Lighthouse Foundation of Chicagoland

If you want to support a wonderful organization in Chicago, today I am spotlighting an organization that is close to my heart and that is doing great justice work : Lighthouse Foundation of Chicagoland

Lighthouse Foundation of Chicagoland is a Black LGBTQ+-led, multiracial social justice organization that advances justice for Black LGBTQ+ people across Chicagoland through empowerment, education, and entertainment.

I have been involved in Lighthouse Foundation in various capacities ever since it was started in 2019 as a response to a rap band in one of the local bars/clubs. Since then it has grown into an organization that uses its wide reach to advance an all-inclusive justice for Black LGBTQ+ people across Chicagoland. 

A few examples of all-inclusive justice work include: 

• Personal justice by providing space for people to learn the skills and have tools they need to tend to themselves physically, mentally, and spiritually via self-care events, many of which I have had the opportunity to enjoy myself
• Economic justice by hiring and supporting Black LGBTQ+ people. For example, during Covid they provided paid opportunities for those, especially in the creative fields, through microgrants, and they are currently using mainly Black LGBTQ+ chiefs for the catering of their programs
• Vocational and workplace justice via workforce development programs
• Healthcare Justice organizing against healthcare funding discrepancies and healthcare care discrepancies for Black LGBTQ+ people

They have a wide range of programing in 4 main areas:

• The Arts
• Spirituality
• Racial Justice Organizing*
• Workforce Development 

In addition for the past several years one of Lighthouse Foundation's focuses has been the creation of the Black Queer Equity Index:

The Black Queer Equity Index (BQEI), a Black LGBTQ+ community-led participatory action research project to evaluate nonprofit cultures for Black LGBTQ+ staff and board members.

The BQEI, in part, is to help organizations develop the needed support systems so that Black LGBTQ+ people are best able to thrive within such organizations.

*Recently they spotlighted some of their advocacy work on Instagram:

Our journey to Springfield, IL was a powerful experience advocating for equitable funding and raising awareness on National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. From impactful conversations with Illinois elected representatives to joining forces with leaders from other Black-led and Black-founded organizations, every moment was a step towards justice and Black LGBTQ+ liberation. #LGBTQActivism #BlackLivesMatter #GettingtoZero #HIV

What Would You Call The Chapters Of Your Life?

 

As Matt Smith's Doctor said "'We are all stories in the end, just make it a good one eh?'" 

Saturday I attended a retreat and one of the activities was:

• Life Chapters Journaling Prompt: If you were to think about your life in the past, present, and future, how would you break it up into three chapters? What would the chapter titles be and what is the book title?

Those who know me know fandoms, characters, and real-life people who have become characters inside my mind, and so on and so on are deeply intertwined with my life. 

Fandoms are my blood, fandoms are my bones, fandoms are who I am and who I hope to be, fandoms are my community and my connection, fandoms are how I understand other people, fandoms are how I understand the world around me, and fandoms are me and I am fandoms. 

Here is a poem I created as a result of the prompt at the retreat. Note over all my life story/titles represent just some of the fandoms I am interwoven with: Legends of Tomorrow, Wentworth Miller Speeches, Doctor Who etc.

Life Chapters

By Dreaming Ace

Asked for a title for my life’s past chapter

My past chapter I call “There Are No Strings On Me”*

Like Wentworth Miller “I’ve had a complicated

Relationship with that word, ‘community.”**

Like James Baldwin “I feel remote from (community).”***

Even from communities that intersect my identities

I never quite belonged so people and community

Was one fandom But not always my special interest

Asked for a title for my life’s present chapter

My present chapter I call "Marching To The Beat Of A

Different Kettle Of Fish Into “Autistic burnout”"

Self-Diagnosed a year and a half ago but has taken longer

To realize that many of my life struggles, my people struggles

My vocational struggles, my connection struggles

Was and still is a result of the echoing effects of “Autistic burnout”

Who am I? Will I ever have a job again? Why is life hard

Asked for a title for my life’s future chapter

My future chapter hopefully is yet to be name

“Getting Started”**** On Learning How To “Human”?

Or being as passionate as Ncuti Gatwa’s version of The Doctor

Where the future is exciting and energizing and spoon giving

Instead of the same old same old, spoon draining “okish”

Where I am surrounded by my own team of “Legends of Tomorrow”

Instead of always being in my own multiverse alone, if not lonely

* Captain Cold Reference

** Wentworth Millers HRC Speech from 2013 which included the lines:

"I’ve had a complicated relationship with that word, ‘community.’ I’ve been slow to embrace it. I’ve been hesitant. I’ve been doubtful. For many years I could not or would not accept that there was anything in that word for someone like me. … It has been natural to see myself as an individual. It’s been a challenge to see that self as part of something larger. … When you’re in survival mode, your focus is on getting through the day in one piece, there isn’t a lot of space for words like ‘community,’ for words like ‘us’ and ‘we.’" (See Note)

 

*** James Baldwin Village Voice Interview (See Note)

****Jason Mraz Song

Note: 

Now before anyone gets worried I do have community but honestly my main community is the community I have "world built" in my imagination and so I can connect to others who have said they struggle with the word and the idea of community. 

