I would like to be known as an intelligent woman, a courageous woman, a loving woman, a woman who teaches by being.

The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime.

Your vibe is contagious. Make sure that’s a good thing.

The signs saying ‘Whites Only’ may be gone, but there are invisible ‘Whites Only’ signs everywhere.

When I was 12 boys slid their hand up my thigh and slapped my butt. I smiled and took it because I didn’t know it was okay to say stop. I didn’t know that I could say no. So, when the principal calls telling me my daughter is suspended for punching a boy who wouldn’t stop touching her, I will cook her favorite meals. When she tells me how she cursed at the boy who wouldn’t move his hands off her knee even though she asked him to, I will smile and pull out her favorite movie to watch together. I will celebrate the fact that she accepts her body as her own and knows she has the right to say no. I never want my daughter to think her body belongs to men, because it is her own and my god should she be proud. I will teach her it’s more than okay to say stop, something I wish I had known when I was that age.

I want to see Lupita Nyong’o as an unlucky-in-love wedding planner in a frothy romantic comedy. I want to see David Oyelowo race against the clock to save his wife and child in a big-budget action thriller; I want Chiwetel Ejiofor to sweep in as the miracle bachelor in a Nancy Myers movie. I want to see Idris Elba as fucking James Bond already, instead of just hearing about how great Idris Elba would be as James Bond. I want actors of color to have the same freedom to make good choices and bad choices and challenging films and mindless popcorn paycheck fluff as every other major performer and director in Hollywood.

Let them miss you. Sometimes when you’re always available, they take you for granted because they think you’ll always stay.

No one is owed luxury lingerie. No one is entitled to the most expensive thing at the very cheapest price. People charging a fair value for their labor and expertise is not a ripoff. Beautiful, well-made lingerie costs more. And it should.

Take a shower, wash off the day. Drink a glass of water. Make the room dark. Lie down and close your eyes.
Notice the silence. Notice your heart. Still beating. Still fighting. You made it, after all. You made it, another day. And you can make it one more.
You’re doing just fine.