Along with Phillip’s Room, Timmy’s Tower serves as another monument to Butcher’s grief within the Precious Moments Chapel. The bell tower was constructed in 2014, two years after the death of his other son, Timothy Butcher. A mourning room accompanies…

I was captivated immediately by the story of Davis’ teacher questioning how she could possibly have so many shoes. Fannie’s essence was captured in her sheer audacity and pride in buying an additional pair of yellow shoes for her daughter.…

What really stood out to me while reading this biography was the relationship between mother and daughter and the respect and admiration one had for the other. From the very beginning it was clear how much pride, though a secret,…

“The exercise is also critical for any person who is black, or who belongs to any marginalized category, for, historically, we were seldom invited to participate in the discourse even when we were its topic.” – Toni Morrison p 191…

I’ve rewritten this a few times and my response to this is still a big hot steaming run-on mess…here goes.  This felt more to me like a biography of Fannie Davis told in parallel with the autobiography of Bridgett Davis…

As the author conveys a biography of her mother, herself and family, she walks us through the history of Playing the Numbers, and the importance of the industry in Black communities. While the business was illegal, the author provides historical…

Entire generations emerged from the Caribbean in the 1950s, 1960s and 70s, ready to write some new chapter in the making of America. Many were lured to New York City by the promise of factory jobs (that were not-quite-there on…

* Having grown up in poverty herself, as it traveled from generation to generation. In her time, and in the area of the country that she grew up in in rural Iceland, it was common for children to be given…

About halfway through the 90-minute journey, Adriana reached behind the pilot’s seat, pulled out a mask attached to an oxygen tank, and passed it to Francisco as he flew. Ana Cristina and I, in the back, looked at each other,…

Here’s a series of nested footnotes (a footnote and the footnotes to it: toenotes) for an imaginary Pop Science bestseller called something slightly silly, but fun, like: “Pain and the Brain”    1. Despite being the representative illness of modernity…