Roots & Hope
Soulful Reflections on Faith, Healing, and Young Adulting
Category: Uncategorized
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Two weekends ago, I rode on an Amtrak train and remained entertained in my window seat. Highlight #1: I created a new Spotify playlist that I called “easy listening”. Still under construction, it is already an audible museum, 90% of which honors British soul singers. Highlight #2: I began reading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, the…
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On a whim, I decided to bake chocolate chip cookies from scratch. I enjoyed a day of much needed rest and watched Love and Basketball for the umpteenth time. Things were going great. Yet, I had a sweet tooth and absolutely no ice cream in my freezer. There was no way I would end my chill…
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March 13, 2017 is the last snowy day that I remember. After a busy afternoon and early evening of working with 6th and 7th graders, I donned my knee-length, chocolate coat in anticipation for rest. As I walked without certainty to my car (for some reason, I always forget where I park it), I noticed an incredible…
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On Tuesday night, I couldn’t quite sleep, so I created a new Spotify playlist. I titled it, “Love Yourself”. It is a mix of songs, like Jazmine Sullivan’s “Masterpiece”, Leah Smith’s “Beautifully and Wonderfully Made”, Erykah Badu’s “Cleva”, “Video” by India.Arie (of course), and other “feel good” jams. I love making playlists because the process reminds me…
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You might be worrying about your: imperfections past mistakes awkward moments from yesterday adequacy in other people’s eyes If you are, I empathize with your worries. I am imperfect. Some days, my tag hangs out of my shirt, and my natural hairstyles don’t always live up to my imagination. While I am generally positive, I have…
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Dollar stores are underrated. My favorite is Dollar Tree, where everything from a Baby Ruth to a household decoration truly costs no more than $1. There, I feel rich whenever I splurge on stationery, cleaning supplies, and junk food. As a kid, I loved sitting in my mom’s fragile ’93 Eagle Vision. I rode for…
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Don’t give me the side eye. We all do it, right? We occasionally catch ourselves in a conversation…with ourselves…and laugh about it. Sometimes, the experience becomes so much of a habit that it’s no longer peculiar. I talk to myself often. It happens while I wash dishes that I avoided for too long, commute on the Lodge Freeway, and…
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“Sometimes, you want to go where everybody knows your name.” As a kid, I faithfully watched “Nick-at-Nite”. When the television show Cheers came on, however, that was my cue to change the channel. Oddly, the show’s theme song was impressionable enough to still resonate with me. Although it’s tough to confess, I want to be Known and…
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It’s roughly 4am, and of course, I’m awake. This week, I had a day off from work, and I decided to make it a great day. After waking up, I mulled over worries, but I spent most of the day seeking simple moments of joy and rest. There were small successes, like the tasty breakfast…
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One of my favorite music artists is Erykah Badu. I love her unique style, soulful voice, and the lyrical realness of her songs (I’m thinking of classics like “Appletree”, “Bag Lady”, and “Cleva”, to name a few). I also laugh whenever I see “before and after” pics of rappers she’s dated, like Andre 3000 and Common.…
Roots & Hope 