DEEP WATERS

By the time I watched actress Lupita Nyong'o win an Oscar - after watching her dance with grace and confidence in the aisles, give host Ellen Degeneres a tube of her lipgloss and take part in the crazy Oscar selfie that actually crashed Twitter - I was already a huge fan. Her portrayal of Patsey, a slave woman in the critically-acclaimed and Oscar-winning 12 Years a Slave  - which I blogged about here  in November of last year - was at once beautiful and haunting. It was a role that Lupita, with dual citizenship in Mexico and Kenya, was born for. She understands the meaning of "beautiful and haunting" first-hand. Her deep sense of Patsey's pain spoke through her portrayal, and I immediately wondered, "Who is this woman?" I screamed when screenwriter John Ridley won an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. I screamed when the production team, including Director Steve McQueen, won Best Motion Picture. And I absolutely screamed when Lupita won an Oscar for...

When my husband Anthony and I left the movie theater after seeing 12 Years a Slave  this past Saturday evening, I KNEW I had to blog about this movie. Even though I don't feel like I have much to say - that hasn't already been said - I feel like I MUST speak. I MUST write. Because  12 Years a Slave  shook me to my core in way that hasn't happened in a very long time. I left the theater thinking, I've got to tell THE WORLD to go see this movie. Four days later, I do have a few more thoughts. So here you go... I. US slavery was a brutal, evil part of our country's history: The US slave trade is said to have begun in 1619 in Jamestown, Virginia (my parents' home-state). For over 250 years, human beings were sold as cattle for the purpose of financial gain for their slave masters. 12 Years a Slave  handles this period of time with fervor and brutal honesty. It is very painful to watch, but it is an authentic portrayal of one man's story . It a...