On September 3rd 2020, after a three-year-long hiatus since releasing her seminal debut album CTRL, R&B artist SZA appeared like a star in the night to drop a music video for her…
personal essays
Endowed with all the peculiar arrogance of a third culture kid, I’ve never thought of the Atlantic Ocean as uncrossable. All those miles of angry water, which for centuries have turned trips…
We were at my grandmother’s funeral, 13 of her kids, and several dozen of us grandchildren. The priest was trying to complete the reading of his passage but my one aunt had…
I didn’t believe I would make it here, to my mid-twenties. I have struggled with suicidal ideation on and off in my life since the age of thirteen, and attempted suicide at…
“Are you ready to have a good day?!” I ask my baby girl in the morning, while en route to school. “Yeah!” she yells with no shortage of enthusiasm. My brown-skinned toddler…
Welcome to Black Women in Quarantine aka #BWIQ, where Black women from around the world share life from quarantine and how it’s changed for them. March 2020 delivered something indescribable to us…
Rather listen to the story instead? Hear it via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or listen to it online here. Another one bites the dust, but hey! Who’s counting? Hello there: it’s me, Jalyssa…
bell hooks said, “grief is most often unrelenting when individuals are not reconciled to the reality of loss.” Growing up, I was insulated from the idea of loss.
“Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it. – Albert Einstein While often exhausted and infuriated, I try not to take for granted all that…
Since I left the U.S. two years ago, I’ve written thousands of words about my experiences. Some I’ve shared with others, other words are way too personal to reveal and are best kept for myself.