“My mothers
My great-grand mothers
all the women whose blood
i carry. all of them
& none of them
needed to be saved
by someone who 
calls them “exotic”
or tries to write their guilt
away by “researching” them
all my mothers have
always known the power
of sisterhood,
you didn’t teach them
how to use their weapons.”

-Ijeoma Umebinyuo

This is the notebook in which my mother’s father recorded the details of all of their births. His own, my grandmother’s, their children’s, his own father and my grandmother’s parents and siblings. My grandfather passed when my mother was little and I’ve had access to this book for a while for research but I just realized what a trip it is to touch the few things he handled. I also recognize how lucky we are that he wrote it all down and that this item wasn’t lost during exodus out of Ethiopia. The cover reads “Family’s Age Reminder Book, written February 14, 1941”

my mother’s birth details

I spent the last week of June visiting friends in the San Francisco Bay Area. A change of scenery and routine never felt so good. Here are a few shots from my meanderings around Oakland and San Fran. All taken on my smartphone and edited with VSCO app.

yerba buena gardens

fruitvale BART station

grand lake farmer’s market

self at farmer’s market

bay bridge

ocean beach