Savala Nolan

This essay collection covers such a diverse spread of topics that I don’t know where to start! Savala Nolan has such an incredibly unique viewpoint — as a woman with Black, Mexican, and white ancestry (who identifies mostly as Black), she has ancestors who owned slaves as well as an ancestor murdered by white supremacist vigilantes in Texas. Her Black and Mexican father spent decades in and out of the prison system, and she also spent a year studying abroad in Italy in college. The pastiche of her life leaves her with few places she feels she can truly belong. Most memorably in one essay where she discusses her experiences as a nanny for rich families while in college, while she aligns herself primarily with the mostly Black staff, she often identifies more with the cultural references of her employers. She picks up Italian easily during her study abroad, but finds it replaces most of the Spanish in her head, making it that much harder for her to identify with her Mexican heritage. Honoring and reckoning with all the parts of her ancestry is important to her, especially when she becomes a parent.

Some days I would be able to sit down and binge read several essays in a row, nodding emphatically in empathy/recognition, and sometimes I would finish an essay so painful that I needed to take a break for a while.

A very worthwhile addition to the conversation on identity in America.… (meer)