Our First Award

poetry


Friends, I'm so thrilled to share that Seasons has won its first award! 🎉🥳

That's right, yall. Seasons (I'll Be Seeing You): A collection of poems about heartbreak, healing, and redemption has been honored as the WINNER of the Best Urban Poetry Book Award through American Book Fest! You can read the press release here!

When I received the email informing me of the win, I was absolutely, positively floored. Honestly, I still am. Somehow my mind can't reconcile the little girl from North Little Rock, AR would become an award winner. But, my circle has been here reminding me that I am worthy, every step of the way. To celebrate, husbae threw me a small, COVID-safe party in our backyard. There was a photo shoot and cake and my heart is still so full. Thank you to each and every one of you for being with me on this journey. And it's only the beginning ♥

Unapologetically,
Pam

Focus Mode

self care
This summer was a wild ride. Don't get me wrong, spring was wild too. Honestly...let's just agree that all of 2020 has been...a lot. So finding new ways to self-care has been really vital to my wellbeing.

Recently, I was talking to my girl L'Oreal about using the DND function on my phone. I know I'm late to the party, but up until a few weeks ago, I'd never tried it before (judge not). So, I figured I would give it the old college try. Lo and behold, I enjoyed it. DND is great because I don't get notifications. But, I found that I needed a more intrusive intervention. I needed something to stop me from doom scrolling on social media. Like, do I have willpower? Yes. Am I using it to stop myself from scrolling in a pandemic?



In comes this beautiful feature called focus mode. When I clicked it on my phone, it gave me two options: work time or me time. With both, you still have access to basic things like your messages and call capabilities. But aside from that, you're limited on what you can use. In work time focus mode, you can only use your email and calendar. With me time, you can choose which apps you have access to. I was ecstatic!



When I put my phone in "me time" I only have access to my video apps (Netflix, YouTube, etc), music apps, Kindle app, journal app, and my crossword puzzle app (again, judge not). No checking emails when I'm off work. No calendar updates. And absolutely no social media sites.

To say that using focus mode has drastically improved my quality of life D.C. (during corona) would not be an exaggeration. And putting on DND and focus mode simultaneously? Life-changing. It has gifted me with much-needed rest. And it has taken my screen time way down. I spend fewer hours investing in other people's cyber lives which enables me to focus that energy into my own real life. Sounds simple, but it's been magical. And I got deep into that magic over the last two weeks. DND and focus mode turned into a social media hiatus and sporadic text responses (sorry friends). But the result has been a much more relaxed, happier Pam.

When was the last time you put your phone on DND or focus mode? How do you keep yourself from doom scrolling on social media? Let me know, I'd love to hear from you. And if you're holding onto your social media apps all day everyday like this...



...it might be time for focus mode, sis.

Unapologetically,
Pam

Press Release: Seasons (I'll Be Seeing You)

poetry

Pam R. Johnson Davis' poetry debut rated 5 stars by Readers' Favorite

For immediate release:

Author's new book receives a warm literary welcome.

Readers' Favorite announces the review of the Poetry - Inspirational book "Seasons (I'll Be Seeing You)" by Pam R. Johnson Davis, currently available at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08B84QS71.

Readers' Favorite is one of the largest book review and award contest sites on the Internet. They have earned the respect of renowned publishers like Random House, Simon & Schuster, and Harper Collins, and have received the "Best Websites for Authors" and "Honoring Excellence" awards from the Association of Independent Authors. They are also fully accredited by the BBB (A+ rating), which is a rarity among Book Review and Book Award Contest companies.

"Reviewed By Karen Walpole for Readers' Favorite

In Pam R. Johnson Davis’s book of poetry, Seasons (I’ll Be Seeing You), her poems follow seven years in her life in which she experiences heartbreak, healing, and redemption. Following a broken relationship, she experiences grief and depression which are beautifully represented in poems like “Descent” and “Worthless”. As she started to recover, Davis wrote poetry that expresses a mixture of painful learning and glimmers of hope. In the poem Oblivion, she writes about her efforts to recover: “I climb up and up, and down I go, adding to my wounds”. The last section of the book presents powerful and timely poems about being an African American. The message that you cannot know or understand unless you are actually black in America is clear and compelling. The last poem of the book, “That Girl”, changes “That girl” at the beginning to “This girl” at the end, representing the transformation from who she was to who she has become.

