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aN OCEAN OF JEWELS

A GULLAH/GEECHEE INFUSION

My father spoke the Gullah/Geechee language, but I didn't find out until I was an adult. I had spent my entire childhood in foster care, and I rarely understood the language my father spoke when I lived with him and my mother before I went into foster care.

When I entered college, I read a novel by brilliant author, Zora Neale Hurston,Their Eyes Were Watching God, and it opened up a new world for me. Many of the phrases in the novel were identical to things I grew up hearing my father say, such as "Tie yuh mout'," "Don't be actin' so siditty," and "Ah reckon' so!" I wanted to bring that pidgin to creole language as well as culture back in a modern-day manner, and preserve it, just for myself.

I write about Gullah/Geechee-infused experiences in standard English. I also focus on the themes of foster care, family, education, and history.