Dear Dearest,  My family has always been the type to shy away from the conversation of death. But as our parents became older and the passing of our beloved mother, thoughts of insurance crossed my mind. Yet as a single father of 3 I never followed up with it. My brother and sister-in-law approached me about a pol...

Dear Dearest,  On my 42nd birthday, I realized I wanted to start dating again. My 22 year old son was on his own and as a school bus driver, I was not putting time into myself like I should. So, me and the girls got dolled up and hit the club scene. It had been almost 20 years for me. That’s where I met an in...

When I turned 48 yesterday it was bitter sweet. I was truly happy to make it to another year. One which I could look upon the glowing faces of my children, one that I could try to make that money one more time, one that I could be pleasing and acceptable in the sight of God. Yes those thoughts were sweet but the bitter taste of the m...

The question is, how does someone become homeless? Well it is my belief we can’t discuss homelessness, affordable housing and displacement without talking about the job force. We can’t ignore the seed that maintains a place to stay. And in this we must deal with nepotism, racism and gender discrimination to protect employme...

My mental state’s foundation is where I rest my head each night. My home is my gas station. It checks my levels and fills me up. It is where I find order and in a world with so much chaos and conflict, it is a safe haven, protecting my village from inevitable storms. Yes, storms are inevitable for everyone and the preparation from the sto...

I have stayed in the shelters but I prefer a hotel. The cheapest I found this week is $42 a night. You see I work full time, have a business, two kids and I do most of my stuff out of my car. I have a great mother but she can’t carry me, so I allow the kids to get that stability from her while each day I try to pull out. I have never used drug...

​Dear Dearest,  February 2019 I was blessed with a love offering from the Movement Love Foundation to get on my feet. I was a displaced mother but Movement School hired me as a teacher’s assistant with high hopes of becoming a Language Department Chair. I also enrolled my son there because he had a learning challenge that I...

The death of Kobe Bryant, his daughter and several other individuals has the world devastated. We understand that someone is killed every minute. We watch senseless murders daily on the news. Yet we don’t bat an eye when tragic loses are told to us. Today so many are heartbroken from this horrific event. This is because Kob...

As we hit upon a New Year, a new documented season, a new reason to try more, a new journey that's in store. I'm not writing resolutions or creating a list of "to dos", I rather write my last piece of 12 reasons of why I don't fool with you. I learned in January clowns in the circus can't be reformed with big smiles across their faces yet pulling y...

I woke up to the smell of fresh rain. There's nothing like it, other than mama's fresh brewing coffee, her smokin' hot biscuits, drizzling sausage and gressiling bacon popping like music. Daddy loved the smell of morning breakfast and mama loved my daddy. The morning fragrance always proved they still had it and nothing compared to that smell of fr...

By Jill LeonardOur story began in Sicily, Italy in 1991. Sean and I met in the military, quickly became friends and then parents to our first precious gift, Jazzmin who was born March 3rd in 1992. She was born at 28 weeks and only 2lbs and 8oz, so this was a scary time for us. Yet, this brought us closer together as we...

Thinking back to 1999, walking into the Hilton Garden Inn in Owings Mills, Maryland is a day I will never forget. I was going in for a job interview and my heart and soul was taken by just a glance through a window. I saw the radiant beauty of her presence and after sometime went by, I finally ...

By Sha'mon P CouppoeMay 24,1979 at 12:37 a.m., in Fort Pirece FL, at the Glen Dale Medical Hospital, I was born to Gloria Wilson and Leo Dallas. It was a very joyful day that morning in the hospital, as my Grandmother, Aunt and brother looked at me and my mother. Now the only male figures that morning in the ...

When the world tried to take everything from me,  My house, my car, sometimes dividing my family,  I reflected on the day that I was “made”,  Illustrious, “Intelligence being the touch of Wisdom”, never again to be enslaved,  Wrapped in pristine crimson and showered in cream,  Laid in African V...

December 23rd, it felt like everything was falling apart. I made a post that the IRS put a hold on my bank accounts, I didn’t do any shopping for my kids and the bills where coming at me like crazy. I even had someone tell me, for a preacher you have the worst luck. I was depressed, staying in bed, my kids were so concerned. My daughter came t...

“All things come of thee oh Lord and of thine own as we give on thee, Amen”  We went through those malls trying to find the perfect gift to plant a smile on our loved ones face. We attempted to out do years of past and build lasting happiness with toys and gadgets. And while this day will be marked with fun times and laughter for som...

When I say Joseph was the best that ever did it, you best believe it. He was the eptimone of grace. In a time when masculinity and male dominance trumped love, I know there had to be beef between him and Mary returning to the tent after finding out she was carrying a child not conceived by him. "You are not the father." The worst Maury Polwich resu...

We sat across from one another at Outback Steakhouse. I tried not to stare but this was to be the first and final date that me and my husband was to ever have. I never got a wedding ring and I wasn’t bold enough to ask him where the one I gave him was. It was actually the first time since he was released from prison that we really looked ...

I write to make positive change and when I decided to create a fictitious political party called The Stamp Party, I was surprised when I was accused of spreading propaganda. So what is propaganda? According to Webster, it is “information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or ...

​I come to you as a humble writer; one that has not written in any major publications or doesn’t have a large fan base. All I have is a revolutionary idea. An idea to take our government and give it to those who have been honorable citizens. Since the conception of the United States of America, our corruption has stolen liv...