9/15/20: "Literary Therapy: Writing (for) Your Life" is a dynamic, interactive, non-clinical six-week therapeutic writing program that harnesses the cathartic power of honest reflective writing, group readings and discussion, and collective vulnerability to explore mental and emotional wellness (joy, stress, loss, trauma, self-love, affirmation, fear, shame, etc.), curate self-care strategies, and thrive amidst uncertainty, conflict, oppression, violence, etc.
More information here.
Appearing during Tea with Queen & J’s Virtual Juneteenth Kickback on 6/19/20 (info & registration here)
For the last few weeks The Body Keeps The Score: Brain, Mind, and Body In The Healing of Trauma by nosy Dutch psychiatrist/busybody Bessel van der Kolk has been wearing me out. I highly recommend it.
Also just started a screenwriting book, The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller by John Truby.
Other brilliant things:
I’m Telling The Truth, But I’m Lying by Bassey Ikpi
Heavy by Kiese Laymon
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabella Wilkerson
An American Marriage: A Novel by Tayari Jones
Also, I have a readerly group situation: Miss Celie’s Book Club. Join us.
When I first moved back to Virginia in September 2018 after a few harrowing years in New York, my main priority was making it through the day and scraping together as many reasons as I could find I stay on this here planet. I spent those weeks recovering from what felt like a nervous breakdown and spending time with my mom. I wrote about it for my site, the colored boy.
This is is my mother’s favorite thing that I have written: finding joy in the little things.
AlexGottaEat #321: a garlic & cheddar/pepper jack loaf [Medium]
The Buffet at The Buffet in XYZ, Queens blessed my soul. Sushi pon sushi. And crab legs.
There’s always time for banana pudding from Magnolia Bakery.
Prevailing against spiritual ashiness and letting your soul glow takes daily work. What are you doing to getsomejoy in the Golden Age of Dumpsterhearted Foot-Faced Presidential Swampdonkeys? Here are five things that brought me joy in the past month or so:
Tumbling and reading with my eighteen-month-old godson and pouring confidence, wisdom, and tummy rubs into him to armor him and help him evade ancestral disappointment on his journey towards his First Electric Slide.
Stomping folks out in Bop It Extreme 2 battles.
Facilitating a free monthly peer support group and finger wave sculpting academy at GMAD in Brooklyn for Black LGBTQ folks.
Asking for extra gravy whenever possible.
Practicing gratitude for being alive at the same time as Our Lady of Dancebreaks, Saint Damita Jo Jackson of Gary, Indiana, First of Her Name.
What about you?