like black butterflies

#TBT: Happy 30th Birthday to Me!

By: like black butterflies September 20, 2018September 19, 2018

Thrive30 to 30, apeshit, Atchafalaya, Beyonce, black owned business, black phd, BoBs, grind til I own it, Jay Z, Journey to 30, OTRII, phd journey, phd life, Printed Pattern People, this is 30Leave a Comment

I have a problem! A legitimate issue with follow through! If you’ve been following, I did this 30-day, one post a day countdown to my 30th birthday, but realized I started a day early so instead of my birthday being the 30th day, the day before was. So like the lazy person I can be…

30 “Dates”–The Rest I Got Around To

By: like black butterflies August 19, 2018August 19, 2018

Wander30 Dates, 30 to 30, Journey to 30, La Musee de FPC, NOLA livingLeave a Comment

11. Blueberry picking in summer–June 2018 I’ve been wanting to do this for years but would either forget about it until blueberry season was nearly over, or not really find people interested in going. I made it happen this year. We drove to the middle of nowhere Mississippi, really middle of nowhere to the point…

Academic Racism

By: like black butterflies August 18, 2018August 18, 2018

Questionacademic racism, black girl magic, Brittney Cooper, Eloquent Rage, structural racismLeave a Comment

As I’ve been working towards my PhD, one thing that’s often struck me is the way in which white researchers, white academics, write about issues that affect Black people. Even some of the authors that I think have a decent racial analysis, who discuss the ways in which structural racism operates to create systems of…

#FBF–Cachoeira to New Orleans

By: like black butterflies August 17, 2018August 17, 2018

WanderAfrican Diaspora, Bahia, Brazil, Cachoeira, cultural retentions, FBF, growing pains, personal development, Salvador, study abroad, wanderlustLeave a Comment

Maybe a year ago, maybe more, I was going through old photos and I stopped to look through the images taken while I was studying abroad. In 2009 I spent a semester in Northeastern Brazil, my first time really living in another country. I’d visited other countries before, but for a matter of weeks, not…

30 Restaurants: Bennachin & Antoine’s

By: like black butterflies August 16, 2018August 16, 2018

Savor30 restaurants, 30 to 30, Antoine's, Bennachin, cultural retentions, Journey to 30, NOLA eats, NOLA living, west africanLeave a Comment

Bennachin Restaurant This is a West African restaurant, specifically based in Gambia and Cameroon, although there were some menu items from other countries int he region, located in the French Quarter. It’s tiny, you could miss it walking by, as I have on COUNTLESS occasions. It’s right near Verti Mart if you know where that…

Book 18: Eloquent Rage, A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower–Brittney Cooper

By: like black butterflies August 15, 2018August 14, 2018

Question30 Books, 30 to 30, black feminism, black girl magic, black rage, Brittney Cooper, Journey to 30, well read black girl, words of wisdomLeave a Comment

What I loved about reading this book is that she spoke so directly to so many of my life experiences, particularly when it comes to Black exceptionalism, overachieving, and adherence to respectability. While we decidedly had very different economic upbringings, it was like we experienced the same social frustrations and racial animosity of instructors and…

Whitney Plantation

By: like black butterflies August 14, 2018August 13, 2018

Wander30 Dates, 30 to 30, black history is American history, Journey to 30, peculiar institution, plantation tour, slavery, sugarcane, triangular trade, Whitney PlantationLeave a Comment

I’m trying to resist writing too much about my experience at Whitney, but it’s difficult because it was such a great tour. If I compare Whitney to the narrative I was presented at Melrose Plantation earlier this summer, it’s like night and day in terms of content and critical race analysis. Basically the Melrose tour…

like black butterflies

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The Lost Art of Writing

My Real 90 Day Fiancé

Our Humanity Is Worth More Than Their Bottom Line

License to Kill: The Illusion of a Free and Democratic Society

Face Fear

Hand Signals & Calculators

Be

Be Intentional

Be Moved