What to write...

If you are an amazing writer, simply lacking in inspiration, the following are a list (in no particular order) of books or stories that I would like to read. Feel free to steal them and hit me up when you're done writing them, 'cause that would be awesome.

1) People of the exploded sun

: A post apocolyptic tale of the brown skinned people who survived the solar flares because of their melanin.

2) Really Good Cookies: The story of the guild of grandmothers who banded together to smuggle marijuana through cookie making.

3) The Holy Rollers: This would actually be even better as a documentary if you could convince a team of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence to form a roller derby team that competes against both men and women's teams.

4) Deep cover: The going undercover as another race story has kind of been done, but what about doing it long term as a part of witness protection. What crime could someone have committed that would keep them from being their race for the rest of their life. There could be aliens involved.

5) Walk the lines: The story of a professional picketer in love with a corporate union buster, think Romeo and Juliet at Walmart. This would be a great musical. Snapping fingers and blue polos vs. hippie protester gear.

6) The last Asian cowboy.

7) The New Flag: A reverse colinization story where the colonizes rise up and take over the colonizer's country.

8) Rich People and Fairies: The secret life of imprisioned fairies that make obscene wealth possible...what happens when they escape.

9) Margaitaville: 7 philanthropic bartenders make a vow to spend their summer traveling by RV around the country to deliver killer inproptu margarita parties to unsuspecting communities. But are they all on the same page or is there a secret agent among them delivering more than just drinks?

10) Blade vs. The Cullens: Sparkly Vampires meet the Daywalker.

11) JET Life: The story of 3 very different English teachers living in Japan. I might actually want to write this one....

12) The story of the first drag queen president.

That's all for now. Feel free to add any ideas you would like to see.

The Dirty 30/30

30 poems in 30 days. That's the challenge, to write a poem a day for 30 days. There is an actual movement where you can sign up to get poetry prompts, but I decided to just freestyle. I am writing to you from day 14 and so far I have written at least one poem a day, sometimes more. The key is not to think too much about it. It's not about that edited, perfectly polished piece of work, it's about that raw expression of whatever is on your mind. So far it's been really fun. I like having an excuse to write. If you want to follow along, then like my book page on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/God-Hair-Love-and-America/270627429724844. I post my poetry each day as I write....so you get it fresh. And feel free to comment or ask questions.  

Please Join Me For SING: This Saturday!

SpiritVision is presenting a new SING!

Concert on Saturday, May 11, 2013 at 7 PM, hosted by St Lukes Lutheran Church in Bellevue.

SING! is about individuals from a wide variety of spiritual communities coming together and celebrating Spirit in the form of ‘Deeply Rhythmic Music’ and this year. We feature choirs and choral groups such as Spirit of the Sound Community Choir, Amor Singers, and Liberation Choir. This year, we are also featuring Sacred Dance.

Our pre-concert reception will be 5 – 7 pm and will include reflective time to walk the Rainbow Labyrinth, networking of several sponsor organizations, a youth-focused Poetry presentation and Drumming.

Another major feature in this year’s SING! event is the recent release of Rev Allen Mosley’s book, ‘Finding The Joy In Cancer’ and opportunity to hear highlights of his story and obtain an autographed copy. I will also be reading from my books God, Hair, Love, and America and Love and Guatemala and copies will be available for purchase.

Most significant is the connections made between individuals and groups that might not otherwise find reason to come together, and the friendships formed build bridges that continue to connect us for months and years beyond. Come and be part of this incredible spiritual ‘tribal’ gathering where our common ground is Love and ‘Deeply Rhythmic Music.’

All are welcome!

LOVE: Put it in a letter

I got my first love letter in the fourth grade. It was written in red crayon and compared my skin to a churchy cookie. I still don’t know what that means, but I was very flattered and a bit disappointed as I got older and love letters became less common. Love email or love texts are just not the same. I confess I am a bit ridiculous when it comes to romance. I want champagne and chocolate, and Bollywood musical moments. I want to be serenaded by roving choirs (this did happen once during Carnival in Spain and it was very cool). Wine and dine me damn it! I’m talking hand holding in parks, picnics by fountains, Prince concert tickets, the whole shebang. And yes, I want love letters, lots of them, written in purple ink and scented with cologne. We can put this on the long list of unrealistic expectations I have about love, which is an entirely separate blog post.


