Happy Women’s History Month!
Introducing Make-Gooder, Talibah!
Greetings Make Good(ers) Spring is nigh,
My name is Talibah Ometu, I am a writer and director and I reside in New York City with my husband and three children.
I am currently working on a book of reflection as well as a feature length script about my mother who was unjustly arrested in the 90’s for braiding hair without a license. In 2025, I have been focused on taking the initiative to stretch myself in ways that I haven’t stretched before. A year of unemployment has taught me to pour into and challenged me to transform myself in ways that will make me unrecognizable to the self I was this time last year.
When we lose something that we thought was an integral part of our identity often we enter the phases of grief denial, resentment, trying to regain control bring up the what if and if only scenarios, withdrawal and feelings of hopelessness and loss, reconstruction and hope – rebuilding life and acceptance of what has been birthed from the experience. If we do an exercise to strip ourselves of all of the identities we’ve used to define the self – what is left, how does it feel to let go of these identities? How does that essence vibrate?
Writing has always been my salvation when going through a hard time and as I ponder the true purpose that this pause is serving in my life I have been exercising more, healing my body, meditating, taking long soul enriching walks, connecting with my community in a deeper way, deepening my spiritual senses and standing face to face with my ancestors more often, identifying my relationship with money and the divine source of abundance within me and severing myself from the idea that capitalism and a corporation are the ultimate systems of value creating stability and prosperity in my life.
This last portion may sound a bit meta, but as a creative who has been teetering in and out of corporate america (with a little a) to find pockets of “freedom” and space to levitate my art –divorcing from the concept that my abundance is outside of the divine flow of creativity and spiritual consciousness coursing through me on a daily basis is necessary for my growth as a writer as a filmmaker, and overall global citizen. The current phase that we are in as a society is beckoning all of us to recenter, reframe the essential aspects of what it means to be in symbiotic relationship with the Earth, with our fellow human beings, with nature, with the cosmos, with our ancestors, with purpose.
I have been confronting my inner child and focusing on what she needs and has been yearning for whenever she shows up in my present existence. This is vulnerable work that is quite destabilizing as it requires the deep imagination of liberation and this is born from developing awareness. I would like to share this quote from Eckhart Tolle “What a liberation to realize that the ‘voice in my head’ is not who I am. Who am I then? The one who sees that.” As writers, we have the gift of being able to write liberation and growth into our work, we have the ability to instantaneously shift the timeline for our characters and the worlds that we create on the page.
In this past year one of the most beautiful gifts of my sabbatical of self rebirth has been discovering the sisterhood of Make Good. I am overjoyed in the liberation this community has given in providing a path to connect more deeply with my writing practice in the midst of being supported by such amazingly talented individuals.
I invite you to engage in an exercise of tapping into this magic you have as a writer.
Choose a character in any of your works or based on a person in your life and place them in a scene where they are able to step out of their yearning and into a new reality of what can be. Give them the reality that they deserve, something that would shock their system and challenge them to detach, shed, disassociate from the status quo that defined their identity for so long. Re-write the code and shift perspective through your words, liberate through your radical imagination.
This is our responsibility, our divine purpose, to create the world we want to see, the reality we desire for the greater good of humanity.
These are three selfies I took on an explorational walk in Central Park. In this year of rebirth I have forced myself to do it scared, to traverse new territory and on this day I explored a part of Central Park I had never seen in the 20 years I have lived in New York City. The experience was exhilarating, fulfilling and a healing embrace to my soul.
I am sharing an excerpt of one of my feature length scripts titled Busted on Brigham Lane where I rewrote a scene to re-imagine the characters summoning more joy and laughter in the midst of their re-connection.
INT. OFFICE - WAITING AREA
Complaining customers mill about.
MOMO
(whispering)
How come you didn’t tell me that?
She's a piece of work ain't she?
GREGORY
Tell you that when? It ain’t like I
speak to you on the phone everyday.
