Close & Connected
Words on relationships with family, friends, and community
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“Black love is Black wealth and they’ll
probably talk about my hard childhood
and never understand that
all the while I was quite happy”
— Nikki Giovanni, Nikki-Rosa
Did you know that George Washington Carver discovered hundreds of uses for peanuts, or that Frederick Douglass was a prominent figure in the abolitionist movement, or that Jackie Robinson was the first Black person to play in Major League baseball? Probably. I think these and many, many other figures in Black history, American history, are incredibly important, their contributions meaningful and so very significant. I can't help but wonder, though, if sharing a list of facts, as has been the Black History month custom since time immemorial, or keeping our reveries focused on a select few actually celebrates the beauty and richness of a culture, its depths and complexities.
“Love is the reason for everything. ” — Aimee, Collateral Beauty
Guys, I have been seriously struggling with what the heck to post for Valentine’s Day and it makes no sense at all. I am the biggest romantic of all time. Truth. Trust me. I love hearts and bubbles and butterflies and rainbows and moon beams and all things pretty. For all intents and purposes, Valentine’s Day should be my holiday. Toward the end of last year, before shit got real and I had to put pen to paper, I timed the Life and Lovely Things re-introduction to the public for Valentine’s Day. Seemed like a perfect time given the obvious synergies between the brand and the holiday. And yet here I am…without the words I thought I would have.
“The authentic self is soul made visible” — Sarah Ban Breathnach
If you’ve checked out my post, Valentine’s Day: Away from B.S. and Back to Basics, you know I’m all about authentic displays of affection – displays that come from a place of genuine appreciation. I’ve been thinking about the season less in terms of manufacturing romance and more in terms of savoring and appreciating the life in front of us, which I’ve found, often results in being romantically inclined anyway. What’s Lovely on Valentine’s Day? Freeing ourselves from anything that falls short of authenticity. Here’s a list of things that will help us keep the love real.
Love is in the air! Let’s kick off Love Month with some classic quotes about affection, intimacy, and endearment. Included are beautiful words by Paul Lawrence Dunbar, in celebration and recognition of both love and black history and culture.
“What an astonishing thing a book is. It’s a flat object made from a tree with flexible parts on which are imprinted lots of funny dark squiggles. But one glance at it and you’re inside the mind of another person, maybe somebody dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, an author is speaking clearly and silently inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people who never knew each other, citizens of distant epochs. Books break the shackles of time. A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic.” — Carl Sagan
Books and journals, folders and notebooks, pens and pencils, paints and pastels. These are the tools of communication. Essential to the inspired. Of utmost importance in the business of conveying thoughts. They are a means to an end, allowing the Divine to share its story through words, imagery and imagination. With these powerful tools, anything can be achieved, any insight or idea captured, any vision articulated. Inevitably, the thoughts of the greatest minds and the emotions of the most creative have been poured out and scribbled upon the pages of an inconspicuous notebook. Cubism, the little black dress, and the first drafts of the I Have a Dream speech became real when ideas found their way to paper. And, in some cases, the very souls of men and women have been lucky enough to be expressed in the pages of a book, forever archived, forever available for the world to enjoy.
On an aged built-in shelf, among glass plates, gilded cutlery, and ornate serving dishes, sits a nearly 150-year old tea set. The story of how I came to be in possession of such a treasure is one of admiration and respect, grief and acceptance, joy and Love. It is sweet, simple, and perfectly ordinary. And it is more. For the attentive and discerning, there are all the heroines and heroes, goddesses and gods, legendary battles, and brave rescues of any epic tale, and even a quest to save the world that spans generations.