humanity

Humanity begins at home.

The good, the bad and the ugly.
Tattoos are considered different things around the world. In some cultures, they are treated as symbols of status or standing, symbols of wisdom or enlightenment. They are seen as an art form, a tool of self-expression or sometimes, a simple fashion statement. In others, they are perceived as taboo, unholy, barbaric, or plain tacky. They are thought of as symbols that identify criminals, deviants, sinners or “bad” people of all kinds. My home town is (was?) one of those places…
By monse cordero5 years ago in Families
Generational Forgiveness
My mother pulled me out of May Day 1963 games in elementary school that early afternoon because she was packed and leaving my father. We were headed for a long ride on the Greyhound Bus from Shreveport, Louisiana. It was the first I heard of this change to our lives. I did not have time to think or to feel. I just had time to get on the bus and go. It shouldn't have come as a surprise. I had seen her crying. I had heard the fights between them. But I hadn't seen this coming.
By Shirley Belk5 years ago in Families
Hold close what is dear to you
Life is a book full of lines, paragraphs and chapters. With each line is a different event, a different experience, a different part of me. There are lines that take up whole pages and chapters that explain a different part of my story. With each biography, novel, memoir, there is a beginning, a middle and an end. With each turn of the page the next fragment of a tale.
By Janine S White5 years ago in Families
What Happened?
For me as a child, the year 2020 was just as far away as the stars themselves. No computers, no internet, just the good ole days...right? We had cartoons that we all watched religiously on Saturday mornings like The Flinstones that poked fun at the simplistic idiocy of what a functioning society of "cave folk" may have been like, straight from the mind and beautiful imagination of Hannah Barbara. Not long after The Flinstones, Fred and Wilma would air among the same Saturday morning line up as George and Jane Jetson, each character having a futuristic counterpart..George and Fred. Wilma and Jane. Judy and Pebbles and how could we forget mans best friend in the past, present and future, Astro and Dino. Maybe Elroy was the counter of Bam Bam. I'm not sure but you get the gist.
By Rhiannon RainFeather5 years ago in Families
Meals, Weed, Rap & Repeat.
I know so many of us have lost count like I have on the number of days we have been living, working and entertaining at home. I was on a Zoom happy hour and someone said it was 5 months. I don't think it has been that long, but I honestly don't know. Maybe 4? My brain has gone limp, and it no longer is able to process time the way it used to. Now, the measurements are not in days or weeks, but my time is now tracked by meals. I am considering developing my own holidays for the days that I actually cooked something particularly edible. Yesterday, September 1, 2020, might become Blueberry Pie Day, at least in my household.
By Amy Solt5 years ago in Families
Canary Birds, My Brother, & Speaking Spanish
Back in 1961, the Space Race (a time of glorious competition between Russia & the United States to be the first to put a man on the moon) was alive and thriving. This is an important backdrop to my story, because in 1961, my family and I lived in Canary Islands, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. And according to Wikipedia,
By Shirley Belk5 years ago in Families
The Start of my 2020
Well, I have just decided to write about the last year, with my ex-husband's girlfriend & my family so I'm not going to use real names.
By Renee Pearce5 years ago in Families
Arabian nights
The only revelation after this episode was a vague idea of how some people manage to die suffocated in their beds. Besides, the idea of painting one of his walls with a scene from Arabian Nights seemed so hard to achieve. The rest of his problems - the elephant in the room, hit him like a tonne of bricks.
By Ana-Maria Lazar5 years ago in Families
Dear White Parents of Biracial/Black Children: Who Is Showing Your Kids How To Navigate The Weight of Their Blackness?
Being Black is a noun, a verb and an adjective. Most people who identify as Black refer to the colour of their skin. However Blackness is also a cultural identity for a lot of us. As someone whose parents are both Black, I never had to question the skin I was in. Whenever I went anywhere, people would look at me and know that I was Black. I was never asked what I was mixed with or had to go through the guessing game of "what are you?" People didn't fetishize my hair (this was the mid 80s and early 90s) so I didn't have to deal with that either. That wasn't the case for my little sister. On my mom's side, I am the oldest and I have a younger sister. We are 5 years apart in age and we have different fathers. Hers is White. Mine is Black. Growing up with a Black mother and biracial Black sister, we constantly got asked questions about if we were really related. Or how could my mom be my sisters mom? Again, these were the 90s and most non-Black kids didn't understand blended families or single parenthood. My sister and I ended up being the unicorns of our social circles. Whenever my mom would show up at a parent teacher conference night for my sister, there was always this quizzical look from me to my sister to my mom if they didn't already know our family. Honestly, even as a kid I found that exhausting and annoying. But people are people so it was what it was.
By Whitney Smart5 years ago in Families
The Front Door
She leans in a forgotten place. Perhaps, my Mothers garage. Covered in a decade worth of dust kicked up from passers by — who can't remember how important she once was. I imagine she feels she is hibernating. Using her winter to recall the sound of tiny feet hitting wooden steps. Of hands against her frame. And of raindrops and sunlight.
By Amy Brown5 years ago in Families
ROSES ALASKA TAILES
Hi, it is nice to meet you! I am Rose Lewis and I live in Alaska. I blog about my Alaska Adventures! I have had many camping and fishing adventures! I have been camping since I was twenty and now I am a senior I live alone with my toy poodle and cat. I was born and raised in Connecticut and moved to Alaska in the year 1979. I moved to Alaska with my family, and I have two daughters but my husband died early! I have gone camping on the East Coast, Canada, and Alaska. We drove from Connecticut to Alaska and reached the home which we bought in Eagle River. I love to fish and camp my stories in the blog are all about my camping and fishing. All the stories are true some are sad and some are funny and exciting! The story I like is where we were camping in Talkeetna Alaska! Here let me tell you that story!
By rose lewis5 years ago in Families
The Single Mothers Survival Guide Series - Reclaiming Yourself
“We are able to break generational cycles, one layer at a time.” Why? Why? Why did this happen to me? What did I do to deserve this? What is wrong with me? These are questions I think every person on this planet ask themselves at some point in their life. Deep down, if we have felt failure at any time in our life, we may still feel inadequate years later. After two divorces, I had to start looking within myself to find the answers to the WHYs of my broken life. I decided to listen to Tony Robbin’s advice and change my questions to HOW. By asking how this happened to me, my inward search led me to look at my denial and to think about the old programmed tapes I had running in my mind. What this showed me was that by not loving my core being, I had masked my true self, and caused myself much heartache.
By Nicole Orozco6 years ago in Families