When it comes to people I actually interact with outside of my head in most cases it is like enjoying art in an art museum. I enjoy art, I sometimes am an artists, but I would not say I am art (This is being used as a metaphor just go with it please)

Or more simply put I like my Wentworth Miller can say "“I’ve had a complicated relationship with that word, ‘community.” LOL 

The First Black Meteorologists In The USA

African American airmen made history during World War II when they flew planes in combat. To assist with this and other segregated military duties, the US military established the Tuskegee Weather Detachment around the same time. Before 1941, there were no black professional meteorologists in the military or in the civilian world. In early 1941, this changed when five enlistees from the 99th pursuit squadron enrolled in Chanute Field, Illinois, to serve as weather observers.

Around the same time, Wallace P. Reed entered MIT as the first African American in the meteorological aviation cadet program. Reed graduated in February 1942. These six men were the founding members of the Tuskegee Weather Detachment. The United States military established the Tuskegee Weather Detachment on March 21, 1942, when opportunities for people of color were opening in the United States military. A small group of African American Army Air Corps servicemen became what was likely the United States' first African American meteorologists.

Dr. Charles E. Anderson was the first African American to receive a Ph.D. in meteorology. He was a dean at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Dr. Charles E. Anderson pioneered research and work that involved minimizing the contrails of high-altitude aircraft. As a scientist and more specifically as a meteorologist, Anderson’s research was focused on cloud and aerosol physics and the meteorology of other planets. During his career, he was nationally acknowledged as a leading expert on severe storms and tornadoes. 

June Bacon-Bercey broke many barriers and paved the way for others, particularly for women and African Americans in meteorology. Noted as the first African American and first female-degreed broadcast meteorologist, Bacon-Bercey is considered a pioneer in the field of meteorology. In 1954, she became the first African American female in the United States to earn a bachelor of science degree in meteorology from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). Before retiring from a position at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in 1993, she held positions as a weather forecaster, weather analyst, radar meteorologist, aviation meteorologist, broadcast journalist, public administrator, and educator. 

Legalized Hate Is Legalized Death

 

Legalized Hate Is Legalized Death

By Dreaming Ace

February 8, 2024

Nex Benedict

Died because they

They were amazing

They were wonderful

They were fantastic

But they lived in a state

That has legalized hate

That has made hate appealing

That has normalized hate

Hating anyone who is different

Hating anyone who is marching

Marching to the beat of a different kettle of fish

Nex Benedict

Is not the first

Is not the last

To face the impact of legalized hate

And yes officially the police say

Their death was not at the Hand of Hate

But being beaten up and going to the hospital

Because of the Hand of Hate

Did not on any level prevent the death

Nex experienced physical trauma

Nex experienced mental trauma

Nex experienced soul level trauma

And no matter what officially

Officials determine to be the cause

Clearly one of the causes

Was legalized hate

Was the Hand of Hate

Was the consequence of hate

Too many states are legalizing hate

Are criminalizing being human

Are criminalizing being alive

Everyone needs to use the restroom

Everyone needs to feel safe

Everyone needs to not be killed by the Hand of Hate

I can't understand

Those who cling so strongly to the binary

That they are willing to cause the death of others

Who believe the binary

Is more important than life itself

Is more important that flourishing

Is more important than people being

Healthy Happy and Wise

Gender has always been fluid

Gender roles have always been fluid

Gender expression has always been fluid

And someone else's ever changing kaleidoscope 

Of gender or of gender expression

Does not impact you in any shape or size or squiggle

And I could go on and on

But this poem already has more lines

Than 3 times the number of years Nex Benedict

Nex Benedict was alive in this world

Which now has 4 times the number of years

Because Legalized Hate Is Legalized Death

The Floating Freedom School

Thank you, Lee Patterson, for sharing about and therefore introducing me to 

"The Floating Freedom School" and Rev. John Berry Meachum, 

And thank you, Wikipedia, for helping me create this post. 

Rev John Berry Meachum

Rev John Berry Meachum (1789–1854) was an American pastor, businessman, educator and founder of the First African Baptist Church in St. Louis, the oldest black church west of the Mississippi River. At a time when it was illegal in the city to teach people of color to read and write, Meachum operated a school in the church's basement. Meachum also circumvented a Missouri state law banning education for black people by creating the Floating Freedom School on a steamboat on the Mississippi River.

