L.L. Farmer's Blog

Lately, my sister and I have been playing this one-upmanship game: which of us has the dumbest governor in America. Although I was born and raised in Florida, I am currently making my home in Georgia. My sister, though, is still in Florida. So almost everyday, we compare notes on the most recent dumb decision made by the governors of Florida and Georgia.

And yes, I have to use the word dumb because there is no other, more appropriate, word.

At first, DeSantis had the lead. This man welcomed...

While part of me watches America rage with this seemingly unstoppable virus, there is this other part of me that cant get November out of my mind. I have this friend who keeps telling me that Donald Trump may still be president after November 2020, and there is a fear that the refuses to leave me because that just might be true.

I guess I foolishly thought that the America that enslaved my ancestors and segregated my grandparents and parents was an America in recovery. Sure, I agreed with...

Lately, I have been seriously contemplating a move to Africa. I haven’t selected the nation to consider my future home, but I have wondered if returning to my ancestral roots would be the “cherry on top.” I’d like to say that my desire to leave the US was borne solely from my need to reconnect to my pre-slavery African heritage, but Trump’s election in 2016 made me reevaluate my assumptions about America.

I have always been aware of the US's complicated past with people of color. America began...

Recently, I read about Tarana Burke when Time released their Person of the Year. The magazine praised women called the Silence Breakers, women who publicly shared their experiences with sexual assault. Those women have been, and still are, overwhelmingly white. Even the #metoo movement, specifically started by Tarana Burke ten years ago to include the stories of women of color, was co-opted into twitter movement that focuses on the experiences of white women.

The Women’s March, the Pussyhat, a...

One of the Pep Talks for NaNoWriMo came from Dean Koontz, and boy was it timely. The other day, I heard some negative feedback about Black Borne that spoke directly to my insecurities. I think that even if I was blessed with a bestseller someday, there will still be a kernel of doubt about my writing. So I had to reread Koontz's Pep Talk so that I could get myself back on spiritual and mental track.

Koontz draws a clear line between worthwhile criticism and naysayers. Worthwhile criticism, he...

On the way to Orlando for Thanksgiving, my daughter and I stopped in St. Augustine for a little sight-seeing through history. I needed a fresh look at the city for my Warrior Slave series. Specifically, I wanted to see Ft. Mose.

I grew up in Orlando and one of the fundamentals that we learned about Florida was the history of St. Augustine. What Floridian child does not know of Ponce de Leon and the Fountain of Youth? I even remember taking a field trip to St. Augustine and visiting the colonia...

Lately, I have been reflecting on my long, exhausting teaching career.

I started teaching because I needed a job. I had left University of Florida after a particularly tough lesson in graduate school politics, and I needed an adult job so that I could pay my very real adult bills. So I took on a job that I felt I could do relatively well and for which I didn't need a lot of experience. I stumbled upon teaching by accident, truthfully. I received a phone call from a principal who conducted a ph...

Recently I assigned my students a reading and writing assignment centered around the movement that has evolved from Colin Kaepernick's decision to kneel in protest during the National Anthem. I've repeatedly reminded them that Kaepernick is not protesting the flag nor the Anthem. He is protesting the oppression and mistreatment of blacks and people of color that has been long-standing in this country. He is simply protesting during the singing of the National Anthem. Many of them will probabl...

I naively believed that American society had progressed far enough from the 1950's that George Wallace could never become president today. Obviously, I was wrong.

Whenever I think about those people who voted for Donald Trump, I keep wondering how they justified his racist beliefs and behaviors. I've read articles that state all of Trump's voters can't be painted with the same brush, but I disagree. An acceptance of racism and sexism must have existed on some level in order for his voters to s...

Lately, I've been thinking about my days at the University of Florida. From the time I was in 8th grade, I knew that I wanted to go to UF. I had a cousin who had gone there on a football scholarship, and when he came back home with his college friends, I decided right then that I was going to the University of Florida. Perhaps, if I had known then what I know now, I would have chosen an entirely different college. For me, UF ended up being a continuation of the nightmare that I called high sc...