Me When I Finally Step Foot On The Motherland

Just because they were with you through your depression, doesn’t mean they have to stay with you through your progression.

Some of us stay with people because we don’t want to abandon them at a low point.

Some of us stay with people because we were with them through such low points and now that their doing better we feel like we earned the prize of their growth that came at the end.

Sometimes when we are the depressed and someone sticks with us we feel like we can’t leave because that person was with you when you were your worst.

But we have to evaluate.

If your growth means you have outgrown the relationship, then it’s okay to leave.

If that person was with you at your lowest but you don’t think they can help you reach your highest then it’s okay to bounce.

Part of growth is being able to recognize what you need, and then taking steps to obtain it.

If a person has reached the end of a relationship , then it’s okay to move on.

Don’t worry about being polite.

Worry about what’s best.

If the new you isn’t 100% here then it’s because the new you should be somewhere else.

If you are trying to think of ways to make something work then your ignoring the ease that will come with the right thing in your near future.

Look at the tortoise and the hare.

That bunny got too comfortable , he held himself back. He kept stopping to look at the flowers, take naps, and do eveything but move forward.

And the tortoise!

He may not have gotten there fast but he made it to his destination right on time.he got their right when he was suppose to. He knew where he needed to go and he didn’t let anyone or thing stop him from moving forward.

Now this could be your partner, your job, your friends, your family, your location, your strongholds.

Whatever is holding you back, leave it.

When you see what you could be

When you see where you could be

Once you know that your potential is endless

Don’t stop

Take yourself to the end.

The world will keep moving forward with or without you. But where do you wanna be ? Still holding onto something at the starting line, or jumping through the valleys of freedom and possibilities at the finish?

Let go

What is meant to be will be.

Lord, should I do better or keep acting a fool?

Do better

I’m sorry ? I don’t think I heard you correctly , come again?

....

God?

....

Okay okay cool cool cool

God be sending me signs clear as day and my dumb ass still be like

My Family looks good They’re glowing Their spirits shine through Clear as day They’re each going places Taking off And never turning back My family looks, Hella Good

Truly a Young Queen

Diversity

I grew up as one of the only black kids in my bubble

There were kids of color but not in my honor classes

Not in my neighborhood

My mom didn’t live near my family she didn’t like them that much

So we were separated

What I know is general black history knowledge

What I knew is what tv taught me

And then my mom didn’t even let me watch spike lee or roots till I was in high school.

What I crave is dates stories histories and facts

In the push for diverse material and works to spark conversations , faculty aren’t prepared to lead conversations.

It’s like we just want to start discussions but no one knows what to say.

We want to include people in conversations but the story you want me to present I don’t have

It’s hard to speak up for the black experience and be that voice when I don’t feel secure about my own blackness.

I too want to talk about different cultures

I too want to be educated

You can’t look to me to educate you when I am looking to you to educate me.

This is why representation matters

Because if you don’t know

And I don’t know

Then who does?

Who can educate us

Who can spark these conversations

Who will teach the unspoken history

Who will rewrite the textbooks

Who can give us the language to begin to explore what we truly wanted to talk about.

Identity

The other

When we read Lynn nottage I can’t tell you what black people think about the work

I can tell you what I think

But please tell me what Lynn was thinking

Tell me about her experiences and how it came through in her story

I can relate

Maybe

And if not then glad we all shared a conversation over this single perspective

Mr.Nobody

Today I watched a movie about a 9 year old who didn’t like to make decision unless he knew how it would change his life.

In this film I thought about myself

Naturally

And the unnatural parts about me

Like

And this is no joke

Sometimes I think I see the future

I use to say I could either see myself dying really young or really old and there was never any in between

I’ve seen my life with a boy

I’ve seen our family

I’ve seen the Christmas card

I’ve seen us taking over the world

I’ve seen myself with another boy

And us rocking in chairs together

Us laying in bed as the kids ran up and down the halls

I’ve seen us holding hands over breakfast

And bickering before bed

I’ve seen a life where I’m with a women

And she makes me the happiest I’ve ever been in my entire life

Never is there a moment that we don’t see the brighter side of things

We live in California I think

Because every time I think of us it’s always so sunny

Sometimes I see myself alone

I have a cat

And I mostly wear simple blacks and Denim

I work hard

My home has few plants

I get so much accomplished and I am really successful

But I’m alone

I’ve seen a life where I die at 27

With a white lighter in my hand

I lived an artsy life

I had enough stories for everyone to talk about st the funeral

But I was never truly myself

I was drowning in my obsession of chasing happiness

And one day I don’t make it

I’ve seen myself jump from many ledges

Crash the same car over and over

Crash someone else car

I’ve seen myself as an old lady who lives at the end of the culd es sac

I bake pies

And give piano lessons

I wave at the kids who board the bus for school

It’s actually just the house at the end of my block now

I’ve seen myself many different ways but which one is right

I don’t think I’ve decided yet

Sometimes I’ve seen myself on a path

And I know I could choose it

It’s clear as day what that life would be

But something says no

Something says this isn’t meant for me

And I listen

And I turn away

I may be left in known

But it’s my life to discover

I’ll figure it out

And each choice I make is always the right one

Even the choices I didn’t make

They were right too

Just for a different me

Or a me that doesn’t know it’s me

And sometimes

Things I didn’t choose now just weren’t meant for this moment

We can’t go back

Nothing with ever be the same

And time will always move forward regardless if we’re pushing it or standing still and it’s passing by

But whatever is meant to be will be

If I said no today maybe tomorrow it’ll be

If I said goodbye last week maybe in the next twenty years I’ll be ready for our next hello

Maybe I made a decision that made it easier for someone else to make another decision

Maybe I oberlooked something for someone else to find

Maybe I’m not the me I want to be

Maybe the me I didn’t choose is still waiting for me to discover her

Or them

Or him

But the me I am is the me I was meant to be

The me I will be was always meant for me

I’ll get there

Because I am me

I am me

I am

I

One day you’ll realize your hero’s are human

AFROPUNK

A ‘COLLECTIVE PORTRAIT OF JAMES BALDWIN’ AS ART EXHIBIT | AFROPUNK

'God Made My Face,' a Manhattan gallery exhibit curated by the writer/critic Hilton Als, explores the visionary writer's biography and inter

I have to go see this

WE ARE THE REAL ART .

Joseph Acquaye

Model: Alfreda Amponsah New York Photographed by Me