I promise my children that this summer would be our return to the movie theatres and I have kept that promise. The first movie we checked off our list was the live-action remake of Disney’s The Little Mermaid starring Halle Baliey and Melissa McCarthy. As a black woman, there was no way I wasn’t going to support this movie when it came out with good or bad reviews. My family dollars were needed to counter all the race haters who planned on boycotting in honor of all the real mermaids who lost out on the role. My Review. I give it a three out of five. I know, I know, I know but hear me out. It ..read more

Halloween is my favorite time of the year. Scary movies and even scarier books. Here is a list of ten horror/thriller novels back black writers. All blurbs are courtesy of Goodreads. The Weight of Blood by Tiffany Jackson When Springville residents—at least the ones still alive—are questioned about what happened on prom night, they all have the same explanation… Maddy did it. An outcast at her small-town Georgia high school, Madison Washington has always been a teasing target for bullies. And she’s dealt with it because she has more pressing problems to manage. Until the morning a surprise ra ..read more

Experiencing Microaggression. Photo by Godisable Jacob on Pexels.com One of my addictions is juggling a lot of balls at one time. Life doesn’t feel right if I don’t have a million things going on. Makes me feel like a slacker. When this incident happened I was I am taking a cohort that focused on Diplomatic Leadership. A course that tries to ensure I am culturally sensitive as I pursue my leadership track. I’m sure my classmates can’t stand me because I always bring up black shit. For example, we had to do this feel-in-the-blank exercise. It read, “The culture I identify with is _____ and it t ..read more

There is no doubt a lack of representation when it comes to outstanding work in many book genres. Science fiction and horror are the two of the hardest genres to find an abundance of black work. Selected from the shelves of Target, I listened to the audiobook on the Libby App. In the Pan-African world of Eshoza, in the broken city of Lkossa, Koffi lives as an indentured servant for the city’s Night Zoo. On the other side of the social scale is Ekon, a studious young man, who is on the verge of becoming a Son of Six, an elite band of warriors. When these two first meet, just for a brief moment ..read more

Eleven-year Ella Durand, a intellectually curious conjuror, has just been selected to be the first Conjuror to attend the Arcanum Training Institute. A magic school that trains children from around the world in cultural arts. You see conjurors aren’t seen as equals in the world of magic. They are believed to possess a dark evil magic, but Ella’s father Sebastian has been working hard to change conjurors place in the magic world. Young naïve Ella has no idea how the magic world really sees conjuror’s and is bubbling with excitement over attending the Arcanum. An excitement that is trample upo ..read more

Photo by Gideon Hezekiah: https://www.pexels.com/photo/girl-in-white-turtleneck-6894978/ Now I don’t know if its because I finally took my AnsetryDNA test ( I’m 34% Nigerian, and guess what I’m 5% Irish, take that St. Paddy or whoever), but my soul has been loving the current Nigerian artists swirling around on Beyoncé’s internet. Sidenote: did you know Sade, real name Helen Folasade Adu, was born in Nigerian. I you really do learn something everyday. Lets look it who I’ve feel for. Tobe Nwigwe– born Tobechukwu Dubem Nwigwe, although he was born in Houston, Texas, he is of Nigerian descent, Ig ..read more

At forty years old I’m still not in sync with my ADHD. That may be because I was diagnosed late in life and and was kind of already set in my ways. It’s funny that growing up I’d never thought about black women having ADHD. Being unorganized, messy, and late were just things I assumed was part of my personality. Being undiagnosed is the worst part. There were times when I would break down in cry because I couldn’t understand how others could manage it all and I couldn’t. No matter how hard I tried I just couldn’t function like everyone else. When you get diagnosed and actually get some therap ..read more

Like many folks, I love a good who doneit. The keep you on your toes, page turner type of book. Karin Slaughter and Nora Roberts- writing as J.D. Robb- are my favorite go to authors when it comes to this genre. I’ve been dying to find a black mystery author in that same realm. Ya’ll this book……. aint it. It wasn’t horrible, it just wasn’t great. The book is about Lena, a college student who happens to be the unknown, unseen daughter of a rap mogul. Lena has a half-sister Desiree a disgraced reality star and former drug addict, who is found dead in a playground. Cops assume its a drug overdose ..read more

There is no secret that I stan for black culture. I mean I love everything about black people and black culture. Hell the only thing I don’t like black is my coffee. Debate your mama because that mess is nasty. Anyways, back to the topic. Viola Davis is hands down one of my favorite actress. Unlike many, who fell in love with as Viola when she played her award winning role as Annalise Keating, in How To Get Away With Murder, I feel in love with Mrs. Davis when she played Teresa “Terry” Randolph in a episode titled the Badge on Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Oh ya’ll Terry was a bad ass, sh ..read more

Jacob Lawrence was born in Atlantic City, on September 7, 1917. When Lawrence was seven years old, his parents divorced, and placed him and his sibling into foster care until he was thirteen, at which time they moved to New York City. His mother enrolled him in arts and craft class at the Utopia Children’s Center. This was his first exposure to the arts. Even when he dropped out of school at 16, he continued to attend art workshops in Harlem. One course was taught by famous sculptor Augusta Savage, who later secured a scholarship for Lawrence to attend the American Artist School. Harlem becam ..read more