Adventures of Nefertiti

Irene never really had an interest in me and so I never really worried much about her. Living coastal in the South Carolina Lowcountry, I knew early on from news reports that Irene was one storm that was going to pass me by. She was heading north, leaving me with only outer bands of rain. But there once was a storm in South Florida that I’ll never forget, her name was Wilma. I was new to South Florida in October 2005, having only moved there eight months before. And I was all alone. Although a sister of mine moved to Florida with me in February, by May, she and my two nieces were back home in Kentucky. So when Wilma came in October, it was just me, alone in an overpriced two-bedroom apartment. Oddly though, I wasn’t fazed and I wasn’t afraid. Wilma, early on, a Category 5, battered the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico first. After hammering down on the resort town of Cozumel, Mexico, Wilma headed due northeast, and crossed the Gulf of Mexico to Florida, where she made landfall near N...

My Grandfather was a nuclear physicist, and one day your child can be one too. I’ve written about my grandfather before, but I wanted to bring him up again as you prepare your children for the upcoming school year. My grandfather, my father’s father, conducted experiments for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) at the Plum Brook Reactor Facility in Sandusky, Ohio. My grandfather, born 1927, in Liberty, Texas, was the youngest of twenty children from a Creole family originally of Arnaudville, Louisiana. When my grandfather was 14-years-old he joined the navy to fight in WWII. After the war, he took advantage of the G.I. Bill to go to college, where he met my grandmother. In 1962, he joined NASA as a nuclear engineer. In 1966, my grandfather received his reactor’s operator license from the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. My grandmother tells me that he would be exhausted after coming home late from experiments in the reactor. Below is a summary of my grandfather's...

For any family member or friend that comes to visit, keep in mind that in addition to sightseeing and hanging out on the beach in Hilton Head, we will also take a day trip to one of my favorite places in the whole wide world, Charleston, South Carolina. Charleston has the look and feel of New Orleans; alive with old city charm, rich in history and tradition. The other day my Dad and his wife and her sister came to visit me for a few days. Actually first they stopped in Atlanta to stay with my cousin Shandra and then they traveled further south to Orlando to visit with my Uncle Harrison and my brother Tommy and his kids. Since I don’t have children to play with (like my brother) or a nice relaxing indoor swimming pool at the house (Uncle Harrison), their visit with me meant plenty of time enjoying the sights outside in the heat. I first took my family down to the May River in Old Town Bluffton to enjoy a cool breeze on a boat dock. Next we headed over the bridge to Hilton Head and slowl...

Great thing about being human is that we are diverse and unique in our oneness. And when we open ourselves to new adventures, we learn to appreciate ourselves even more. But you don’t always have to travel half way around the world to experience something new. Sometimes a good festival can give you an introduction to sights and sounds from abroad. Saturday I had a chance to experience music, dance and cuisine from Asian cultures of Polynesia, China, Japan, Vietnam, and Thailand at the 16th Annual Savannah Asian Festival. It was a beautiful daylong event attended by diverse people from everywhere. A packed house… White, Black, Brown, Asian, mixed… everyone came out to celebrate the unique cultures from the East. And what a celebration! In addition to live performances and great food, we were also treated to shopping at the Asian Cultural Marketplace and a workshop on Asian and Middle Eastern Tea. This is an annual event and I hope to have the pleasure to attend again next year. In the m...

For anyone with kids, I recommend you sign them up for swim lessons at your local YMCA . If you’re worried about the expense, stop by the front desk to see if you and your kids qualify for financial assistance. My siblings qualified for assistance when they were kids. I think it’s very important that every child learns to swim. According to the American Red Cross, nearly 3,500 Americans drown each year, and of that more than one in five victims are children age fourteen and younger. Learning to swim is not only a life saving skill, but knowing the front crawl and the back stroke adds to hours more of fun when you and yours make your way to the swimming pool or beach. And when they get a little older, they can turn their skills into a part-time summer gig as a lifeguard, just as I did. For those of you hitting the road, on your way down to Florida, see if you can add a stop to your itinerary and swing on over to the east coast to visit and tour the Kennedy Space Center . One of my siste...

Melungeon: A member of a people mixed with White, Black,and American Indian ancestry living in the southern Appalachians. -Dictionary.com I recently returned from a short stay in the Outer Banks, which is a perfect family vacation destination on a group of barrier islands off the coast of North Carolina. There you can find kite flying on huge sand dunes, and hours of fun windsurfing in the Atlantic Ocean. Those interested in aviation will find the birthplace of flight exciting at the Wright Brothers National Memorial in honor of Wilbur and Orville Wright. And if you really love history, you have... Roanoke Island. I stayed in Kill Devil Hills, NC in the Outer Banks, but of course the highlight for me, was my day trip down to Roanoke. I toured Roanoke Island Festive Park , an interactive family attraction that takes you back in time with a recreation of one of North America’s first settlements and a replica of a 16th century ship that made its way to the Outer Banks. It was in...

She’s your daughter… A young child, only eleven-years-old, is repeatedly ganged raped in a small town in Texas by a group of nineteen men between the ages of 14 and 27. Details here … She’s your sister… A Libyan woman runs into a hotel lobby seeking to tell her story after being held captive, raped and beaten by Gadhafi security forces. Journalists are today afraid for her safety… She’s your friend… A CBS news reporter is caught in the hysteria of a mob scene, triggered by victory in an Egyptian square, and is raped and violated. She’s back home in the states and recovering . She is you… I once knew a girl, a 14-year-old girl, caught in the embraces of a 19-year-old man. She attempted to escape, but instead was raped. She was on her way to a job interview, at a fast food restaurant, when she received a call to stop by for awhile. She was on her period. He forced her to take her tampon out. When it was over, instead of a job interview, she slowly walked home with tears in her eyes. ...

Of course you reject me. I’m your roots and you have one foot on the ground. Barely standing, but you shout you don’t want me around. I cry out for you, but you pretend I’m not here. I say I love you, But you show you don’t care. You fly away. The sky is blue. You don’t know me, but I remember you.

The first time I had to run for my life, I was 13 and new to the city. Young and naïve in Lexington, KY, I was hanging with new found friends watching boys play basketball at Castlewood Park when I heard… pop, pop, and a scream: “Someone is shooting!” I took off running toward the other side of the park, and terrified and scared, I reunited with my friends. At the age of fifteen and sixteen I started going to house parties and eventually nightclubs and more shootings followed me there. I would be on the dance floor, swaying my hips from side to side and then out of nowhere… crack, pop, pop… pow! And people would be ducking and dodging and running for the door. In college I truly expected to escape the violent episodes, but within my first semester of my freshman year at the University of Louisville (I later transferred to UK), I once again found myself dropping and then running for my life after a good time on the dance floor. This past weekend I followed Breaking News on Twitter of an...

And the sand lands in the power of my hands… I hold still, I hold still. And the wind blows and the minutes tick. I hold still, I hold still. What keeps me here but the movements I fear… The wind blows, the wind blows, Time moves, sand slips… I hold still, I hold still.

Angel of God, my guardian dear, to whom God’s love commits me here, ever this day (or night) be at my side, to light, to guard, to rule and guide. Amen I don’t collect Angels, but I do have a collection. And I never thought about it before, but all my little angels have been gifted to me. Today I had a visit from an angelic older lady who noticed one of my angels on top of my office desk. She mentioned that she keeps angels next to photos of her children as protection. She said she had quite a huge collection but she purchased not a one. She said all of her pieces had been given to her by loved ones, and she’s come to believe that her Angels have flown to her. As she said this and shared her story, I connected and realized that all my angels have come flying to me too! I remember once at a Melungeon conference with my Mom, sister and ex-boyfriend when a total stranger came up to me and handed me her angel lapel pin. She tapped me on the shoulder as I sat next to family in the hotel c...

Paul Gauguin… I don’t know a whole lot about art, but I sure do like this guy’s work. Born in Paris, France in 1848, post-impressionist painter Paul Gauguin spent time with family in Peru during his early years and traveled the world during his adult life looking for the wild and exotic. He was mad about color and obsessed with bringing the human experience to life. He traveled throughout Europe and the Americas and eventually found his way to the beauty of Tahiti. He died 700 miles away in Hiva Oa on the Marquesas Islands. Below are a few pieces of his work which speak to me.

To all my brothers and sisters around the world who have been asked the all important question, "What are you?" Or if you are personally asking yourself this question about your own self worth. Take a look below and remember take pride, because you are exceptionally Only Human...

In This Moment that I hold dear... I look in the eyes of the unknown, and of that which I fear, And I say thank you Lord for blessing me with another day. Thank you Lord for the love that has traveled through and toward my way. My path has been bumpy, the storms have been fierce, but the love has been constant throughout the years. Thank you Lord. Family is Everything