Everyone is familiar with Wall Street in New York where stock trades are made, but are you familiar with Black Wall Street, an area in Tulsa, Oklahoma? It’s the place where African Americans built their own economy with grocery stores, schools, homes, churches, hospitals, hotels, and other businesses. By 1921, they owned 35 square blocks of property in this community where they flourished, until one day, there was the Tulsa race massacre where this entire community was burned to the ground.
Unfortunately, this community was never the same again and very few people were able to keep their family homes that were destroyed. In a time of segregation, this type of community was necessary to carry out the law, “separate by equal”. I can recall my grandmother, Jimmie Hooks, born in 1930, before her passing this year at age 93, stating that her grandfather had a business, but could not own a home. She would say, “Ain’t that crazy”. This is no longer the case today, every man is considered equal, or are they?
I’ve attended the Undoing Racism Workshop offered by The People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond, twice. I’ve gone on to facilitate several DEI workshops and I am also the co-creator of an Intra-Professional Antiracism Dialogue and Discourse Series (IPADDS). While preparing for and facilitating all of these workshops and IPADDS events I was always reminded of a foundational tenant of the Undoing Racism Workshop and that is “Racism de-humanizes us all.” It doesn’t matter what race, Black, White and everything in between, we are all de-humanized by racism.
I am the face of mental health—a survivor of suicide and a testament to the resilience of minding your mental. Did you know that 59.3 million Americans suffer from mental health challenges? Mental health encompasses our psychological, emotional, and social well-being. It influences how we think, feel, and act, shaping our relationships, our ability to manage stress, and the decisions we make.
My journey took me to the darkest place I’ve ever known. Weighed down by years of mounting stress, grief, and hopelessness, my life is a story of rediscovering strength, purpose, and faith in the aftermath of despair. Through my experience, I’ve learned that while mental health challenges do not discriminate, they can forge connections among us. With time, healing, and courage, those challenges can become a source of strength—empowering us to help others on their own journeys. Through self-care, setting boundaries, staying connected, practicing mindfulness, seeking professional help, and cultivating gratitude, I’ve found the tools to effectively mind my mental and embrace a healthier, more balanced life.
If I were to tell my story—the story I’d share with the world—it would start with echoes of loss, shadows of hope, and a path carved through trials no one could have foreseen.
The only memory I carry of my father, whose name I bear, is of new Hush Puppies on his feet and the soulful loop of Friends of Distinction’s “Going in Circles” reverberating through the night. I watched his silhouette diminish into the darkness, an untouchable fragment of my life that unraveled into a tragic tale—the stories of his empty pockets, hollow eyes, and the lifeless repose on that frayed couch in a den of broken souls. The whisper of overdose. The finality of it.
In 2020 alone, nearly 70,000 lives were lost to overdoses, a reminder that the pain of addiction reverberates through countless families. My father’s story is one of many, yet it marks the beginning of my journey—a path paved with loss but leading to the discovery of purpose.
On March 7, 2024 we celebrated Women’s History Month with a panel of Women Groundbreakers whose work locally and globally serving diverse communities will Inspire & Instruct. Facilitated by Deborah Levine and sponsored by the American Diversity Report andG100 Women Leaders, the panel shared their expertise and experience. CLICK to hear their WUTC interviews.
“Either we all survive or none of us do” ~Vincent Van Gogh
In 2020, I drew together a small collection of lifetime short stories and essays in a slim volume entitled Camping On The Edge. I was facing a medical fork in the road about eliminating my anti-cholesterol pill which caused tremendously painful leg cramps. I felt I was faced with choosing more life in the years remaining versus simply adding years to my life. Or, as I like to say, “Longevity is highly overrated.”
One of the essays was entitled Dear Theo. It is a letter I wrote in the spirit of Vincent Van Gogh based on my readings and lifelong study of his art and letters. Now, after sharing my letter to Theo with our delightful editor-publisher Ms. Levine, I try to respond to her query: How Do You Make Art Come Alive? The next morning the answer was clear and concise: I become them in a letter writing session.
Whether I’m studying playwrights like Eugene O’Neil or Bertolt Brecht, artists like Paul Cezanne or Vincent Van Gogh, I dig deeply into their works and what others have said about them. Over time, I find myself becoming like one of my heroes. When I am full to the brim with Vincent Van Gogh I write a letter as though I were him, addressed to his brother Theo. It is a great way to sum up my learning. My process does not require submission, display, or editing, and I just toss down whatever comes my way as I write the letter.
My letter began in my first round of Van Gogh studies and was marked in my journal with the title: 1/25/12 RX for Reclaiming Life. As a boomer growing up in the 1950s, my parents were intent on educating my entire personality. This included painting, carving, and dancing lessons . Carving has randomly sustained itself over the years in the form of soap carving. Recently, I placed an Amazon order for a palette, paint tubes, brushes, and pallet knives. I am returning to my lifetime lust for life: painting.
In 2022 we were fortunate to attend the spectacular Van Gogh exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum. Upon exiting, I spied a book weighing several pounds and running 800+ pages. In my life that would be the equivalent of 3+ books. Never too old to learn a lesson, eh?
This book, by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith, turned out to be one of the best three books I’ve ever read. I learned so much about the times and the personalities. On my walls these last few decades I get to view my favorite Van Gogh quote: Either we all survive or none of us do.
Longevity plus Creativity! I am gassed up, tank be full, as I release the parking brake and head back down that acrylic painting highway. With this I present you my slightly edited long lost letter from Vincent to his brother Theo.
Vincent Van Gogh’s Lost Letter
Dear Theo, The longer I stay in Paris the more my reason dissipates. My life is in jeopardy! Ever since the breakup, it has been like a perpetual funeral in winter. Dark and brooding colors are choking off my very breath. Clouds of burnt sienna shut out all the light, and dull olive-green shadows close in upon my very footsteps.
I am choking on bourgeois snobbery. The dealer you sent me to has rejected my work as the product of an “amusing colorist.” I must flee the cruel passions of an indifferent public.
This is why I must use your generous check to strike out upon a new path. I must take leave of this heartless city before the gloomy horizon swallows me up, body and soul!!
The crimson passion, smoldering deep inside me, is about to burst if I don’t find an outlet for my energies! This is why I plan to leave this dreary place for the sunny south lands. I want to use the money to open a deli in Arles. But this will be much more than a bagel-shop. I’ll call it the Post-Impressionist Deli and it will cater to the needs of tortured souls — a haven for my misunderstood brethren.
I have just finished sketching plans for an entire art colony, built around the deli. I know artists will flock to a terrain overflowing with lemon yellow sunshine. Each day gently bids adieu amidst a delicate, purple haze. You must come and see for yourself, dear Theo.
I have already written Gauguin and offered him the upstairs. I know what you will say. You think I am a poor roommate owing to my stubborn and argumentative qualities. Do not worry. I will give Paul complete reign of the upstairs which he can flood with canvas. I will play out my mission below, constructing my themes upon the stove and butcher block.
I realize that my past exploits in the kitchen are nothing to brag about. I ignored the treasures of the tongue because my mind was fastened upon my oils and brushes. But I am now free of that plague! Your “amusing colorist” is driven by a deep and abiding hunger to create for others, and this hunger will catapult me into the ranks of my culinary colleagues. Today I salute the new direction my life has taken!
You should also know that I did not make this decision lightly. In fact, I believe this choice was guided by the very hand of God! Last week I was watching Cezanne painting an open-air market. My eyes were caught up with the colorful array of fruits, meats, breads, and flowers. I suddenly began hearing a chorus of color in my head. Before my eyes a dazzling parade unfolded. I saw starburst yellows cavorting with fruity oranges, celery greens streaked by pure meaty reds. My head was spinning, spinning as my vision dissolved into flecks of pure color!
I found myself stumbling backwards, falling against a bookseller’s cart. The words of a hundred authors cushioned my decent. I reached out for a railing to pull myself up, and providence guided my hand in this divine comedy. I found myself clutching a slim, colorful volume entitled “Recipes from the Impressionist’s Kitchen.”
Surely, dear Theo, this is the sign I have been waiting for all my life! God is urging me to this calling. You will die for the Toulouse-Lautrec’s “Chocolate Upside Down Cake.” And the chapter on “Pointillists Appetizers” is nothing, if not brilliant!
I would write more, dear Theo, but I must hasten to the market before sunset. I’m going to begin with healthy foods, starting tonight with Monet’s “Water Lilly Low-Fat Salad.” I will throw my entire being into this venture!! I will keep at it until I get it right. I don’t care if I must eat a hundred salads by next week! I will rip my tongue out before I quit!!
Yours Forever,
Vincent
Author’s final note: Fortunately, for the history of art, Van Gogh was a terrible cook and never got much beyond a potato eater. As a result, his brother Theo refused to fund the deli and Vincent returned to painting while in Arles. And for those of you who share Vincent’s passions, for whom the art of cooking is no less than the art of writing, painting, playing, or helping others, I ask only that you let me know when you open your own Post-Impressionist Cafe.
There are many different beliefs regarding “Valentine’s Day,” and the most popular one is the celebration of love. When it became commercial; buying boxes of heart shaped chocolates and red roses, is irrelevant. I want to share with my readers why this day is so important to me.
When I was young, every year my father would come home with a box of chocolate for my mother and a beautiful card that she’d tear over. (A bit dramatic for my taste, even as a child, but I wasn’t the one reading the card and at the young age of seven, I didn’t care to.) My father would also buy me a little gift. One year he bought a little heart nick knack and I loved it. I kept it on my dresser and the red clashed with my pink bedroom walls. When my brother got older, he’d buy my mother and me a card and gift. The year he gave us both a porcelain nick knack of a little girl wearing a white dress with long braided blond hair holding a red heart against her chest, I hugged him and had been so thankful. I still have that porcelain girl today. Even at that age, those gifts had more feeling than chocolate or flowers and that’s when the day became special, until it became more so when I met my husband…
One of the essays was entitled Dear Theo. It is a letter I wrote in the spirit of Vincent Van Gogh based on my readings and lifelong study of his art and letters. Now, after sharing my letter to Theo with our delightful editor-publisher Ms. Levine, I try to respond to her query: How Do You Make Art Come Alive? The next morning the answer was clear and concise: I become them in a letter writing session.