A Soundview native published her first book.
Twenty-nine-year-old Kadia Blagrove started working on her book, Casual Musings, towards the end of 2016 and on Friday, July 6, 2018 she held her a book release party.
Blagrove explained the title ‘Casual Musings’ was selected based off a website she used to run called Casual Musings, where she posted stories of different people’s random thoughts or casual sentiments.
From the website, she transferred that same concept to her book, which ventured into her own random musings.
The published piece, which is a collection of poems and short essays Blagrove wrote through her 20s, discuss young adult life, mental health, relationships, womanhood and race, all while growing up in the Bronx.
“We often keep our thoughts and emotions bottled up,” said Blagrove about her book in an interview with the Bronx Times. “I hope this book lets people know its okay to feel insecure or confused, it’s okay to feel human,” she continued.
Growing up in the borough, Blagrove related that some people fall into the trap of believing that weakness is not a trait to be embraced and a lot of pain people feel goes unspoken or unrelated.
Mental health has increasingly become a topic of mass global discussion and activities like meditation, fitness, and taking personal days more for mental wellness are no longer ‘secret life tips.’
Anxiety and depression are all too real for many Bronxites and countless others around the city, and those who suffer from it transcend any age, gender, race, religion or nationality.
While her book is mostly geared to young adult audiences, she hopes anyone who reads her collection, finds a safe space they might not otherwise have elsewhere in their communities.
In addition to this, she hopes Bronxites will find a sense of pride in reading her book, or even just in knowing about another local author.
“Sometimes the Bronx has a bad rap,” said Blagrove of the surprised reaction she receives when telling people she comes from the borough.
“But we are not stereotypes, we’re not violence, we’re not poverty and pollution,” she continued.
In her book she even wrote a poem titled ‘The Shoutout Poem’ where she boasts about everything she loves about the Boogie Down, in case the message was not subtly picked up through the other poems.
Many Bronxites have for decades left the borough in search of other places to call home because of that lack of pride, Blagrove implied.
“What’s important for me as a Bronx writer is to reach people in my community to show that we do have art and expression here.”
While this book is the first for Blagrove, some of her other poems or short essays have been published in various other digital and print platforms.
‘Casual Musings’ is available for purchase in paperbook on Amazon.
For more information on Kadia, visit her website kazzl
