blackgirl on mars: notes on a life in copenhagen (or how my alienation brings me closer to people).

my dad and his band sometime in another lifetime, port-of-spain, trinidad “ Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared. ” ― Buddha  I was blessed to open my email this morning and find this email from my spiritual father, "Puff". "Puff", that's his nickname - knew my father since they were teenagers, back in Trinidad.  Puff entered my life, because unlike my father, he escaped New York and forged a life for himself and his family in Canada. As he says to me, he realized back then that if he wanted to  save himself, he had to leave. The fate of my father reiterates the importance of that sentiment.  My communication with Puff has been a blessing - I truly feel my father's presence in our conversations, and Puff often serves as a personal portal to the past, filling me in on many wonderful stories and memories of my father. Truly a gift ...

Blackgirl on Mars meets Bronx Obama in Copenhagen One of the things that I love about life, is that sometimes when you take a chance- interesting things happen. Okay, every time you take a chance, interesting things happen - but sometimes the interesting can be a little too interesting, uncomfortable, like finding yourself sitting in the middle of a shoot-out in a basement party in Brooklyn (that's another story). It is not that kind of interesting I'm talking about. I'm talking about the type of interesting that opens up portals of positivity, personal power, hope and inspiration. As human beings, we have the potential to truly touch each other in these ways. You know that feeling - a warm smile from a stranger, a helpful hand reaching for the dropped bag.  Someone running after you with an item you may have dropped a block down the street. The point is, you never know what unlimited potential there is  that awaits you if you don't go out there. I hopped on ...