Reunions were my communion. We broke bread together, and we drank, and soaked up joy for 3 whole days in a place where our family name is synonymous with love and roots. Seeing the far-reaching family tree laid out on a table with photos and records of our ancestry was sacred to me. Watching our elders play dominoes, frying fish, and listening to their stories was the foundation of who I am as an artist.  

But love has never been a popular movement.  And no one has ever really wanted to be free.  

Because if that were true, there would be no caveats to who gets what and when. There would be no asterisks, amendments, and certainly no parentheticals. Freedom demands surrender. Freedom is careful carelessness. Freedom requires sacrifice of the self, for the many, for the self.