Happy Black History Month! Here is my favorite story about a Black American you may not know about: Robert Smalls. He commandeered a confederate ship and sailed himself, his family, and the other enslaved crew and their families to freedom. THROUGH waters controlled by the Confederacy.

If you don’t have a local library card, it should be your New Year’s resolution to get one. It’s an easy resolution to keep and you’ll actually use it, trust me.

“Mental strength is not just hoping that nothing goes wrong, it is believing that we have the capacity to handle it if it does.” -Brianna Wiest, The Mountain is You

“Do we ourselves not become both wiser and stronger every time we grasp the perspective of people whom we once dismissed.” - Camilla Townsend, Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs