Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
A JOURNEY’S END
Reading poet, podcaster and blogger Brianna Tyson has released a collection of short pieces chronicling the rise and fall of a long-term relationship.
Brianna Tyson began writing her first collection of poetry when she was 18. She just didn’t realize it at the time.
The Reading resident, author of the Pushabri. com blog and co-host of the Dear Reading podcast, last month self-published “It Gets Better,” featuring 27 short pieces — one for each of her 27 years — chronicling the rise and fall of a long-term relationship. Though the bulk of the book was penned more recently, its initial entries date back to 2011.
“It’s my journey,” Tyson said. “I fell in love, and it’s a beginning, a middle and end. It’s me discovering myself from the age of 18 to where I’m at now at 27. Not all stories have a great ending, but all stories have a great conclusion, and that’s really what my book is.”
She thought about going the traditional route, pitching the collection to a publisher, then decided that it made more sense to do it herself. She utilized Gumroad, an online platform that allows creatives to sell products directly to customers, and an e-book was born.
‘Miss new me’
“i stayed the caterpillar. cocooning myself close to the ground afraid to be with butterflies that aren’t as pretty close up.” — “Love and Joy”
Tyson can tell she’s grown since the events described in “It Gets Better” because it got better — the pain has lessened considerably. And she hopes it can help others going through a similar situation to grow as well.
Due to her emotionally exhausting experience in the book, in which she “had to take misused me and make miss new me,” Tyson needed some inspiration to put it out there. It’s one thing to bare your soul in writings, it’s quite another to share them.
“I come from a creative family so I’ve always written poetry,” she said, “but sharing is something different.”
Close friend and mentor Lisa De La Cruz — creator of The Wonder of Ivy podcast, producer and on-air personality at WEEU and host of poetry events — gave her motivation, as did her Dear Reading co-hosts.
“What’s stopping you?” she thought.
When she couldn’t come up with a good answer, she decided it was time.
It turned out the time was right.
“People who I didn’t think would purchase my book have bought it,” she said. “For me, going from someone who was unsupported and overlooked to being supported, it’s a great feeling.”
‘The tipping point’
“And I favor you like my favorite lyrics yet you won’t hear it. Am I too understated to be understood?” – “And I”
Growing up in Reading as a black girl was hard.
“People don’t realize their own biases,” said Tyson, a 2011 graduate of Reading High School. “There’s a lot of anti-blackness within the community of Reading, and it trickles down to black women.
“I didn’t feel like I was represented at all, and it feels like we were given the bare minimum. It’s just subtle biases that people don’t realize. Not too long ago this older, white lady came up to me and she just grabbed my hair because she was so amazed at how long it was.”
She doesn’t want her 15-year-old sister to have to deal with the same kind of hardships, or think she isn’t beautiful, or feel like she can’t speak up for herself.
The topic of race has been pushed to the forefront ever since the Memorial Day death of George Floyd at the knee of a Minneapolis police officer launched a series of protests across the globe.
Though Floyd’s death is just one of the latest in a long series, the months of built-up pressure from the coronavirus lockdown coupled with the visceral horror of the video made this response especially potent.
“I think it’s the tipping point,” Tyson said. “Black people have been oppressed for so many years. If someone was oppressing you, how long would you be able to stand it? We’ve been feeling like this for a very long time. And finally social media is on our side, thank God, because no one else has been on our side. Where would we be without cellphone cameras?”
The protests have been productive. Confederate statues are being torn down. Cities are implementing, or at least discussing, police reform. Firms are beginning to offer Juneteenth, the day that marks the end of slavery in the United States, as a paid holiday.
NASCAR banned Confederate flags at its races. Corporations that had been content to release statements in solidarity while employing few if any black workers are being called out for hypocrisy.
And while the peaceful rallies have continued, so have the killings. Three weeks after Floyd’s death, Rayshard Brooks was killed by police at a Wendy’s in Atlanta, an incident that caused the shooter to be fired and the city’s police chief to resign.
“I haven’t met one white person recently who hasn’t acknowledged the police brutality that has been going on and wanted to take action,” she said. “And for the people who don’t want to take action, they’re racist. That’s all there is to it. If children are getting it, why can’t you?”
To Tyson, productive change means taking the funds allocated to cities and using them for things like after-school programs, music and arts instead of more police in schools. Common ground, she says, comes from sitting at a table and having honest, sometimes uncomfortable discussions. Education is important, as is support.
“Support your community, support local groups, support marginalized people,” she said. “Speak up. Have difficult conversations with family and friends. I know it can be tough, but these are the conversations you need to have. You have to change it at home. It starts at home.”
Making a space
“The journey I took alone until you decided to join me. And through thick jungles and thicker vows we learned. I think I earned you.” – “A Splash of Harmony”
Along with working at the Loomis Co. in Wyomissing, promoting a vegan lifestyle, offering self-help tips on her blog and nurturing her burgeoning career as an author, Tyson serves as onefourth of the Dear Reading collective. She’s joined on the culture, news and lifestyle podcast by fellow city natives Marquise Davon Richards, Marie Sykes and DayQuan Williams.
“I feel like Dear Reading has made a space for the people who look like me,” she said. “It came out of frustration of not seeing representation of the black and brown community, and it kind of just skyrocketed. We highlight model citizens, and we bring to light certain things that we feel need to be brought to light.”