As an educator, researcher, and writer, I am learning that some of my strongest transformative tools are stories—in particular Unfinished Stories. Hence, the name of my blog.

Stories are unfinished because we are unfinished. Our unfinished stories have the capacity to transform how people live, learn, and interact with others, even after we physically transition from this earth.

Grief changes a person. It can permanently alter a person’s outlook on life and living.

In 2018, my life was permanently altered when my only sister unexpectedly passed away. Her name is Cherene T. Everett. She’s a proud Sagittarius woman (#SagSeason)! So, I am launching this blog on her 48th birthday, December 19, 2023 in her honor.

The stories of us and our precious relationship are unfinished. Each day I am learning unfinished stories about my sister—through her own writings over the years, as well as through stories from family, friends, and co-workers. As I learn more about her, I am learning more about myself.

Since her passing, I have been thinking, learning, writing, teaching, and researching about grief (and trauma too). Becoming a grief researcher is an unexpected, yet invaluable gift of my grief.

My compassionate curiosity about grief also makes me a fierce advocate in finding and creating language, frameworks, research, programs, policies, and building systems to support people living with grief. I have “urgent clarity” (Lorde, 1984) about my passions and Purpose. Through it all, I am learning how to live with the transformative nature of love and loss.

It’s been 5 (equally short AND long) years since Cherene’s passing. I started this blog several years ago, but I struggled to launch it. I still have some intense experiences with grief, especially around holidays, anniversaries, and other significant milestones. I’ve finally accepted that my grief makes me human. It is evidence that I have lived, loved, laughed, and experienced loss.

Through wrestling with my own unfinished stories, I am learning how to become compassionately curious about cultivating a joyful and just life in the midst of grief.

I have also been actively engaged in cultivating systems of support, systems of healing, and systems of joy with a specific gaze toward what support, healing, and joy might look like for Women of Color, especially Black women.

My thinking, learning, teaching, and research about grief have led me to develop my Unfinished Stories Blog, which features stories about cultivating creativity, grace, justice, transformative healing, and joy-centered spaces in various modalities.

As a reader of Unfinished Stories, I hope you find language to describe some of your experiences and/or to resonate with the experiences someone you love and seek to support. I also hope you feel the love, joy, and humor that anchors the spirit of this blog.