Do yourself a favor and watch Doom Patrol.
I relate to Ms. Woodson. I read slowly too. I remember when the 6th book of Harry Potter came out, I had the book for a couple of days before one of my friends did. However, she finished several days before I did. I asked her how she did that and she responded that her teachers taught to read for context, so she didn't read every word in the sentence. That blew my mind. Not only did I read every word, but my imagination is also so active that I would pause in my reading to watch it play out. I am a big believer in reading the book before deciding to see a movie or tv adaptation. I choose not to see many adaptations, but on the other hand, I do decide to see them more often than not. The narrator's voice is at it's most authentic self when you read and your interpretation of that voice says a lot about their ability to submerge you into their story and your ability as a reader to create.
As I was reading Q'ell Betton's "What's In A Name," he mentioned that he had a girlfriend who told him that she would not change her name. I rooted for her on the spot. I know that feeling, I have always said the same. As I mentioned in "Radicalization," I have a family tree that is 15 pages long that traces my grandmother's surname to 1795. I am one of the lucky ones. The truth is that we never moved from the lands from where we were slaves. The abolishment of slavery happened in 1865, so we have county records for the people alive at that time. So I will take on my husband's name but in hyphen form. I refuse to drop my surname because I can trace it too far back. It's my legacy; it's my history.
I started boxing almost 2 years exactly ago. The first thing boxing taught me was I grossly underserving my body. Getting up at 8 am, being at the gym by 10 am for two hours, and then going to work from 1 pm to 8 pm every single day of the week with 2-3 hour workouts on the weekend was slaughtering me. Instead of eating on my lunch breaks, I was sleep. I felt good physically and mentally but my body was not sustaining which meant I was finding it hard to get the results I wanted too.
I have been reading people's responses about the effect of lockdown is having on them. For the most part, you find positive stories. Stories about resilience and people discovering themselves. I believe that over the next couple of years, we are going to see a ramp-up of small business owners because of this. People are believing in themselves and others like never before. We can see it with the BLM Movement. For instance, I ordered a Malcolm X shirt 6 weeks ago. It just came today in the mail because that is how slammed these small black business owners are right now.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands; one nation under God, indivisible, for liberty and justice for all.
