As the Incense Burns 🔥

On epsiode 34, I talk about a higher level of blindness, the type that robs us of the vision to see ourselves and to walk in our purpose. We often fail when we subscribe to the notions that others have for us. In short, when we look at ourselves through the lenses of others it robs us of our vision. I read from a 2015 narrative, where reflect on an instance when I fell victim to this - and how I used that... which was weaponized to destroy and convert it into my fuel.

On this episode I touch on the crumbling of our humanity or the traumas of the pandemic. As I read from some recent work; join me as I wonder aloud if narcisscism is our default setting; the battles or the hard work of choosing ourselves and the notions of serving something greater than ourselves which leads into a lesson or some storytelling gifted to me by way of my Family.

P.S....  Make sure to respond to the poll and let me know how you be!

On this epsiode, I return from my summer break from the podcast booth to reflect on the state of our humanity. 

The real trauma of us (humanity) living in a pandemic which is arguably one of the most traumatic events in recent human history or at least in any of our lifetimes.

We were forced inside "under lock and key"... alone with people, who we didn't like very much... ourselves.

Coming to terms with the lies that we tell ourselves is a path less traveled.

It is said that we are losing our way, but I offer another, yet more controversial take. That maybe we've never really found our way, as we are at our most consistent when engaging in random arts of inhumanity towards our fellow man.

And finally.

In a nod to the intersectionality of food and humanity, I discuss the linkage and redemptive power of family by way of food and how it can light our way back.

On this unscheduled bonus episode, you asked about the cookbook and my culinary leans, so I'm shaking up my regularly scheduled programming to discuss the topic of my upcoming cookbook (TBA), the influence of my Paw-Paw, who I inherited my kitchen swag from and the linkages of food to poetry. Because it is my belief that at the basic level... that food represents the best chance for humanity to come together, how is that you ask? Well... we all eat, so that said, grab a listen or a plate? Common ground... how does that sound?

It seems as if we are careening towards a fate that we cannot wrap our minds around, but we make a grave error when we assume that we are powerless and when we forget to breathe, what do we do now is the question.

On Episode 29, we take on the spirit of racism and how it thrives in a vacuum of love, as I read through some published and unpublished work on the topic. It is my contention that racism is a crisis of the human spirit that is spread by those who don't have the capacity to love, simply because they've never witnessed or basked in its power.

On this episode, I coin a new term "Mommaness" as I discuss the power of my Mother (Hey Momma! 👋). The one who taught me how to stand in the storm. I celebrate her in the form of narratives, her role in an origin story on the forthcoming cookbook and a poem for her and all of the other Momma's in the Universe. Let this serve as a small deposit of gratitude that I have for her lending me her power in the form of this electronic medium, since what we say on the Internet stays forever? I'm gon' talk about my Momma.

On this episode I reflect on the power of history, how it repeats, especially in families and the purpose that we can find in honoring the sacrifices of those who allowed us to be.

Too often we are guilty of blinding ourselves to our paths when we allow doubt to have a foothold in our spirit. I discuss my battles with it along

with a reflection on a recent brush with my own mortality and the uncomfortable truth that we exist here with the guarantee... that we live on borrowed time.

There is a war going on against the human spirit and we can't afford not to hear it.

On this episode which was inspired by a question from my cousin Shirley. 

I talk about the winding roots of a proud people and the gifts that they bequeathed to their children (us) and the rest of our kin.

But it wasn't always like that... I tried to run from the call, on multiple occassions.

Yes, I reflect on the initial resistance I had towards the idea of the carrying the torch and how it brought me front and center with the "unexpected".... and how history repeated in the form of God's love in my own family. 

Yes, the Ancestors were/are busy.

I confront the myths told about to Black Americans about finding their roots, my path to becoming a genealogist and how you can avoid the skepticism that blinded me in the early days of my own research with a sidebar on being an empath, the importance of listening to our Elders and some dream work.