A Touching Note Highlighting a Friendship Started on our Forums

[Troy]

I was tagged on this on Instagram.  I know @aka Contrarian has been around long enough to "get" this message from one former poster to another.

 

"deeshaphilyaw" went on to become a critically acclaimed writer nominated for a National Book Award in 2020 for her collection of short stories, The Secret Lives of Church Ladies. The last time I saw Deesha was in November at the 2024 awards ceremony. I never did meet Yvette in real life.

 

From the 'Gram:

deeshaphilyaw

 17h

My dear friend Yvette Perry, PhD is a wonder. In addition to her work in academia, her roles at the @thegoodlisteningproject as the health equity programs lead and a member of the co-founding team, and her adventures as an art collector, Yvette is also an artist in her own right. Recently, I became the beneficiary of her creativity, brilliance, and generosity. She sent me this “junk journal” she made for me, and listen, y’all…the tears I cried as I thumbed through it OMG. It’s beautiful. It’s detailed. It’s thoughtful. It’s smart. It’s funny. And so, so sweet.

It took everything I could not to post pictures of every lovingly made page. There are vintage ads, TV scripts, book excerpts, and so much more. Tucked in some of the pages are little surprises, like a gorgeous photo of Miami that Yvette took; for a too-brief time, we both lived in Miami, which is where I live now.

There are also blank pages to write on. I’m still trying to decide which thoughts and ideas of mine are worthy.

Yvette’s note on the envelope references both my short story collection (The Secret Lives of Church Ladies) and my forthcoming novel (The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman). Very fitting given that our friendship spans the 20 years during which I wrote these books. Like so many of my friendships, ours started online (shout out to the early 2000s @aalbc message boards). And while Yvette and I haven’t seen each other in person nearly as much as we would like, I’ve always considered her friendship a treasure.

Along with the journal, Yvette also sent me a collage she made (see the next to last slide here). Eagle eyes will see that the text to the right of the church ladies is from my short story, “Jael.” Yvette gives the details of the collage on the last slide.

I am thankful for my #goodartfriend!

 

 

[aka Contrarian]

Yvette and I did meet for lunch a while back when she was in Chicago and are still FB friends and keep up with each other. One of her daughters and one of my granddaughters both attended Indiana university. 

I also met Deesha for lunch when she was in Chicago but we never really bonded. We were FB friends for a minute, but our relationship cooled because she was an avid BLM  supporter and I wasn't. I'm also friends with "a women" who I knew from Thumper's corner  and who also had a book published. 

I never was able to track down my buddy author Chris Hayden from back then. He just dropped off the radar. I fear he might ve died.

Still friends with LambD and Linda Chavez . The other Linda whose last named I forgot also suddenly disappeared. She was the one who was part of your AALBC nucleus. She also self published a book. 

 

[Troy]

Linda Watkins is the lady you are thinking about. I would see her from time to time too. Yeah, she has written about 20 book reviews and articles for the site and was really good friends with Thumper. 
 

Chris Hayden was also an author. He also wrote a couple of reviews for the website too. I never met him in real life. I did a quick search and see no evidence of his death, but he may have been pseudonymously. He’d be 75 now.