Unlike white counterparts, I’m not assured of financial security once my parents die

Three weeks ago, my nephew and I decided to put my father in a nursing home.

I tried to avoid this circumstance, but the decision was made for me in many ways. To make a relatively long story short, Dad’s fourth-floor walkup apartment is no longer a safe environment for him. He refuses to consider living with me, which may be for the best as I’m not sure I’m emotionally equipped to give him the kind of care he needs. To see a once proud, energetic man…

It took a pandemic for me to actually like doing an office job

There are numerous articles of late about people who are glad to be returning to the office as well as those who never want to set foot in one again. Count me as one of the latter. However, some of my reasons for never wanting to commute to the office again differ from many people.

I’ve worked in offices in some capacity for over thirty years-as a receptionist, customer service representative, and later, as a specialist and analyst. Unfortunately, the office environment never fully suited me. I’ve…

I’ve been hiding in plain sight for awhile. I need to start changing that.

In 2015, I stumbled into the asexual community online a few months after ending my last relationship. The definition of asexual fits me perfectly. I’m on the spectrum where I experience sexual attraction very infrequently. This had been the case for me since puberty, but the language to explain what I felt hadn’t been developed during my formative years.

I’ve written several pieces about my ongoing struggle with coming to terms with my asexuality. …

Re-Entry anxiety is far different if you aren’t white, male or straight

Just about every day, more and more restrictions enacted during the pandemic are being lifted, not just in my city but in my country. As a result, cases and deaths are dropping dramatically. The fully vaccinated no longer need to wear masks except when traveling on public transportation, hospitals, nursing homes, or other congregate settings such as prisons. Over half of all adults in the US are now fully vaccinated.

This is the kind of news that I’d been waiting to hear for over a year. The forced…

Recently, I read an article online by someone where I disagreed with their viewpoint. In the comments section, I stated my position. After a couple of back and forth exchanges, the writer commented, “Wow. Your anger is showing. I’m sorry.” To add additional context to this anecdote, the writer’s photo by the article byline showed a middle-aged white woman. And I’m a Black woman.

I did not appreciate her comment about my alleged anger. For one thing, I didn’t think my comments were “angry” in tone. I felt passionate in explaining my position. However, no matter how Black people come…

I recently stumbled across an article about writing that made me cringe. The gist of the piece was that articles advising about writing are a waste of time because if you haven’t mastered the craft by high school, you shouldn’t bother.

What an arrogant, elitist mindset.

Ever since childhood, I wanted to be a writer. I always felt that words had enormous power. The ability of language to transform one’s viewpoint or ability to empathize with other human beings defies description.

Speaking only for myself, I occasionally wrote in junior high and high school, mainly poetry. Looking back though, can…

Ending pandemic unemployment has racist and classist undertones

When I saw news stories like this one over the last week or so about various states in the US discontinuing pandemic unemployment, I seethed. And I’m not unemployed.

At least eighteen states are planning to discontinue the $300 weekly pandemic unemployment insurance by the end of June, supposedly because unemployment increased slightly in April according to a jobs report. These governors, most of them Republican, are claiming that pandemic unemployment insurance is making people shiftless and lazy. “If they’re making more on unemployment than they do working, then the socialist state…