Bri Little's Blog, page 2

Daddy Lessons

I talk to my father once a week. Sometimes I don’t. Sometimes he calls me more often, and I wonder why he does that. What does he miss about me? When I hang up my weekly phone call with him, I never say “I love you.” Because I’m not sure that I do. I don’t remember ever saying those words to him. I wonder if I ever will.

Sometimes when I am talking to him, on the phone or in person, I pause. I forget what we’re talking about, but I remember everything. My heart stops when I think of his cruel...

The Weight of it.

I have concerns. They are piling on me. This is grave. My yeses are never conditional. No “yes, but.” Never a “no, ma’am.” I am open and I am wide and I am broad. I give until there is nothing left for me. I keep looking for pieces of myself before I remember I gave them all up. Remind me of my middle name: uncertain. Insecurity draped all over me. Looks good, no? I remove all the diamonds from my skin before I get into bed. Pick them off one by one. The reasons are two-fold: I don’t want the...

Hunger reminded me to be good to my body

I read Roxane Gay’s Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body when I was visiting a friend in San Francisco. The memoir is an unflinching, unapologetic look into how trauma and societal expectations make and break the fat body. Importantly, as Queen Gay states in the book, “This is not a story of triumph.” As I read Hunger, I had to put it down several times because of how scary similar some of her experiences were to mine. The memoir dislodged a lot of buried shame and torment I felt about my own fat bo...

Dear White People…you got it wrong

Here’s the thing: I was hella excited when I found out that Dear White People was being adapted into a Netflix series. I liked the movie, though I thought there were things that tied it together a little too nicely at the end, but that’s neither here nor there. Overall I thought it was dope. I’m a bit wary of films and shows produced by men these days, and for good reason. The Dear White People show takes on the nuances of Black identities and race relations very well, but presents the Black...