Arlinda handed me a manila envelope one day in 1995. I pulled out some modeling shots of Arlinda peering out from behind a telephone pole.
I asked her, "What are these?"
"I just wanted to have some shots for fun."
With the publication date of August 27, 2026 less than two weeks away, I am rushing to get the manuscript and book covers posted to the distribution centers, Amazon and IngramSpark.
If you are involved in the community, you can be the cause for change.
The manuscript is done. Done enough for now. I would be proud of the work if it was released today. To prepare for launch day, I sent out my manuscript for reviews.
When I started writing Arlinda’s anecdotes, I was fresh out of college with an English degree and a concentration in Creative Writing. I was young and felt like I had the skills to do her story justice.
If you work in the medical system, you can do your part to address medical racism.
I am frantically making yet another editorial pass at my manuscript to get it ready to submit to the Copyright Office. I cannot believe the writing oversights, but here we are at edit #99, and I am still finding glaring errors.
The Acknowledgments section of the book is something I typically skim over. The names listed have a meaning to the author, and the person/entity they are thanking.
If you do not have a loved one who is or might be on the receiving end of medical racism, you can still take action.
In the US, death is generally feared, avoided, dismissed. That makes it uncomfortable. The funeral that is supposed to mark an ending gives birth to a new dynamic, as the survivors adjust and fill in for the absent person.
I want to publish this book. I've been working on it for 31 years. I have envisioned the moment when Arlinda's biography is in print, and there is nothing more I can do to fix the content.
If systemic racism seems like it will not budge, no matter how much we try, then we have not tried enough of the right combination of tactics. Here are some ways patients and caregivers can use to gain more control of their health outcome.