As a young man, he guided 75 enslaved people from Kentucky to their freedom in Indiana, a free state. Once established in Missouri, he and his wife Mary Meachum were conductors on the Underground Railroad. They also purchased enslaved people and took them into their home until they earned enough money to repay their purchase price. The Meachums employed the enslaved people that they purchased and emancipated them when they had saved enough to repay their purchase price. In the meantime, they were also educated and learned skills to be self-sufficient once freed. John and Mary also helped runaway enslaved people across the Mississippi and into Illinois along the Underground Railroad. The Mary Meachum Freedom Crossing in St. Louis, the first site in Missouri to be accepted in the National Park Service's National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom, was named after Mary.

Photo via @urbantoons

Floating Freedom School

The Floating Freedom School was an educational facility for free and enslaved African Americans on a steamboat on the Mississippi River. It was established in 1847 by the Baptist minister John Berry Meachum. After Meachum's death in 1854, the Freedom School was taken over by Reverend John R. Anderson, a former student, and closed sometime after 1860.

In 1847, John Berry Meachum was forced to close the school he had been operating in a St. Louis church basement. Earlier that year, the Missouri legislature had passed a law that made it illegal to provide "the instruction of negroes or mulattoes, in reading or writing". Meachum and one of his teachers were arrested by the sheriff and threatened.

To circumvent the new state law in Missouri, Reverend Meachum bought a steamboat which he anchored in the middle of the Mississippi River, thus placing it under the authority of the federal government. The new floating "Freedom School" was outfitted with desks, chairs, and a library. Students were ferried back and forth between St. Louis and the Freedom School in small skiffs. The school eventually attracted teachers from the East.

Hundreds of black children were educated at the Freedom School in the 1840s and 1850s. Those who could pay were charged one dollar a month. One of the early students was James Milton Turner, who would go on to establish 30 new schools for African Americans in Missouri after the Civil War. Another was John R. Anderson, who received much of his reading and religious training from the school. Reverend Anderson later took over management of the school after Meachum's death in 1854. School attendance dropped off just before the Civil War, with only 155 black children enrolled in 1860.

Celebrating Black Poet Laureate

Today I am spotlighting some of the various Black poet laureates of the United States according to the Library of Congress. The Library of Congress is best-known as the home of U.S. Poet Laureate, a position which from 1936-1985 operated under the less recognizable title “Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress.”

Robert Hayden

Robert Hayden became the first Black poet to serve as Consultant in Poetry in 1976. Originally invited to serve as Consultant in 1969, he was forced to decline due to work circumstances. When he was again invited to serve in the position in 1975, he was able to accept.

Those Winter Sundays

By Robert Hayden

Sundays too my father got up early

and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold,

then with cracked hands that ached

from labor in the weekday weather made

banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him.

I’d wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking.

When the rooms were warm, he’d call,

and slowly I would rise and dress,

fearing the chronic angers of that house,

Speaking indifferently to him,

who had driven out the cold

and polished my good shoes as well.

What did I know, what did I know

of love’s austere and lonely offices?

Gwendolyn Brooks

Gwendolyn Brooks was the 29th and final poet to serve as Consultant in Poetry before the position’s title was rebranded as Poet Laureate in 1985.

We Real Cool 

By Gwendolyn Brooks

The Pool Players.

Seven at the Golden Shovel.

We real cool. We

Left school. We

Lurk late. We

Strike straight. We

Sing sin. We

Thin gin. We

Jazz June. We

Die soon.

Rita Dove

Rita Dove was appointed the seventh U.S. Poet Laureate, and first Black Poet Laureate, on May 19, 1993.

American Smooth 

By Rita Dove

We were dancing—it must have

been a foxtrot or a waltz,

something romantic but

requiring restraint,

rise and fall, precise

execution as we moved

into the next song without

stopping, two chests heaving

above a seven-league

stride—such perfect agony,

one learns to smile through,

ecstatic mimicry

being the sine qua non

of American Smooth.

And because I was distracted

by the effort of

keeping my frame

(the leftward lean, head turned

just enough to gaze out

past your ear and always

smiling, smiling),

I didn’t notice

how still you’d become until

we had done it

(for two measures?

four?)—achieved flight,

that swift and serene

magnificence,

before the earth

remembered who we were

and brought us down. 

Natasha Trethewey

On June 7, 2012, Natasha Trethewey was appointed the 19th Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry. Her first term as Poet Laureate was noteworthy for her “Office Hours” during which she met with the general public in the Library’s Poetry Room, harkening back to the tradition established by Robert Hayden and several other of her predecessors.

