The Potty Mouth Granny

  • If I Was Black and Male For A Day

    First of all, before I write this essay, I would like to state that I love being a Black woman. I love the beautiful brownness of my skin, my hair which is a crown that has anointed me Queen of my universe, my full lips, slanted eyes, and the strength of my ancestors who endured…

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  • Chatham: The Pride of the South Side

    When people talk about Chicago’s historic Black neighborhoods, places like Bronzeville and Hyde Park often dominate the conversation. Yet on the city’s South Side lies a community that has long represented stability, homeownership, education, and Black middle-class achievement: Chatham. Bounded roughly by 79th Street to the north, 87th Street to the south, Cottage Grove Avenue…

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  • People of Earth (Black Folks)

    We are the people of the earth,born from dust, sunlight, water, and time. We are the color of riverbanks after rain,of cinnamon and chestnuts,of copper pennies warmed by a summer afternoon,of fertile soil waiting for seeds,of coffee, cocoa, amber, honey, and mahogany. We are not one shade. We are a thousand whispers of brown,a million…

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  • Bronzeville: Where the Great Migration Learned to Breathe

    There are cities within cities. And then there’s Bronzeville— not just a neighborhood, but a testimony. To understand Bronzeville, you have to walk backward through time, into the long shadow of the Great Migration—that massive, sacred movement of Black folks who packed up their lives in the South and headed north with nothing but grit,…

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  • Chatham — Quiet Power, Black Excellence, and Front-Porch Dignity

    Chatham sits on Chicago’s South Side like a well-kept secret that refuses to beg for attention. It doesn’t shout. It doesn’t perform. It is. Tree-lined streets, sturdy brick bungalows, lawns edged like someone still believes in order and pride—that’s Chatham’s quiet language. Where it is (and why that matters) Chatham is roughly bounded by 75th…

    thepottymouthgranny

  • Hidden Gems of Chicago – Jackson Park Highlands District

    Tucked into the South Shore area like a well-kept secret with good manners, the Jackson Park Highlands District is one of those neighborhoods that makes you slow your car down. Not because you’re lost — because you’re looking. Developed in the early 1900s, it was designed as an upper-middle-class enclave. Tree-lined streets. Curving boulevards. Large…

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  • What Is Black?

    “Black” is not a single thing. It’s a constellation. Black is a people, first—descendants of Africa scattered by history’s rough hands: trade winds, chains, migrations, love, survival. Not a monolith, not a hive mind. Nigerians, Haitians, Gullah Geechee, Afro-Brazilian, Black American, Somali, Jamaican—different tongues, foods, rhythms, gods, jokes. Same sun in the bones, different stories…

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  • The Lost Ones

    I’m back home after attending a balloon release for a real cool gentleman I grew up with and for whatever reason, I decided to take the Red Line train to the park it was being held, and my god. It was filled with so many young Black adults strung out on drugs. One young man…

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  • Lessons Learned From the Social Media

    I’ve been on the social media for 14 years this month and it has taught me several lessons. Mostly that humans are some miserable creatures who get a sick thrill off the unhappiness of others. It has also taught me a lot about the pathology of some Black folks who are Generation X and below…

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  • Black History Lesson for the Day – Bronzeville

    The Bronzeville neighborhood means so much to me because much of my family’s history has been entwined in this area. My family started migrating from Mississippi during the 1930s. My Uncle Joseph was the first Allen to make the trek to the Promised Land and for him, the journey was bountiful. He started a Ma…

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