Hi friends! Year two of celebrating the Smithsonian Heritage Months marches on. I really should have done an official type post explaining it and describing it, huh? … Ah well. We all know where intentions go, especially mine. Today beyond the Teaser Tuesday excerpt, we have a post about SBHM from Alyssa Cole.

I’m going to be honest up front with you, dear reader: I really didn’t want to write this post. I mean, I did. I think it’s important to talk about Black History Month and to recognize the contributions of African-Americans and other people of color to American society. But every time I sat down to put the words on the screen, I kept getting fidgety and annoyed and struck by the same thought…why do we still have to talk about this? I usually enjoy discussions of African-American history, but sometimes, it begins to feel the same as those weekly articles explaining that romance novels are not stupid, that they’re intelligent, feminist, and just as good as literary fiction. Those irk me because it feels like female authors have to justify writing whatever they want, specifically happy endings. In the same vein, writing this kind of post can be tiring for me. It’s a justification of my humanity, when you boil it down. Having to constantly write essays and blog posts and books that essentially say, “Hey, let me explain to you how are pretty cool and also human beings just like you.” loses its charm after a while. I’m generally a pretty cheerful person, but the fact that there are some people who could actually be enlightened by that obvious statement is depressing. Continue reading →