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Take Care of Yourself: 7 Tips for a Joyous Life!
Most of us assume that aging equals a steep decline in health, but that doesn’t have to be the case. Your behavior has more of an impact on your well-being than the actual aging process. The following tips will enhance your ability to enjoy the pleasures of a long life! Tip #1: Get enough sleep! In a society that promotes the rat race, sleep is de-valued. Many people still brag about how little sleep they need. But their lack of concentration, increased stress, moodiness, weight gain and increased risk of injuries, diabetes and heart disease prove how wrong they are. To function properly, we all need 7 – 9 hours…
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Historical Fiction: Honors Our Past & Contextualizes the Present
History has always fueled my imagination. Black History, in particular, ignites a proud wonder inside of me. As members of a diaspora spawned from the evil of chattel slavery, most black people realize the past is never really past. It often walks hand-in-hand with the present and shapes the future, negatively and positively. I first learned about the “Tulsa Riot” while searching for more information on Rosewood, Florida back in the late 2000s. Greenwood’s existence and it’s even lesser-known resilience after the massacre inspired me to tell Black Wall Street’s story over a decade later from the perspective of a young woman who survives and thrives along with the community.…
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Snippet from an Earlier Blog: Time Equals Change
(This is from a post on my original website.) The Nubian Barnstormer’s story spans the years of 1917 through 1946. I’m a history nerd, so I was eager to delve into how major events like World Wars I and II and the Great Depression would affect Ava Odell and the people in her life. I enjoyed the hours of research necessary to capture the evolution of fashion, technology and entertainment during that time period. The rise and fall of hemlines. Communication by telegram and the expansion of telephone service. The discovery of dances that would have been popular with Ava and her friends and learning the steps myself so I…
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It’s Easy to Feel Overwhelmed
When you feel piled on by layer upon layer of evil attempting to suffocate good. When people who you’ve imagined were decent individuals merrily participate in the destruction of what’s right—not only those you already know are unethical and immoral. It’s easy to feel powerless. Some people don’t believe in the concept of evil, but I do. Racism, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, bigotry and destroying the environment top my list of sins. Included in the list are all the ways they’re manifested. For example, allowing 21 year-olds to legally buy AR-15s and make toddlers orphans. While not allowing anyone to provide water to citizens forced to stand in long voting lines…
