I remember when they took me to jail. They handcuffed me and put me in a patty wagon with other inmates. I ignored them; I was thinking about my daughter. When we reached the county jail, I was told that I had to take out my braids (with extensions) before they could send me to population. I sat in a cell and took out the braids. When I was finally done, my hair was short and padded. I was completely humiliated. It looked and felt like wool. [more]

When L. was first born, a dear older friend (and mom of five children!) gave me a blank notebook with calendar pages and told me I should write down all the funny/interesting/important happenings in our new child's life. It would be especially important, she instructed me, to write down his first words--those first declarations of self out into the world. And I did try to commit as many of these as I could to paper, that first year and a half of his life. [more]