thelmablack

Tripping

Tripping. My mind operates in waves and ripples of smells, touches, sounds and scenes. In it, Iam a receptor of many different elements. There’s rage, there’s lust, there is pride and there is shame.My mind is at one minute in peace, another minute in turmoil. And it’s all because it’s a daily struggle tobe. IfContinue reading “Tripping”

Lovers short story

Lovers She looked at the face of Kwame sleeping looking as peaceful as a 40 year old baby. Wrapped up in his big body with hers on the queen size bed. Her lover man. She smiled as the tears began to form, she glanced to her right to the mirror that overlooked their nude bodies.Continue reading “Lovers short story”

Black Silence At Work

It is without question that working is different for Blacks than it is for everyone else. We go in to workplaces cognizant of unfair playing grounds and having to conform to a culture that swallows you whole. Being Black at work means knowing you’re the last one to be hired and the first one toContinue reading “Black Silence At Work”

Trauma Barometer

There are certain sayings in life that I think get misused far too often to be even remotely real after a while. It’s things like, “what doesn’t kill you ,makes you stronger” or “the climb to the top is full of hurdles.” At the crux of it, the speaker is saying all of this painContinue reading “Trauma Barometer”

World News

I try to keep up with what’s going on in the world. I read a variety of things about domestic and international affairs. I admit that I don’t retain details as much as I used to. There comes a point after awhile when you read about the Israel/ Palestine conflict, the ongoing Sudanese struggle andContinue reading “World News”

My Hair Challenge

There is not a Black woman alive today whose hair is not a thing. There is not a Black woman alive who has never hated her hair or wished it looked like something else at one point or another. It is endemic and a culturally required necessity to have hair matters. I am no different.Continue reading “My Hair Challenge”

SEX

I imagine as the trans community gains visibility, as we obtain strides in the mainstream and some of our tribe “gets there”, there will undoubtedly be those segments of the community that eschew and isolate from those of us with more risque’ dispositions. I imagine the promotion of dowdy, Mrs. Doubtfire types in the press,Continue reading “SEX”

Travel as A Black Transwoman

Without a doubt,one of the joys I find in my life and living is travel. There is something about leaving the immediate vicinity of my home base that fills me with this giddiness. It’s like knowing I’m bouta embark on something so new and so risky yet so rewarding. As a child,I was an avidContinue reading “Travel as A Black Transwoman”

Sharing

It goes without saying that the greatest relationships with people are built on sharing. Sharing , the act of exchanging your stuff with another. On surface , sharing sounds like such an altruistic act. But the reality is sharing comes with sacrifice. Sharing comes with vulnerability. And often, people may not want what you’re sharing.Continue reading “Sharing”

Relics

Relic; an object surviving from an earlier time especially having sentimental or historical value. Relic is how I would describe the plethora of experiences that make us who we are. These relics exist as moments and energies that are not meant to be forgotten. They exist large and looming in our psyche and our movements.Continue reading “Relics”