Housekeeping

By Natasha Trethewey

We mourn the broken things, chair legs

wrenched from their seats, chipped plates,

the threadbare clothes. We work the magic

of glue, drive the nails, mend the holes.

We save what we can, melt small pieces

of soap, gather fallen pecans, keep neck bones

for soup. Beating rugs against the house,

we watch dust, lit like stars, spreading

across the yard. Late afternoon, we draw

the blinds to cool the rooms, drive the bugs

out. My mother irons, singing, lost in reverie.

I mark the pages of a mail-order catalog,

listen for passing cars. All day we watch

for the mail, some news from a distant place.

Tracy K. Smith

On June 14, 2017, Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden announced the appointment of Tracy K. Smith as the 22nd Poet Laureate, making her the first Laureate appointed by the current Librarian. Smith’s signature project in the position involved bringing poetry to audiences outside places where poets typically present their work.

Semi-Splendid

By Tracy K. Smith

You flinch. Something flickers, not fleeing your face. My

Heart hammers at the ceiling, telling my tongue

To turn it down. Too late. The something climbs, leaps, is

Falling now across us like the prank of an icy, brainy

Lord. I chose the wrong word. I am wrong for not choosing

Merely to smile, to pull you toward me and away from

What you think of as that other me, who wanders lost among ...    

Among whom? The many? The rare? I wish you didn’t care.

I watch you watching her. Her very shadow is a rage

That trashes the rooms of your eyes. Do you claim surprise

At what she wants, the poor girl, pelted with despair,

Who flits from grief to grief? Isn’t it you she seeks? And

If you blame her, know that she blames you for choosing

Not her, but me. Love is never fair. But do we — should we — care?

Bonus National Youth Poet Laureate 

Amanda Gorman

Amanda Gorman is the youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history. In 2017, Amanda Gorman was appointed the first-ever National Youth Poet Laureate by Urban Word – a program that supports Youth Poets Laureate in more than 60 cities, regions and states nationally. 

Amanda Gorman reads inauguration poem, 'The Hill We Climb'

Connecting To Baldwin on Art and Community

 

This weekend, I read "James Baldwin The Last Interview and Other Conversations" which is a collection of four interviews and/or conversations with James Baldwin. I found two of Baldwin's comments really spoke to me in particular.

The first comment that spoke to me was from a Stud Terkle interview from 1961, which talked about the importance of the arts in being able to make us feel seen and not alone.

If you have been reading this blog or if you get my poetry e-news, you know how much I take this to heart. My best friends and "found family" often contain characters. These characters are always there for me and are able to explain humanity to me in a way my neurodivergent brain can absorb better than dealing with humanity in flesh and bone. I often find "people" confusing and strange, whereas characters are often easier to understand. 

The fact that characters and stories make me feel seen and understood while also reminding me that I matter and that life matters is why it is always important to, in the words of Neil Gaiman, "Make Good Art." Shout out to every creative person whose works I have or will ever cross paths with. Art has meant so much to me, and I will always be grateful for everyone who helps bring art into my mind and into my soul.

The second comment that spoke to me was from a 1984 interview in The Village Voice.

I am someone who, ever since discovering that I am Ace, has been very open and vocal about being so. I also enjoy hanging with LGBTQA+ and queer communities in LGBTQA+ and queer spaces. But I also feel removed from those spaces for a number of reasons.

One of those reasons is that, as an Ace, I interact with those spaces differently:

Yes, I believe that anyone should be able to love, kiss, or have sex with anyone who enthusiastically consents to do those things with said person.

Yes, for me, LGBTQA+ kissing and sex is more logical than heteronormative versions

Yes, I attend a Black LGBTQA+ centered church where sex is talked about. (I will always remember when my pastor preached about how "God intentionally gave men prostates for pleasure," something not preached at most churches LOL )

But no matter how much fanfiction I read, I still don't fundamentally understand why anyone does those things, so I sometimes feel a little remote from others in those spaces. 

Like if someone really loves visual art but happen to be color blind. While they like hanging in visual art communities and spaces, they also might not always feel able to participate if the aspect that seems to be the focus in such spaces is how color is being used in the visual art.

While I enjoy that others are able to express themselves and be themselves in LGBTQA+ and queer spaces, it can feel like I am trespassing into something private or into someone's holy ground. I know they are both spaces for me and not for me at the same time. 

Connecting the complexity of community back to the power of art to show that we are not alone, actor Wentworth Miller gave a moving speech at the 2013 Human Rights Campaign Dinner. That speech that I have excerpted below shows that neither James Baldwin nor I am alone in sometimes feeling remote from community or even the idea of community, even communities we objectively belong in. 

I’ve had a complicated relationship with that word, ‘community.’ I’ve been slow to embrace it. I’ve been hesitant. I’ve been doubtful. For many years I could not or would not accept that there was anything in that word for someone like me. ...

 

It has been natural to see myself as an individual. It’s been a challenge to see that self as part of something larger. Like many of you here tonight, I grew up in what I would call survival mode.

When you’re in survival mode, your focus is on getting through the day in one piece, and when you’re in that mode at 5, at 10, at 15, there isn’t a lot of space for words like ‘community,’ for words like ‘us’ and ‘we.’ There’s only space for ‘I’ and ‘me.’ In fact, words like ‘us’ and ‘we’ not only sounded foreign to me at 5 and 10 and 15, they sounded like a lie. Because if ‘us’ and ‘we’ really existed, if there was really someone out there watching and listening and caring, then I would have been rescued by now.

Cool New Podcast: Black iNQueery

 

Recently some of my friends started a really cool podcast called Black iNQueery which is currently on Spotify: 

Black iNQueery is your home for all things Black and Queer. Listen along each week as your hosts, Raymond Wise, Randy Nygel, and BoDaBaddie, discuss the ups and downs of the human experience from a Black Queer perspective with a whole lotta laughter! Nothing is off limits; dating, the church, chosen family, and of course whatever mess is making headlines each week. These three friends are happy to add you to the group chat. So kick off your shoes, throw on your bonnet, and welcome home!

The first episode covered TV shows that the hosts had grown up on which was interesting and now I have several new shows to look up and see if I can watch. The second episode explored finding community and how we can maintain friendships and when we have to cut off friendships. 

BlackiNQueery is going to be a fun, entertaining, and informative podcast to add to my already eclectic podcast rotation including podcasts on Art, Mental Health, Medieval History (All because I love the character of Hob Gadling from Sandman though I also enjoy the Vikings LOL), The Intersections of being Neurodivergent and being a Woman, and Modern Political History. 

Podcasts I love and which I listen to regularly include:

Talk Art: Actor Russell Tovey and gallerist Robert Diament host Talk Art, a podcast dedicated to the world of art featuring exclusive interviews with leading artists, curators & gallerists, and even occasionally their talented friends from other industries like acting, music and journalism. Listen in to explore the magic of art and why it connects us all in such fantastic ways.

Depresh Mode with John Moe: Join host John Moe (The Hilarious World of Depression) for honest, relatable, and, yes, sometimes funny conversations about mental health. Hear from comedians, musicians, authors, actors, and other top names in entertainment and the arts about living with depression, anxiety, and many other common disorders. Find out what they’ve done to address it, what worked, and what didn’t. Depresh Mode also features useful insights on mental health issues with experts in the field. It’s honest talk from people who have been there and know their stuff. No shame, no stigma, and more laughs than you might expect.

Gone Medieval: (Full Disclosure I am still slowly working through this podcast, since when I started it had online for many years so I am currently like 6 months behind, LOL) From long-lost Viking ships to kings buried in unexpected places; from murders and power politics, to myths, religion, the lives of ordinary people: Gone Medieval is History Hit’s podcast dedicated to the middle ages, in Europe and far beyond.

Podcasts that are on break which have ended but which I would still recommend:

The Neurodivergent Woman: (This podcast does a season or two each year so while it has been a little while since new episodes came out there will be new ones come this summer) A podcast for neurodivergent women, hosted by clinical psychologist Monique Mitchelson and clinical neuropsychologist Michelle Livock. Covering Autism to ADHD and everything in between, we aim to educate and inspire women who think differently.

Now & Then: (This podcast is no longer making new episodes but it is a really fun podcast and while the episodes were timely the topics were evergreen) How can the past help inform today’s most pressing challenges? Every Wednesday, award-winning historians Heather Cox Richardson and Joanne Freeman use their encyclopedic knowledge of US history to bring the past to life. Together, they make sense of the week in news by discussing the people, ideas, and events that got us here today.

Adding Devotions, Reflection, and Double Self-Love, For Lent

Yesterday was Ash Wednesday, which starts the wonderful season of Lent. Personally, I love Lent as a period of intentional self-reflection. 

(I love so much that I tend to do Elul, which is a similar period of self-reflection in the Jewish tradition, in late summer or early fall because one Lent season per year is not enough for me.)

I have rarely been someone who "gave something up" for Lent. For example, I have enough trouble eating at regular intervals and knowing what I want to eat (which is important because otherwise I just won't eat) that it would not be healthy to cut a food group out for Lent. 

I am someone who "adds something" for Lent. I will say I sometimes go overboard and add a dozen or so things, which really just overwhelms me in the end, so this year I am trying to add a paired-down list. I hope these give you a few ideas of things you could add for Lent this year.

