Blessed & Curvy

Years ago I wrote my first poem about crimes against African Americans. As I am getting older it's becoming more and more the norm in today's society. From Trayon, Mike, Oscar, Sandra and now Nia. You can't turn on the news and not see that someone in some state, some city, some town has been killed. Its has little kids scared of police officers because a family member was killed by a cop. You have black on black crime where we are killing each other over territory.  Here is the reality we don't own the block. No matter how many kilos are sold the truth is the city , the state , and the government owns the block. You can't drive on the highway even because a rival might recognize you, it was part of an initiation, or you happen to cut them off and the road rage had them pull out a glock to even the score. I write about injustice and even how a college educated woman could be pulled over, asked about the car she is driving if it is hers, ask her to d...

It was in the year 2013 and I was going through a storm. I had taken a demotion at work , transferred closer  to home and was trying to take care of myself. I had started symptoms for high blood pressure, was prediabetic , and my arm couldn’t go above my head. In my dream one morning I was saying I need to do something to wake  the old me back up. I wanted to get back into taken care of myself. I was awaken by a notification on my phone that I felt was a sign. It was an invitation to come to Saint George, Utah to visit a resort called Red Mountain. I responded back that I was interested to take the travel agent rate and explore the experience. Within minutes they responded back and I knew then it was real, not a dream, and the beginning . Within weeks flight is booked , it will be a work trip since I am going to write about the whole experience.  I arrived into Las Vegas and took a shuttle van to Saint George, being stuck between strangers, and I am...

Mixed emotions bottled up about what is showing up in the media about this wall. Let me paint the picture for you. You are on a mission to make a better life for your family . You might have been running away from someone trying to kill you so your family pays to get you here . You're seeking to get away from whatever it is that we might never know.  Only thing they separate you from your young children, your wife, and your family trying to break you. Land of the free doesn't want you to come to the United States you're labeled a murder, rapist, and unfit to come here. We don't want you to take jobs away that even the low income don't want but we don't want you to have it. What resonates with everyone hearing this on the news, reading it in the newspapers and hearing on the radio is that higher up sitting in a oval office justified the treatment. I can only share from my perspective from my ancestors that were  brought over in slaves ships...

Book Excerpt I’ll never forget the day my mother said to me, “Everybody is not your friend.” I don’t remember my age. I was relatively young and quite impressionable. Her words haunted me for a while and stuck inside my head like chewing gum on a shoe. I remember telling myself, she had to be wrong. My friends were really my friends. They liked me just as much as I liked them. Over time I’d find myself in these one-sided friendships. Friendships that were harmful, negative, catty, and downright a waste of my time and energy. Whenever a friendship would end I could still hear my mother’s words replaying in my mind. I’d find myself often in between trying to repair the friendship in some way or filling a void of regret in my heart. Often in my younger years I found myself being a people pleaser/friendship resolver. I wanted people to like me. I desperately wanted my friendships to last forever. I wanted to be a part of the conversation, share a laugh, a secre...

We are so numb to the news now. Another black man shot, killed, and a protest! Time goes by and within 24 hours another part of the United States "Breaking News" another black child, teenager,and man is killed! It's 2018 and I am 53 years old. As a nation are we not moving forward? Why do I think I am living in a Jim Crow area? Why do I feel that now we as a people don't value another person's life. We don't mind killing someone who looks like us.  If you did your research you would probably see that you're killing someone from your own tribe, a blood relative, and someone son . I have seen cousins in opposite gangs ready to kill their blood relative for the gang. My mind can't take it because the same blood that runs through you is running through me.  I have written five books and in each I always write poems about the mass killing in our community, senseless killing of a man over selling a cigarette, another pulling a empty clip out of h...

Write Now Literary Book Tours is pleased to be coordinating a book tour for author Joanne Otto. This is a two-month book tour for her books: The You-Song and Daughter of Jerusalem. This tour will run June- July, 2018.                                                                       Introducing Joanne Joanne Otto is a lifelong student of the Bible who has taken four exciting tours of Bible lands and done extensive research, including numerous courses. She has taught foreign languages and English and more recently, as an academic language therapist, has helped dyslexic children strengthen their reading and writing skills. Also a music lover and amateur pianist, she especially enjoys accompanying singers. Website: http://joanneotto.com/                 Abou...

Reaching Out  Recently I been having difficulty posting on my blog. Right after Mother's Day my desire was diminished to sit down and share my thoughts with anyone. I should be celebrating the woman who was my Mother. Instead it was if someone has snatched the scab off and I had to deal with the feelings. The feelings of not being able to call her to tell her about my new job. To share about my recent  accomplishments. To call her and gossip about my siblings and hear her advice. There was something that I felt others whose Mother had passed where sharing on Facebook a grieving for your best friend their Mom. What I decided to is take care of myself. Write down everything that I want to do,celebrate life, and do them.  Take myself out to dinner, go for a long ride, purchase only items that I needed and not what I wanted.  Make sure that I don't go binge shopping to make my sadness go away. I write down a list of items to buy. One item is alarming...