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The Hardest Lessons We Learned In 2019

They say the hardest lessons are the ones your soul needs most.

Womanhood - Home Page
xoStaff
Dec. 11, 2019 12:45PM EST

They say the hardest lessons are the ones your soul needs most. In this final episode of season 1, Necole, Amer, and Sheriden reflect on the entirety of 2019. Over a few shots and tears, the squad discusses self-love by not allowing anyone to physically harm or disrespect you, losing jobs to healing from generational trauma, and how they plan to go into 2020 with more intention in their professional and personal lives. These women have had a YEAR but it didn't come without a few painful and eye-opening moments along the way.

Show Notes

Be sure to subscribe and listen on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Things you will hear in this episode:

  • One of the ladies reveals a recent domestic violence situation with her ex which shocks her co-hosts and sparks conversation on alcohol abuse and the harmful effects of self-medicating
  • Tips for removing yourself from a toxic and potentially abusive partner
  • The eye-opening lessons each host learned in 2019
  • How to date with intention
  • Tips on pitching yourself as a writer for xoNecole
  • Advice for contacting editors and managing editors for publications
  • How to choose the right conferences to attend

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Writers' spotlight:

xoNecole's Submissions Guidelines

You can connect with us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @xohappyhour and use the tag #xohappyhour to join the social convos.

Leave us a voice message on xohappyhour.com to share your story with us or ask a question for a chance to be featured on the show!

Featured image by Giphy

xoStaff
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Sitting in the theater getting ready to watch Nopefor the third time, I was excited, like a good film nerd, to see my friend's first-time reactions to the fun UFO horror-comedy. My heart sank immediately when a trailer for the film Till, which follows the life and legacy of Emmett Till's mother, Mamie, started playing first.

My knee-jerk reaction, of course, comes from years of watching film and TV that have exploited Black trauma onscreen and were created with little (if any) consideration for what could emotionally trigger the Black audience. The 1955 murder of Emmett Till is so heartbreaking and inherently violent; would this film make us live through that violence on screen?

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This week, before watching Gina Prince-Bythewood's incredible The Woman King, a featurette for Till played in place of a trailer and it soothed my fears.

"There will be no physical violence against Black people on screen," the film's award-winning director and co-writer Chinonye Chukwu says in the featurette. "I'm not interested in relishing in that kind of physical trauma. We're going to begin and end in a place of joy," she says.

Starring Danielle Deadwyler (whose heartfelt performance on HBO's Station Eleven stole the show) as Mamie, Till is a celebration of Mamie's tireless activism which sparked the civil rights movement that continues today and ultimately culminated in President Biden signing the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act into law just a few months ago in March 2022. "Mamie Till Mobley is a hero," says Alana Mayo, president of Orion Pictures, the production company behind the film. "I'm really, really committed to making movies not just by us, but for us," Mayo says in the featurette.

After a private screening of Till, this week, Trayvon Martin's mother, Sybrina Fulton, tweeted that the film was "#Powerful" and "a must see."

Mamie's story of courage in the face of unspeakable tragedy deserves to be told--especially as we continue the fight for civil rights today. Knowing that the Black filmmakers behind the film are centering Black joy and aiming for our empowerment through the film makes a world of difference.

TILLis in theaters October 14.

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