Making Waves

Staying strong in unpleasant situations isn’t easy, but a lot of us find ways to push through. The word of the day is  strength.  There have been different areas of my life where I’ve personally felt stuck in different holding patterns that I’ve done just about everything to break out of.  And holding patterns aren’t easy to break.   When I want change, I pursue it with everything I’ve got. The tricky thing with holding patterns though is that they can take a lot of time, patience, persistence, focus, and tenacity to break. And while pursuing change, there can also be incredible amounts of rejection, discouragement, weariness, and disappointment with not seeing progression where you desire it. Weeks ago, I received an unexpected email from a woman I met at an event I attended a month ago, and when we connected, she sent me the picture used in this blog. The picture and the quote attached to it were timely and a reminder to me to stay strong an...

Love Jones is one of my favorite movies. It’s also a classic in the black film world.  It’s a story about a relationship between a professional writer named Darius Lovehall (Larenz Tate) and a creative photographer named Nina Mosley (Nia Long). They’re both hard-working and focused creatives, striving to break new ground in their careers, who also happen to fall for each other in the process. Let me just say, Darius Lovehall was  everything  in this movie. He comes close to perfection (at least I think so) and he checks the following boxes: handsome, smart, soulful, funny, gainfully employed, and charming. What I love most about  Love Jones  though, is that in addition to the story between Darius and Nina, everything else about the film from the soundtrack, cast, settings, and dialogue, just flows well.   During one memorable scene, Nina referrers to Darius as a “Renaissance black man.” And I thought that description was wild because whi...

Can you work my shift? Can I have a moment of your time?  (This won’t seem like a big deal at first… but the time adds up and can interrupt your day, workflow, opportunities, and time spent working on your goals.)  Can you babysit for me? Can I borrow your car? Can I get a ride? Can I borrow some money? Do you have tickets to that concert, show, or game?  Can you, will you, why won’t you? And the requests could go on and on.  This world is filled with givers, takers, and users.  I’m amazed at the different requests that have come my way, sometimes, regularly. And I’m especially baffled when these kinds of requests come from anyone I either don’t know well or those I have known or have a history with who would not and sometimes outright refused to help me whenever I needed help or was struggling. Sometimes people who perceive that you are well off in life don’t get that you may have had (or currently have) struggles or lack in differe...

That recent episode of   Power  was something, wasn’t it?   Things definitely didn’t play out the way I thought they would, but I have to say, it was nice to finally see things coming together for James “Ghost” St. Patrick.  James is handsome, charming, intelligent and street-smart, and I admire his ability to move through controversies and conflict, and still rise to the top, no matter how insurmountable the obstacles. While he has had some questionable business practices and compromising ethical choices when it’s come to running a business, finding love, taking care of his family, and doing his best to protect everyone he loves, as a major decision maker he teaches three important lessons I believe many of us can benefit from.  1. Know How To Be Strategic.  On  Power,  James is a businessman who also happens to be an impressive criminal. Whenever he had a business deal go bad or crossed paths with anyone who threatened his family ...

I’ve been mistaken for being in ministry several times.  And I can assure you that I’m not… unless you consider writing and storytelling to fall under that category.  I’m no preacher, pastor, minister, first lady in training, or an obnoxious and insecure Christian who thinks a title will boost my confidence or make me important. I have no aspirations to be in any of those roles. I’m a writer and storyteller who just happens to be a Christian. Just thought I’d clear that up before we move on – 😊.  However, different people I know and others I’ve encountered who are studying to be in church leadership and ministry roles or vying to be a pastor, minister, bishop, first lady, prophet, or any other kind of title that they think   will make them important, will likely be in for a rude awakening when the titles and roles they’re chasing don’t manifest in their lives or successfully take off in the ways they’ve hoped for.  Because many of these i...