Bunmi Samuel Rewrites Resilience 

Bunmi Samuel wants you to know that he is doing just fine. Ten years after a 15,000 ft skydiving fall, he is certain that this moment is his: “I am who I say I am. What I said I was going to do, I’ve done. Something tragic didn’t destroy me. I’m better than I’ve ever been.”

Embrace Healing at Love Now Live!

Every artist gracing the Fringe stage is featured in Love Now Magazine’s Winter 2024 issue, with the theme: HEALING. Every story in the issue is an account of transformation and wellness from some of the city’s most inspiring figures: Taj Murdock, Victoria Best, and Vashti Dubois, to name a few. You’ll receive a complimentary copy with your ticket so that you can take the inspiration home with you.

Kristal Bush on Freedom and #FreeMyWeedman

Bush sees herself as a disrupter and change agent. “I create movement in community for people who are voiceless,” she says, “but it all comes from the grassroots.” For Bush, the ability to shift to fill the needs of those in her community is freedom. She believes that education and the respect it brings is freedom.

An Uphill Climb to Prosperity: The Journey of a Returning Mother

A wise poet once wrote, “life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.” This could not be truer for a person who is justice-impacted. As a mother returning from incarceration, life is full of bumps, cracks, and splinters on stairs that bruise as they knock me down one step for every two steps that I climb. My journey from incarceration to stability has been a roller coaster ride since I returned to society nearly two decades ago.

Community Education Will Save Us: West Philadelphia’s W.E.B. Du Bois Abolition School 

“Education must not simply teach work – it must teach life.” Teaching life means transmitting survival tools that allow folk to live freely and fully. This framework underpins the mission of the West Philadelphia-based W.E.B. Du Bois Movement School for Abolition & Reconstruction (the Abolition School), a critical space for political education born from the 2020 uprisings.

This Short Film About A Philly Sports Team’s Protest Reminds Us to Say Sonya Massey’s Name

On this, the first day of the Paris Olympics, and in the wake of this week’s amplified awareness around the death of Sonya Massey, I am reminded of this team of young Black girls, ranging in age from 5 to 19, and their activism for Black Women and Girls.This film shows us what love looks like when it’s put into action in the midst of turmoil and uncertainty. It’s not just warm feelings and kind words. It’s empowerment. It’s education. It’s standing up and speaking out, even when your voice shakes.

Love & Release: The Cry Log

For some time, though, I resisted this truth about myself. I wanted to put distance between myself and stereotypes of women of color as being unable to handle their emotions. I thought that crying meant I was volatile and unstable. I considered bursting into tears to be a weakness, to be something embarrassing and unwanted. And people told me this, too, saying I needed to grow a thicker skin because I was “too sensitive” and thus “illogical.”