#ashley ford

[blackqueernotables]

Ashley C. Ford: writer, podcaster, and educator

[mydailybookquotes]

“I fell in love with my body. I loved it the way it had always meant to be loved: ferociously and compassionately. I did not like the way I looked every day, but I loved myself.”

-Ashley Ford, Somebody’s Daughter

[coconutscentedshawty]

“I was confused because I did not want power from my mother. I wanted her to acknowledge the pain in my body and heart.”

-Ashley Ford, Somebody’s Daughter

[aquotecollection]

When children are small, our desires seem small, even if we want the sky. Anything we want seems to be only a matter of time and effort away. It’s too early to imagine what’s already holding you back.

Somebody’s Daughter, Ashley C. Ford

[winstons-and-enochs]

My mother was torn. She saw my exposure to new things, and my delight in the world opening up to me, as proof that she had done something right while raising me. She also saw it as an attack on her place in my life.

I loved this article by Ashley Ford on moving up to a different social class to your parents.

[thechanelmuse]

How One Woman's Tweet Helped Pay Student Lunch Debts Across the U.S.

New York City writer Ashley C. Ford hated knowing that thousands of school children—saddled with unpaid lunch accounts—were being offered embarrassing substitute meals in their school cafeterias. Wanting to make a difference, Ford took to Twitter, imploring her 66,000 followers to take action.

According to the Associated Press, Ford's tweet had a major impact: She inspired hundreds of people to raise thousands of dollars. In fact, an online campaign raised nearly $100,000 for lunch debt in Minneapolis and $28,000 in St. Paul's schools, the AP reports, while efforts in Topeka, Kansas, paid off $6,000 in debt and a movement in Bellevue, Washington, erased $2,000 in unpaid lunch dues.

As the AP noted, children from low-income families can qualify for free or reduced-price breakfasts and lunch. Some of these families, however, still struggle to pay the cost of reduced-price school meals, which can lead to their children's lunch accounts being overdrawn (other instances of lunch debt can come from families who may not realize they qualify for discounted meals and fail to fill out necessary paperwork, or from parents who can afford to pay for meals but forget to put money in their children's prepaid accounts).

Though most schools allow students to "run a tab" for a fixed number of meals, others will offer students an alternative lunch option, which can consist of just a cold cheese sandwich and a carton of milk.

One woman, Jill Draper, who worked to collect money for schools in Kingston, New York, told the AP she was moved to take action because Ford's tweet made it seem easy.

"It seemed like a really easy way to make a positive difference locally," Draper said. "It's amazing how one tweet became this crazy movement." And that's exactly what Ford wanted.

"I sincerely just wanted to think of something really easy that people could do to make a difference locally," Ford told the AP. "It was just one idea; another school might need help with uniforms or tutoring. The point was to do something that helps people in your community."

Source

Brilliant!! Why haven’t I ever thought of this?? Def doing it and the other suggestions that’s bolded!

[odettecarotte]

In our small kitchen, I wanted to cook for everyone and anyone, which mostly ended up being Kelly. It was a developing skill, but to my surprise, I was not a disaster. It was one of the ways I was learning to soothe myself, suggested by a therapist who told me,

"Take the time to feed yourself food that feels good and tastes good.

Who better to do that for than you?" It felt like exactly the kind of thing you pay someone to say to you. I still did it.

Ashley Ford, *Somebody’s Daughter *

[minoritiesinpublishing]

How this writer changed her relationship to fear and transformed her life

"For a long time, fear was my ruler. Everything was about fear."

“If you sit down and you work on your art or your goal or your dream every day, or you even think about it every day and work toward it every other day — every third day is daily enough. If you come back to something every third day, it won't feel like you’re giving up, even though you’re taking a break. If you’re thinking I’m not working the hardest I could have or maybe I’m working too hard, just know that wherever you are right now and whatever you’re feeling, all of that is useful. It’s OK that it’s hard. Let it be hard. If it’s hard, that means you’re going to reap the benefits of it being hard. You have to just know that you’re doing the work.“