WHY MAKE A SINGLE MOM A SUPERHERO?

I used to live in DC. I lived there for almost fifteen years, in fact. I spent a lot of time on public transportation, riding the 70 bus (GEORGIA AVENUE, HOLLA!) or catching the GREEN LINE (AKA THE BLACK LINE) to and from work. Or, I'd walk. I spent many days and nights trudging up and down Georgia Avenue or Rhode Island Avenue, watching the hood slowly roll by. And I can honestly say that one constant always stood out:

Single moms.

They were almost all black (this was CHOCOLATE CITY, after all) and all young, but at the same time they had an aged aura on them, too. Where the other girls at the bus stop would be playful, they'd be serious. While the other girls were carefree and silly, the single moms - no matter what else they were doing - always kept one eye cocked on the young'uns, always making sure they didn't get hurt.

When I was younger, it never fazed me much. My mind was on the next job, the next steak and cheese, or the next piece of game I could spit at a female. But when I got older, and started taking care of my own little nephews, the real impact of being a young, single mom in the big city really hit me. Here I was - college educated, cockstrong and on top of things - STRUGGLING to get my little two year old nephew quiet, or to feed him, or to make his ass STOP RUNNING AROUND ALL OVER THE PLACE!!! At the end of every babysitting episode, I couldn't wait to give his ass back to his parents, even though I loved him to death. And as soon as I got back on those DC streets, I'd see a single mom, and I'd wonder:

HOW IN THE HELL DOES SHE DO IT?

I still don't know. But I realized that a single mom who holds down her household, works multiple jobs or does whatever is necessary to take care of her kids? That' heroic. To me, these women - like my mom for a time - are heroes, who 'work miracles at Thanksgiving' to make their kids happy, even when the money is short, the bills are due, and the car is acting up and she has no idea how she'll keep it running.

SOUTHSIDE NEFERTITI is my way of wondering how a women with so much responsibility is still able to juggle it all by herself. Even though Nefertiti is fantasy, and her powers give her strength and abilities no real woman ever has, her struggle is still based on the struggles I witnessed almost every day in DC, the struggle of a woman trying to be everything to everybody, with limited funds, limited time, limied energy - LIMITED EVERYTHING. To be able to balance all that with one's morals intact - to me, superpowers or not, that's heroic.

So that's where Southside Nefertiti comes from. To all the ladies out there that share her struggle - GOD BLESS.

~ M

~~~~~ TYPE ILLY UPDATE ~~~~~
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