Reckoning with racism is becoming impossible to avoid — I was recently reminded of the idea of double-consciousness, the state of being both Black and American, and how ill-at-ease those two conditions rest. Coined in 1897 by W.E.B. Dubois, the reality that many of your nation’s people and systems operate towards your oppression remains soberingly relevant in 2022. White…

Optimizing performative inclusion for maximum (Wall)Street cred — In order to avoid corporate Blackwashing after the Antiracist summer of 2020, your company decided to hire a Chief Diversity Officer (CDO). Marketing was thrilled to plaster their brown face all over social media as part of the corporate wokeness media campaign. …

Privilege is any aspect of ourselves and our lives that facilitates ease or advantage at any scale — it’s not an indictment, it’s a responsibility — Privilege has become a fraught concept, so we should invest in understanding the myriad dimensions of our own. This is especially true for white people these days. In short, privilege is any aspect of ourselves and our lives that facilitates ease or advantage at any scale. …

Poetry —

Unlearning racist oppression isn’t just for white folks — Recent meditations include the ways that I, as a Black person, subject myself to internally racist lies and misconceptions. Sometimes the still small voice inside is the voice of the oppressor. Edgar Villanueva’s Decolonizing Wealth describes the colonizer virus as the synthesis of delusional white supremacy and capitalism that infects…

Poetry —

Repurposing and rededicating old, janky energy — Many decades ago, Neale Donald Walsch, author of Conversations with God, introduced me to the idea that every relationship has a special energy and a sacred gift that must be exchanged at some point. At the intersection of ourselves and another lies a little slice of magic, wisdom, or heartbreak…

My journey toward relationship anarchy — Now that I’m back on the dating apps, I’ve noticed a massive uptick in ethical non-monogamy (ENM) on people’s profiles since my brief swiping debut almost a decade ago. Part of me has always known that I wasn’t built for monogamy. I had a crush on two boys and one…

A poem —