Celebrating Our Differences
How are voting rights connected to Confederate monuments in the south? While voting rights for African Americans were initiated through the Civil Rights amendments following the Civil War, a long backlash followed that disenfranchised black people throughout the south until the 1960s. In 1901, the state of…
The Roseman Covered Bridge. Covering enhances the life of a wooden bridge. Shelter, what shelter? That’s cynical me scanning an environment that isn’t particularly sheltering for Black folks. The concept of shelter seems obvious but deserves a little excavation. As I considered “shelter,” I became enamored with…
(excerpt from notes by Jon Perdue) Okay. I will start. You may not ever see it. You may not read it. But I owe it to you. Someone owed me too, but that is alright because they did not know. They did not know that their stories…
For years I have been hearing that the “Goddess is emerging”. I have understood the statement to mean that when the feminine energies are brought into balance with the masculine energies, people, in wholeness, can exist in harmony with all life. What does harmony look like in practical…
As a Garden Spices Contributor, Dr. Joyce Brown has graced our pages with her many insights on caregiving, education, and affirming the beauty of life. However, nothing is more heart rendering than when she lets us peek into her family’s strength, revealing the foundation for how she became…
Bradley University, class of 1971, represented the most significant number of black women enrolling at one time. Unless you came with a friend and requested her as a roommate, the university decided each black girl should have a white roommate. On the cusp of womanhood and away from…
Acculturation is the cultural modification of people by adapting to another culture. Growing up in Rockford, Illinois during the 50s, ’60s, and ’70s, black people were expected to change to housing, education, and employment settings designed for whites only. In the September 1949 issue of Life magazine, postwar Rockford was described…
As a young child, I was made aware of my heritage. My maternal grandmother is Mexican from the southwestern border of Arizona, and my maternal grandfather is Italian, a man from Pennsylvania, whose parents came from the tip of the boot of the country of Italy. Family rumors…
People I loved Bangkok! The busyness of the streets awakened my senses – delectable food smells on every corner, the vibrancy of the colors, fashion, and ornate temples, but I cannot feel the pleasure of any trip unless the warmth of the people touches me. They did. In…
It was Pitru Paksha or the fortnight when Hindus remember their Pitra or ancestors. In the lunar calendar the two weeks are sandwiched between the Ganesh festival and Navratri Goddess festival corresponding to the Krishna Paksh or waning fortnight of the Bhadrapada (September) moon. It is believed that…