What's really over the Rainbow???

Mimi is packing for another adventure.. Again!

Mimi is compelled one to contemplate the oldest mystery in our existence... Time

Being Black from America bestows upon one the ability to rise to every occasion, meet any challenge, and live with total Abandon!

Mental Meanderings from the Edge...

I found an old notebook and was delighted to reconnect with the newness of my Purple Palace!

... you wake up one morning, and something isn't right... what is it??

Roar!

Sojourner Truth (1797-1883) was born into slavery in 1797 as Isabella Baumfree, and would become one of the most powerful advocates for human rights in the nineteenth century. She was often sold and cruelly beaten and violated. She also bore 13 children, many of whom were sold off as slaves.

In 1851 Sojourner Delivered ‘Ain't I A Woman?’ one of the most famous abolitionist and women’s rights speeches in American history at the Women's Rights Convention, Old Stone Church (since demolished), Akron, Ohio.

In her speech she railed against the absurdity of the feigned frailness of women. Sojourner could out-work, out-eat most men, and take a beating as well as any, yet white women were helped into carriages and carried over mud puddles. ‘Ain't I A Woman?’ she roared at the sea of white faces.

200 years later women are still trying to find our way…

The political constructs of 'femininity" and "sexuality" are weapons that have beaten women into submission (and to death) for centuries. Women are the creators of life and the backbone of every society. Yet, we habitually disrespect ourselves, and destroy each other under the guise of "making things easier" or "getting along". In our hearts we know that is not why… we are scared and lazy.

And we need to find our Roar!

The first time I roared was when my oldest daughter was four years old.

She was playing at a friend's house and I was coming to pick her up.

She saw me and started running to her Mommy. I opened my arms to welcome her back to me.

At the same time, a dog spotted her running and got away from its owner and ran, snarling, at my Little Mama. I pivoted and ran at the dog to cut it off and unleashed a roar that I didn't know I had in me. It was feral and promised death.

Everything stopped.

Of course, the dog skidded to a stop and tried to run back to its owner. Cars stopped and people looked. I chased the dog and its owner back to their house and kicked the door in. Then I thought, 'shit, I'm going to jail!' I told the owner if she called the police, I would pay the fine for a misdemeanor assault and come back and destroy her and the dog. Then I left, got my daughter and we went to get ice cream and then to the park.

I saw the owner and that stupid dog many times after that. She would always cross the street.

I was 24 and already a Warrior-Queen.

Happy New Year 2023... The world keeps turning and Life is all about Transitions... staying on your pivot... remembering to stick and move..

Last year was enlightening on many levels. I learned to meet life on life’s terms instead of living in the world of ‘should’. There’s no Fate but what I make. Simple.

As a result of this way of thinking, I currently find myself on the edge of everything, Again! … another country looming, another catastrophic injury to recover from... another Life...

I'm too old for this shit!

Thinking back on how I came to be... the baseball field victory, my Prom of white satin and red roses, my Wedding of fluff and giggles, my political beginnings in Alaska, the steps of the Capitol, Dahab and 9/11, the train in Milan that changed my future, my refuge in Limoges, the dojo in Shinjuku where I lost the family honor, the delightful Starbucks in Seoul, an Ahwa in downtown Cairo with shaei mahaleeb and Umm Kulthum...

Who am I after all this? Do I still want to be Me? Do I even have a choice?

This little Black girl from Chicago dreamed of a woman who would build a world. I woke up the other day and realized: I... AM... Her!

I've given birth while still wearing my armor and wolves scratching at the door; made love in the sea; dined with Kings... And, thankfully, have finally found my Buffer against the Lethal Weapon that is Life.