"With or Without You"

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I was drawn to this picture perusing the Times this morning. And then I read the accompanying article. Domenica Ruta is the author of "With or Without You", a recovery memoir that explores her life and relationship with her mother, a drug addict. I'm going to read this book. And I'm going to interview this woman.

You can buy it here.

Learning Vicariously

Nikisha of UrbanBushBabes

I stumbled upon this last night. Nikisha of Urban Bush Babes shared 30 life lessons she learned on her way to age 30. This is honestly one of the most life changing things you'll ever read. But only if you put it into practice. So I had to share this with you, in addition to noting some of the ones that especially resonated with me (because hey, they all did).

What I'm Reading: The Bluest Eye

"We were sinking under the wisdom, accuracy, and relevance of Maureen's last words. If she was cute--and if anything could be believed, she was--then we were not. And what did that mean? We were lesser. Nicer, brighter, but still lesser. Dolls we could destroy, but we could not destroy the honey voices of parents and aunts, the obedience in the eyes of our peers, the slippery light in the eyes of our teachers when they encountered the Maureen Peals of the world. What was the secret? What did we lack? Why was it important? And so what? Guileless and without vanity, we were still in love with ourselves then. We felt comfortable in our skins, enjoyed the news that our senses released to us, admired our dirt, cultivated our scars, and could not comprehend this unworthiness. Jealousy we understood and thought natural--a desire to have what somebody else had; but envy was a strange, new feeling for us. And all the time we knew that Maureen Peal was not the Enemy and not worthy of such intense hatred. The Thing to fear was the Thing that made her beautiful, and not us."

The Bluest Eye is Toni Morrison's debut novel. It tells the story of a little girl who longs for blue eyes, to be beautiful, to be noticed. Every woman of color should read this.

Natalia

Photo by Felipe Dana/AP

I read this article some time ago in the paper and this image really resonated with me because:

1. I realized that this girl, Natalia Gonzales is 15 years old and a crack addict.
2. When I discovered this I said a prayer for her, that she would know she is loved.
3. It confirmed that I would like to spend my life helping others like Natalia.