The idea came from a combination of a few silly memories. The first was my freshman year of college. We had an open-door policy. That basically means, any Joe Blow with an ID could walk into your dorm room and say things like, “PG people like to party.” The second was the driver of this nostalgic series, my time at Suitland High School, which in itself holds so many sub-memories of community, black excellence and culture.
The curiosity surrounding a place where my everyday life existed, a place that I called home made me laugh. It made my think, and it made me grateful. I wanted to share what I had learned from being away was a unique life experience. But even more than that, I wanted to share what had been instilled into me by my parents from the time I was a child, self-love and community pride.
Though many surprisingly look at where I come from as this mystical, far-off cultural dreamland, many also believe stereotypes. Stereotypes that I had heard my entire life. Stereotypes that I had learned to look through with x-ray vision to see the root of. It was always either ignorance or intimidation.
I wrote this for the urban girls, like me. The men, women and children who aren’t just puns, or abstract concepts you discuss in your urban studies class, but real people. I wrote this so that you could be reminded of your distinction, your resilience, the little things you say and do that you don’t even think about, because it’s your culture. The culture that many want to copy, but less want to respect. The culture that you create everyday you wake up and live.
I wrote this for the black millennials. The ones that I watched lead the second civil rights movement from my dorm room. The ones whose faces were laughed in for demanding basic human rights. The one’s who will go down in history.
I wrote this for anybody who was willing to listen with an open mind, as I opened my mind and my heart, and grabbed precious memories, priceless lessons and powerful truths.
I wrote this for you, and now I want to give you something else.
Today, the outlier of all unashamedintrovertishgirl.blogspot.com series has been read hundreds of times by readers across the globe, and this is just the beginning. The series is not ending, it’s evolving.
Listen to the clip below for a sneak peek of my next project, and sign-up for my email list to get exclusive updates on its official release.
The marathon continues….
“12 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.”
-Philippians 3:12
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