On the first Sunday of every month I host a group called the Soul Writers. It’s from 12:30-2:00PM at 2528 Beacon Ave S in Seattle, WA for those of you who happen to be out my way. The purpose of the group is for those of us who love to write, but have let life get in the way of that love, to have a space to reconnect with writing. We write, we share, then we project plan, so we can start making progress on our writing goals. This last meeting I decided that I was tired of looking in my mail box and finding credit card applications where love letters should be. So our free write prompt was to write a love letter to ourselves.

I had never done this before, but it was a pretty awesome experience. I should have done this years ago. I mean who knows me better than me? I recommend you try it for yourself. In the meantime, feel free to borrow my letter until you find the words you most need to hear.

Dear _____________,

You are awesome! (And not because anyone else said so.) Whatever other people say or do, however they choose to see you, is their business and has nothing to do with you or your awesomeness. You are not diminished by their opinions or perspectives unless you choose to be. You have made that choice several times before, but that was then and you live in the now of your own choosing and what you are choosing is brilliant.

You are co-creating the life of your dreams! You make choices and when you don’t like the results, you change your choices. The soul of you is a lover, a traveler, an adventurous smiling peace. You are beautiful. Beauty flows through your actions and intentions. You are love. Love and light guide your every step. The lessons aren’t easy, but they aren’t always hell either. You are a miracle, your every success, your every failure a victory, because you did it.

Everything you pray for is possible. Every prayer is answered and the answer is always yes. What do you want to say yes to today? What would you like your lived experience to manifest?You have lived in lack and sorrow and never enough. Is it time now? Are you ready for more and more? For joy and abundance, for always more than enough? Because I love you this much. Are you ready to receive it? Simply breathe peace, simply open up into yourself and claim the goodness that is waiting there to unfold.

You are so loved. I love you. You are so held. I hold you. You are perfect and complete as you are and as you ever will be. You are my beloved. I cherish, honor, and care for you. You are the heart of my heart, the soul of my soul, my forever companion, my best friend, my light, my life, my joy, my passion, my peace, myself. I love you.

Love and Guatemala: The Book Launch!

Thanks again to everyone who came out for my book launch. It was an awesome experience to be able to share my work and little of what went into it. Love and Guatemala is a collection of poetry and one not very short story written over the course of several years. The Guatemala section was written as a part of one of my five trips to Guatemala. The love section are just my from time to time poems. The story was inspired by David Levithan, one of my favorite authors and editors. Here is the video of my launch. Special thanks to Jeff Jordan for filming and of course to Rev Allen Mosely and the Amor Spiritual Center for hosting not only my launch, but also my monthly writer's group.

Still Brave. The Evolution of Black Women’s Studies.- An Interview With My Mom

As March comes to an end, I wanted to take a moment to celebrate Women’s History Month and I thought what better way than to interview one of the coolest women I know…my mom. As a fourth generation black feminist, I have been blessed to grow up in a community of amazing scholarship and activism. While most people can easily list the ways in which their mother has contributed to shaping who they are, I am fortunate to also be able to discuss how my mother and her colleagues have shaped the perception of black women in the world.

In 1982 scholars Gloria T. Hull, Patricia Bell Scott, and Barbara Smith published a ground breaking anthology, All the Women Are White, All the Blacks Are Men, But Some of Us Are Brave: Black Women’s Studies. “That was an intervention into the marginalization of Black women,” said Stanlie James, Professor of African and African American and Women and Gender Studies at Arizona State University. The title came about as the result of black women being systematically ignored and excluded from both Women’s Studies and Black Studies.

“Merely to use the term, ‘Black women’s studies” is an act charged with political significance. At the very least, the combine of these words to name a discipline means taking the stance that Black women exist-and exist positively- a stance that is in direct opposition to most of what passes for culture and thought on the North American continent.” wrote co-editors Global T. Hull and Barbara Smith in the 1982 edition.

The anthology was a success. It became what is called an “evergreen”, meaning that the press continued to print it because people continued to buy it. After a few decades it became clear that the field had greatly expanded and that it was time for an updated version. The Feminist Press invited Nellie McKay, co-editor of the Norton Anthology of African America Literature to begin the daunting process of re-envisioning this project. She invited my mother, Stanlie James to join her in co-editing the new anthology.

Unfortunately, McKay passed away before it could be completed, leaving behind a spectacular career of scholarship and very explicit instructions to Stanlie to have their friends and colleagues Beverly Guy-Sheftall, and Frances Smith Foster collaborate with her to finish the project.