Daily Devotions

While I plan on doing a couple daily devotions, the one I am most excited for so far is The Church of England’s Lent theme of Watch and Pray: Wisdom and Hope for Lent and Life. As the introduction to their Lent daily devotional said:

On the night he was betrayed, Jesus kneels in darkness in the Garden of Gethsemane. Though he pleads with his disciples, “Stay here with me... Watch and pray,” they all fall asleep, leaving him alone in his hour of deepest suffering. 

This Lent, all of us are encouraged to draw on the wisdom of Black Spirituality, particularly the practice of “tarrying” (waiting) as a community to draw closer to Jesus and to each other. Combining exuberant singing, fervent prayer, and quiet lament, such services typically take place at night and last somewhat longer than the “one hour” Jesus asked of those first followers.

Yes, I know it is a bit silly that I am leaning on the Church of England for this since I already go to a wonderful and amazing Black LGBTQA+ congregation, but my congregation tends not to do much around Lent or this type of Black Spirituality. Also, the Church of England's app makes it really easy to listen to each devotion. 

Reflecting Deeply on Devotions in My Journal

I also hope to use Lent as a period to reflect deeply on the ideas presented in the various daily devotions I do. For example, yesterday "Watch and Pray" ended with the suggestion to "Notice any feelings you might be afraid to deal with as we begin Lent," which, when placed in the context of a recent Queer Eye that I saw, led to some deep reflection, trying to be honest about what I am feeling and what I really need to move to a state of thriving.

Double self-love 

As part of my daily list of tasks, I already have a self-love category, but over time that has become simply having tea and going outside, which, while both are good for me and my mental health, I am planning on adding another self-love activity each day for Lent.

I think most, if not all, of these extra self-love tasks will end up being using/using up various body product samples I have collected, but that is a form of double self-love, giving my physical body self-love and giving my mind/soul self-love by using up stuff so I have less clutter and stress.  

For example, yesterday I used up a sample of some hydro-boost water cream I had gotten. 

Lent is a season for you

No matter how you might choose to celebrate Lent if you choose to do so, no matter what self-reflection you want to do this season, remember you are fundamentally an amazing human being. You will never have it all together or have it all right. Collectively we are humans and that is enough.

Ash Valentine's Wednesday: Showing Love For Kind Personifications of Death

 

Ash Valentine's Wednesday

By Dreaming Ace 

From starlight and stardust you come

To starlight and stardust you return

From Lord Dream's sand you come

To Lady Death's embrace you return

From starlight, stardust, sand 

To sweet embrace and the sunless lands

On this Ash Valentine's Wednesday

Dream, Despair, Desire, Death, Destruction, Delirium, and Destiny

All are celebrated in their own way

From starlight, stardust, sand 

To sweet embrace and the sunless lands

From Lord Dream's sand you come

To Lady Death's embrace you return

From starlight and stardust you come

To starlight and stardust you return

Happy Ash Valentine's Wednesday a day that I am using to honor and love on Death. A day where we are reminded that no matter who we are, no matter what we do, in the end we will be greeted by Death who will be a kind companion on the way to the sunless lands.  

Personally the anthropomorphic personification of Death from Sandman in the kind face I think of when I think about Death but there are many different personifications of Death. Here are a few different versions of Death. Death can become whomever you need Death to be.

Death Of The Endless

The Death who I personally Love the most

(Sorry other versions of Death)

Anubis

Azrael Angel of Death

Pizza Loving Death (Supernatural)

Billy who takes over as Death when Pizza Loving Death dies

Black Women Saints ...

Since tomorrow is Ash Wednesday I am spotlighting Black Women Catholic Saints. There are three steps to sainthood: a candidate becomes "Venerable," then "Blessed" and then "Saint." This post was inspired by listening to an fun episode of the wonderful Gone Medieval Podcast on Medieval Trans Saints & Sex Workers.

While the following saints are typically saints of women's issue such as mothers, wives, etc. they also include ranchers and butchers, alcoholics, and conversion. And two are unofficially lesbian saints which is really cool. 

Sts. Perpetua and Felicity

Officially Sts. Perpetua and Felicity are the patron saints of mothers, expectant mothers, ranchers and butchers. Unofficially some consider them lesbian saints or patrons of same-sex couples. The two women were arrested for being Christian, imprisoned together, and kissed each other in the last moments before their death

St. Josephine Bakhita

Patron saint of Sudan

Born in rural Sudan, kidnapped and sold into slavery, she converted, gained her freedom, and became a Catholic Sister; canonized in 2000 and named patron saint of Sudan.

St Monica

Patron saint of alcoholics, conversion, mothers, and wives.

