Vol. 94: Summer Reading Wrap-Up

The other day, I was texting with a friend who shared a huge, personal win on her debt payoff journey. I reacted with excitement and celebration - I am so proud of and impressed with her dedication to herself and her financial freedom! Then I realized that in my excitement, I’d missed the first text she sent: a delivery driver was detained and disappeared in front of her apartment the day prior, part of Trump’s federal takeover of Washington DC and his administration’s cruel and xenophobic policing.

That juxtaposition perfectly illustrates where I find myself in this moment: we’re all working hard, experiencing wins, joys, and meaningful connection in our personal lives, while experiencing the absolute worst of humanity. The federal takeover of DC is physically close to me but I can’t overstate its seriousness if you live elsewhere. DC is particularly vulnerable due to its lack of Statehood, a history that is tied directly to the anti-Blackness woven into this country’s founding. Whether you believe Trump is descending into fascist authoritarianism or that he’s already there, it’s chilling.

I live right outside the city and have so much love for my neighbors and friends who live and work in the city. I encourage you to donate to Free DC or Harriet’s Wildest Dreams to support on the ground organizing, or to donate to support Alice, a trans woman who was arrested by ICE in my community, Silver Spring.

This was a good, weird, hard summer. I can’t help but think of Ilya Kaminsky’s poem “They Lived Happily During the War.” One of my goals for the fall is to find ways to be still, so I can remain grounded and present, while also ensuring I’m donating and volunteering as much as possible. If you’re in DC (or next door, like myself), let me know: how are you doing? What are you doing? How can I support you?

Local Yoga: Peace in Movement is Now Open

If you’re based in the DC/Maryland area, there are some exciting opportunities in September to flow with me: Peace in Movement is a brand new, Black woman owned mindfulness movement studio based in downtown Silver Spring. I’ll be teaching mat yoga weekly on Tuesdays and Thursday mornings after the grand opening on September 26. You can check out our preview phase by paying the drop in rate for Energy & Ease on Tuesday, September 2 at 7 AM or Gentle Yoga on Thursday, September 18 at 8:30 AM. Let me know if you have questions; would love to see you there!

Summer Reading Wrap-Up

If Barack Obama can post his summer reading list the final week before Labor Day, then so can I! I’ve already written about my Mediator reread and my S.A. Cosby deep dive, but here are some other books I read this summer that I haven’t covered in this space:

• My Best Friend’s Honeymoon by Meryl Wilsner is a friends to lovers romance novel - emphasis on the LOVERS, as the smut in this book was deeply ahem enjoyable for me. I’ve read all of Wilsner’s books and this was the least interesting to me plot wise; TBH, I almost lost interest, but then the two characters go into bed and somehow I found the strength to keep reading.

• These Heathens by Mia McKenzie was one of the best novels I’ve read all year. This is a historical fiction novel set in 1960s Georgia following Alice, a teenage girl, on her quest to get an abortion. She follows her English teacher from her small town to Atlanta, where she rubs elbows with Civil Rights royalty and tries to fight for her future as a poor, Southern Black girl seeking an abortion. It was delightfully queer with McKenzie’s signature humor. I LOVED IT.*

• Original Sins: The (Mis)Education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism by Eve L. Ewing argues that schools were founded not to create a better future for our children but to entrench racist ideals and hold Black and Native children in “their place.” It was a devastating read, rich with history of brutality, racist white female schoolteachers, Native boarding schools, and more. I struggled through reading it, because my focus has not been on nonfiction lately. I was expecting a bit more focus on education systems than I think I got, but Ewing is a gifted writer and explains so much history here; it’s definitely worth a read, but admittedly I found her earlier nonfiction work, Ghosts in the Schoolyard a bit more unputdownable.*

• King of Ashes by S.A. Cosby is his latest and most disturbing yet. I honestly don’t know that I’d recommend it without a big caveat; all of his books are violent, but this went beyond for me personally. It follows a family of 3 whose father owns a crematorium. The youngest brother gets in deep with some evil local gangsters and the oldest brother, a financial advisor in town from Atlanta, must protect him. I read it, I enjoyed it, but even more so than his previous novels, if you are in any way sensitive, I would proceed with caution.

• A Little Kissing Between Friends by Chencia C. Higgins gave me about what My Best Friend’s Honeymoon gave me: a friends to lovers with a mid plot but excellent (if rarer) sex scenes. This is also a queer romance between two best friends: a music producer and a sex worker/dancer single mother. I loved the characters but their lack of communication was SO annoying and borderline unbelievable. Higgins’ earlier novel, D’Vaughn and Kris Plan a Wedding was one of my faves, so I was a bit disappointed.

• Matriarch: A Memoir by Tina Knowles cured by nonfiction hiatus because I was SO invested. I started this out on audio - she reads it, and it features forewords by her daughters that you don’t get in the physical copy!!! - but switched to hardback once my Libby hold was up. I loved, loved, loved reading about her girlhood in Galveston, her blood and chosen family, her desire to do better for herself, her tumultuous marriage, her making a way out of no way as a designer and stylist for Destiny’s Child, and most of all, her friendship with her nephew and childhood best friend, who we all know as Uncle Johnny. I shed so many tears about Uncle Johnny: learning more about his life, their close bond, then witnessing how his impact carried forward with Beyoncé’s Renaissance album. If you’re Hive, it’s a must read -  but even if you’re not, it is such a beautiful book.*

• The Round House by Louise Erdrich is a modern classic I finally read and phew, it is worth all its renown and more (TW for rape and assault). This follows Joe, a 13 year old boy living on a reservation whose mother is attacked. Joe and his father, the tribal Judge, is desperate for answers and justice. Joe and his fellow 13 year-old boys set out to figure out who committed the crime and get vengeance. It is the portrait of a childhood summer where childhood is lost. Though set in the 80s, it brings up a lot about justice issues of violence against Native women that still happen to this day. I really, truly loved this book and can’t recommend it enough.

*Gifted from the Publisher - all thoughts my own!

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