pen obsessions, 'Power Book II: Ghost,' and Substack

this post is full of links

Photo by Seven Shooter on Unsplash

I’ve been spending a lot of time in the Substack app as of late.

It’s become my default destination when I open my phone. There’s something very comforting about a social community built around writers that makes my soul happy, and I’m here for all the new people whose writing I am discovering.

There are so many beautiful Black voices out there, and I want to find them all, so you will notice that — at least in this section of my blog — the posts are full of links and references to my new discoveries.

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Power Book II: Ghost

I feel like I’ve allowed y’all enough time to watch the latest episode of Power Book II: Ghost.

This entire final season has been all kinds of unorganized and crazy, but this latter half of the season has been atrocious.

I don’t know what the game plan was going into the final season of this show, but it doesn’t seem like the writers were aware it was going to be the final season until like last week or something.

Now there is this wild rush to wrap up all 36 storylines that are going on right now in the span of two episodes.

Friday’s episode was the penultimate of the series.

Monet Tejada was killed trying to save her son’s life.

That lady went out like Cleo in Set It Off, and it probably did nothing to help prevent anything from happening to her progeny.

This was the penultimate episode of the series, and there are still so many loose ends, I don’t know how they are going to weave it all together in the final episode.

It was a fun ride while it lasted, and this has been one of my favorite shows in the Power universe.

I’m sad to see it go out like this, however.

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found on substack

please get into the beautiful way Nneka Julia used video and words to deliver this message that I, as the oldest daughter, needed to hear, read, and see.

I aspire to use substack in this way, and i’ll go into more details why in another, longer post.

002. What you allow, you teach.

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Being around the people you care about, having conversations, laughing, eating good food is a type of therapy that serves as good memories that life offers. Let’s call it social therapy.

from Keneisha Williams of Adulting & Cake

Immediate Friends

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However, for some people, staying silent isn’t an option. I am PEOPLE. Staying silent isn’t necessarily a choice, but it’s very harmful to ourselves and other victims. To see real change in the culture of Hollywood and in our everyday lives, we have to use our voices to speak about abuse. With that being said, I completely understand why certain people do not speak up or feel like their voice doesn’t matter. The opportunity to do so isn’t presented, and we have to demand those spaces.

from Shareece Williams

Abuse In The Culture: Power And Silence in Hollywood

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I was scrolling through Substack Notes, and Ashleigh Vaughn posted this:

It got me thinking about my own obsession with pens. I’m going to write a post about my pens and stationery obsession, and I am not being hyperbolic when I call it an obsession.

Stay tuned.

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Tony Pierce has been around since the old school days of blogging. He is a brilliant storyteller.

she had her boots on my seat, long tanned tattooed legs jutting out from fitted jean shorts. she traced the goosebumps she was giving herself because she wanted to be a bad girl

with her uber driver

there in koreatown.

and dont think for one second i wasnt down

Check out Hot Box

drunk biker liked my beard

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Like we not already out here hoeing in these Substack streets. Post your GoFundMe, your CashApp, your Venmo and any other means you use to gather money to sustain yourself, your creativity, your daily living, and everything else in between.

Pardon my French, but fuck ANYBODY who feels a type of way about it.

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I needed to see this message.

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When I get that email saying someone has unsubscribed/disabled their email from my Substack, I always feel a type of way about it. I start questioning if I am doing something wrong, and I wonder if I said something offensive.

I don’t know that any of those things are true, and I honestly should not be worried about them, but because I want to build this into something bigger for myself, I internalize it a bit.

When I see messages like this, I know all my worrying and wondering is my own projected bullshit, and I need to get over it.

The real accomplishment is in me regularly updating this space, honing my craft, and finding new ways to express myself on this platform.

I’ll keep doing what I am doing. The people who stay subscribed stay for a reason, and the people who see me will find me.

I can’t worry about the rest.

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Thank you for sticking with me, and welcome to all my new subscribers. I am less than 100 subscribers away from 1,000, so if you haven’t already, please join my community.