Honoring Nikki Giovanni’s Legacy of Growth and Humanity
Nikki Giovanni, a poet whose words and presence moved mountains. Born Yolande Cornelia Giovanni Jr. in 1943, she became a leading voice in Black Arts and Black Power movements. Her poems like Ego-Tripping and Knoxville, Tennessee captured the richness of Black life and imagination, blending sharp societal critique with deep personal insight. Giovanni’s book Love Poems won the NAACP Image Award, and her collection The Selected Poems of Nikki Giovanni is a testament to her range and brilliance. She wrote about love, justice, and everything in between with an honesty that resonates across generations. Nikki was also unapologetically queer, an aspect of her identity that enriched her work and underscored her courage to live authentically.
The Perils of Summer Love: Love Bombing & Gaslighting
I’ve been thinking about what it means to listen. Listening is a form of active engagement which I think is different from hearing. Hearing is physiological. Hearing is a passive and automatic sensory process. If we have the privilege to hear, we don’t control it. Listening is an active and intentional process. It involves paying conscious attention to the sounds we hear, interpreting them, and understanding their meaning. Listening requires focus, cognitive engagement, and often emotional involvement. It's a deliberate action that goes beyond mere auditory perception to include processing and comprehension. We don’t have to have the physiological function to hear in order to listen.
The Road to Forgiveness: A Journey Paved with Grace
Within the fabric of our lives, forgiveness intertwines a delicate thread, binding wounds and healing scars. The road to forgiveness is not an easy one; it is fraught with pain, resentment, and sometimes, an overwhelming sense of injustice. Yet, as you traverse this challenging path, you'll find that forgiveness is not just a destination but a transformative journey, guided by the profound force of grace. Here are some ways to approach it: