I had the extreme honor of presenting our poster Updated Infant Feeding Recommendations for US Parents Living with HIV: Empowering Patient/Provider Partnership & Communication at the 2024 National Ryan White Conference...
Ci Ci's blog
Todos tenemos una historia, un logro, algo que puede no parecer tan glamuroso a primera vista – pero el aliento de nuestros cuerpos son un testamento para la siguiente persona de que las cosas difíciles se pueden hacer.
All of us have a story, a triumph, something that may not be so glamourous at face value – but the breath in our bodies stand as a testament to the next person that hard things can be done.
Recently, I had the extreme pleasure of attending the 2023 Motown Experience: Birth & Breastfeeding Conference hosted by the Black Mothers' Breastfeeding Association in Detroit, MI.
So, I don't know if you know That I've been at this social media, advocacy thing for a little minute now. Probably bout, what, like 4 or 5 years or something like that? However long ago it was, I found social media at a time that my body only knew one human as child... My Zion And I, somehow, had just began realizing the power of my voice. Well, from some time over there – To the moment that I write this. SO much has happened. I mean, I done spoke on a few national and international stages... Done sat in rooms that that motherfucker Imposta told me I didn't belong in... Hell, one time I even...
Never did I ever imagine that *I* would be standing in ANYbody's conference presenting ANYthing to some nurses. And here we are. This year's Association of Nurses in AIDS Care (ANAC) Conference was held in Tampa, Florida, November 17-19th and what a wonderful experience this was!
Tip: Can't nobody take your voice. It's yours. I mean, people always have the choice of ignoring you. But that doesn't mean shut up.
Are you stupid? Or are you dumb? What in the hell would possess you to breastfeed a new, precious, innocent life? Do you hate her or something?
This gone sound crazy. But I don't know how to be no woman. I mean, especially not good enough to teach another woman how to do it. I just be doing shit. ... trying on different versions of myself. ... trial and error. ... getting back up again. Hell. Till this day, I'm still on YouTube tryna figure out how to do my eye makeup and whatever. I don't do no hair. And I'm not all into the girly shit for real. So, what I'm supposed to teach somebody? God. You play all day. It's cool tho. I trust You. But look, all I know how to teach her is: How to squat on a public toilet. I gots that one. I will...
"Ciarra. Just sit your ass down and write." ... this is really how I be talking to myself. Cus I'm stubborn. And, apparently that soft shit don't work with me. You gotta get indignant. Yell a little bit. Not too much though. Cus imma cry. But I will always come up with an excuse. Look for another way to serve yet another person. So that by the time it's time to address what I need to do for me – I'm tired. And we all have to go to sleep. That's justifiable, right?! So whatever. I will ignore the clothes on the floor and instead pour into here. I will not respond to that call right now because...