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On Saturday, November 14 my son turned 18 years old. I am so proud of him and super happy I got to share the day with him.

D Knowledge. Funeral.

I woke up in prayer and meditation and thanksgiving. I'm getting ready to go to D Knowledge's funeral. I can only imagine what his parents are going through today. My prayers and deep thoughts are with them.

Creating matters

Sometimes I have to turn all the lights on and pull out a canvas and just start painting. The colors don't matter. The canvas matters. My fingers holding the brush matters. Art therapy matters.

Stories

I am reviewing my stories from Women in the Village to be published March 2016. I've been working on this collection for a long time and finally found a publishing home for it. Still Waters Press. Also I'm getting poems together for the chapbook to be released late December / early January.

Say her name

2:25 pm. Home.

Last night Gina and I went to a Say Her Name even hosted by Kimberle Crenshaw, Eve Ensler and Thandie Newton. It was a heavy evening. Say Her Name is about telling the stories and saying the names of black women who have been the victims of police brutality. The media would have us believe that it's only happening to the men but no, we are being brutalized and killed in alarming rates as well. The conversation got so heavy at one point while Kimberle was trying to get a video working for us to see I, along with many others, were hoping the video wouldn't work.. As spirit would have it, the video did not work. The event was important and heavy and necessary. I'm glad I went. There is another Say Her Name event in New York on December 5 and Eve asked us (Gina, Aja and I) to come out and perform. I'm looking forward to it.

D Knowledge passed

12:17 pm. A beautiful Sunday afternoon. I am thankful for waking up this morning. I am sending love, peace and prayers for the family of Derrick "D Knowledge" Gilbert who passed away this morning at the age of forty-five. May D rest in peace. I am glad I got to see him again before he passed. Life is so precious. I know this.

I am also thankful for my aunt Janice visiting with Uraeus and me yesterday. We had a good time reconnecting. Talking, laughing, sharing stories and smiles.

Today I am going to see Thandie Newton, Zoe Kravitz and Eve Ensler in a play called Say Her Name about black women who are abused and killed in police brutality. Gina Loring and I are going together and I expect we will enjoy each others company catching up.

Uraeus is busy with homework. I'm really proud of how he is handling his college classes.

Again, this is a beautiful Sunday and I have a ton of papers to grade and perhaps I'll get to some of them today. Whatever I do, I plan to make it a good day. A nap first before anything because I didn't sleep well last night. But the goal is a good day nonetheless.