My heart was glad when I saw the announcement that term-limited Democratic state Sen. Audrey Gibson was entering the Jacksonville mayoral race. It seemed like a full-circle moment. Eleven years ago, when I first considered moving to Jacksonville, I had come to the River City for a job interview. It was election day. Alvin Brown was the Democratic candidate for
Saturday, the city of Jacksonville will mark its 200th birthday with a jam-packed bicentennial celebration schedule. It’s also my daughter’s 1st birthday. As I think about the confluence of these markers of history, both personal in some way, I am forced to think about what lies ahead for my daughter, who has no understanding of the perils she will face
Last week, I dropped off and picked up my son from school for the last time until the next school year begins. It’s a commonality I share with parents across the country. Another commonality we all share is the fear that grips us when we relinquish control over the safety of our children to educators and institutions we presume to
Imagine for a moment it’s a Sunday afternoon. You’ve just left church or brunch or finished a morning run or swim at the beach, and you need to stop at the grocery store to get some essential items. Perhaps those include baby formula, which both you and the store are running low on, and other household needs. Running through your
Restricting access to abortion is about control. Restricting access to the ballot is about control. Gerrymandering districts at any level is about control. Rising rent and mortgage prices is as much the byproduct of inflation as it is about control. Prohibiting how people read and learn, think and feel about gender and sexuality, race and culture is about control. Throughout
This body carried two children. My son to 41 weeks and one day. My daughter to 40 weeks and a day. They were wanted. They were prayed for. Perhaps manifested into existence. Yet my body has not recovered. My mind has not recovered. As a teen, I struggled with body dysmorphia and bulimia. As an adult, I gained 30 pounds
The summer after my freshman year at Florida State University, I worked as an intern at Pearson. As in the textbook publication company; Pearson. I don’t remember much about the actual work I did that summer, but I do have a few distinct memories from that job. In one meeting there was discussion about a batch of books being sent
There is a big difference between perception and reality. For example, the perception the United States has of itself and that it projects to the world is one of a strong, united democracy that protects freedoms, preserves the rights of the “least of us,” defends the humanity of the “worst of us,” and is a fair government run by the
I am trying to understand racism. I know what it is. I know why it exists. I know the history of how it came to be the barometer by which all of mankind is measured, but I don’t understand it. I don’t understand that level of hate. I don’t understand why some will go to such extremes to kill people,
It’s one thing to know something. It’s an entirely different experience to be immersed in your knowledge, feel it with your heart, and see it reflected back at you. That is exactly how local curator, writer, wife and mother Shawanna Brooks wants you to feel when you experience her visual and literary art exhibition, Magic, Mirth, & Mortality: Musings on