Last spring, I was honored to be an artist in residence in the Pullman neighborhood in our beautiful city of Chicago. I initially had made plans to map the many blocks around my space as I considered the ravages of the built environment in the …
Sometimes we want to pack in so much goodness that we find ourselves running. We most definitely experienced that this weekend.
As we idly drank cold drinks and looked beyond the pool to the lovely lake, I thought of the historic Chowan Beach in North Carolina. Begun in the 1920s and for nearly 70 years, it was a safe and beautiful space for Black people in a world that was usually hostile to us. There, Black tourists from around the country could “fish, swim, canoe or bask in the cooling sun rays of this incomparable beach and… will find new vigor, new life.” Thank goodness for the pioneers who imagined the unimaginable!
June closed with an explosion of fruit and flowers in the Black Garden. July promises even more.
Our family way of life is usually quite spontaneous. Our plans will have edges that keep us together but everything in between stays loose. Who knows what you’ll see, smell, hear or taste if everything isn’t charted out? Those who accompany us either love it …
