Celebrating Our Differences
This was a lesson in the process of managing fear so I can hear what I need at all times. We must learn to capture these understandings for daily use…maybe even to save our own lives. I wasn’t afraid but cautious and vigilant. I surveyed the room again…
It is said that it takes an average of about 7 years to get a proper bipolar disorder diagnosis. Mainly because people only seek help when they’re depressed. I believe it. I first went to therapy when I was 17, in 2001, and was told that I have…
“I don’t know what to do… can you help me? “.. were the words spoken to me from a lady whom I had just hired and who was living with a partner threatening physical & sexual abuse. My immediate response was, “YES!” I had no idea how this…
Remembering Peter Still There is a historical marker on Pine Street in Florence commemorating a building where Dred Scott lived and worked as a slave in the 1820s. Scott of course gained much notoriety when he attempted to purchase his own freedom in 1846, an event that…
A father’s process on gratitude is much like life… always changing. I am the proud father of two sons, Christian (nearing age 15) and Morgan (nearing age 11). The testosterone levels in our house are at an all-time high. Looking back, I would call my fatherhood experience thus…
This piece about Black Hair emanated from a Facebook post by one of our most treasured Guest Contributors, Frank Malaba. I thought it compelling that a South African school would discriminate against hairstyles that were African; that a campaign had to be started to thwart the expulsion of…
I believe, for every drop of rain that falls, A flower grows… I believe that somewhere in the darkest night, A candle glows… I believe for everyone who goes astray, Someone will come, to show the way, I believe, I believe… Excerpt from I Believe, by Jeffrey Curtis…
It’s funny that you want me to be okay and that you have so much to say about a past that’s based on secrecy and muted lies. It’s funny to me that you don’t see the irony in the community dialogues that tell me in a nice way…
The story of the Thomas-Rapier family of Florence is an extraordinary one that deserves a more prominent place in our community. It is uniquely American and inspirational, a rare story of African American achievement and optimism in the antebellum South. Intending to research only James T. Rapier, a…
When I first took up the topic for this edition, innumerable songs came flooding into my head, including, of course, Janis Joplin’s version of Me and Bobby McGee and Odetta’s rendition of the post-Civil War song, Oh Freedom. But when the stark realization hit that I couldn’t sing…