First of all, I need to say that the &Now Conference was fantastic. It was so beautiful to see/be present to/feel the work of LaTasha N. Nevada-Diggs – always. Her piece evoked the living, the dead, and all those in between. It called the birds dancing in on the Harmattan to rise over and above the earth and sea. We dealt with the ugly-beautiful of loss, of addiction, of death and of return. Thank you LaTasha, always.

And then there was Krista Franklin, and Doug Kearney and Duriel E. Harris, and Jai Dulani, and Ching-In Chen just…JUST WHAT? Thank you, to each and every one of you, for bringing it. The technology wasn’t always having it, but the people were. Krista Franklin’s reading from “Under the Knife” was combined with visual imagery and a broad conversation about the re-possession of language, of ourselves. Ching-In Chen, inspired by the compositional work of Sharon Bridgforth, had us make each other anew.

And then there was the workshop I got to be a part of with Purvi Shah and Gabrielle Civil. It was on a Sunday morning, and so we did what we do and called in the people, the energies, the divine feminine. It was powerful to hear Gabrielle speak of her practice, a practice rooted in her black female body and its capacity for joy. Purvi drew on the circle as a space for the conjuring of the feminine divine. And, I spoke of authorial mediumship, and the ways in which our bodies become avenues for the feminine divine to manifest. It was beautiful.

On the way home, Alai and I got to spend some time with Claudia & John, learning about their amazing projects bringing together music and poetry.

This month, October (yes, it’s really October), I am so excited to be a part of the Diaspora Project, headed by Omi Osun Olomo/Joni L. Jones. I will be in Los Angeles with nine other incredible Diaspora artists, and we don’t know what’s gawn to happen yet, but I’ll let y’all know once it does! Needless to say I am soooooo excited.

Before that, I am heading out East from Oregon for the Black Portraitures conference. The theme is Memory and the Archive. Now, the ancestors were fittin’ to have me there, because I didn’t even know I was part of the conference until one of my co-presenters told me so! I am so excited to be presenting with Jillian Hernandez (University of Florida),Courtney Desiree Morris, (University of California Berkeley) and Anya Wallace, Artist (Penn State). Our panel is titled, “Black Sugar/Azúcar Negra: Thinking Blackness, Latinidad, and Afropessimism(s) Through Diasporic Queer and Feminist Art“. I can’t wait to be there.

And, I started classes today. This term I am teaching Transnational & Indigenous Feminisms (thank you Inderpal Grewal for teaching me, and Lani Teves for sharing your syllabus) and Anthropology of the African Diaspora (Round 2). Here we go yo, here we go. October is a full month. I am working hard on writing, teaching and getting things organized for the future.

At the end of the month, I get to hang out with one of my favorite people in the world: D’LO!!! D’Lo is coming up for “A Night with D’Lo” here at the University of Oregon.

October is promising to be a great month already…