if you are an artist, thank you. we need you.
if you are a writer, thank you. we need you.
if you are a singer, thank you. we need you.
if you are a musician, thank you we need you.

i spent 20 plus years fighting to be a writer. explaining to my family why it was necessary & why i couldn't go just work a 9to5 to pay the bills. i had to explain why i left all of my family in Cali to live in BK & be a writer. to raise a 2-year-old black girl & write.

i didn't have the articulation then. i didn't study #junejordan or #audrelorde or #soniasanchez yet. i was raised on Too$hort & NWA w/some Latifah sprinkled in. but i knew i wanted to write. stories & stories became articles then poems then plays.

& it didn't happen in a vacuum. it happened because i was surrounded by the world of writing. i was inundated by my purpose. i no longer grieved the opportunity to write while working for a telephone company. i had a community that illuminated everything.

even the impossible became undone with itself. no lie, i'm feeling real slick cause i got some great feedback & a legend reached out & said she was proud of me. so i'm moving lighter. i cleaned out the ghosts. wiped all my door handles after picking up mail.

& i opened my computer to write some. then the @ethelsclub digital membership reminded me of that one time i couldnt even afford a two piece & MTA fare home for me & my child. because i had been denied payment after a performance. it was the first and last time.

nyc taught me contracts, the bay taught me show up for yourself. my writing gave me a way & my daughter ain't let me forget. thanks for letting me vent. one of them subscriptions just got lifted -- but i'm sure we can do more. i got a good feeling.