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IN THIS ISSUE

EDITORIAL

A Love Note (Video)

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ART & ENTERTAINMENT

Wrestling While Black

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FASHION

A Special Gift for a Special Lady

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HOME & GARDEN

Holding on to Important Things

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LIFESTYLE

Turning Pain into Medicine for Kids

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If you’ve never heard of “The Revolutionary”, Darius Lockhart, a simple Google search will result in several images of a young man with soulful eyes, a polished social media presence, and an evident love for his community. Darius is an Independent Professional Wrestler and the creator of Ase Wrestling (pronounced Ah-shay). He was kind enough to take time out of his busy schedule to chat with Remnants about his love of wrestling, his experience, and his brothers and sisters in arms, as well as his plans for the future of black people in wrestling.

Holding On to Important Things

Isn’t it great when you have an idea and the results turn out even better than you planned? This was the case with this month’s home upcycle. The best part is I was able to hold on to something that had great sentimental value.

My grandmother had a desk that she would sit at and plan church events, and write personalized cards and letters. It is a solid piece of furniture with dovetail joints still holding the drawers tightly together. It had seen better days. The finish was well worn and scratched and some of the drawer pulls were missing.

My mother had been using it for a while but wanted to get rid of it. I begged her to keep it until I had a place for it. So as soon as I moved into my new home, with a bedroom that I am using as a walk-in-closet/ dressing room, I knew it was time for this desk to grace another generation of the family.

I found a really great occasional chair that I wanted in the room. It’s a delightful print with a teal background and lots of butterflies all over it. This chair would be the nucleus of the design for the desk, which I planned to use as a vanity.

NOTE: There are non-sponsored links to the products that I used on this project.

Many of us are struggling to explain “tough truths” to the young people in our lives. Some of these conversations are unfortunately “part of life” for many members of communities of color. For those who find themselves at a loss for words because you never imagined having to explain such tragedies, beyond the loss of a cherished family pet, you may find this book helpful.

Caroline Brewer is an author based in Washington, DC. She created a children’s book called Say Their Names for grades K-3 . In the book a young girl responds to the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd.

Ms. Brewer also has an online Imagination Guide for adults as they use the book as a tool along with children. The guide introduces the “Imagination Station”. The author says, “The Imagination Station is a place where we’re free to open our hearts and minds to all sorts of thoughts and ideas and forms of creativity. We’re free to express ourselves, always with kindness, in words, songs, artwork, such as illustration, dance, and certainly laughter.” The guide has suggestions for engaging with different age groups on the sensitive subject matter.

Children are encouraged to express themselves using more than 30 “gifts” mentioned in the book. Some of the gifts include, love, hope, courage, song, peace, and good vibes.

“As we have seen, especially since September 11, 2001, traumatic incidents, such as school shootings, natural disasters, terrorist attacks, racist and religious attacks, wars, pandemics, and the like, keep happening, seemingly with greater frequency, here and all over the world. In the face of the world’s ugliness, we’ll be counting on today’s youth to one day stand tall and lead our families, communities, and countries. So it’s critical that we – and they — are equipped with the confidence, language, empathy, mental and emotional stamina to handle the hard stuff. “

Caroline Brewer, Author

The book has beautiful, engaging illustrations by an accomplished Brooklyn-based artist, Adrian Brandon. The artist’s portfolio of work is impressive. His “Stolen Series” is a collection of sketches of black people who were “robbed of their lives at the hands of the police.” These sketches are colored based on time. He colored them at an interval of one minute equal to each year the victim was alive. For instance, since Tamir Rice was only 12 years old when he was murdered, Mr. Brandon colored his portrait within 12 minutes. The result evokes an emotional response. Please visit his site to view this powerful collection as well as his other works.

Say Their Names is available at Reycraft Books and Mahogany Books as well as the usual book sources in both hard copy and paperback. Be sure to check your local independent and black-owned book stores first before going to Amazon.