December | 2011 | The Skinny Black Girl

Archive for: December, 2011

The Year That Was Incredible

Dec 30 2011 Published by Skinny Black Girl under Life & Times

Last year on SBG:

It was the end of the year. I’d just lost my Grandmother. I’d just begun to feel okay after a devastating break up. I was learning myself and how to navigate the world as a deeply emotional introvert, realizing that I didn’t have to be a prisoner of my thoughts. Wondering how I could learn to wear myself, with all my quirks and flaws, well.

Then the clock struck midnight on what would be the greatest year of my adult life.

2011 became the year I pursued my passion in a tangible way, by entering the Northeast Ohio MFA in Creative Writing program. I submitted my blog as a late first-time nominee for the Black Weblog Awards Best Personal Blog, and not only got the nod, but won the award.

6 responses so far

Skinny Bits 12.23.11

Dec 23 2011 Published by Skinny Black Girl under Life & Times, Skinny Bits

It’s Friday! Hey! And I’m ready to swang…

Wait. I’m not Aaliyah and this ain’t 1994.

But it is Friday. My final work day of 2011. So I guess that’s enough to sing about.

I caused a bit of a stir with Wednesday’s post. The reaction was split between women who understood, men who thought it was beautifully written, and men who just didn’t fucking get it. Part of it stems from my writing posts here like an ongoing memoir, so people who read frequently understood exactly why I made my decision. The other part of it is that men and women don’t understand each other, at all. Coming from the woman who wrote this post, it shouldn’t have been a surprise. Still, the post led to an interesting discourse with a group of young men, who after even my plainest explanations, didn’t get it. Gotta love the opposite sex.

4 responses so far

Seduced by Solitude

Dec 21 2011 Published by Skinny Black Girl under Life & Times, Love

“I just hope you can figure yourself out.”

He found three different ways express this thought. That me putting an end to the relationship meant that there was something inherently “wrong” with me. I needed to “get it together,” “figure it out,” oh and my favorite, that I’m “so used to dysfunction.”

None of the above was true. Nor was there anything wrong with him.

6 responses so far

Skinny Bits – 12.16.11

Dec 16 2011 Published by Skinny Black Girl under Skinny Bits

I went to a funeral on Wednesday, for my best friend’s grandmother. As we sat in the church, I remembered attending her grandfather’s funeral in 1999. We were fourteen then. Her cousin, Dave* (yes, that Dave) was my boyfriend, and she had a slew of baby cousins. Fast forward to the present, and her grandmother has finally gone to reunite with her husband. Dave*, who I was sure at age fourteen was the man I’d marry, is sitting behind me, next to his new girlfriend and has two kids of his own at home. My best friend is about to start her second round of motherhood, with a baby due in February. The “babies” that ran around the church following their grandfather’s funeral are all adults, one of whom is a minister who gave one hell of a sermon during the service. As I observed all of this, I thought about the passage of time, change, and how all things come to an end. I don’t believe in forever, at least not here on earth. And in that moment, I took comfort in the knowledge that things don’t have to go “wrong” in order to end. Often, they’ve just run their course.

One response so far

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