Category: Cultural Thoughts
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From Okra to Sugarcane to Shirini Danmarki: When Home Shows Up, Belonging Does Too
From Okra to Sugarcane to Shirini Danmarki: When Home Shows Up, Belonging Does Too
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“Who likes okra?” Chef Michael W. Twitty asked us last night. We were circled around a bonfire, some of us in chairs we brought from home, others on logs sawed into makeshift stoops. Almost all hands flew up, including my 16-year-old daughter’s. Side conversations sparked up around me about how…
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15 Survival Lessons from Octavia Butler’s Earthseed Series
15 Survival Lessons from Octavia Butler’s Earthseed Series
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I extracted these lessons from Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler. I also shared this list on TikTok and, as one person commented, “People spend a lot of time pointing out the ways [Octavia Butler] predicted today’s tragedies. They forget to see the ways…
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Sankofa in the Rail: Notes from the Ancestors at Coffee Bluff
Sankofa in the Rail: Notes from the Ancestors at Coffee Bluff
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Today felt like a love note from the ancestors. I was on set for Port SAVant’s music video “Movin,” which features a snippet of my TEDx Talk layered into the track. The song is all about returning to self, moving with purpose, and honoring our origins. So it felt perfect…
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“Ain’t No Way”: Okra, Perloo, and Proof We All Cousins
“Ain’t No Way”: Okra, Perloo, and Proof We All Cousins
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I talk to Moustaph almost every day. He’s my Wolof tutor, based in Senegal. I’m in Savannah, Georgia. Our sessions are part language lesson, part cultural exchange, and part catching up between cousins—because that’s exactly what it feels like we are. We always start with greetings, because in Senegalese culture,…
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Against the Grain: On Quilting, Rebellious Spirits, and the Miseducation of Wendy Kendrick
Against the Grain: On Quilting, Rebellious Spirits, and the Miseducation of Wendy Kendrick
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“When the house creaks or makes some weird sound, I just say ‘Hey, Ms. Aminah.’ I figure she’s just tipping through to see what I’m working on.” I smiled when Wendy Kendrick, the 2021 Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson Fellowship recipient, said that. The fellowship includes a three-month residency in Ms.…