Making Lemons Into Lemonade as a Teen and Young Adult with JIA:Ī young girl asked me recently “how I stay happy” and “how I stay positive” in spite of everything I’ve been through, health-wise. We just live with our lemons and let them turn us bitter and sour. And so many of us don’t make that choice. You see, as cliche as the idea of “making lemons into lemonade” sounds, it’s a difficult choice that many of us have the opportunity to make if we so choose.īut, that’s the thing: it’s difficult. I have read that Lemonade was a love letter to Black women … and I applaud and appreciate that.Īs I acknowledge that fact, though, I want to still, at the very simplest level, dissect one part of it: making lemons into lemonade - without taking anything away from the overarching cultural importance of the album (an importance that should be celebrated and recognized - not just during the Grammys or during Black History Month, but in the annals of music history to come.)

But I know that its primary message wasn’t intended for me. Women, especially, seemed to feel just a little bit more powerful … and a little bit more NOTICED after its launch. I may have enjoyed the album very much, and I think that it’s quite obvious that many people did. I can’t pretend to comprehend how the importance of this album resonated with people of color, especially Black women. Not only was it as visually-stunning as it was chock-full of memorable, artistic, poetic, empowering, fun, and just-plain-dope songs, but it also had a great message: the message of making lemons into lemonade. Grammys Sunday is one of my favorite Sundays: just call it my Super Bowl.Īs a Beyoncé-fangirl, I’m, of course, rooting for her stellar visual album Lemonade to take home some wins, and I assume that it will.

The above quote is from a song off of Beyoncé’s album, Lemonade.

“Oh, stars in her eyes, She fights and she sweats those sleepless nights, But she don’t mind, she loves the grind, She grinds from Monday to Friday, Works from Friday to Sunday…” – ‘6-Inch,’ Beyoncé, Lemonade.

Sick Idiot by Ashley Boynes-Shuck