Pinned

There is Motherlove for the Motherless

I lost my mom, not my need or ability to be mothered. Seventeen years ago, the trill of a million cicadas greeted my sisters and me as we left the church where our mother raised us. They landed on our car and shouted above our grief as we followed the…

Grief

4 min read

Nov 11, 2021

JaShyah Moore, Gabby Petito and What it Takes to Find Black Girls

JaShyah Moore has been missing for an entire month. The tragic death of Gabby Petito highlighted disparities in the amount of attention missing women and girls receive based on race. White women and girls are more likely to make it to the national news and stay in news cycles for…

Black Lives Matter

4 min read

JaShyah Moore, Gabby Petito and What it Takes to Find Black Girls

Aug 18, 2021

Going Back was the Beginning

There are three things I hate more than anything in the world. Three things that I find terrifying, horrifying and down-right creepy: Porcelain Dolls, Clowns, and Puppets. When I was ten, a family friend returned from a trip to Germany with a gift. I quietly hoped for a dozen Kinder…

Mwc Reentry

7 min read

May 22, 2021

How Writers Can Choose Collaboration over Competition: Life Lessons from Legally Blonde

Collaboration, not competition, is the heart and soul of the writing life. This morning I met a fellow Girl Trek member, or Trekker, as we call ourselves. I spotted her rocking her SuperHero Blue and we immediately connected over the blessing of the Girl Trek Black History Bootcamp Podcast and…

Writing

3 min read

How Writers Can Choose Collaboration over Competition: Life Lessons from Legally Blonde

Apr 7, 2021

Starling

At this moment There is a bird singing that doesn’t know She was never supposed to be here. Invasive Species. Foreign Song. And yet she sings Boldly and beautifully And…

Poetry On Medium

1 min read

Starling

At this moment

There is a bird singing that doesn’t know

She was never supposed to be here.

Invasive Species.

Foreign Song.

And yet she sings

Boldly and beautifully

And…

Feb 12, 2021

It’s Possible: How Brandy’s Cinderella gave us all something to sing about

Today Disney+ released the 1997 film version of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella. After 24 years (yes, that made me feel old too), the film still holds up as a beautiful rendition of a classic tale and a powerful example of how inclusionary casting makes good art. I was six years…

Black History Month

3 min read

Nov 22, 2020

Reflections on Grieving 2020

I won’t be going to any Christmas parties this year. It hit me while boxing up my crop tops and hauling out my sweaters for winter. …

Grief

4 min read

Jul 5, 2020

We Can’t Be Friends if You Ignore My Blackness

You don’t get to disrespect me and still keep me — We’re not friends. There. I said it. You and I are not friends anymore, and in the deepest parts of me, I wonder if we ever were. Seriously. I question the things between us — the energy, history, past. I thought I could tell you everything. All my sins and…

Christianity

6 min read

We Can’t Be Friends if You Ignore My Blackness

Oct 18, 2019

We Wake to This

There’s a scene in “I Am Not Your Negro” where a 1950s housewife is twirling about in her kitchen, doing basic June Cleaver-esque things. In the background you hear a reading of James Baldwin’s that talks about the grotesque violence of it all. I keep replaying that scene in my…

Black Lives Matter

4 min read

Aug 12, 2019

A Vow to Keep Breathing

I think it was empathy we were afraid of — When we took our vows. Vows of celibacy, abstinence Refusing to be a part of a world we could not escape, Terrified of getting close enough to cling to something real. We were afraid of failing. And of knowing what…

Faith

1 min read

There is Motherlove for the Motherless

JaShyah Moore, Gabby Petito and What it Takes to Find Black Girls

Going Back was the Beginning

How Writers Can Choose Collaboration over Competition: Life Lessons from Legally Blonde

Starling

Starling

It’s Possible: How Brandy’s Cinderella gave us all something to sing about

Reflections on Grieving 2020

We Can’t Be Friends if You Ignore My Blackness

We Wake to This

A Vow to Keep Breathing

Victoria Meléndez