Mama always made sure we had magazines at home. We might not have had a lot of food at times, but there would always, always be a Time Magazine , or a Newsweek , or an Ebony, or a Life. And yes, even Jet Magazine. Every now and then, there would even be a National Geographic , when the people whose house she cleaned were finished with them. I often tell people that I do most of my living for the foremothers. I'm constantly aware of how privileged I am to be able to walk through doors that were permanently closed to them. Like today, when I walked through the doors of National Geographic Headquarters in DC. I'll be spending the next few months working on a story for their January 2019 issue. And in my mind, I can see my mother's eyes widen, and her jaw drop at that little piece of news. It was hard to impress Eloise Jones, but this would have done the trick. But it was all because of her, taking us to the library as soon as we could walk, insisting on books and reading and newspapers and magazines. I was an explorer long before today, because Mama opened up the world for me. #humbled #journalism
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