“History, despite Its wrenching pain, Cannot be unlived, But if faced with courage, Need not be lived again.” —Maya Angelou “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” was the #3…
Abuse does not always begin with a bruise. Sometimes it begins with humiliation. Sometimes it reaches for your name. In this episode of the We Survive Abuse Podcast, Tonya GJ…
I thought I knew Sylvia Plath. I swear I did. I mean how you “know” a person you study. I liked her work, and time and again I answered college-level…
Now streaming on Amazon Prime There is something very familiar happening around Is God Is. (The Color Purple? Eve’s Bayou? Is that you?) A Black woman creates a story about violence,…
I went to grade school with a girl who might put you on the mind of the loveliness of Nina Simone or Victoria Santa Cruz. People were extremely cruel to…
There are some women history remembers only halfway. It remembers the stage, but not the wound. It remembers the gown, but not the prison. It remembers the applause, but not…
Living in the West is not what makes a woman safe. Privacy is not modesty theater. It is part of bodily safety. It is shield. We do not give that…
updated from June 22, 2025 Nina Simone’s song, “Four Women,” is powerful because each woman has been made into someone else’s story. Aunt Sarah is expected to carry pain. Saffronia…
updated from April 2025 “We’re supposed to pretend that if we are “good girls,” a “good man” will find us and give us everything that we want. About money. About…
“I’ve never seen or heard of anything like this!” Black people have been telling the truth about violence for a long time. Not for attention. Not for spectacle.…