Staying consistent with our writing practice can be challenging, especially when life starts throwing events our way like a curve ball. That’s why for me, these salons are necessary to keep the preservation of our stories alive.
Many times we don’t know what we need or the correct emotion to properly explain how we feel, writing helps us discover those parts of ourselves. Sometimes you don’t need a prompt, sometimes a good vibe will set the tone for your words to flow like water.
Blackstack Salon is turning into the perfect vibe to inspire that very thing.
Welcome to Blackstack Salon!
First, we jumped right into prayer and intentional breathwork. I added the playlist we vibed to below for you to follow along. The first two songs by Shelah Marie serve as our grounding and meditative moment.
Next, we started with the first prompt after listening to the “Interlude: The Glory is in You” by Solange, and that led us into our first song prompt, “Open My Heart” by Yolanda Adams. Get you some tissue before you hit play on these two songs, even I was in tears within the first thirty minutes of the salon because of this song, particularly.
After listening to the interlude and song, we had 25 minutes to write to the following prompt, the playlist has a few songs from the new Juicy J jazz album that was perfect for us to use as a timer, and a vibe.
Prompt: What happened that made you close your heart?
This moment is for us to remind the President that people make the world go round. With that in mind, I have been thinking a lot about what we need as a community but also on a individual level.
While I support the 92% getting their rest, it is now time to get back to work. Our culture has never had the luxury of not fighting for our rights, our lives, and our future. These babies are under attack, our men are under attack, and damnit Black women do you not see we are the greatest threat!
Take a listen to the interlude, “This Moment” and song, “People Make The World Go Round” to get our inspiration flowing for this next prompt.
Prompt: Write a letter to the President.
Every day I am checking in with myself to ask what do I need, and I don’t think our community has been given that opportunity. Most of our leaders have told us what we needed and we have picked sides based on the alignment in thoughts. But what if we collectively decided what is the Negro problem?
Let’s take a listen to this next interlude, “Tina Taught Me” and song, “Negro Problem” for inspiration for the next prompt.
Prompt: Write about what you think is the most overlooked Negro problem.
To tie together the whole session; we opened our hearts to go within to discover why we closed it, spoke our peace about what’s going on in America, and we’ve identified what we view as the most overlooked problem our community faces.
We can find the solution to what we view as the overlooked Negro problem, not just in America but in the world, if we continue to look within. What gifts do we hold that will benefit our community but be a major part of the For Us, By Us infrastructure?
Now we close out with the last interlude and song by Solange, the Blackstack anthem, “For Us By Us”.
Prompt: Write about a gift you have that you know will benefit the Black community that you can keep just for us.
Sing it with me: “All my niggas, in the whole wide world, made this song to make it all y’all’s turn, for us, this shit is for us!”
I pray you find your joy, your spark, and your flow.
I pray you join us this month on September 28th for the next Blackstack Salon.
I pray you know you are safe with us.
I pray you feel at home.
I pray you fight for you and yours, knowing we are doing the same.
I pray you feel inspired again.
I pray you commit to your writing because it means everything!
Amen and Asé
“My commitment to writing means something.” - lotus journal
I love us, I love y’all.
xoxo,
Jacquie
Next in Queue
Wednesday, September 3rd: Black Reads: Issue 011
Sunday, September 6th: Black Recipes featuring catherine emmanuella
Tuesday, September 9th: Beta Reads: Born to be Scorned, a paid subscriber exclusive featuring KC Oconner
