Asha

mama outsider

personal essay

first person

Mama Outsider: Reminder Notes to a Dancing Girl

“It is the weekend Beyoncé releases her “Formation” single and a bad queen has just performed it without breaking a sweat. I am watching the queen and learning that the…

Asha —

Aug 19, 2016

mama outsider

personal essay

first person

Mama Outsider: How I Learned the Definition of Obscene

“I was unstable and grieving and more suited for a patient friendship than the dramas of new love. But I loved her and in thirst, I acted unlovingly by climbing…

Asha —

Aug 4, 2016

family

mama outsider

first person

Mama Outsider: When Your Mother Thanks You for Keeping Your Baby

“Instead, I jump back into the mind of the girlish woman I was at 28, the one who didn’t know enough about the consequences for unacceptable motherhood to plunge headfirst…

Asha —

May 26, 2016

family

mama outsider

first person

Mama Outsider: Learning Black Zen in a White House

“Why some people mean? One income that isn’t a livable wage plus racism will do that to you, and you can’t imagine the rage until you’ve lived it.”

Asha —

May 12, 2016

family

mama outsider

first person

Mama Outsider: No Place Like Home

“Every day since my father died has been at least a little fucked up. There is no such thing as a non-fucked up day when you are a Daddy’s girl…

Asha —

Apr 28, 2016

personal essay

first person

The “Book of Life” Gave Me My Anything More

“Book of Life” posits that my father is in a place more vivid than memory, which is is just a medium between the man who raised me and the man…

Asha —

Oct 31, 2014