She called me La-La. No one in my family knew where exactly this nickname came from, because the letter L is nowhere to be found in my first, middle, or last name. Despite this fact I responded each time the name flowed from her lips: “La-La come over here and give me some suga.”
Portraits of Elders
The Forgotten
Each time I enter the Grandview Cancer Center, I see African American women and African American men, all of them elders, sitting alone and waiting to be called for their appointment. That is the center where I take my grandmother.