It took several years, but in 2009 Still Brave. The Evolution of Black Women’s Studies, was published. “What we did first was to survey the field, and what we found out was that the field had absolutely blossomed in the interim period. We were thinking of doing a regular anthology, but once we saw what was written and the fact that Black Women’s Studies had permeated so many fields, we had to pick a selection,” James explained.

The anthology includes works from accomplished and established scholars including bell hooks, Alice Walker, the Combahee River Collective, Audre Lorde, Paula Giddings, Patricia Hill Collins, and young upcoming scholars such as Nikol G. Alexander-Floyd and Evelyn M. Simien and many more. The collection is not meant to be a best of the best, but rather a broad representation of the field, a space for people to engage in the field of Black Women’s Studies. “It’s a way to pay homage to a book that was almost paradigmatic in the field and it was also a way to say this is what we’ve accomplished and to think about what we need to do in the future,” recounted James.

That future lies in globalization. “Black Women’s Studies is globalized. The future is to acknowledge that it is not just an Afro-American thing. It is diasporic. At the same time it speaks to all women of color,” stated James.

Black Women’s Studies, beyond helping to propel black women from the margin towards the center of history and scholarship, has also been influential for creating space for the stories of others. “We have provided a role model for Native American Women’s Studies, Chicana Women’s Studies, and Asian American Women’s Studies. All of that developed after Black Women’s Studies. Now they have gone their own way and used their cultures to shape their scholarships,” stated James.

Some will call it a cannon, a milestone, or a legacy, but to me, Still Brave is a gift and a challenge, the gift of knowing where I come from and the challenge of defining what lies next in my future. Thanks Mom.

Reagan Jackson and Stanlie James

Want to check out the book for yourself: http://www.feministpress.org/books/stanlie-m-james/still-brave

Book Review: Finding The Joy In Cancer by Rev Allen Mosely

Finding the Joy in Cancer was not the book I expected to read, but definitely worth reading all the same whether you have any experience with cancer or not. Even though Joy is bolded in the title, I assumed that this book would be about Reverend Allen Mosely’s fight against cancer. Instead it turned out to be much more about the ways in which we often unknowingly fight against ourselves. Its a highly personal exploration of how actively choosing joy can transform even the worst circumstances.

The book is written in a personal narrative that includes a series of blog posts / journal entries written during the time Rev. Allen was diagnosed with HIV and AIDS, then later Lymphoma and Renal Carcinoma. So not only do you get the perspective of someone who has moved beyond cancer, but you get a glimpse of what he was thinking during the early stages.

You might think that this would be depressing, but Rev. Allen is one of the most steadfastly optimistic people I have ever met and it comes though in his story. Still there is a realness behind all the rainbows and sunshine as well. “I was always looking outside myself for all the answers. I was always holding someone else to blame for all the things going wrong in my life. Always looking for the reason to hate myself even more and hurt myself for being such a bad person,” he writes coming to crux of one of the many unexpected lessons found in this book-personal responsibility.

When I reference responsibility, I don't mean that if you're bad you'll get cancer. When I was 12, my best friend's little sister passed away from cancer and she was one of the best people I ever met. Rev Allen practices what I would call "Now What". So you find out this terrible thing is happening to you, rather than wallow in it, you are at choice. You get to decide who you will be irrespective of the circumstances. That is your responsibility. Rev Allen chose to be joyful. He chose to celebrate his life even when it would have been so easy to mourn it or to surrender to what many would have viewed an inevitable death sentence. If life hands you lemons, you are supposed to make lemonade, but what happens when life hands you cancer? I know very few people who would be able to honestly find anything to squeeze out of that, but that is the brilliance of this book.

“You know I would never choose to have cancer…but if it has to happen I am so very happy for the wonderful treasures it has given me. My faith, my willingness to let others in, and the love of my dad in a way I have dreamed all my life.”

I really enjoyed reading this book, partly because it gave me some insight into the man who is the leader of my spiritual community, but also because it made me reflect on my own life. What secrets am I harboring? What is behind my own mask and how does who I am and how I think manifest itself in my life? Reading this made me want to enter into an honest dialogue with myself.

“I was in the process of finding my true self and a path to loving the person inside for who I was.” I would also like to be an active participant in my own process of self love and discover (without needing to get cancer to force me into it).

It’s a quick read and very accessible. I recommend it.