Photo #1: I was in my mid-20s with two degrees; Unmarried; Living life as a poet, writer, activist, filmmaker; Dreaming of one day publishing a book and winning a book award; Planning to make films that folks would want to watch; Trying to do the activist work that my father began during the Civil Rights Movement; Reading Malcolm X, Alice Walker, Frantz Fanon,& The Little Red Book; Traveling back and forth to Africa trying desperately to find myself; Loving and defining myself as a beat poet; Making plans to change the entire world all by myself…

Photo #2: I am now in my mid-40s with three degrees and a bunch of advanced certificates; Married with Two Teenage Boys(!); Living life as an academic, poet, writer, activist, film teacher; Published Four Books and Won Two Major Writing Awards; Made films that folks watched and Got Three NY Emmy-Nominations; Helping to do the work my boys began after the birth of the #BlackLivesMatter Movement; Reading Alice Walker, bell hooks, Michelle Aexander, & my own stuff; Traveling back and forth between baseball and basketball practice desperately trying to center myself; Loving and defining myself as a “blackmommyactivist”; Making plans to change the world with my boys…

This is my truth…what’s yours?