Whose weeds these are I’m sure I know. I’ve watched them as they sprout and grow. No time to rest or sip a beer— I better run and grab my hoe. My little garden slowly clears of undergrowth. I persevere. My fingers blister; shoulders ache This longest evening of the year. I …
Ten years ago Hurricane Isabelle roared through Virginia, leaving a new landscape in her wake. Behind our house, Isabelle uprooted hundreds of mature trees. In some places, they fell like dominoes, each leafy giant toppling the next. But in the aftermath of destruction has come regeneration. The rebirth began immediately after the storm, and continues …
Come August, Come Freedom: The Bellows, the Gallows and the Black General Gabriel by Gigi Amateau, Candlewick Press, September 2012, ISBN978-0-7636-4792-6 (Ages 12-up) One of the least-known stories from our nation’s history is that of the widespread Black resistance to enslavement. From the very beginnings of European settlement of the new world, Africans and …