I RANT!! Day 7! Count Down To 50!

I've been MIA because I'm trying to get my book published by my Birthday. It's taking all of my energy. Then yesterday I got side-tracked by some comments on my blog. So I'm addressing them today. I'm over.it... I say it all in the video... Yes I RANT! Yes it's 15 minutes... But I needed to say what i needed to say!! Hope your day is great! I'm pressin my way!


I'm still on IV medication. My hope is to be off on Sunday. Please say a prayer. #IcannotdoitAlone







Today's Video!! Day 7th! Count Down To 50!

Coming Soon! The Politics of Respectability!!!

Coming Soon! My Second Book, "The Politics of Respectability." I’ve wanted to write a book by my 50th birthday for at least the last eight months. Something that spoke to the very core of who I am as a woman. My 50 years of wisdom about sex, dating, self-love and being true to one's self. Everything seemed to have gotten in the way and I continued to procrastinate.

Book Cover!

Then May 1, 2011 I received a call that would change everything, including my life; forever. After I dried my tears I sat at the computer and the words simply flowed. Delta Sigma Theta Sorority rescinding my membership as an honorary member gave me the fuel and became the catalyst I needed to unpack a larger issue that I tackle every day. What kind of woman I am? Am I, “respectable,” enough as a Woman, Christian and Minister.

While this book is autobiographical in nature, it's not even close to my full story. My memoir, "UnProtected" is yet to be published. This book is however, my story. It unpacks the core of who I am and what I do. This is who I am, with all of my passion and zeal. I don’t know how to be anything else. I am my ministry and my ministry is wrapped around my journey. My experiences have shaped me for better or worse and they inform my day-to-dayness.

My journey landed me into Delta and it landed me out of Delta. This book traces my journey from Mama to Men and how that shaped the woman I am, which in the end lead to my collision course with, “The Politics of Respectability.” I will use my story in first person, some of my most provocative blog posts from my Diva Living With AIDS Blog, as well as, my seminary and PhD studies to craft my collision course with respectability that ended in my expulsion from Delta.

The book will be released first as an Amazon Kindle and as soon as we can finish the lay out, you will be able to get paperback from Amazon book to order. Now I'm going this route because I don't have the funds to print it myself. As soon as I can pull the funds together I will begin distributing the book as well. Not sure how long that will be.  Stay Tuned for the Release Date!! It's Coming Real SOON!

Post Script:  I may be short some blog post this week because I'm trying to complete the manuscript. I learned today that I will be on IV medication through this week... It will be a fine balance managing the side-effects (right now I'm they are kicking my tail) and finishing the book... But the book will be completed no later than my Birthday!! 

Mother's Day Blog Winner!

The Winner of the Mother's Day Contest.... This is her blog post about her Mother unedited by me...

Mama

My mother had me when she was 22 years old. I was her first child. She has smothered me with love so much that for years, the only quality I thought I would desire in a mate was a man who would spoil me like my mother did. I had Clarks heels before I was eight and she made sure to dress me up fancy all the time. She says when I was a child, she spent most of the time knitting me gloves and socks and head socks and making sure I stayed on a mat so I wouldn’t get dirty. Even today, I see it in the way she buys me expensive perfume and make up and calls me up every other day to find out how I’m doing that she dotes on me.


We had our issues when I was a teenager but even then, I never doubted her true feelings about me.

When my mother was taken ill in May 2008 (she was diagnosed with HIV in 1996), I was scared but she was stronger than us and let us know every single day that the LORD’s promises did not include death at her age. This picture was taken on my visit to the hospital. It was not allowed for caretakers to share beds with the patients but we’d wait until after lights out so that I could climb in beside her. It was more comforting for both of us that way. And I was twenty whole years old!

Here she was struggling with nausea and her teeth enamel had been severely erroded by constant vomiting but she was still smiling for the camera (I took the picture). That’s Mama. Always calm in a storm. Her recovery took a long time, about half a year, and even then, she lost use of her legs. In this time, I have come to appreciate my mother’s strength of spirit. She still works extra hard at her sewing machine. She taught herself how to tailor, how to paint and has had several businesses wherever she has lived. She’s an enterprising woman. If you can see the plaits in her hair on the hospital bed, yeah, she taught me that too. I had uncountable dolls while growing up to practice with. She has had nine children and although she now remains with seven, I don’t know how she does it but everyone believes they are her favourite child. She dotes on her children and her husband and talks about God every day of her waking.

This picture was taken last year, a day before my graduation day. I was fresh out of a four hour bus journey from the town I was doing my internship and was trying on the outfit for the next day. She was working in her shop, as evidenced by the tape measure around her neck. She has since moved to a bigger shop and it’s business as usual. Mama had a government job before her illness in 2008. She lost it later but even that hasn’t held her back. She is self employed and takes making the most of everything to a higher level. My mother is a very special woman and I hope to God she knows it. Sometimes I don’t know how I can let her know this in words or actions. She’s beating AIDS, stress and work like the true winner she is. I love you Mama, and when I grow up (never mind that I’m turning 24 this May), I want to be just like you.