Put your back into it

Rest and other things

Jul 15, 2024

Hey, y’all. Fola here.

Say what you will, but cutting melons has always been intimidating to me. Cantaloupe, watermelon, honeydew—doesn’t matter. Something about turning a thick-skinned, 10-20-pound globe of juicy fruit into a bite-sized treat just felt unapproachable. Until last Friday.

I don’t know about you, but last week was rough. I was on my period and feeling all the way off emotionally and physically. By Thursday morning, I couldn’t get myself out of bed, so I called out and slept for hours. I cried my way through therapy then slept some more. Later in the day, I called my Mama, I Facetimed with my siblings, and I talked to my best friend while she drove with my goddaughter in the back seat. I felt a little bit like myself again.

I was doing my best to rest with intention instead of dread or guilt. I knew I would wake up Friday and return to all the things I had left unfinished. One day of rest was not nearly enough, but it sure was sweet while it lasted.

I woke up Friday still bleeding, but lighter. I had another busy day ahead, but the weekend was near. My boo and I were going to sit with his father that evening, so I decided I’d cut up some cantaloupe and honeydew for the first time. I cut the fruit in half, then quarters, then I peeled through the skin. Once naked, I diced them into squares.

By the third quarter of the cantaloupe, my arm got weary. I thought about all the melons my mom had cut up in my lifetime without complaint. I thought about how I had only ever known the cold, sweet flesh of something good and not the work it took for it to end up in my sticky hands and mouth.

By the time I was done, I was feeling real proud of myself. I snuck in a few pieces along the way, and I swear each one tasted sweeter and juicier the closer I got to finishing. My week had been so dark and depressing, and somehow, cutting this melon medley brought me a calm and gentle joy. I snapped a picture for my mom because #millennial.

Sometimes, the joy is in the work. And sometimes, you can’t access that joy without rest. Where is your joy right now? What do you need to bring it back home to you?

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SISTORIES NEWS

HUGE congratulations are in order for our founder and Editor-in-Chief Ashley, who is one of the five recipients of the 2024 ASC Founders Grant.

Read more about the other recipients here, then follow up with Ashley’s thoughtful and moving response to receiving the award.

May each of us aspire to live our politics in all that we do.

Our Prose Editor Dani Bee is also a Black Joy reporter for Reckon News. In her latest piece, she talks about how Seasonal Affective Disorder shows up in the summertime.

Read it here

SIS EXPRESS

Issue IV contributor Nancey Price is hosting an original art sale on her Instagram. Original pieces for sale include the above which is featured in our current issue The Hereafter!

The Revolutionary Power of Grieving in Public—Issue IV Contributor Julia Mallory is featured in this piece in Yes! Magazine discussing the death of her son and the power of public grief. You can read her short story “Belle’s Boy” in The Hereafter.

WRITING & SO ON

Grants, call for pitches, workshops, teach-ins and so much more. Here’s your artist opportunity round up.

Open Calls

Workshops

The Mechanics of Publishing Poems w/ Charlotte Poet Laureate Junious Jay Ward
Button University: In Character (w/ Siaara Freeman) (Virtual)
Hurston Wright Foundation’s DC Youth Writers Oral History Program (DC)
The Light Factory: Intro to Digital Photography (Charlotte, NC)
Roots of Blue: Indigo Dyeing Workshop (Charlotte, NC)
Charlotte Is Creative Power Panel: Marketing Your Creative Business (Charlotte, NC)
2024 South Carolina Writers Association’s “Storyfest” (Columbia, SC)

Grants

SouthArts Grant Opportunities

Know of any opportunities or grants for Southern girlies? Reply, DM, hit us up and let us know.

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