Dear Tribe
- Traveling Mahogany
- Dec 23, 2019
- 4 min read
Updated: Jan 7, 2020
Home Going
I'm home going, and homecoming. Like waves, my familial bloodline travels through me. Tricks and traits embedded in my body's core are reflected in slight nuances and subconscious mannerisms like nutrient-enriched coral reefs grounded into the ocean floor. The waves, timeless, flow in rhythm according to the warmth of the day's rays and the push of the moon's pull. As the beat of my great grandmother's drum ceased, it was taped, recorded, and echoed a resonant tune found in me. Again, this Caribbean sea and I are one. Past waves from an ancient time caress my skin and guide me back home each time. Secret whispers in conch shells and soft incantations rolling in the tides share stories of what life used to be, how it is going now, and where it will one day go. So now, I know my peace, and I've seen my place in the world. I am home, and home is me.
Belize City, Belize
The first known place in which Traveling Mahogany started. It is also the last documented space from which my family's lineage commenced and how my love for travel birthed the minute my mother's plane departed. Traveling was and is her passion. Her migration to the sunny seaside of southern California marked the physical embarkment and freedom for creating her own life's journey, not foreseeing what her new world would be. Flash forward a decade and half years later, she met my father, bought a house, and had me. And on my 6 week-versary, she and my father packed me up (literally) and took me home. I know she's not crazy, but that (crazy) lady and my dad gave me the best thing besides love, life, and a lifetime of opportunities– the travel bug.
Growing up, my parents decided to take advantage of school breaks and holidays every chance they could get to go someplace different. We would visit various cities and countries that I did not even think, heard, or knew of, but each trip was like stepping into a whole new world. ~Cue the Aladdin and Jasmine duet~. My parents' love for food, architecture, history, and people inspired them to invite and welcome other friends and family. That way we could all, generationally, seek adventures of a lifetime. Being that we are a Black family traveling abroad, we, too, became a bonus site for the sheltered and unexposed eyes to our world. It oftentimes created new discourse for conversation and set interesting lens of self-awareness in the world. After every trip, family and friends would regroup at our house and recant stories, memories, jokes, and lessons learned along the way. For those who couldn't stop by for story time and Sunday dinner, my parents told their adventures in various lights. My dad shared with his work buddies in food and conversation, whereas my mother would spend her time composing narratives of our time abroad and send them through email.
By the age of 10, I became aware that my melanin powers were in full effect. I had the chance to not only tell my friends at school but also my teachers, coaches, etc. about what I saw and the pictures I took. I was elated to have these conversations as well as learn about some of these places in our history class or novels selected for assigned reading. It was so cool exploring the legends and old knowledge from page to page, and then to add my own 'sauce' from capturing its true essence in person. I was the pioneer piloting my life through history! Again, a lifetime of opportunities was presented to me from the past, the present, and into the future. My magic power was being able to figuratively, and somewhat literally, walk in history and then to speak of its own existence in real-time of how it looks today. I never wanted to show off or impose my beliefs of "exploring the beyond" and "breaking the glass ceiling" onto to my friends and peers. In fact, I simply wanted to inform and encourage them to take that one step as if I owned my own bus and embodied a younger prodigy to Ms. Frizzle from the cartoon series The Magic School Bus. ~Honestly, this show needs a comeback.~ Whether it is for school, work, pleasure, self discovery, or more, my answer is GO! When the occasion arises or the chance to fly comes their way, I have vowed to motivate them and anyone else seeking to experience another place...
...which leads me to today. I was skeptical about my blog Traveling Mahogany because I did not want to make it specifically about me and my experience. I want to introduce and reacquaint others through the lens of what another culture, custom, or language may look like and how it can impact our everyday lives. Here, we will learn how we are all interconnected and woven together. Nelson Mandela once said, "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world," and we, as the human race, can affect another as so much as have the ability to teach and learn from the other. Though each article, photo, and video stems from my personal point of view, it is rooted in the culture highlighted in the context. These leaves of virtual pages are strictly for the exploration and wonderment of those craving to taste, savor, and grow beyond what's printed on screen. Join me to embrace the world around us and bring our findings back home. And with that, Welcome to Traveling Mahogany!
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