Happy last day of summer, peeps!

I’ve been thinking a lot about my goals and setting mindful intentions each week. I’ve just started putting this into practice and I’m already feeling a boost in momentum to take control of all the things I’ve been juggling. This week my task is to wrap my mind around how to stay a positive force on social media–promoting ze blog, my acting life, and information about my activism–in the face of neanderthal #twittertrolls on the attack. (You can most definitely expect more on that later.)

Most people who are pursuing a career in the arts have to hustle to make ends meet, while at the same time trying to get noticed for what they truly want to do. Take me, for example: I work four part-time jobs while trying to get in the audition room and cast in shows, writing as much as I can, and being an activist.

Last week I went to my first Peoples Monday, a weekly Call to Action with Black Lives Matter NYC and Shut It Down NYC. The photos in this post are from last week’s event for Jonathan Ferrell. He was murdered by cops in North Carolina two years ago. You can learn more about his story here and from the Fact Cards below, made by a woman who was present at the recent trial.

We rallied for three hours, starting in Grand Central Station, snaking through it and the streets of Times Square, ending at the TKTS structure (which was immediately shut down by the NYPD upon our arrival), and doing four die-ins along the way.

I’ve been struggling with how to reconcile my need to make the world a better place with my desire to have a successful acting career. I don’t think that these two aspects of myself and my storytelling have to be separate, but I wonder if I would be better served to separate these worlds just a bit.

I watched the incredible documentary, What Happened, Miss Simone?, several months ago, and I am still haunted by these words of how her activism might have negatively affected her career:

“I think that the artists who don’t get involved in preaching messages probably are happier. But you see I have to live with Nina, and that’s very difficult.” –Nina Simone

And, at the end of the day I have to live with Lulu. I don’t think I would be able to reconcile not owning my activism and wearing the belief on my sleeve that I should not be better protected than my best friends, who have skin that is darker than mine.

Please Join Me in the Fight to Ensure that Black Lives Matter. Every bit of Humanity counts. Spread love & Be well.