Alice Walker's Blog, page 7

Time For Us, a new book for children by Rebecca Walker

Like mothers the world over the mother in this moving story must juggle the demands of work, of earning a living, of being creative in the adult world, with the need of herself and her child to have time that is theirs alone.  Time together to nourish their deep love and affection for each other.  A very important reminder to all parents, perhaps now more than ever, that the child is precious.  And the mother, also. ~aw

Book: Lifting As They Climb, Black Women Buddhists & Collective Liberation by Toni Pressley Sanon 2024

There is deep wisdom in this book. It reminds us of a core belief of Black culture: that we do not traditionally believe in advancing by ourselves. That we are climbers is a given because we are taught, some of us, to “jump at the sun” as Zora Hurston’s mother, Lucy, instructed her. But we are also instructed to have one hand stretched to earth to catch and hold on to whoever is behind us and also hoping to ascend. I believe Buddhism is deeply compatible with black people because we have, tradit...

This Is What I Loved About You. Saying Goodbye to Quincy Jones

The way you stretched yourself to embrace us all. ~aw Akusua, Gordon, Oprah, Alice, Quincy, Roberto. 1985.  On that midnight train track in Georgia.

Thank You Jill Stein and Rudolph Ware for Being

It was such a joy to vote for these two. Winning is an interesting notion. The best kind is internal. ~aw

“I think they deserve to lose…” Courage, Intelligence, and Self- Respect: Basic Norman Finkelstein…Bowing. aw

The Unbearable ( i.e. Intolerable) Goodness of Cuba

  I did not realize for a long time that Fidel Castro’s mother and father were not married.  That she was his cook on the sugarcane plantation her husband/master owned before they wed and Fidel was given his father’s name.  Fidel knew the evils of the plantation system inside out, which is why he so easily worked with peasants and why he was on their side. Why, when he cut sugar cane with them after the revolution it was not only to show solidarity, but because he knew how. Fidel is the one who ...

The Unbearable Goodness of Cuba

  I did not realize for a long time that Fidel Castro’s mother and father were not married.  That she was his cook on the sugarcane plantation her husband/master owned before they wed and Fidel was given his father’s name.  Fidel knew the evils of the plantation system inside out, which is why he so easily worked with peasants and why he was on their side. Why, when he cut sugar cane with them after the revolution it was not only to show solidarity, but because he knew how. Fidel is the one who ...

Must We Part in This Way? Our faces like flowers….

  The despair is shared, if for different reasons. Must we self-destruct as a species in such a senseless way? What did we think it meant: “weapons of mass destruction.”  Did we think “mass” did not include us?  ~aw

Must We Part in This Way? Your faces like flowers….

  The despair is shared, if for different reasons. Must we self-destruct as a species in such a senseless way? What did we think it meant: “weapons of mass destruction.”  Did we think “mass” did not include us?  ~aw

Goodbye, Sweet Zelie

Alice and Zelie Duvauchelle. 1997 or so. You are with the stars. The other stars. Thank you for bringing aloha everywhere you went.~aw