Hannah Drake offers a powerful, inspirational message that has been heard in various arenas around the world. Hannah has had the distinguished privilege of opening for political and social justice activist, Angela Davis, National Book Award Winner and poet, Nikky Finney, author and motivational speaker, Iyanla Vanzant, honorable judge and TV personality, Judge Gregory Mathis, and rapper and music producer, BIG K.R.I.T. Hannah has served as a presenter at Ideas Festival at WKU and in Louisville, KY as a panelist with CNN chief national correspondent, John King. In April 2017, Hannah had the honor of curating an evening of performance artists for the Festival of Faiths entitled Compassion Rising which reflected how arts could have an impact on the compassion. In November 2017, Hannah’s poem Spaces was selected by the National Academy of Medicine to be featured in a national art exhibit that speaks to visualizing health equity. Also, Hannah was chosen as a 2017 Hadley Creatives, a partnership between the Community Foundation of Louisville and Creative Capital to help local artists build their professional practice, cultivate an expanded peer network and dedicate time for reflection and planning. In December 2017 Hannah was honored for her work by the Kentucky Alliance of Against Racist and Political Repression.
In 2014, she joined Roots and Wings, a dynamic group of artists that seek to bring social change to their community. In 2015 and 2016, Hannah Drake, along with the members of Roots and Wings were able to perform their written plays, The West End Poetry Opera and The Blood Always Returns, at the Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts.
“Always leave crumbs & footprints detailing your greatness for those that are coming behind you.”
In 2016, Hannah’s poem Formation poem went viral being shared over 20,000 times around the world. A lover of writing and social justice, Hannah’s new blog offers commentary on current events and has been viewed around the world. Hannah’s work is filled with passion and truth, believing that communication is indeed the beginning of change. Hannah is the author of several works of poetry, Hannah‘s Plea-Poetry for the Soul, Anticipation, Life Lived In Color, In Spite of My Chains, For Such A Time As This and So Many Things I Want to Tell You-Life Lessons for the Journey. Her debut novel Views from the Back Pew was received with stellar reviews and was performed on stage to a sold-out audience. Her follow-up novel, Fragile Destiny has been hailed as life-changing. Currently, Hannah is working on a new collection of poetry and life lessons, entitled Love, Revolution, and Lemonade. Her powerful, honest delivery has garnered her the nickname, "Brimstone." More information about Hannah can be found at her website www.hannahldrake.com.
*(Before I get into this blog, please do not comment on this blog about people needing to be grateful that they have a job. I believe that anyone working is thankful for their job and happy they can pay their bills, put food on the table and have […]
This week Stacey Abrams appeared on The View and was asked about the rumors that she was being tapped to run alongside (behind) Joe Biden as the 2020 Vice President candidate. With no hesitation, Abrams stated, “I think you don’t run for second place.”In one sentence, Abrams spoke an entire sermon, and it resonated deeply with me. While Abrams was talking about the primary, I took her comments as a lesson for my life to stop running for second place. Who stands at the starting line of a race and says, “I want to be second?” Your mentality should always be, “I want to be first!” The goal should always be to run to win!
My daughter told me, “You should have left Us feeling afraid to look at your reflection in the mirror.” I didn’t. As I walked into the bathroom after the movie, I looked at my reflection in the mirror and washed my hands. I was not afraid. I was not spooked. I didn’t have that feeling that my reflection would turn its back on me or reach out and grab me. There was no lingering fear like I felt watching Nightmare on Elm Street of Halloween years ago. I left the theater thinking, “Perhaps I missed the message. Perhaps I missed the fear.”
In her quick rise in social justice circles, her continuous missteps show me that Alyssa has no foundation on which to stand when it comes to being an ally. Her activism is a house of cards built on sand. It is easy to commandeer someone else’s movement as your own. It is easy to go online when you have a vast platform and post something that “sounds” progressive and get thousands of likes and retweets. It is easy to comb through poems and pick a line or two that may help undergird your tweets. It’s easy to dress up in a handmaid’s costume and not see how your real life actions are not indicative of supporting all women. It’s convenient to post a Martin Luther King quote that makes you feel good. It is easy to do all of those things without doing any of the real work. Moreover, the real work doesn’t start on Twitter. It doesn’t start with a pink pussy cat hat. It doesn’t start with some catchy sign held up at a protest. I dare say it doesn’t even start with a hashtag. The real work begins when you first look inside yourself and challenge yourself to be better and to do better.
In yet another episode of White People Really Aren’t Afraid of Black People They Are Just Racist meet Becky, Karen, Becky. Becky thought she was going to win Selfie of Year when she took her dumb ass over the barrier at the Wildlife World Zoo to take a […]
And finally, I’m a grown woman, I can do whatever I want!
Period. I am grown. I have worked incredibly hard to get to this point in my life. A point where I love me. I love the me that is staring back at me in the mirror. I am confident, and I own where I am going in life. The girl I was 20 years ago is not me now. I am fully aware of the woman I am and the woman I am becoming. I can do whatever I want and I do not need permission from anyone to do it! I am grown. And I do grown woman shit!
To all the women reading this blog, GO OUT TODAY AND BE GROWN BECAUSE YOU DESERVE TO BE!
Every woman I know, KNOWS THIS LOOK! It is a mix of, “I wish this fool would,” “You got me twisted,” and “I got you right where I want you!”There is nothing more powerful than women who know who they are and refuse to be intimidated. Hell hath no fury like a woman that is sick and tired of your bullshit and that has receipts!
I wanted to make a video of the poem and include photos of celebrities that have been influential in my Becoming journey, but I also wanted to include women that I interact with daily. I made a Facebook post asking for photos and what happened next completely blew my mind. Over 200 women posted their pictures, and they started to share their Becoming stories. Immediately I knew I didn’t need any celebrity photos in the video. These women were so powerful, strong, resilient, and faithful. They were enough. Their stories made me smile, made me cry, made me rejoice at their courage to share their failures, their pain, and their triumphs. What I thought would be a simple Facebook post immediately became more significant than me. I want to share their stories below in the hope that something will inspire you to start on your road to Becoming.
Dear White People, please stop saying that you do not see color. We all know that is a lie. Short of having an issue with your eyes, you do see color. However, you believe by saying that you do not see color you are saying something that proves you “can’t be racist” and shows that you are progressive and edgy. In fact, you sound ignorant.
A few days ago on Facebook, I was tagged in a post by Rani Whitehead. Her post is below, and I have copied it in its entirety. I believe this conversation was more significant than me responding to her on Facebook and I wanted to share it with my readers so they can see two women have a conversation about race.
