eulalia

march 1, 1984. my mother has been dead for longer than some of my friends have been alive. i don't know why that's sticking out for me this year, but here we are.

i'm glad i look like my mother so i can "see" her every day. it actually kinda helps me miss her a bit less. still hurts, though.

as you should be! happy early birthday!

imagine acting up on the cta as if my father and brother didn't work for cta for decades apiece and also as if this isn't the 29th anniversary of my father's death. i'd normally let some shit slide but on today? absolutely the fuck not.

i only used my words and not my fists, so we're good.

as for me? well, life is lifing and grief is hitting harder than usual, but i'm still my father's daughter and i'm still here. glad y'all are still here, too. 💜

i don't know where that professor wound up or if she's even still among the land of the living, but i hope she picked up some compassion and empathy along the way.

got back to campus and had tons of cards and gifts and hugs waiting for me, including notes from classmates and a couple of professors/staff who knew what was happening. that one professor? nothing. i'd never been so happy to get a c in a class b/c i just wanted to be done with it.

i cried the night of his death (after a boost of adrenaline that literally had me running through the dorm until i damn near collapsed because i had to get it out of my system) and there are still some moments i don't remember from the burial because i blacked out.

...but still wanted as much work turned in on time as possible. this is how i wound up doing homework in the days before daddy's funeral. it's probably why some of my family was worried about me because to their knowledge, i hadn't cried yet.

my now ex & i were in that class together and were doing our final project together, so once we were finally able to explain that yeah, i was gonna miss at least one class and no, we couldn't change our schedules to accommodate her syllabus, she agreed to let us take incompletes...

this sounds like the bare minimum and of course all of my professors should've offered that, right? wrong. this one professor was like nah, finish on time or fail. i had to damn near beg for an incomplete. like it was a personal affront to her that i wasn't gonna be able to finish.

almost every professor was sympathetic and said of course i can turn in assignments later or submit them early or write an essay instead of taking an exam or whatever i needed to do. group projects? luckily i hadn't signed up to present anything so i could get my part(s) done as needed.

me being me, i'd already been in touch with my professors because it was getting close to the end of the quarter and i honestly had no idea when i was gonna have to go home or how long i'd be gone. plus i had multiple group projects so i wanted to make sure my classmates were good.

february 1997 was my junior year of college. daddy had been sick for some time and on my last visit to the hospital on 2/18, i pretty much knew it'd be the last time i saw him because neither one of us could handle seeing him like that.

it's the 29th anniversary of my father's death and all i can think about right now is that one professor who basically said fuck my extenuating circumstances and made me try to finish her class on time.

Margaret Bonds, an influential Chicago composer, gets a gravestone, at last From spiritual arrangements to symphonic works, the pioneering composer wrote it all. Her legacy is honored with a weekend of programming at Northwestern University, her alma mater.

Margaret Bonds, an influential Chicago composer, gets a gravestone at last chicago.suntimes.com/classical-mu...

ooooh, i'm way overdue for rewatching that

people who insist on having meetings to talk about what they need to do instead of actually doing what they need to do...why?

"oh, i still need to do xyz" as if i didn't already send an email clearly outlining wtf you were supposed to do. stop playing with my time and get to work!

are we supposed to be able to tell the difference between weaponized incompetence and just a flat out inability to do a job or task? this is exhausting! 😫

This reads different if you're from Chicago.

a cartoon of a girl standing in front of a door that says that sign can 't stop me because i can Alt: a cartoon of a girl standing in front of a door that says "that sign can't stop me because i can't read!"

those bios can't stop them because they won't read them!

Confused for Aunt Jemima, a Former Slave Became a Famed Ambassador to the World for American Agriculture Agnes Moody escaped slavery to Canada via the Underground Railroad before finding fame as a caterer in Chicago and representing the U.S. at a World's Fair in Paris.

www.wttw.com/playlist/202...

The Dells started out in doo-wop and kept charting into the 1990s - Chicago Reader The Dells' ambition and versatility kept them in the public ear for decades—and made them great foils for genius arranger Charles Stepney.

The Dells started out in doo-wop and kept charting into the 1990s chicagoreader.com/music/the-se...

🥹🥹🥹

calendar entry: the time has come for this fuckin guy to vamoose

the calendar has spoken!

Bigger than anything, Black people endure a lot, and we're supposed to tighten our belts. So it's difficult when white people, hands clasped, lips pursed, ask us to understand. There is absolutely NOTHING I need to understand about hearing the N-Word when I didn't hear "Free Palestine."

An Ode to the “Auntie Aesthetic”: Honoring the Black Women Who Paved the Way for Great Taste “It teaches us that style without soul is just staging.”

www.housebeautiful.com/lifestyle/a7...

How Kennedy-King College’s WKKC became a Black radio powerhouse: blockclubchi.co/4tKHEFk

calendar entry: man, fuck all of this

happy friday!

lord, we see what you've done for others and we would really like that for us. bonus if it happens during black history month. amen. 🙏🏿

omg WANT