Mean Girls, snacks, and life
Get in, loser; we're finding the Black people on Substack
I’m not truly a Mean Girl, but I can be.
It is one of my top 5 favorite movies of all time, however. I wear pink on Wednesdays because in addition to it being my favorite color, I like to channel my inner Regina George, Karen Smith, Gretchen Wieners, and Cady Heron from time to time.
I have a huge graphic t-shirt collection, and within that collection are quite a few t-shirts with sayings and slogans from Mean Girls on them. One thing about me, I’mma buy a Mean Girls shirt even if I already have 10 others with the same saying on them.
This movie came out 20 years ago, and if I’m scrolling through the television and see it playing, I’m stopping to watch it no matter what part I catch it on.
Anyway, today is Wednesday, and I’m wearing pink — even though it’s not one of my Mean Girls shirts, and I want to get everyone into this trend, so this is how we are starting things out today.
Where are the Black people on Substack?
I have made a concerted effort to seek out the Black voices on Substack.
I wrote this Note a few weeks ago, asking for Black writers to connect with me in the comments so I could follow them, and it has really been working out.
Not only am I discovering a lot of new people, but other people are discovering each other as well.
If you are not already in the know,
created in response to the need for us to be able to find and connect with each other. If you are a regular user or writer on Substack, I highly recommend you subscribe to BlackStack, and join the chat!The BlackStack chat is full of beautiful Black people sharing their Black-ass creations with each other.
We need to be uplifting each others voices as much as possible here because as I touched on in my last post, Substack seems to promote mostly white content.
I’m committed to shining a light on all the good Black content I find, and I share it both here on this blog and in the Substacks Notes area if you follow me there.
We all we got.
Lakers!
Let’s go Lake Show!
My Lakers won game 1 of the 2024-2025 season last night, and LeBron and Bronny James made history being the first father and son duo to play on the same NBA team on the same floor at the same time.
I love basketball. I love the Lakers. It’s basketball season!
the lazy language of a word nerd
I saw this on Threads yesterday:
and then in the comments:
I need to work on using better language to tell people they aren’t smart because “y’all dumb” is far too general and generic, and I’m a writer, so I should be able to come up with something better than that.
Being chronically online and a serial abuser of social media has made my personal language very lazy in general as of late. I overuse some phrases so much, even I’m sick of hearing myself say them.
I’m aiming to fix that.
life is my muse
I have been outside more in this last year than in any of the years since the pandemic. Remind me I need to share pictures and stories of some of our adventures because we have been having a time!
I’ve been making a conscious effort to be outside more — breathing fresh air, letting my dog play in the grass, soaking up the sun, prolonging my most excellent tan since 1984, and enjoying the company of my loved ones.
I’m remembering that in those moments lies the inspiration, and never was that more true than when I went to the Mickalene Thomas “All About Love” exhibit last month.
My muses aren’t in my living room or my bedroom or my cloffice. They are outside where life is happening all over.
my creative project
I saw this Note and laughed because it’s relatable.
This website is an ongoing personal blogging project for me. It’s a living piece of art. It’s a historical document. It’s proof life. It’s a work in progress. It’s the serialized story of my life.
It is both an exhibit and an exhibition. It’s my resume. It’s my portfolio. It’s my scribbles and doodles and crumpled up pieces of paper in an overflowing trashcan.
It’s my Moleskines, and the camera roll on my phone, and the notes I type into Google Keep, and all the documents I have stored on Google Drive (and soon to be an external hard drive because baby?!).
I dare anyone to tell me this isn’t a worthy way to represent my writing and myself when it comes to writing and pitching.
Trader Joe’s Snacks
I’m a Trader Joe’s girlie, and I am in their store at least 3 or 4 times a week, if not more.
Last night, I picked up these Chili Lime Flavored Pork Rinds, and baby, I am not ashamed to tell you that the bag of pork rinds did not make it through the night.
It’s fine. I had only eaten a Trader Joe’s Broccoli Slaw and Kale Salad with white meat chicken (in the cold case where all the ready-to-eat salads with protein in them are) and a Cosmic Crisp apple all day.
No calorie deficit and low carb efforts were harmed by me eating the pork rinds.
Speaking of that Cosmic Crisp apple, it was my first time ever eating one, and it was so damn good. I am sure I looked like I had been given my first meal in 32 years the way I was eating it.
It was the first time in years I ate an apple without first coring it and cutting it into slices.
Gimme more of that crispy, crunchy, tart-and-sweet goodness.
Honeycrisp has been my favorite apple for the last five years or so at least — possibly more, but Cosmic Crisp just moved to the front.
Before Honeycrisp, I was all about Fuji apples.
Listen. I just love apples. They are one of nature’s most perfect snacks.
rewriting my life
I am heavily in a season of rewriting my life.
I’m learning to take it one day and one page at a time. I don’t know of any bestsellers that were written overnight, and it’s OK to not make every single change all at once.
It’s also OK for me to revise, revisit, and keep experimenting and changing things up until I get the end result I desire.
It's OK to color outside the lines, go against the grain, stray from what other people say it should look like or be and create the life I want that looks the way I want it to look.
I’m allowing myself plenty of grace. I’m listening to myself more. I’m drinking water, staying up late being creative, sleeping in later, and minding my business.
As it should be.
random bits
I started rereading Feelings For You again because I love they way they fell in love.
I love staying up late being creative. It’s taking me back to my early days in the blogging game from 1999 - 2005 when all I did was stay up late to write and create.
I love it here.
I’m experimenting with eating differently to see how it impacts my energy levels, my sleep, my productivity during the day and at night.
I’m still listening to GLORIOUS, and I’m still loving every minute of it.
The wedding episodes of Love Is Blind dropped today, and I’m going to watch them tonight, hopefully.
Then I’m going to start a chat about it so we can all talk our shit.
my writing in other places
I have admittedly been spending way more time learning about Substack and working to create content for this space, but I still have to pay the bills, and that means writing things for other publications.
I wrote “Black Boy Joy: LeBron James, Bronny And Quincy Olivaro Open New NBA Season With Magical Moments” for NewsOne, and that went live today.
I’m working on a few more pieces for NewsOne that should come out over the next week or so.
I also have two pieces in the cooker for Andscape.
Monique omg thank you so much for this shoutout. I appreciate you so much! I’m so grateful for everything Blackstack has turned into in such a short time. We really are all we got!
Also in the season of rewriting my life. But you know, #MakingAMovement <3