Tracey Michae'l Lewis-Giggetts

writer | storyteller | educator

United States

Portfolio
Essence
09/18/2020
Losing A Superhero: Holding A Child's Grief When You Can Barely Hold Your Own

I spent many hand-wringing hours trying to figure out how to tell my daughter that Chadwick Boseman, the actor who played our beloved superhero Black Panther in the Marvel movies, had recently passed away from cancer. We'd just gotten her off a Cameron Boyce bender (Cameron was a Disney Channel star who passed away from an epileptic seizure last year).

Electric Literature
07/30/2020
I Reject the Imaginary White Man Judging My Work - Electric Literature

It felt like someone was standing over my shoulder. The presence was palpable, so much so that I physically kept turning around even though I knew I'd find no one standing there. When I turned back to my laptop to finish the personal essay I'd been working on for about two months, the sinking feeling that someone was watching and judging me returned.

Washington Post
07/23/2020
Perspective | Raising magical black girls in a not-so-magical world

"It's a girl!" In hindsight, the look on the ultrasound technician's face when her announcement was met with silence makes sense. I'm sure the contortions on mine were strange to see as I tried to find the proper emotion. "Um, are you all happy about that?" she asked.

Essence
07/02/2020
Why Black Folks Must Fight AND Heal

When a white colleague reached out to Tiffany Younger, a Research Fellow at Cornell Medical College, asking what nowadays has become a common refrain from white folks who somehow find allyship confusing-"How can I support you during this time?"-Younger responded in a way I'm sure the colleague never expected.

Oprah Magazine
06/25/2020
I'm a Black Woman, and I Want to Protest-But I'm Chronically Ill

"Thanks a lot for ruining my holiday," a woman's voice said. Her words were as overcast as the clouds I watched rush across the sky above me. That day in December 2014, I was one of 150 people splayed across the concrete in Philadelphia's City Hall courtyard.

Essence
04/27/2020
What Black Doctors And Nurses Want You To Know About COVID-19

They often leave their shifts to the sounds of applause. People line up in lobbies and on streets across the United States to cheer for them-to show gratitude for their service. At 7 p.m in Brooklyn, people across the borough open their windows and doors and clap for first responders.

ChronicleVitae for higher ed jobs, career tools and advice
The Confidence Gap: Why #BlackLivesMatter In The Classroom

On the first day of a new semester, I often have students introduce themselves via a simple icebreaker. I ask them to state their name, major, and an adjective that best describes their personality and begins with the first letter of their first name.

Sojourners
01/11/2019
Don't Wrap Gun Violence in Bad Theology

In an effort to help our family grieve the loss of our beloved Vickie Lee Jones, a preacher told us that it was God's will that a white man named Gregory Alan Bush shot her to death in the parking lot of a Kroger grocery store outside of Louisville, Ky.

Essence
11/28/2018
Fix The Framing: Racism Is Not A Symptom Of Mental Illness

I suppose I should have known it was coming. It took less than a day. My heart was already broken into a million little pieces after learning that my cousin, Vickie Lee Jones, had been murdered by Gregory Alan Bush in the parking lot of the Kroger store in my hometown of Louisville, KY.

The Orange Dot
04/07/2017
I used Headspace for my chronic pain. Here's what happened.

I must admit that when I was introduced to Headspace's Pain Management meditation pack, I was beyond skeptical. Not because I'm unfamiliar with meditation; I consider myself well-versed in most of the tools available to make the practice more accessible.

EBONY
07/23/2016
Beauty in the Contradictions: The Spiritual Evolution of Prince * EBONY

"Prince was just too nasty for me. I grew up in the church," she said. My first inclination was to defend the musical icon I loved so much. "Well, you know he wrote 1,000s of songs-over 40 albums, and only a relatively small portion of those could be considered 'nasty.'" "Well, all the ones I ever heard ...