Introduction The popularization of urban gardening has exploded in the last five years. A simple google search for “urban gardening” returns images of polished plastic container gardens, and beautifully arrayed vegetation whose smooth edges juxtapose the jagged cityscapes behind them. When these photos contain people, they typically convey white people teaching Black youth in the garden . These photos can be beautiful and inspirational, but they can also be deceitful. They are based on a new growing aesthetic of white urban gardening betrays the movements history. Black entrepreneurs like Will Allen of Growing Power have not only spread awareness of the unexpected fertility of cityscapes, but have also politely reminded white America that the urban gardening movement has undeniably black roots. Detroit, a city with an 84% African American population, is often referenced as a poster child for the urban farming movement, and with good reason. Take a walk through the Brightmoor
I'm in an episode of anxiety right now, and sometimes I beat my head thinking there must be something I haven't come to accept. That if I could just accept that last thing, anxiety would be gone. But the reality is I have already gone through so many milestones in acceptance with anxiety as a teacher. And those things lesson the duration and extent of anxiety. 1. I've learned to love myself WITH my anxiety. I've always liked myself as a person. But I had this warring tension in my body when I tried to love the part of myself that felt broken, and felt unlovable. That part of me when I am in an anxiety episode. I wanted to shuck it away and not tell anyone and just wait until it passed so I could be myself again. But the reality is, part of me is that anxiety. It's not a fun part, but it's a part. I practiced drawing a heart on my leg and saying "I love you anxious pants" and I would cry so hard because I wanted to hate that part of myself. It fel