Black Voices / Media to Amplify and Support

230 words

2 minute read

With many places still under stay at home orders (and many people unable to go out and protest for health or disability reasons, here is a list of TV and Netflix, DVDs and books to look into. 

Let's support and amplify Black voices:

DVD:

Underground


PRIME VIDEO:

Roots (2016)


NETFLIX:

13TH

American Son

Becoming

Bookmarks!

Raising Dion

When They See Us

Oprah Winfrey Presents When They See Us Now

YOUTUBE:

IN A BEAT - Short 

PODCASTS:

The Michelle Obama Podcast


BOOKS:

Allegedly by Tiffany D. Jackson

Becoming by Michelle Obama

Born a Crime by Trevor Noah

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

Courage to Soar by Simone Biles

Dear Martin by Nic Stone

The Deep by Rivers Solomon

Don't Touch My Hair! by Sharee Miller

Dread Nation by Justina Ireland

Free Cyntoia by Cyntoia Brown Long

Full Disclosure by Camryn Garrett

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Modern HERstory by Blair Imani

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander

The Pretty One: On Life, Pop Culture, Disability, and Other Reasons to Fall in Love with Me by Keah Brown

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor

ROOTS by Alex Haley

TRUST by Iyanla Vanzant

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon

***

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We Belong: Chapter 21

762 words

6 minute read

THE SECRET CLUB

(Jesse)

TW: Ableism

I have big plans for when Shane and Connor actually come over.  We’ll play on the computer, watch a movie, eat, and it will be great.  Lexie is having a bad pain day so I let her have the I-Pad.  She’s in bed in our room.

When they get here, I’m ready for them, all set up, with Mom’s laptop on a TV tray across my wheelchair.  “Hey, guys!”  I say.  “Let’s play a game!”

They look at each other.

“Can we video chat on this?” Connor asks.

“I should ask my mom,” I hedge.  We can’t just do stuff on her computer without asking.

“Oh, we just wanna talk to Sophia.  Your mom won’t care,” Shane says and he takes the laptop from me and starts typing.

I make a face.  Sophia?  Really?  Since when do Shane and Connor like the one cousin I don’t?

"Why?" I ask, still not able to keep the look off my face like something stinks so much.  "I thought we didn't like her," I point out.  "Like, she's super bossy, she's mean, she doesn't share..."

"She does share," Connor pipes up.  "Sometimes," he allows.  "If we do what she wants."

"But you're older than her, Shane.  Why would you let her boss you around?" I ask, horrified.  Shane's eight.  Sophia's only seven.

"Our cabins are right by each other.  And we still have a really puny one.  But Sophia and her parents?  Theirs is like a mansion.  It's so fancy.  They have extra rooms for people to come over and have sleepovers."

"And video games!" Connor adds.  "And the best snacks!  She even has a trampoline in her yard!  If we're nice to her, she lets us jump on it."

It is true.  Sophia's house does have the best snacks.  And if I could jump on a trampoline right now, I would do it.  So, I guess it makes sense that Shane and Connor want to stay on her good side.

But that still doesn't mean I want to talk to her.

In a few seconds, Sophia is there on the screen. She is seven, so she’s right between Connor and Shane.  Her parents let her video chat whenever she wants because she only ever talks to family and it’s free.  

“Hey guys!  Oh.  Hey, Jesse…”

I wave. I get a bad feeling inside.  Did Shane and Connor see how Sophia got way less friendly when she saw I was there, too?  That’s kind of rude.

“Guys,” Sophia hisses.  “You didn’t tell me you were gonna be at their house…  They’re not even in our club!”

[Image: A brown wooden sign reads KEEP OUT]

I poke Shane in the side and raise an eyebrow.  I’m still not comfortable enough to talk around Sophia.  She’d probably think everything I said was stupid.

“It’s nothing,” Shane shrugs.

“It’s not nothing!” Connor exclaims, like Shane is the rude one.  “It’s our secret club!”

