that cause your blood to surge, those that form countries of their own. Motherhood is like a country, with powerful roots that take shape on their own, discovering the point of light, the…
-
Keep Mother’s Day with those who paved the way!
I remember sometimes, the moment it began, on an avenue in Paris, rue Garibaldi, I believe, next to metro 6 line, a laboratory, all next to UNESCO, the place I once called work. The announcement was swift against a former life slowly dissolving. You are with child, in French, was all I heard, with new…
-
Keep the beginning of Nnem&Nnem at Korede house (or why motherhood matters)!
The second paper I authored as I began my academic journey highlighted the need to focus on the role of mothers with health. It’s the first paper that centers the primacy of mothers for health and life. It’s also began my journey into understanding the full spectrum of mothers, how we are not only birth…
-
Keep looking on the bright side or happy 10th birthday Chiwetel!
Exactly 10 years ago, at around 5:30am, we gave birth to a boy whom we would later name our gift from God. Chiwetel was as beautiful as any sunny day. Lotanna and mama visited us later that morning. I still vividly recall Lotanna in her pink dress and pink tights, with spiky threaded hair, the…
-
Keep gathering with your community!
When we gather, with tiny legs and colorful eggs we do so in love, in light, and with a grace that has no bounds…
-
Keep all the ways children see themselves!
Noontime or nighttime, at any hour in between, one of them doodles away, with no noise, no sound, no distractions, nothing at all. Then slowly, like the first drop of rain, something emerges. A lake’s song, earth day, getting wise on words, will bring eyes full of peace. As the whole scene plays out, in…