​My first love, has now been released to her next level. As you can see from the picture this is years ago when my collagen was on fleek! This is our first trip together to Northampton, which is just the gayest line ever. I had feelings for a couple of people before Nancy but she was the first person to capture my heart. The beauty of my relationship with Nancy is that I could be my whole self with her. She was a little older than myself and had been through some trials which gave her the ability to remain alert and nonjudgmental. It is a gift when you can be all of who you are with a person and still be received and loved.. I am not sure if I have experienced anything quite like that with anyone else. Nancy and I truly loved each other and that's not just the pretty romantic love because our breakup was horrible. Yet on the other side of it, I learned one of the most valuable lessons of my life, when you truly love someone, you always love them. I truly loved Nancy and she truly loved me. In the sadness of this transition I also am able to hold on to this fact, my life is before Nancy and after Nancy. I am blessed to have known someone who impacted my life. It is because of Nancy, that I pursued my artistic life, she supported me in every way and always believed in my promise. Nancy is the reason I floss, ( corny, I know), Nancy is the reason I use olive oil, she is the first person to make me feel beautiful. There was ALOT of not great things too, let's be clear but there is enough acknowledgment of pain right now. I want to celebrate love and this was a woman who loved. The woman who became her life partner, was with her to the absolute end and her children became Nancy's children . Her friends LOVED HER. Nancy's rode was a hard one, in a just world it wouldn't have been. She was incredibly intelligent, well read and she had sound judgement. She was also a queer black woman who felt she had to always justify her existence. I am glad she is in a place where she no longer has to proof her worth. The heavens are better for having her in it. I wish her endless joy.

​Winnie Mandela was South Africa for me & this book was my introduction to apartheid. She is an example of what it means to be a Black woman in the struggle. We are loved when we quietly take the pain, we wear our white gloves and patiently stay by the mans side. When we are forced into a world we didn’t ask for , when we are raped, beaten, tracked, arrested, humiliated and torn from your mate for 27 years then thrown into leadership, our anger is vilified. Did she commit murder , probably, did she commit unlawful things, I can’t imagine that she didn’t bc when you are living in a nation with legalized horror , when the government is an international atrocity, when their Thuggery is accepted by every country on this earth what is your alternative? The person who kept Nelson Mandela name alive was Winnie Mandela. She had to take on the ugliest of the rebellion to make sure the struggle would not end. Revolution is neither pretty or gentle , Winnie Mandela was the face of what terror does and how you have to beat it down at every turn sometimes at the cost of your own peace. #winniemandela #aparthied

..​I will tell you I have watched 4 of the SAG Best Male Performances Nighy, Farrell, Fraser and Butler are all amazing. Any of them could win and it would be fair. This is a Yes .. and situation tho. Fraser was amazing in The Whale, period BUT what Butler is able to do with such an iconic person. In the last live performance there was a switch from Butler to Presley and for a minute I wasn't sure who was who. Prior, to the screeners I had no desire to watch this film, I really at first wasn't clear why this film was even made, what else can you say about Elvis ? Luhrman truly has a style that is all his own which I really appreciate, At times a little ornate for me but I really love creative people who actually creative. I thought Tom Hanks was very effective but it's just Butler's film. I will say, I struggled with the film, as much as this was supposed to illustrate how he was influenced by Blk music and culture, Significant Black artists were props, just visual mediums with no voice. It was uncomfortable to watch artists like Little Richard, Rosetta Tharpe, Fats Domino and Big Mama Thorton being relegated to posters. The images of just black wailing was reductive and dismissive. It was clear Luhrman is not a man of faith because he had no greater understanding of catching the Holy spirit than Discovery channel going to Sea World. Elvis Presley was a man of faith but you would have never known that watching this film. For a images of Blk ppl like this in 2022, that was truly disappointing to watch. Conversely, with Priscilla, if you are going to show the crimes of the Colonel, don't show a 13 year old Priscilla in a 25 year old woman's body. In addition, she seems to have little to no voice at all in the film, even his mother was relegated to drinking and crying. However, with all this said... okay one more,  I should preface my mother LOVED,  LOVED LOVED Elvis Presley, on my first tour while I was in Memphis I went to Graceland to honor her. I personally struggled more with him for the obvious reasons but... again with alllllll that said... against my whole soul I have to admit. He was a force and this film does a great job of capturing that. He was sensual, he was magnetic, reflective, and prior to all the substance abuse, he was a physically beautiful man. There is a shot at the end of the film of the actual Elvis and is eyes are just.. wow. As problematic as I believe he was and at times this film, my blackity black behind had to admit, he was definitely an enigma. Lurham really honored him, in the same way that the Billie Holiday film did not honor her. #SAGAwards #elvispresley #elvis #fatsdomino #bigmamathorton #southern #rockandroll #bealestreet #bazlurhman #oscars #goldenglobes