“Nice going, Connor.  Now he knows,” Sophia pouts.  She’s excellent at pouting.

I look away from the screen, embarrassed.  

“Shane already told him, anyway,” Connor brags.

Now I’m really confused.

“Swimming!  I told him about swimming!  I didn’t tell him about the club or where the clubhouse is!”

Sophia huffs out a big sigh. 

My ears burn.  Since when do Shane and Connor want to be in secret clubs with Sophia? 

“Well, I guess it’s okay he knows,” Sophia sighs.  “Maybe he can be in the club once his leg is better and if he ever, you know, talks normal.”

“He does talk normal,” Shane insists.  “Just not to you.”

“Well, whatever.  Okay, so when your leg is normal and when you can talk, you can be in our secret club.”  Sophia’s talking to me like I’m a baby.

I don’t look at her.

“But Lexie can never be in it,” Sophia says seriously.  “My mom says she’ll never be able to walk like everyone else.  Maybe Jesse will, so maybe he can be in it, but only if he promises to never tell Lexie anything about the club.”

Shane and Connor look at me.

“So?  Do you promise?” Sophia insists.

I swallow once, and nod.

Return to the Table of Contents

Questions for Discussion:

Sophia talks to Jesse like he is a baby.  Has anyone talked to you like you're a baby?  How did you feel?

If you were in Jesse's place, would you promise not to tell Lexie about the secret club?  Why or why not?

***

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We Belong: Chapter 20

531 words

4 minute read

SNAIL MAIL

(Jesse)

Being home again is such a relief.  Even though I still think of it as the new house, it is so much better to be there than at the hospital.  I get to share the room I usually share with Seth with Lexie.  She is a much better roommate, even if she mostly sleeps and doesn’t have much energy to play.

I missed my bed, which feels the same, and smells the same, and all that good stuff.  The only thing different is I have to wear this thing on my leg to keep it straight all the time.  It’s called an immobilizer.  (That’s just a fancy word that means it makes my leg stay stretched out and not bent.  I’m very good at vocabulary.)  I’m not very good at wearing the immobilizer.  It’s annoying.  Taking it off for a little bit when I’m allowed is my favorite part of the day.

When we have been home awhile, the snail mail starts coming.  Usually, we never get snail mail, except if it’s our birthday and that already happened.  Getting something that says my whole name on it feels official.  Like I’m a grown up.  Mom and Dad are the only ones who usually get mail and usually it’s stuff they don’t want, like bills.

Lucky for us, cards are a lot better than bills.  Sometimes, Lexie and I have to share cards, but we don’t mind because we share everything already.  We mind sharing chocolate, and our toys sometimes, but that’s it.  Everything else we are okay sharing.

My favorite card so far is from Shane.  He’s really creative and draws the best stuff.  His card is gigantic-sized and has a picture of a flying dragon with fire and reddish purple wings.  The letters on the front look smokey.  Inside the card, he wrote about what he and Connor have been doing.  It sounds a lot more fun than recovering from surgery.

[Image: A purple dragon in the sky above some trees]

Dear Jesse,

How are you?  I am fine.  I want to tell you everything you are missing, but don’t feel bad, OK?  I went swimming.  I wish you and Lexie could come, too, but Mom said if your cast got wet, it would be bad for your leg.  Are you getting fun things on your cast?  My friend at school got a green one when he needed a cast.  I think you should get a purple one.  That would be magic.  Connor wants to say hi.  Bye.  Love, Shane

Hi.  Connor.

Shane is so nice, he makes Lexie and me each our own cards.  Not everyone does it that way.  We don’t mind, like I said.  But when somebody takes time to make each of us one, it’s good.  

It means he is friends with each of us, by ourselves and both of us together.  

He doesn’t just think of us as “the twins.” 

Return to the Table of Contents

Questions for Discussion:

Do you like getting snail mail like Jesse?

What is the best card or letter you've ever gotten?  What makes it special?

