Life...

This past year and a half of my life has been packed with eye-opening realizations. The funny thing about writing, or at least having the compulsion to write, is that so much of it has to do with contemplation. I remember in college learning how to compose poetry in my head, not relying on paper, much like our early ancestors once did. Composing poetry or prose in my head is a very integral part of my process. I need just as much time, if not more, thinking, as I do for writing.
That said, I had a literary breakthrough this summer. I managed to write a draft of a novel I intuitively knew I had to write, even before coming to Denmark.
Throughout the years I have had many people contact me asking me what life is like for a Black woman in Denmark. Well, first of all, the identity of my being Black is one that is constructed under the very colonialist mentality and one of the things you learn moving here is that, well, there are many places in the world where the folks are just not familiar with identity constructions in the way that some of us are.
I've given lots of advice about moving to Denmark. But my best one thus far is to definitely make your experience your own. No two people have the same way of experiencing things and one of the reasons I share my experiences is to accentuate the fact that life can be done differently.
I recently made the decision to do something different every day. Whether it's taking a different bike route to work, or waking up at a different time in the morning, one thing is clear to me: routine kills my creativity. And when my creativity is asleep, so is my soul.
Yesterday I took my 7th graders to Denmark's version of X-Factor auditions. I did this primarily to show them how television shows are made, and also in the belief that shared experiences will continue to bring us closer together. I'm teaching less hours this year, and I can feel how much having a lighter load actually accentuates my life. I now have more energy to do more things with my kids.
I recently moved back to my apartment! I was away for 8 months (I will write about this at a later time) I'm on my bike more now, and I must admit that I missed it. It seems to me that Danish people are born on bicycles. Many move with such grace as though the bicycle is but an extension of their own bodies. I, on the other hand, was a reluctant learner when my brother betrayed me and let go of the bike. I was about 9 years-old. You can say that I only really learned how to ride a bike when I was pregnant with Kai...now I can do it without that nagging dread I used to get before getting on my bike. What I love about biking is the freedom I feel I have.
Speaking about my brother teaching me how to ride a bike, we managed to catch up yesterday. My brother Gerry is funny. He lives in PA and as we skyped Curtis came by. Gerry was sitting on his porch and Curtis came through. Curtis is from my old building, 1199 Ocean Avenue. He used to send me kisses from his 5th floor window. He showed up at my brother's sporting a do-rag. We talked about the old days. It was a treat to catch up.
It's amazing how draining removing one's wisdom tooth could be. I had attempted to avoid getting it pulled out: I can't really get my head around the idea that my body produces something that is, well, not necessarily needed. I mean, what did folks do back in the day?!? Die from an infected/impacted wisdom tooth? Finally there was no denying that my tooth had to be pulled out. That was like a week and half ago, and I still can't open my mouth 100%. Ugh.
Right now I'm getting a promotional event in gear. Stay tuned so that you can find out how you can support Bandit Queen Press. I can't hold back my wave of inspiration and creativity: and I look forward to working more on my novel and even having a reading, here in Copenhagen real soon. Stay tuned & as usual, thanks for reading!
the lab