I’m becoming a writer via online learning at the Loft Literary Center on Washington Avenue South in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The seed for being a writer was buried deep
inside me planted by growing up in Yat’s Kitchen by Mattie Burnette Randolph
and her mother, Momma Mary Burnette.
These two French Edisto Gullah grand mothers’ gave me the world through
Algonquin fiber arts. Now Yat’s Kitchen
has become Indigo Blues, a book of
three short stories, poetry and art about Algonquin culture through the eyes of
women’s stories during creative hands activities in coastal Carolina.
Indigo Blues was conceived during my Fall 2014 journey from
Toisnot to Chowanook along the paved Algonquin trail that is now Hwy 258. This road was one of our major Trail of
Dreams 303 years ago. My sojourn
reconnected me with childhood travels along Hwy 258 with momma and mama and the
stories of adventures along what I knew as The Blues Highway.
Chowanook is the site of the former Chowan Baptist Female
Institute, which is now Chowan University.
A large white plantation house presides at the end of a long U-shaped
entrance behind Squirrel Park nestled beside Lank Vann. So much symbolism is attached to my being at
Chowanook and I credit it all to Divine intervention. The Holy Spirit is leading me to a place to
walk out God’s purpose for my life. It’s
the experience of being in the right place at the right time under the right
circumstances. It’s my realizing that
timing matters, and in life we have to wait our turn. It’s about God’s will being done, not my own. My desire to teach at a small college has
manifested itself in my life in such a way as to connect me with Algonquin
culture.
So, I’m bringing form and shape to my life through writing
under the guidance of Mary Carroll Moore at the Loft. The best writers come out of the Loft
community and I plan to be one of them.
I’m part of the 21st Century generation of women writers
coming of age at the Loft. The sum of
the achievements of my fellow learners in Your
Book Starts Here is astounding and we have the potential to give voice to
the reality of living in the USA.
My memory verse for this week:
“If
you hear the dogs, keep going.
If you
see the torches in the woods, keep going.
If there’s shouting after you, keep going.
Don’t ever stop. Don’t ever quit.
Don’t give up. Don’t give in.
If you want a taste of
freedom,
keep going!”
--Harriet Tubman
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