***

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We Belong: Chapter 19

166 words

1 minute read

TOGETHER AGAIN

(Lexie)

It’s a lonely few days before Mr. Hopps comes back to me.  Jesse feels terrible and loans me Carrot Breath to sleep with, but it doesn’t help.  Mr. Hopps is the only one who can calm me down and he’s not here.  

I’m watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles when Dad sets Mr. Hopps in my lap.  

“Where were you?” I ask, hugging my rabbit close.

“Decided to take a little ride down to the hospital laundry room.  Lucky, they found him with Jesse’s name still on the tag.”

[Image: A laundry room]

“Silly Mr. Hopps.  Rabbits hate water!” I say cuddling him.  It’s been more than a week since I have held him close.  I smell him, and he still smells the same.  

Thank goodness.

Return to the Table of Contents

Question for Discussion:

Do you have a special stuffed animal or blanket that helps you calm down like Lexie and Jesse?

***

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Mother's Day is Not For Everyone...and That's Okay

249 words

2 minute read

Posts are everywhere today celebrating mothers.

There are also a subset of people (mostly trauma survivors) who acknowledge today is a complicated day at best.

It's okay if today is hard.

It's okay if today is just a day.

It's okay if today you choose to celebrate someone else, or if you choose not to celebrate at all.

It's okay if all you want to do is sit at home in your pajamas and watch Tangled.  It's okay if you want to celebrate a sibling who took care of you.  Or celebrate yourself - for getting yourself through an unbelievably tough childhood!

(I see you.  Great job.  You're here.  And that's amazing.)

[Siblings walk through an ominous landscape together]

It makes sense if complicated feelings come up today.  If you panic at not getting your parent that card.  Those flowers.  That gift.  Because what will it mean if they are not affirmed?

It makes sense if you ache a little (or a lot) even if your childhood was dark, grieving what you didn't have.  What you should have had.

It makes sense if seeing mothers care for their children (even in basic ways) makes you emotional.

It makes sense if you can't watch movies like Moana, or Frozen 2, ever again, because the representation hurts.

Whatever you are feeling today?  

It makes sense.

Whatever you went through, I believe you.

Take gentle care of yourself today.

Tomorrow's coming soon.

***

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We Belong: Chapter 18

353 words

3 minute read

GOING HOME

(Lexie)

Before we leave the hospital, Annette and Evan sign shirts for us.  They take pictures with us, too.  It’s weird, but I will really miss them.  I remember the night when Annette sneaked me a blue raspberry popsicle and spent her break watching an episode of Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood with me, and told me all about how much her little niece loved that show.

It’s been seven whole days, and it feels like the entire world has changed.  It’s July now.  The sun hurts my eyes because I haven’t had to see it in so long.

[Image: An empty road under a bright sun]

Riding in the car hurts.  Getting carried in the house by Dad hurts.  Grandma and Grandpa and Seth are gone.  They moved Seth into my room and me into the big room with Jesse just while we recover.  It’s weird.  It’s everything I wanted, but not how I wanted it at all.

Now, we don’t have the energy to talk.

We’re unpacking when I realize something.

“Jesse, did you bring Mr. Hopps home?” I ask.

“I thought you had him, since I had Carrot Breath,” he says, his eyes wide.

“No…” My eyes fill.  I think about Mr. Hopps all alone in the hospital without us.  

“Dad,” Jesse calls.  “Lexie forgot Mr. Hopps!”

I’m too upset to say that it was Jesse who forgot him, not me.  I gave him to Jesse to take care of while we were in the hospital, and look what happened.

“I’ll make some calls.  Don’t worry, Lexie Lou.  He probably just hopped down to the cafeteria.  Coffee’s really bad down there, but he doesn’t know that yet.  He’ll be home before you know it.”

Return to the Table of Contents

Questions for Discussion:

Lexie and Jesse get to share the bigger room while they recover.  Lexie says, "It's everything I wanted, but not how I wanted it at all."  Have you ever felt like this?

Mr. Hopps got left behind at the hospital.  Has this ever happened to you?

***

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