To Writeis to realize!
Revisit
again and again
Reimagine...
and Remember.
Journals
Walk with us as we open our doors. Turn the keys. How did each of us come to be? Who are we and why?
- Read our stories.
- Share your own.
- It is never too late to learn from our past, to better understand the present, and to build the finest of futures.
Race, Memory, and the World That Made New Orleans
My father is listed as white on his birth certificate. His great-grandfather was the founder of America’s first black daily newspaper. But when I tell the story of my family, inextricably linked to the narrative of New Orleans and, in fact, to the country, I [...]
Things I Will Tell My Daughter
I am fearful of the men who will attempt to treat her like cargo, like a thing to be played with; disposable. I worry that when she leaves me, there will be times when the stars will not align for her goodness, and others will [...]
Why The Edmund Pettus Bridge Must Be Renamed
The Edmund Pettus Bridge is a symbol of freedom all over the world. It is also a symbol of voting rights and democracy. However, the very name stands for the exact opposite. Symbols are powerful. Symbols enter into our conscious and subconscious without our screening them. [...]
10 Uncomfortable Truths About Being Black in America
I talk and write about race a lot. I can’t escape being Black, even if I want to. I have always been race conscious, known who I am, and where I stand in the world. However, everything changed for me during the Trayvon Martin [...]
Five Days in the Life: Single, Minimum-Wage Fast Food Working Mom in Chicago
Name: Adriana Alvarez, 23 City: Cicero, Illinois Child: Manuel, three Job: I’ve worked at a McDonald’s franchise for almost five years. I do everything in my store: cashier; kitchen; runner; drive-through. Wherever I’m needed, I’m there. When I’m not at work, I’m with my son — and sometimes [...]
Choosing Queer: I Was Not Born This Way, And That’s Ok.
I don’t remember the first time I found a boy attractive. I do know that in my earliest memories, when I was 4 or 5, this attraction felt natural and innate. I know, too, that there was a first time I found a girl [...]
Growing Up Muslim in a Post-9/11 World
My sister put on the hijab when she was 20 years old. I remember the color of her first scarf—a pale blue green, maybe chiffon, crinkling at the corners of her smiling eyes, enveloping the circumference of her perfect moon shaped face. My sister was one [...]
I Don’t Act Like An ‘Angry Black Woman’ – But I’m Read That Way If I Broach Race
“Why are you so angry?” my mother asked me during her recent visit to Brooklyn. It’s the first time my mother has ever asked me that question, and I know that she is lovingly unaware of its ramifications as a nocuous cliche, despite its power as [...]