Of a crumbling house and bended knees
We can all agree that this country is not perfect. Some parts work very well. Other parts are very broken. Naturally, because we want a more perfect union, we want to fix what is broken. Because there...
View ArticleNurturing the third eye
This past weekend, “Rachel” opened at Portland Stage. Set in the 1920s, the play explores racism, colorism, and the effects of the two on the black psyche. I am blessed to be a part of the production....
View ArticleNo to this “Oh”
Too often, White America has selective memory when it comes to the past. It reminds me of my tween daughter’s forgetfulness around things like chores, and yet she never forgets when her allowance is...
View ArticleLooking for Black love in a sea of white apps
As they sometimes say: The struggle is real. In this case, the struggle of being a Black woman trying to find love or at least the seeds of it in the dating pool. I have been on BLK, Bumble, Coffee...
View ArticleHow are you showing up for Black women in Maine and beyond?
“De ni**er woman is de mule uh de world so fur as Ah can see.”– Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God Zora Neale Hurston published these words in 1937 and yet in 2018 those words still ring...
View ArticleFascism takes shape and ICE is key to that…and not just at the southern border
Look, I’m about to get into some serious shit, so let’s start off by lightening the mood. Check out these silly-ass animals! I hope that brightened your day. OK. Now for the serious shit. The United...
View ArticleIf you see libraries as the enemy, then you’ve needed more libraries in your...
There are some things you just shouldn’t do because it’s just mean, or maybe stupid, or possibly something that would bring a smile to Dick Cheney’s or Sean Hannity’s face—which is only a short step...
View ArticleLittle Black girl: A Halloween costume and a white woman’s threat
Today’s post is a first for the blog written by guest writer Dontavis Hines, and you can read about him in his own words: My name is Dontavis Hines. I typically go by “Dante” and recently started using...
View ArticleFalmouth’s Black babysitter
A white family of four became really good friends with me while I was working at a Starbucks coffee shop a few summers ago. I was a workaholic, making people their lattes by day and being a full-time...
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Meeting with a governor and aiming for real progress
For the past eight years, Maine has been the laughingstock of the nation with our outgoing governor, Paul LePage. A man who was essentially the starter Trump, LePage was the ghost of America’s future...
View ArticleMy racism turning point
It required a lot of emotional pain for me to begin understand how, as Rev. angel Kyodo williams says, “love and justice are not two. without inner change, there can be no outer change; without...
View ArticleBeing Black in a white state: Why I “stick it out”
This story ran in Maine’s largest paper this past Sunday and it reminded of a question that I was recently asked by a Black woman from the south. What is it like to be a Black person in such a white...
View ArticleAfter the turning point, Part 1
Losing a friend because I was steeped in white supremacy (and didn’t even see it) was the beginning of my turning point in racial justice work; she showed me that my “writing for white people” in a...
View ArticleCalling All White People, Part 33: Racism isn’t the white person’s call
(A periodic attempt to mobilize white people for something other than supporting just other melanin-deficient folks and maintaining a status quo of a nation geared toward whiteness as the baseline and...
View ArticleActions I take (as a white woman) to help dismantle white supremacy
[An evergreen reminder: I am a white woman writing about racism so I might share with other white people what I learn—mostly what I learn from people of color—so we can all work toward societal...
View ArticleRaising kids of color in very white places
For the last several years of my marriage, while we never doubted that there was love between us, we were uncomfortably aware that there was something deeply amiss in our relationship. We spent our...
View ArticleIf you see libraries as the enemy, then you’ve needed more libraries in your...
There are some things you just shouldn’t do because it’s just mean, or maybe stupid, or possibly something that would bring a smile to Dick Cheney’s or Sean Hannity’s face—which is only a short step...
View ArticleLittle Black girl: A Halloween costume and a white woman’s threat
Today’s post is a first for the blog written by guest writer Dontavis Hines, and you can read about him in his own words: My name is Dontavis Hines. I typically go by “Dante” and recently started using...
View ArticleFalmouth’s Black babysitter
A white family of four became really good friends with me while I was working at a Starbucks coffee shop a few summers ago. I was a workaholic, making people their lattes by day and being a full-time...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Meeting with a governor and aiming for real progress
For the past eight years, Maine has been the laughingstock of the nation with our outgoing governor, Paul LePage. A man who was essentially the starter Trump, LePage was the ghost of America’s future...
View Article