Summer, 1963 ~ Photo by Danny Lyon from his book: Memories of the Southern Civil Rights Movement  ©1992

Even though I grew up in the 60s only 11 miles as the crow flies from Leesburg, Georgia, I only learned about this event in 2005 while visiting my hometown of Albany when I saw the photo above and several others at the Albany Civil Rights Museum (now Institute). In 2011 during a trip back home to research my novel, Peach Seed Monkey—yes, still a work-in-progress—Dr. Carol Barner-Seay, 4th from the left in the photo, granted me an interview. I published a post last July on this event and am gratified to see the undertold story finally getting much deserved attention. Read more…

Easter Sunday, April 16, 2017
Working on a novel is like having a newborn: it lets you know when something’s wrong and you can’t ignore that cry. When there’s a mess you change it and you forget to brush your teeth because personal hygiene falls by the wayside while you are in service of a new life. Read more…

Langston Hughes 1936 photo by Carl Van Vechten

Poets in Unexpected Places pop up at the holiday market in Union Square with poems in response to police brutality, a day after the non-indictment for the killing of Eric Garner. Abena Koomson performs “Let America Be America Again” by American poet Langston Hughes, written in 1935. It was originally published in the July 1936 issue of Esquire Magazine. It was later republished in the 1937 issue of Kansas Magazine and was revised and included in a small collection of Langston Hughes poems entitled A New Song, published by the International Workers Orders in 1938.

 YouTube video published on Dec 18, 2014: Read more…

March 8, 2017 Stacey Plaskett, the delegate to the House from the Virgin Islands, brings her 7-year-old daughter to the Capitol for the “Day Without a Woman” protest. Melina Mara/The Washington Post

Click on the photo to read The Washington Post article

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Try following this paradox of modern life ~ the very clothes we wear to exercise, practice Pilates or take a hike could be coming back to bite us in a lovely slice of tuna or salmon. Thank you to The Story of Stuff Project for continuing to lead global changemaking for a healthier planet. Watch their new film about the perils of polyester (we knew it wasn’t cool, even back in the 70s).

Read my past post on The Story of Change

Women’s March Oakland 1.21.17

Because sometimes we just need to laugh ~ and you don’t even have to make this stuff up!