Yeah she clearly lives at home alone
with her fifty stinkin' ass cats.
MOMO
But that is something I should have known coming in here.
You hit a child? First of all ewwww... and why
does it have to be all that? Some
people just like being able to be mean to people.
GREGORY
You remember don’t you? You know you
damn right... her and all the people
at the post office too.
MOMO
I don’t know. Was she hurt? Well she
has to sit behind a window everyday
talking to people who don't fill out
paperwork right, and it is her job to
help, but she can only offer so
much... so she chooses to be direct.
GREGORY
She had a body cast, but she healed.
You finished? That lady ain't never
cracked a smile any day that I been
here. I bet you if I went and bought
her some flowers right now... she
would throw them back.
MOMO
What???? Did her mind heal??? Let's
do it.
Momo shakes her head.
GREGORY
I think I’m going to be needing
medicaid, a new license, and
foodstamps. How does that sound?
What?
Momo looks at her father overwhelmed.
MOMO
Okay so you're changing the subject
now. I don’t know if you are eligible
for the medicaid, you’re not a senior
citizen. You may just have to try to
get regular medicare or Obama care,
whichever you qualify for. Why
haven’t you come sooner? Yep, let's
do it. We have time.
She counts money in her wallet.
MOMO (cont'd)
Yep, I have just enough.
GREGORY
Don’t like offices and ugly ladies named Darlene.
MOMO
I think that’s called being stubborn.
GREGORY
Some would say. Or... I’m just a bull.
You know I’m a Taurus.
Different tactics.
Momo rolls her eyes.
MOMO
Astrology? You got time to read
horoscopes but no time to eat
properly and go to the doctor?
Momo knocks her purse over in laughter. Her pills spill out. Gregory takes notice.
GREGORY
What’s all that? You okay?
Caught.
MOMO
Yeah, it’s nothing. I just take them sometimes.
Beat.
GREGORY
Seems like we should have been
talking over these years huh?
MOMO
I guess. Everyone has demons or
problems you know. I just have really
really bad anxiety.
GREGORY
You’re 17... I’m 52. Not the same
difference Mo. Do they work though?
MOMO
The medicine? Yeah it really helps
most of the time. Just don't want to
become dependent you know, and stay
zoned out.
Momo continues to fill out the paperwork, avoiding the conversation.
MOMO (cont'd)
What is your social security number?
Gregory writes his social down.
GREGORY
You’re not supposed to speak
confidential information out loud.
MOMO
No one taught me that.
GREGORY
How is your sister?
MOMO
Fine. Uptight. But, she’s
maintaining.
UPCOMING PROGRAMMING
DO THE WRITE THING:
We have had 3 successful FREE Do The Write Thing open community workshops at The Dream Center in Harlem. This multi-generational space for Black women has been filled with joy and brilliance, and we have set writing goals, practiced yoga, and explored personal storytelling in a supportive environment.
Participant quote after leaving our March session:
“[I’m] sitting in this Lyft crying. That was exactly what I needed to be a part of [...] I have been screaming “insist on joy and community” since November…what a room to be in. My spirit feels well fed.”
Write Club:
Monday - Friday, 5am-6am, Zoom room - Everybody is welcome!!
Our weekday 5am-6am Write Club is still going strong. Sign up here for a little silent company while you start your day write!)
IN THE WRITE:
Our 10 week In the Write workshop is off to a great start, with a cohort of 12 writers meeting weekly to develop new work. Join us for a presentation of our work in May, details TBD!
More Make Good News:
Rebecca delivered a reading of her work and a talk at Drexel University
Melle is a participant in the competitive Commercial Theater Institute’s 12-week Broadway & Off-Broadway Producing program
Erica’s play, “Black Friends” - which she has been developing at Make Good - has been selected for a highly competitive year-long Irons in the Fire development program with Fault Line Theatre!
Erica cast the Broadway play Purpose, which has its opening on March 17th
Sophie has shifted her operations to Martinique, where she is developing a retreat space