When I was in my mid-twenties, I landed what I thought was my dream gig: writing unpaid reviews of rap videos on a popular music blog. Let me see if I can find anything in the internet archives…yep, here we go. I die at little MeeshyD and her commentary: “You can practically feel the sexual tension in the air when the two arrive at the show and go their separate ways, leaving Trey to reminisce about the naughty times they shared together while she created her masterpieces.”
I decided pretty quickly that my dream gig didn’t make me feel that good inside because I’m just not a critic. I’ve learned so much from reading thoughtful critique from writers I admire, but it’s just not me. Consuming art with the express purpose of finding ways to praise or asses its value just didn’t feel right to my soul. For anyone who knows me, it will come as no surprise that most of my reviews were glowing. The only conflict I had with my editor was finding ‘balance’ in my posts which you can tell caused me to start my own blog where I can be as glowing as I damn well please.
In keeping with my legacy as a poor critic, I’m not going to do reviews on meeshyd.com, but I will make recommendations for books and other art I admire. I feel compelled to do whatever I can to encourage thoughtful, courageous creativity because I know first-hand how hard it is to put work out there in the world that is vulnerable and true, which brings me to the topic at hand: Leah Vernon’s book, Unashamed: Musings of a Fat, Black Muslim. I have followed Leah online for years now and I have witnessed her struggle and her success. She speaks truth and she creates great art and she has written a truly beautiful book that I was happy to buy and read and, finally, share with you all here. In her memoir, she tells the story of her life growing up Muslim in Detroit with a struggling mom and an absent father as well as the story of her painful 10-year marriage. She shares her traumatic experiences in detail, but she also brings us along to her redemption, which happened when she finally gave herself permission to be imperfect and also unashamed of her identity as a fat, black muslim woman. I really loved reading this book and I hope you will consider supporting Leah by buying a copy for yourself and by following her online. She’s a real NYC model these days and I love cheering her on in the comments section on her insta.
Am I a fangirl? 100%.
Do you have any other great work from creatives that you’d like to shout out? Feel free to fire away in the comments, even (and especially) if that courageous work comes from you!
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