Heroin Part 1: Exit 9

I braced myself against the cold morning wind, blowing through the 8th floor balcony of the Memorial Parkway housing projects. All night long, I nodded on an old dingy couch that was tossed out by one of the tenants. Last night’s shot of heroin managed to keep me warm and unconcerned, but as the dawn

gods of the Land

Since the age of 12 I’ve had run-ins with the authorities, was in and out of juvi hall until I reached an adult age, and was sent off to Trenton State Prison housed in the management control unit (MCU) for being creatively unmanageable. At the end of my sentence Chicago’s Cook County Jail ordered my

The True Art of War: Enter the Rest

Many of us have been burnt out by the strain and exertion of fear, overwhelmed by the weight of our financial burdens, exhausted from trying to maintain a healthy and stable environment for ourselves and our children. The uncertainty of our tomorrows and the pressures of today have kept many, if not all of us,

Thirty Years to Life

In and out of juvi hall since the age of 12, my husband Alex Diab-Abdalla Jr, became his father’s co-defendant in 1988, for what the media dubbed “the boom box murder.” His father was convicted and sentenced to thirty years to life and my husband who was just 16 at the time, served four years

Children of The Ruins

They are the “damaged remnants” of a dysfunctional and disheveled lot. They are the branded ones that have ascended with fire in their hands to help, heal, and bind up bruises of an unreachable wretched generation. Theirs’ is the undisputed voice of power that raises the dead and relieves the most grief stricken of souls.

Dangerous Potential… What does it mean?

Many people have asked me, “What do you mean when you say Dangerous Potential?” Well to begin with let’s look at the definition of potential according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary: po·ten·tial adj  \pə-ˈten(t)-shəl\ : existing in possibility: capable of development into actuality Synonyms include: quiet, dormant, inactive The positive aspect of potential is that the

The Word and The Bird: Remembering Mother York

I wonder how many people remember the enduring smile and the motherly magical touch, of the 5 foot 2, sugar brown, black woman, who melted the hearts of the most vicious gang lords of the South, North, and West side of Chi towns windy city. Mother York was the undisputed “mother pope” to the prisons