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Examining White Privilege: Inventory

This is the 3rd installment of examining white privilege as a spiritual discipline. I’ve talked in previous posts about the “why” of examining white privilege as a spiritual discipline and the “when.” This installment focuses on the inventory phase that traditionally begins spiritual disciplines, including that of examining...

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Black History Month Recs: ALL

Here it is! What you’ve all been waiting for! All 28 recs for Black History Month on Black authors whose work I love! Seriously, that’s what it is. February 1 I’ll start with American fiction writer Charles Himes. He’s best known for his Harlem detective series with Grave Digger Jones and Coffin Ed Johnson. But I’d like to...

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Black History Month Recs: Last

The end of February has arrived. Thus has my last installment on Black History Month recs. Go here for the earlier recs on Black Authors whose work I love. And now for the last! February 23 Mississippi author Linda Jackson’s Middle Grade novel Midnight Without a Moon is a delight. I fell in love with the protagonist from the get-go. The descriptive...

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Black History Month Authors: Part 4

Or maybe this is part 3. I’m getting lost. Whatever, here’s the latest (and penultimate) installment during Black History Month with recommendations on Black authors whose work I love. You can read earlier recs here. February 16 I came to Octavia Butler so late in life it’s embarrassing. My only excuse is that I haven’t been much...

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Recs on Black Authors: Part 3

it may not be time for the 3rd installment in my recs on Black authors during Black History Month, but I’m ready to do it. You can see the 2nd installment here which will link you to the first as well. February 10 I started Jesmyn Ward’s Salvage the Bones, and never finished it. I thought, to be honest with her plot, Ward couldn’t let...

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Black History Month Authors

Time for the second installment of Black History Month authors (you can read the first set of authors here). Some you’ll know, others might be new. I hope you enjoy them all. February 5 Crystal Wilkinson is a Affrilachian poet and fiction writer from Kentucky. I was lucky enough to study under her at The Glen last summer. We arrived,...

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White Privilege as Spiritual Discipline: When

When I wrote about examining white privilege as a spiritual discipline, I had no idea how unoriginal it was. Turns out, Episcopalians, Lutherans, Adventists, Unitarian Universalists, United Church of Christ, Mennonites, Presbyterians, Baptists, and Methodists–all acknowledge examining white privilege as a spiritual discipline. Apparently,...

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Our Different Realities

On this Martin Luther King Day, I acknowledge a truth. The years of us white folks embedding racism in American society has warped our perception. We whites see different realities from Black folk, every day, day-by-day. If I’m inside the white community, I experience life in America differently than those who aren’t. How Different...

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White Privilege as Spiritual Discipline

White people hate the term “white privilege.” Why? Because life is hard for all of us. “Privilege” implies ease, and our lives have not, in fact, been easy. Also, as Americans, we value rugged individualism. Only those who made their own way in the world count as successful. No silver spoons for us, thank you very much. You...

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New Cowboy Boots: A Conversation

Suddenly, I was overwhelmed with the need to buy a pair of new cowboy boots. Every Christmas when I was a little girl, we got a new pair of boots. In lucky years, we got the whole nine yards: turquoise jeans, snap shirt, belt, hat, and the boots. My beloved husband agreed to wedge this shopping trip into an already complicated, whirlwind trip...

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