114 Search results for "relief"

There aren’t enough accessible therapists to go around. I met this reality after an Ifa divination that I got while I was in Cuba, and my dreams for an entire year afterward, told me that I needed to focus on my mental health. My ancestors were LOUD about the mental work that I needed to […]

by Carrie Hawks Content warning: Mentions of self-harm, cutting, and suicidal ideation Not being seen, not being known, and having nowhere to turn to feel safe is devastating at any age, but it is particularly destructive for young children who are trying to find their place in the world. –Bessel van der Kolk As a […]

by Donnie Moreland As a boy, I remember learning about firefighters. I found their work as spectacular as the graphic novels, and Saturday morning superheroes, which crowded my daydreams. There was no difference between the cape and their fire helmet. And there were enough Black men, dawning the garb and colors of the local fire […]

Content Warning: Medical Violence My nana, Ella D. Martin, was a nurse from Greenwood, Louisiana who slept with medical books underneath her bed, and sometimes her pillow. And no matter the time of day, Nana would receive medical emergency calls from folks all over the world, well until she was 80. Though she worked in […]

by Amanda F. John  This essay contains discussions of alcoholism and self-harm  Anyone with access to an amazon prime account has likely come across what I like to call the golden scam. What is this fortuitous product you ask? Well, it’s a watch, ironically, it is often made with silver sterling—essentially putting an end to […]

COVID-19 has quickly taken center stage in the lives of virtually everyone around the globe. As things have unfolded over the last couple of months, I can’t help but notice aspects of this pandemic that feel familiar. As someone who is living with HIV and has learned a lot about the AIDS epidemic over the […]

by Donnie Moreland  My father is a diabetic, with chronic pain and a fragile immune system due to rounds of dialysis, which cause more pain and thus tosses him into the throws of a cycle which is, observably, hell. He is also a business owner, which necessitates an urgency of decision making, that suffers when […]

Seems like every year I learn some new factoid about how plantations operated during the time of chattel slavery of African peoples in the Americas. I inevitably come across another unfortunate piece of knowledge that I wish I never had to know. At the same time, I always understand how it’s of vital importance that […]

by Indigo On February 9, 2019 in Lawrence, Massachusetts, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D) announced her presidential bid, citing President Donald Trump as “just the latest and most extreme symptom of what’s gone wrong in America” and calling for “big, structural change.” In the months since announcing her presidential bid, Senator Warren has unveiled plans to […]

Editor’s Note: This month at BYP, we will be exploring the US Elections & Family/Parenting issues, and we are interested in publishing works that address these topics. How has our political system been working for and against us? What dynamics are different today? How should we prepare for the presidential election, and what is the […]

by Andrew Keahey  Netflix recently released the trailer for Raising Dion, an upcoming original series produced by Michael B. Jordan about a single Black mother raising her super-powered son as the government attempts to take him and use his abilities for their own nefarious purposes—or as we know it, “standard government stuff.” Based on the […]

by Djanaïna François  Someone said to me once: “God created wolf first, then us, then white people—he warned that misunderstanding others is their default, from a cultural standpoint to an existential one, as they will continuously see the world through a lense of authority.”  An autumnal evening sky hovered above us and I held a […]