Hello World,
As you can see just from the home page of my blog, I love my DST! Being a part of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated has enriched my life more than I anticipated when I became a giddy member of DST in Spring 1995! And that is hard to imagine! The day after we were presented to the University of Georgia campus, I proudly wore a Delta baseball cap, a t-shirt with two hands formed in a huge pyramid, dangling golden elephant earrings and the matching necklace and Delta socks (if I am remembering correctly). Although my line name is “Comet,” I was nicknamed “Triple Nalia” by line sisters because of all the Delta paraphernalia I wore that day and the days afterward. It was a fun time…Since then, however, my understand of sisterhood has grown much deeper beyond all of the hype that comes with being a Delta!
Soror Ruby Dee
And this year, the year of Delta’s centennial, I am especially proud to be a member of a sorority that is just as committed to sisterhood, scholarship and service as it was when it was founded in 1913 by 22 women at Howard University! And to commemorate our centennial, some of my sorority sisters joined together to create An Anthology of Sisterhood: A Compilation of 22 Shades of Red. The anthology is the brainchild of my Zeta Psi Chapter Soror Dr. Francene Breakfield. The book sprang forth from her dissertation in which she conveyed the meaning and importance of Delta sisterhood in her life from the “big sister” that mentored her as a high school student to a high school student that eventually became a “little sister” because of her influence. In fact, sisterhood has so inspired Breakfield that she formed a “support group of dissertation-challenged Deltas called ‘Doctoratebound.'” In the anthology, Breakfield, along with her co-editor L.D. Wells, coalesced 22 Deltas from 10 states who contributed more than 100 original poems, essays, short stories and lyrics. And Soror Ruby Dee, the world renowned actress, wrote the foreword and contributed a poem of her own!
“Each chapter of the book highlights a different author and allows her to share her voice and unique experience of sisterhood. Topics include positive relationships among women, spirituality, friendship, sorority life, sibling rivalry, and gender equity,” says Breakfield.
From left to right, Sorors Francene Breakfield, Neicy Wells and Katreisula Bryant Graham, contributors, along with Soror Taria Ellis Brittian, center
One of my favorite stories is about the “Sistagurl” that all women have on the inside…This is the woman that warns us when we are dealing with no good or trifling man but we continue to entertain his foolishness anyway, hoping that somehow he will change or we will change him…In this story, the author recounts morphing into a CIA agent to spy on her man to make sure he was not seeing another woman. “I would get out of my car and lay on the pavement to look under the small crack at the bottom of his garage door to see if I could see another set of wheels next to his truck. I jumped his fence to see if I saw shadows in his bedroom window.” I’m not proud to say I have been an CIA agent a time or two in my dating career…LOL…
If you would like to buy your own copy of An Anthology of Sisterhood: A Compilation of 22 Shades of Red, join contributors at Atlanta-Fulton Public Library Southwest Branch, 3665 Cascade Road, Atlanta 30331, this Sunday, April 7 at 3 p.m. for their book launch! Books are $22. If you cannot make the book launch, you can also buy the book at sisterhood.biz, barnesandnoble.com and amazon.com.
Any thoughts?