Welcome to "I Usta Be Monique's" New home!

It's been several months since we lost Karyn Washington, founder of the Dark Skin, Red Lips Project and For Brown Girls  but a day has not passed when I have not thought of  her and the countless other girls and women we have lost to violence and trauma since her passing. Karyn's passing was both shocking and triggering yet it was also transformative in my own journey in healing. In the face of her horrible and untimely death I was forced to realize that I am still here. We are still here. Still raging. Still hurting. Still dancing. Still demanding more from our world. Still clawing at life. At justice. At healing. Together.

I was inspired to begin this blog/open diary to share my own survival of child sexual trauma and depression as well as my politics of justice. It is space for my testimony, which I am finally ready to share with others but also a space that I hope that we can dialog and generate new imaginings of our collective healing. Ideally it will also become a space for action and justice.

As a newbie to blogging, I initially began on user friendly Tumblr, but have put on my big girl britches and have migrated my blog here in my permanent text friendly location. Thank you to those who read my very first vulnerable words there and for encouraging me to keep speaking my truth and sharing my perspective

. For those new to this space, feel free to read my early posts and join me on this lifelong and intertwined journey of joy and pain.