Claire Keane
roma★
macklin celebrini has autism
⁂
Stranger Things
Three Goblin Art
we're not kids anymore.
$LAYYYTER
if i look back, i am lost
hello vonnie
Andulka
AnasAbdin
Kiana Khansmith
PR's Tumblrdome
almost home
titsay
🪼
dirt enthusiast
Love Begins
祝日 / Permanent Vacation
seen from Bangladesh
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@kristyhinds
When I see this amazing image of myself captured by the PHENOMENAL @evn.photography Two of my favorite all-time quotes represent how I feel. 1. "I have survived enough things that I have earned the right to speak my mind." -Halle Berry. || 2. "Nobody puts baby in the corner." (I'll let you figure that one out). 😉 #freedom #becoming #warrior #blackbraidedandbeautiful
"Oh, make me wanna holler And throw up both my hands Yea, it makes me wanna holler And throw up both my hands Crime is increasing Trigger happy policing Panic is spreading God know where we're heading Oh, make me wanna holler They don't understand Dah, dah, dah Mother, mother Everybody thinks we're wrong Who are they to judge us" - Marvin Gaye, 1971.
"Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it." - Proverbs 22:6
Jesse Williams, Race & Women’s Inequality.
Jesse Williams, Race & Women’s Inequality.
I was drowning and did not know. Until the words of Jesse Williams pulled me up from underwater did I take a breath and rediscover my air.
On my first day of kindergarten my brother was entering 7th grade. I was shy and scared. I prayed my parents would come back and pick me up. Another little girl came over and asked, “Do you want to be friends?” I said “yes.” We are still friends today.
While waiting in line with my backpack dressed in my newly pressed uniform I overheard snippets from a few parents.
“What do we have like 3 or 4 of them now?”
“If more keep coming this school is going to go down.”
“They are taking up spots.”
I was only 5 years old, but I knew when someone was talking about me. My brother made his way over to my line. The mother’s continued to mutter. My brother both protective and unyielding at 13 turned to those women and said, “You don’t own the school. We have a right to be here.”
The bell had not even yet rung. I had an advocate and a friend. We need both in life. I went to my first day of class bruised but not broken. Over the years I have had many more days like that first day of kindergarten. I have more than a million examples of both overt and innuendo forms of racism.
I am an Associate Pastor. The church is not a safe haven from bigotry. I have watched men wrestle with wanting to extend opportunity to women in leadership within the church. I have sat in meetings and seminars as women and benevolent male advocates strain his or her voice to speak of equality. I have walked away hearing men whom I had respected rumble about women “taking” men’s jobs. I will be here all day if I share my thoughts on segregation in the church.
I did not know that bigots in their privilege owned the seat and the table. I had failed to be informed that my rights being a Black and female human were in opposition to a fantasy that some hold being women and people of color can only sit at the table if invited.
I have heard this nonsensical rhetoric my whole life. Embarrassingly, I admit at different points in my life I believed that my color and my womanhood were of less value. Although, strong and encouraging parents raised me the weight of oppression from negative self-talk, magazine images, misogynistic music, and not seeing myself represented in leadership had taken its toll.
Over the past few years, I have grown spiritually and intimately in my relationship with God. The strengthening of my faith has made my voice strong and brave. I recognize my worth. I feel free. For a long time I feared speaking on topics like inequality and justice. Somewhere a long the way I learned that speaking my mind in a way that might make others uncomfortable was neither my place and would be deemed inappropriate.
If you have people in your life who insist that your words opposing injustice are inappropriate --- cut those people off from speaking into your life.
I have no credentials that often verify a speaker. I am not an actor. I do not hold a PhD. I have not intricately studied texts on racial reconciliation nor women’s issues.
I am a Black woman with a voice and a story. I am not drowning. I am breathing. I fear if I do not speak up I will always fear for my Black Father, Black Brothers, Black Nephews. I will fear for their bodies and those who would try to physically harm them. If I do not speak up I will perpetuate the lie that women should be soft, demure, and go quietly to her corner.
I am healed. I have chosen to take up my mat. I have chosen to walk.
Tell your story.
(John 5:1-28)
Waiting Well.
Waiting blows! When I think of waiting memories flood my mind. Pictures of myself biting my nails, pacing my living room, or the oscar-worthy smiles I’d hold all the while my mind was racing like cars on a motor speedway. Round and round my thoughts would go and where they’d stop --- nobody knows!
While waiting -- if I were losing hope -- there may have been an urge to isolate with pizza and binge watch any season of Grey’s Anatomy on Netflix.
I will not confirm or deny.
However, I do my best to lean on what I know has proven to work for me EVERY SINGLE TIME I have had to wait for something.
Scripture.
“Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!"
