My guest post on Nadine Tomlinson’s blog. Thank you for having me, Nadine!
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B E Y O N D V A L E N T I N E S
#Love #ThatIsAll #CommandmentKeeper #Loving through the bad times and the good. #ChooseLove
C U R R E N T M O O D:
I’m all up in my #SaturdayFeelings ridin’ with H.E.R. “I could never lose, so it’s funny how you thought you won.” 🎶 🎼 🎵 #2 in my feelings, y’all. #FacesOfAv #SheWrites #SheThinks #SheRocks #CurrentMood #HER #MusicFreesMe
H E A V Y
What have you been taught about love, and why haven’t you loved and loved fully? What pain have you inflicted on others simply to protect your neck? What role do you play in the erasure and silence of others only because of your cowardice? In the name of your “beliefs,” who have you harmed in your “loving”? Life is heavy, but so is love. It is time we sit the baggage down, inspect, and unpack it all. 😘Love is accountable, always requiring that we unpack the ways we’ve harmed and the ways we love. Love requires that we unlearn some of the ill shit we’ve learned and become in the process. Love is recognizing the seedy and vile ways in which we’ve both “loved” and withheld love from any humanity that does not mirror our own. Love is finally owning up to the emotional and physical violence we’ve inflicted on others and helping others to do the same so we can move forward in love for real, for real. Love requires all of this. If we don’t ever unburden ourselves, then we are never ever truly free. Never. Now, that is some heaviness. #RealHealing #liberation #WhatAreYouReading #books #Heavy #KieseLaymon #love #GreatReads #BlackMen #Vulnerability #loving #RealLove #PersonalNarratives #AmericanMemoir #black
F I N D Y O U R S E L F:
apart from my #RedBoots 😉 i believe that #literature is the only thing that will truly save us. Seems we’ve grown weary of listening to and beholding each other. How then can we find the divinity in anyone, let alone ourselves? Our attentiveness is anything but present. Solitude? What’s that? We live lives possessed by noise and distractions and scrolling and feeds and knee-jerk reactions and comments and pseudo analysis. We insufficiently contemplate and introspect. In saunters literature with its quiet urgency and confident invocation - inviting us to deal with our deepest selves, our most pressing anxieties, fears, and convictions. Ah, such radical and transformative power is found between the words and pages. Language both rescues and implores. Ridiculously beautiful, language forces us to be transparent with our most intimate selves.... but only if we dare. 😘 I believe this with every nerve and sinew of my being, so much so that I’ve committed the rest of my life to #writing the #stories, sharing the #narratives, healing myself, ourselves. #WritingHealing #WhatAreYouReading #TransparentTalks #CandidConversations #amwriting #StealingMySaturdays #Saturday #Solitude
Goodreads
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© 2010 – 2019 Avril Somerville aka SomerEmpress is the owner and author of this website, Life As An Art Form: Quips & Commentary in Prose & Poetry. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from Avril Somerville (aka SomerEmpress) or SomerEmpress Publishing, Inc. is strictly forbidden. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Avril Somerville aka SomerEmpress with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
A powerful post! Thank you for taking your time to compose your thoughts and ideas about the value of diverse books—your care really shows.
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Thank YOU for taking the time to read, Leslie!
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Beautifully done and congratulations!! I can’t wait to buy your book SE!
I’m a big fiction fan yet I’d never quite seen it from this perspective. I immediately thought of when I buy a book and become so attached to a specific character. Then how deeply disappointed I am when I see signs that, they aren’t like me after all (they’re conservative, don’t exactly share my values, and so on). I agree, it opens our minds and forces us to relate to someone different than ourselves.
For diversity in nonfiction, the book Colors of Nature comes to mind. It’s more compelling, IMO than the linear “pollution” narrative when it comes to social justice and the environment.
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Hey Emmy! I’ve missed you. You’ve hit the nail on the head – perspective! I will check out Colors of Nature. I’m always looking to learn something new.
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This is the link for the book BTW, it’s sort of an obscure title.
I’ve missed you as well! My work season either ends October 14, or Sept 9. I’m hoping for the latter honestly.
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I am hoping right along with you, lady. Thanks for the link. Will check it out and add it to my good reads.
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