The poems in Seasons (I’ll Be Seeing You) by Pam R. Johnson Davis capture the very raw pain of loss, the transition to healing, and the uplifting joy that comes from surviving a difficult human experience and finding love again. The poems bravely and openly share pain and healing that is simultaneously extremely personal and universal. I found the repetition of words or phrases particularly powerful like the word “still” in “Are You There” and “mess made” in “The Mess I Made”. Some of the repetition seemed to symbolize the repeated efforts to come back and recover. I was moved by the poems in the last section of the book. In today’s America, the poems about being black could not be more timely. Beautifully written, Davis’s words remind us of how impossible it is to understand someone else’s experience and of how far we still need to go."

You can learn more about Pam R. Johnson Davis and "Seasons (I'll Be Seeing You)" at https://readersfavorite.com/book-review/seasons-ill-be-seeing-you where you can read reviews and the author’s biography, as well as connect with the author directly or through their website and social media pages.

Readers' Favorite LLC
Media Relations
Louisville, KY 40202
800-RF-REVIEW
support@readersfavorite.com
https://readersfavorite.com

My New Book is Out!

short stories & poems
My dear friends,

I am delighted to share that I published a book!

Eeeeek! 


Yes indeed! Since I re-branded as Unapologetically Pam in 2016, many of my readers have suggested I write a book. I always said, "Some day" without really having a plan in place for when that 'some day' would be. But privately, I have been writing poems since 2013 when I first began the painful metamorphosis of becoming myself, unapologetically. I have blogged many times about the toll that divorce, homelessness, and hopelessness had on me. But the poems were only for my eyes. They were too raw, too vulnerable, too dark to share with anyone. So I collected them. From 2013 to 2020, I wrote my pain and anguish...I wrote every time depression tried to take me out. I wrote every time I doubted myself or drowned in self-loathing. I wrote every time I turned on the news and saw that another innocent black person was murdered. I wrote, and wrote, and wrote, with the intention of these poems never seeing the light of day.

But the Light has come friends! And it is shining bright. I'm so honored to be able to release these poems into the universe. And don't worry - there's so much more to this story than pain. There is also joy, hope, and healing. I like to view this as my soul in a book. It is raw, deep, and absolutely beautiful.
 

Thank you in advance to anyone who buys and shares my book (my book yall! I still can't believe it!). My heart is so full of gratitude for each and every one of you.

Unapologetically,
Pam

There is Beauty and There is Darkness

self love
I have been mostly Silent. Still. Breathing. Being.

Every time I thought to post on instagram or my blog about the state of our world, my heart said no. There are thousands of think pieces. Hundreds of thousands of news articles. Millions of opinions. Helpful resources and harmful guides. Healthy debates about healthcare and politics and capitalism. And misguided propaganda about the same.

People are scared. Hurting. Isolated. Angry.

People are also resilient. Singing from balconies. Getting married. Having babies. Working from home with their pets. Going to work out of necessity (thank you). Caring for their neighbors. Donating to causes they believe in. Connecting in new ways. Home schooling. Remote learning. Innovating. 

The earth is changing. Her waters are clearing. Skies are endless. Snowflakes are falling. Waves are crashing. It is awe-inspiring and sometimes terrifying. Gratifying.

There is Beauty and There is Darkness. 

Humanity is shifting. The world is spinning. Hope and hopelessness are at war with one another. Evolution and stagnation. Joy and fear.

And I have been mostly 
Silent. Still. Breathing. Being. 

In all that is happening, I hope you are well. I hope your heart is open. I hope you are connected. I hope you are helping. I hope you are present. I hope you have moments of healthy silence. I hope you are Still. Breathing. Being. And I hope you have Peace in the Time of Coronavirus ❤


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