This time of year can be hard for me. It is a pattern I was able to detect through therapy. I don't do well when the dark and cold falls over the city like a weighted shadow. I don't have a Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) diagnosis or anything, but I have noted more moments of [...]
Author: Nia Ita
Sunday Soul Reflections #1
Everyone I know is tired. My friends and family and complete strangers that don't even notice I walk by them are overwhelmed and overstimulated. I have fallen victim to it as well. The tiredness. Like a plague over this city. The exhaustion is bone-deep and spirit-bound. It worsens when I watch the news that reminds [...]
Q&A with Author Julian Randall
A few months ago, I pitched an author Q&A to a well-known publication that had been asking me to send them some literary content. In March of 2019, they responded that they were passing on the idea because they prefer to cover upcoming or recent books. The debut collection of poetry and winner of the [...]
Papi’s 56th Trip Around the Sun
Stop 1: Brooklyn Bridge The first half of the route is all up-hill. No matter how hard I peddle, my pace is slow and labored. I am breathing hard and fighting the voice in my head, the Resistance that matches the incline of the bridge. At the half-way point, Papi and I both stop for [...]
Re(view): Why We Stay Silent and How to Speak Up
I was excited when I found the Intervarsity Press table at Book Expo this year. I don’t recall ever seeing such a large selection of faith-based books that talk about equity, race and social justice. Still, I dampened my excitement and managed expectations because I’ve often found myself disappointed with Christian literature and how even [...]
A Memorable Memorial Day Weekend
It’s been eighteen years since the Memorial Day weekend when I fractured a bone in my right foot. It's a funny story that ends with Mami not believing I was hurt as bad as I was. She hard-tissue massaged vaporú onto my injured foot and then helped me squeeze a swollen, purplish limb into my [...]
Trusting the Process
"I am a writer not because I have published a novel or made it into the most prestigious and elite magazines. I am a writer because I write. Because when all else fails I find that words and stories help me heal and help me share that healing." - Nia Ita Thursday, April 4th I [...]
Reflections on “A Return to Love”
In “A Return to Love” Marianne Williamson talks about how her negativity was as destructive to her as alcohol is to an alcoholic. She describes her negativity as “that hysterical woman inside [her] head.” I am all too familiar with that hysterical woman. I’ve been contending with her a lot this week and today she [...]
A Spiritual Adjustment: Slowing Down
This is my father. The man that I inherited my love for reading, writing + rainy days from. Whenever I see him, I ask for a blessing as is traditional in Dominican culture, “Bendicion Papi” and he always gives it. Sometimes he kisses my forehead and shines a crooked smile through thin lips. Other times [...]
All The Reasons
All The Reasons I Should Be in a Bad Mood I’m tired. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. Anyone who has ever said “do what you love and you will never work a day in your life” did not work with kids. Especially special needs kids. They probably didn’t write either. I [...]