Awkwardly Introverted

Memory as Resistance: What a Holocaust Study Abroad Trip Taught Me About Now.  From Auschwitz to East Berlin — a Black woman’s reflection on history, hate, survival, and what it means to remember. I didn’t expect to come home with this much on my heart. What started as a study abroad trip through Poland, Germany, and the Czech Republic — learning about the Holocaust — turned into something deeper. I saw mass graves. I stood where genocide was organized and executed. But I also saw resistance, resilience, and how memory fights back. As a Black woman, I couldn’t separate what I witnessed from what I carry. This isn’t just about history. This is about now. Below is the full reflection I submitted for my travel journal. It’s long — because history is long. And because silence is dangerous. Thanks for reading.  Thanks for remembering. ✨ Introduction: Walking Through Memory Study Abroad, Soul Abroad When I signed up for this Holocaust study abroad trip, I expected it to be inten...

Sometimes, the real world feels so overwhelming that the only way to cope is to dive headfirst into a book. Not just any book, though—dystopian fiction, where nightmare scenarios play out in vivid detail, oddly comforting in their exaggeration... or are they? 🤎🤔 Lately, two books have hit a little too close to home: 1984 by George Orwell and The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. Let’s start with 1984, the classic story where “Big Brother is watching” has become more than just a cautionary tale. 👁️ Surveillance, censorship, and rewriting history? ✔️✔️✔️ The line between fiction and reality gets blurrier every day. Orwell warned us about this chilling world, and yet here we are, scrolling through news feeds 📱, questioning what's real, and feeling like our privacy is a thing of the past. 🧑🏾‍💻 Then there’s The Handmaid’s Tale. Once a disturbing fictional world, it now reads like a potential future. 🚫👩🏻‍🦰👩🏼‍🦰👩🏽‍🦰👩🏿‍🦰👩🏾‍🦰 Women’s rights are under attack, people a...

If you know me, you know I don’t hold back when it comes to calling things like they are. And right now? America is on fire—again. 🔥 This image says it all. Green Day, my favorite band, has always been unafraid to speak truth to power. 🎸 Their music is a rallying cry for the outcasts, the rebels, and the ones who refuse to be brainwashed. “No Trump, No KKK, No Fascist USA” isn’t just a lyric—it’s a stance, a movement, and a wake-up call. 🚨 And we need it now more than ever. No Trump… But Here We Are Again Because, guess what? Trump and his army of idiots are back in the White House, in full force, making a complete shit show of America. 🤡 As if we didn’t already live through the disaster of 2016-2020, they’re back at it—siding with literal war criminals like Putin 🇷🇺, attacking basic human rights, fueling hate, and pushing America further into chaos. And that’s just one item on the long, long list of disasters they’ve caused. 📜 Book bans 📚, the erosion of LGBTQ+ rights 🏳️‍🌈, ...

  "Early in life, I learned that if you want something, you better make some noise."  – Malcolm X That lesson has never been more relevant. Right now, we are living in a time of extreme chaos, led by a man who thrives on destruction, division, and fear. But let’s not forget:  we are stronger than him. There are more of us than there are of them.  And when the people rise, when we make our voices heard, no amount of corruption, intimidation, or injustice can silence us. They want us to be quiet. They want us to roll over and accept whatever scraps they throw our way. They want us tired, hopeless, and defeated. But  we don’t go easily. The Black Panthers never went easily. Malcolm X never went easily. Our ancestors never went easily. They fought, they organized, they protected their communities, and they stood against a system designed to keep them oppressed. They didn’t ask for justice; they  demanded  it. They didn’t wait for permission; they  too...