REFLECTION & REASON

> Sometimes I just hate black history month. I hate remembering the unfortunate past of our ancestors. I hate being reminded of the "evils" of white people, and the permanent damage slavery and it's aftermath has done to black people. I hate the photos, I hate the video footage, the riots, I hate all of it because it hurts too much to imagine that these things and behaviours were once standard . I avoid it. Yes, I'm a coward in that I don't want to confront the images and stories if I don't have to. I haven't seen Amistad. I've never sat through Roots, although I've tried many a time to read it and watch the movie. Hell I'll admit it: I haven't even finished reading Malcolm X! As a writer, a communications graduate, and as a black person...I should be ashamed to admit it. But I just HATE the fact that this extreme overt ignorance is only a few generations away from my reality now. And then I had to go and watch "The Help." Lord...

Black History Month has new significance to me each year. This particular Black History Month, 2011, I would like to pay hommage to the Black Writers who have influenced and inspired me with their words through the various stages of my growth as a writer. Inspiration is a difficult thing to describe--but something I can't deny when I feel it. Whether it comes from music, a conversation, an observation, or deliberate instruction, inspiration as a writer is the moving spirit that leads you directly to the nearest computer, notepad, or BlackBerry to jot down your thoughts and your plan to develop them. As a writer, I seldom have a specific method to my literary madness. There's no set writing "time," writing "place," or writing "process." When the inspiration hits me...I write. And so I often find myself seeking inspiration in experiences: concerts, travel, music, productions, new friendships, or by witnessing the legacies and creations of those writ...