Slide backgroundTo Write

is to realize!

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Revisit

again and again

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Reimagine...

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and Remember.

Journals

How many of us, throughout our lives, or on occasion have kept a personal diary, a journal, or a chronicle of sorts. Perhaps, our professional status necessitates a living record of what we think, say, do or did. Certainly historians can and will tell our tale, even if only anecdotally. Friends and family might do a better job. Surely, societal and private filters change perceptions. That said, biographical data does not replace a first-hand accounting.

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.
2016-11-29T17:39:10-05:00

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 [...]

2016-11-29T17:39:10-05:00

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. [...]

2016-11-29T17:39:10-05:00

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 [...]

2016-11-29T17:39:10-05:00

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 [...]

2016-11-29T17:39:10-05:00

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 [...]