the house of miss birdie

I wrote this piece in July 2015 and now it has been 4 years since Sandra Bland's Murder. We can never forget how her death emphasized and magnified the disrespect for a black woman's life and how easily someone's ego can rip a life from this earthly existence. There has been countless and senseless murders in the name of "Blue Justice", I can't help but think of the ways her murder was covered up and silenced. This is re-published in hopes that we #neverforget #sayhername  July 2015 - Without even immersing yourself in Social media, CNN, FOX or any news outlets you are still witnessing a devastating abuse of power in the case of Sandra Bland. Sandra Bland is me, my sister, our girlfriends, mother's, aunt's and cousins. And all Sandra Bland did was not properly signal, get stopped for it and "sass" Officer at the time, Brian Encinia. That's it. Personally, anyone I know, with the weight of their life and their day, the rush...

Sorry, we have decided to reject your book proposal. It doesn't fit with the type of direction our company is going in. We wish you the best in your future endeavors.  (or something like that) OK. I received my first rejection letter yesterday. I know. I shouldn't take it personal. But I did. I do. I guess I'm used to holding it all in and ever since I've been working for myself, I haven't had to worry about anyone else's opinion of my work in that aspect. I edit. I freelance. No one has ever told me that my work wasn't good enough or wasn't what they were looking for. In this industry, they say for writers to brace themselves more more rejection. But I've always dodged that bullet. So, I put myself out there and decided to share my work and the answer is no. And I honestly don't know what to do with that. Then I remember why I started my company in the first place. I wanted to share my books, on my terms and have been doing so for over 10 yea...