....and then I would come across some CRAZY statement like this!!! A call for me to be strong while I am waiting. Okay, God.....let me process this...
I feel physically strongest when I'm lifting weights at CrossFit. There is no room for fear. I have to quiet my mind and hope that my training and practice has prepared me to lift a heavy bar. There is no nail biting. At CrossFit strength looks like a pause, deep breath, and then taking the courage to lift something because in my heart I know that I am prepared.
The Psalmist says "Let your heart take courage." I am a survivor of rape. I remember waiting on God. Waiting on him to mend my broken heart, to heal my anger, to make sense of what happened, to heal me of my shame. The journey of my healing took nearly two decades. This verse reminded me that my wait was a period of strength and courage. Slowly, God guided me towards safe, restorative, healthy counsel. I had to be strong and courageous to walk through many doors over time. Sexual trauma tried to steal me from myself.
I have my power back. I have my voice back. My courage roars like a lion. I thrive. Do not give up on your journey of healing. Do not give up on your pursuit of fullness. You have dreamed the dream. You have made plans and watched the dream turn into vision. Opposition will always be an adversary. However, hold on against the wind. Press back against the tide. In the face of your naysayers....the things and people in your life who say "no" --- Do not bite your nails, do not pace the room, do not let your mind race. Instead, pause, breathe in, believe in your heart and lift!
"I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!" - Psalm 27:13-14
Isaiah 40:29-31
Take advice from those who are DOING and have done what you are dreaming to accomplish. You will get there. We're already on the journey to arrival. #amwriting
Enjoying my Christmas tree on the last day. Growing up we always took down our tree the morning of January 7th. Culturally we celebrated El Dia de Los Tres Reyes. Instead of Christmas stockings and Santa you left your shoes out for the wise men who visited Jesus to bring you a gift. It's funny the traditions we decide to let go of---and the ones we keep when we have places of our own. #memories #culture #traditions
$30 just changed my life. For my fellow writers in the submission stages....this book is a lifesaver!!!! #amwriting #writer #guidetoliteraryagents #2016
#currentmood // revelations 7:12
Got my tix to see Chronicles of Narnia this weekend! There's still tix available for THIS Fri & Sat. Support this amazing theater's @actoutlb productionS. This #LongBeach community program is close to my ❤️. A community theater & outreach program serving kids 6th grade and up. Tuition FREE brings people from all socioeconomic backgrounds together, but specifically targets underserved youth to help them discover their creative potential! The sets are UNBELIEVABLE! Visit the website for tix actoutlb.com --- if you're in the arts please contact me to volunteer your time for a production!! Acting, set design, costume design, lighting, make-up, live audio, & photography! (at Light and Life Community Center)
So GOOD!!! Even though I read all 3 books and knew the ending I still cried! Amazing storytelling from the imagination of Suzanne Collins! I think one of the best book to movie adaptations #hungergames #mockingjaypart2 #amwriting
50,000 words in 30 days! Just finished the 1st draft of my 3rd book and my first fiction novel! I won @nanowrimo // The hardest part of being a writer is being so vulnerable. The best part of being a writer is being so vulnerable. It's like bleeding all over a page with truth that you didn't even know existed in your subconscious until there it is living and breathing in one of your characters // You have a gift (everyone does) --- do it everyday even if it never brought you acclaim or made you a dollar. I can guarantee you will begin to feel as if you are living your purpose. You'll see God operating in and through you. You'll gain confidence as you accomplish things you didn't think you were capable of and then you'll find yourself encouraging others with uncontainable excitement. That feeling is what people are really chasing our whole lives and it's free. #nanowrimo #amwriting
Today is my grandma's birthday. You've been in heaven for some time and I'm sure celebrations for you life are fantastic especially for a life that now goes on and on! I miss you. See you again. 🎤 "Look at the stars Look how they shine for you And everything you do Your skin Oh yeah your skin and bones Turn into something beautiful You know you know I love you so You know I love you so"
Writing my 3rd novel since 2013. I'm 9 days in and 17732 words done. Roughly 33k left before finishing before the end of the month. My first fiction novel. I'm on the edge of my seat. I have no idea what will happen to these people, but the story is growing on me. #writersofinstagram #nanowrimo #writer #writing #challengeaccepted
The ONE good thing about Halloween and the one time I actually miss having TV. #classic #thegreatpumpkin #theonlygoodthingabouthalloween
"I have been one acquainted with the night. I have walked out in rain—and back in rain. I have outwalked the furthest city light. I have looked down the saddest city lane. I have passed by the watchman on his beat And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain. I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet -- When far away an interrupted cry Came over houses from another street, But not to call me back or say good-bye; And further still at an unearthly height, One luminary clock against the sky Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right. I have been one acquainted with the night." - Robert Frost #literature