I Am a White Girl

I am.  I am white, pale white and freckled. Many folk, mainly men have told me that they like that I obviously don't have any (insert any darker skinned racial slur here) in me to not recognize that it matters.  It matters in ways that make me go still and quiet, in ways that make me feel doubly hard when I hear stories like I did this week.  A story of a man and woman, never an uncomplicated theme.  A story of a potential romance smeared and over before it began...

Affirm Life. 

Community Bookcase

OH. Oh. I love books, love reading and am a huge champion of libraries, donating books to discount stores, friends, strangers...doesn't matter, just keep the words flowing. So this, this to my mind is goosebumpy brilliance. Found on decor8 http://decor8blog.com, an amazing blog the concept is simple. No, of course it wouldn't work everywhere...but the concept and the beauty of it shines in the darkness. The link to the actual locations are German, being of course German http://danyskiste.npage.de/wohin_mit_alten_buechern-_67078172.html . But the take a book, leave a book concept is like a bit of Christmas glitter.

Well Worth Remembering

Still I Rise

You may write me down in history With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt But still, like dust, I'll rise.
Does my sassiness upset you?Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells Pumping in my living room.Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.
Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard 'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines Diggin' in my own back yard.You may shoot me with your words,You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?
Out of the huts of history's shame I rise Up from a past that's rooted in pain I rise I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear I rise Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

Maya Angelou