sagaciously is...

I ran into Pearl Cleage one day in the grocery store, and was pretty much dumbfounded. See, I always admired Pearl for her work. However, the minute I came across the actuality of her, I couldn't remember one dayum thing I'd read of hers. I went home that night, kicking myself - and ordered "What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day". I still have the intent to read it....

My knowledge of Pearl Cleage is not unlike my knowledge of Bebe Moore Campbell. Like so many authors that I stumble across, I'm always encouraged to read more of their stuff. See, I've been an off-again, on-again subscriber of Essence and Ebony since I was 15 years old, and there was a time (pre-MBA) when they were a monthly must-read. I still buy them, mostly for the gear & pics...but I loved many of their (sometimes) infrequent contributors, like Dr Brenda Wade, Sonia Sanchez, Nikki Giovanni, Amiri Baraka, bell hooks, Kevin Powell, etc. And Bebe as well.

However, it was Bebe Moore Campbell's essay "To Be Gifted, Black and Alone" hitting way too close to home, that helped gel in my mind that our (yes, us sistren) common experiences is what I enjoy reading most about, and what I strive to write about. Yes Virginia, there is an underlying method to my madness, and it's to just allow my stories (posts, blogs, experiences, voice, what-have-you) to add to the diaspora. Bebe did that so well....it's just surreal that she's gone.

No, I didn't know her - but had I run into Bebe in the grocery store, I would've liked to say: "you know that article you wrote about Leanita McClain? It touched me in ways I can hardly express. Thank you for inspiring me to be above my circumstances. And to write better than my immediacy."

I miss her already.