St Monica is the mother of Saint Augustine. Though St. Monica was North African, and likely Black, she is often misrepresented in iconography as light-skinned or Caucasian.

Happy Love Yourself Week

 

"Love Yourself Week" is a week where we are reminded to make sure to love ourselves inside and outside. It doesn't matter if people celebrate "Galantine's Day", "Valentine's Day", or "Half Off Candy Day" self love is key. According to psychcentral.com :

Self-love encompasses not only how you treat yourself but also your thoughts and feelings about yourself. So, when you conceptualize self-love, you can try to imagine what you would do for yourself, how you would talk to yourself, and how you would feel about yourself, which reflects love and concern.

When you love yourself, you have an overall positive view of yourself. This doesn't mean you feel positive about yourself all the time. That would be unrealistic! For example, I can temporarily feel upset, angry, or disappointed with myself and still love myself. 

One way everyone can practice self love 

Is to put on some good music and have a mini dance party

Here are 9 songs you can add to your own "self love" playlist

A Sunny Friday

 

Today the sun came out

By Dreaming Ace

Today the sun came out

Dancing and playing across the sky

In a giant game of tag

The sun was captured by the trees

But they let it go after a brief pause

A reminder that we all need to

Go dancing and playing across the sky

Until we are caught by mighty trees

Mighty trees that love us

Love us inside and out

African American Presidential Cabinet Members

For Black History Month, periodically I will be spotlighting individuals who were the 3rd to be something or do something. I am choosing the 3rd* because when individuals are spotlighted, it is often the 1st or 2nd person to do something, not the 3rd, so I hope to learn about people I don't know as much about. *In general, there will be a few exceptions to the "3rd rule."

Today I am looking at the first three African Americans to serve in a president's cabinet.

Robert C. Weaver became the first African-American to serve in a president's cabinet when he was appointed secretary of housing and urban development by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1966.

William Thaddeus Coleman Jr. was the fourth United States Secretary of Transportation, and the second African American to serve in the United States Cabinet.

Patricia Roberts Harris was the first black woman to serve in a presidential cabinet when she was named to the same position by President Jimmy Carter in 1977. 

Two years later, Carter tapped her for secretary of health and human services, making her the first African-American to hold two different cabinet positions. 

She previously served as the United States ambassador to Luxembourg from 1965 to 1967 under President Lyndon B. Johnson. 

Throughout her public career, Harris was a trailblazer for women and people of color .she was the first black woman U.S. ambassador, the dean of a U.S. law school, and a member of a Fortune 500 company's board of directors. A member of the Democratic Party, she ran for mayor of the District of Columbia in the 1982 mayoral election but was defeated during the primaries, ultimately finishing second to incumbent mayor Marion Barry.

Black Presidents of Ivy League Schools

For Black History Month, periodically I will be spotlighting individuals who were the 3rd to be something or do something. I am choosing the 3rd* because when individuals are spotlighted, it is often the 1st or 2nd person to do something, not the 3rd, so I hope to learn about people I don't know as much about. *In general, there will be a few exceptions to the "3rd rule."

Today I am highlighting the first and only three black presidents of Ivy League schools. You will see it took until the 2000's for there to be any at all.

2001: President Ruth J. Simmons became the first African American to lead an Ivy League institution.

2022: Interim Penn President Wendell Pritchett was the first black president of University of Pennsylvania

2023: President Claudine Gay, a scholar of politics, gender and race, officially became the first Black woman to lead Harvard University

The First Black Album of the Year Winners

For Black History Month, periodically I will be spotlighting individuals who were the 3rd to be something or do something. I am choosing the 3rd* because when individuals are spotlighted, it is often the 1st or 2nd person to do something, not the 3rd, so I hope to learn about people I don't know as much about. *In general, there will be a few exceptions to the "3rd rule."

While I didn't watch the Grammys, covering the history of the first three African American men and women to win album of the year seems fitting for today's Black History Month Post.

  

Stevie Wonder – Innervisions (1974) | Fulfillingness’ First Finale (1975) | Songs in the Key of Life (1977)

The First Black winner of Album of the Year 

(So technically Stevie Wonder is the first, second, and third to Black individual to win Album of the year but for purposes of this post I am only counting him once)

Michael Jackson – Thriller (1984)

Lionel Richie – All Night Long (1985)

Looking at the Black woman who have won Album of the Year shows that my feeling that once three have achieved something it has started to be normalized is not always true. Black woman did really well in the 1990's but have not won an Album of the Year since. Or to put it in a different context Taylor Swift now has won more Album of the Years than Black Woman Artists have in total.

Natalie Cole (1992) Unforgettable... with Love

The first Black woman to win Album of the Year

Whitney Houston (1994) The Bodyguard: Original Soundtrack Album

Lauryn Hill (1999) The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill

First Rap Artist To Win Album Of The Year

Reckoning With Institutions ...

 

This past Saturday, my local branch of the Chicago Public Library showed the documentary "Free Renty: Lanier v. Harvard" (which you can find online for free) as one of their Black History Month showings. 

FREE RENTY tells the story of Tamara Lanier, an African American woman determined to force Harvard University to cede possession of daguerreotypes of her great-great-great grandfather, an enslaved man named Renty. The daguerreotypes were commissioned in 1850 by a Harvard professor to "prove" the superiority of the white race. The images remain emblematic of America’s failure to acknowledge the cruelty of slavery, the racist science that supported it and the white supremacy that continues to infect our society today. The film focuses on Lanier and tracks her lawsuit against Harvard, and features attorney Benjamin Crump, author Ta-Nehisi Coates and scholars Ariella Azoulay and Tina Campt.

The documentary highlighted the white supremacy and racism that was, and in many cases still is, at the heart of our institutions, whether or not those institutions want to acknowledge it. The film was a reminder of how deeply entrenched white supremacy and racism really are in our museum and academic collections and in how so many of those collections were formed.

In addition, the documentary asked who should own pieces of the problematic history of this country and what we should do about that problematic history today. Or, in other words, who should control the narrative? Our institutions are still financially benefiting from many of the items they collected without informed consent.

While in this case I think it was very clear Tamara Lanier should have won her lawsuit, the film shows the challenge of trying to find easy answers to complex questions such as how to reckon with white supremacy and racism in our institutions. In what cases should items be returned? Should items always be returned? What is the purpose of having institutions such as museums? What responsibility do museums have in terms of how they collect their collections?

Encouragement Friday: Elmo's Check In

Recently, Elmo asked how everyone was doing on social media. Overall, the answers were that most of us are struggling right now, personally, locally, and globally. People really seemed to feel like Elmo was a safe space to vent about their struggles.

And while many news outlets highlighted the fact that Elmo clearly heard that collectively we are struggling, Elmo’s query also led to some heartwarming conversations about emotional health and the importance of checking in with friends, which is encouraging. 

Know that if you are struggling right now, you are not alone in your struggles, and there are people who are willing to listen. For example, here are some of the heartwarming messages from the Sesame Street Gang that we can all turn to for encouragement right now if we are struggling.

First African Americans In Space ...

For Black History Month, periodically I will be spotlighting individuals who were the 3rd to be something or do something. I am choosing the 3rd* because when individuals are spotlighted, it is often the 1st or 2nd person to do something, not the 3rd, so I hope to learn about people I don't know as much about. *In general, there will be a few exceptions to the "3rd rule."

Today I am spotlighting the first three African American Men and the first three African American Woman in space since honestly I miscounted and started this blog thinking Ronald E. McNair was the 3rd African American in Space where as he was the 2nd but wanted to keep his saxophone so I am just expanding the scope of this post LOL (Throwing away the plan lol)

Today I am highlighting the first African American's in space (according to NASA)

Guy Bluford: 1st African American in Space

Guion Stewart Bluford Jr. is an American aerospace engineer, retired United States Air Force officer and fighter pilot, and former NASA astronaut, in which capacity he became the first African American to go to space. While assigned to NASA, he remained a USAF officer rising to the rank of colonel.

Ronald E. McNair: 2nd African American in Space

 

Interesting facts: 

McNair, an accomplished jazz saxophonist, became the first person to play a soprano sax in space.

Space limitations in the shuttle precluded flying McNair’s favorite tenor sax, so he learned to play the smaller version of the instrument for his space flight.

Frederick Gregory: 3rd African American in Space

On his second trip into space, Gregory flew as the first African American commander of a space shuttle, the STS-33 mission of Discovery in November 1989. He served as NASA’s first African American deputy administrator from 2002 until his retirement from the agency in 2005.

Dr. Mae C. Jemison: 1st African American Woman in Space

Selected as an astronaut in 1987, physician Dr. Mae C. Jemison became the first African American woman to fly in space in 1992 as a mission specialist on STS-47.

Stephanie Wilson: 2nd African American Woman in Space

Selected by NASA as an astronaut in 1996, aerospace engineer Stephanie D. Wilson completed her first mission in July 2006 aboard the space shuttle Discovery.

Joan Higginbotham: 3rd African American Woman in Space

Selected in the astronaut class of 1996, electrical engineer Joan E. Higginbotham completed her single spaceflight in December 2006, the 13-day STS-116 mission aboard space shuttle Discovery. With Curbeam on the same crew, this marked the first time that two African American astronauts flew in space at the same time.