Dear Readers
First, I will no longer be calling you readers because you are now my friends and I am now yours. So, friends, I want you to know that I hear you and connect with you.
I come to you from a place fueled by a combination of anxiousness and eagerness. I am anxious to share the fun, amazing, and light-hearted parts of me, yet, I am terrified about the parts that aren’t so pretty. Despite the anxiety, I know sharing is more important than anyone’s judgment because I am simply one example of hundreds, thousands, or even millions of people who are just like me. People who share my hard times, bad days, anxiety, fear, and self-consciousness. People who face the same treatment, hate, and negativity from others. People who have to get up every day and do things that they do not want to do to survive in a world that seems to work hard at not being made for them.
Although I believe that I may not be the best example, I refuse to allow the world around me to ignore my voice. Because I know that my voice is valuable, not just for me but also for the voices that do not get heard. I am a Black woman who is masculine-presenting in a world where Black people are ostracized, women are unprotected, and gays are hated. Underneath the surface of which the world has categorized me, I have to work diligently to preserve my mental health and my physical health. Because of PCOS, my body works daily against me, my mental health, and my physical health but Black women don’t talk about it enough or maybe we don’t know about it enough to even feel connected to each other through it.
I started this blog hoping to share very different content but I felt myself becoming more drawn to connecting to people like me. I was tired of searching the internet high and low for voices that represented me and never found one. Everything was either too white, too gay, too out of touch, or simply absent.
So to that, I vow to you, friends, that I will never sell out, I will never push a product, thought or idea that I do not stand ten toes down in. I will not partner with anyone who does not stand for what I write to you about. I promise to listen to you because as friends we hold each other accountable. I promise to share what I am knowledgeable and qualified to share. I promise to point you in the direction of those who are qualified when I can. I will not keep any secrets to the game because I want you to find your creativity, your happiness, your courage, and your growth here with me, together as friends. And, because I love you, I will be honest and vulnerable so that you know that you are not alone.
I love you always.
L. Woods-Green
