As ’90s kids, being seen as human wasn’t necessarily something that was often afforded to many of us as a part of childhood. You were a child, expected to do as you were told and embrace school as your job with no complaints because you were “just a kid.” Like many young girls at the time, I found myself lost in the daydreams of Moesha, sitting up in my room like the show’s star, singer Brandy, writing in my diary, and pretending to be just like her. As I grew, Girlfriends became the story of my life, with me fluctuating between showing up as Joan, Toni, Maya or Lynn depending on how life was lifing. And Being Mary Jane? Whew! Let’s just say those 20s and early 30s were just as much of a rollercoaster for me as it was for our protagonist.
Mara Brock Akil, the magic behind the small screen soundtrack to many of our lives as a screenwriter and producer on those projects mentioned above, and chief storyteller, is back with a reimagined adaptation of author Judy Blume’s 1975 classic, Forever. Centered around the lives and young love of Keisha Clark and Justin Edwards (played by Lovie Simone and Michael Cooper, Jr., respectively), the hit Netflix series takes viewers on a layered journey that simultaneously feels nostalgic and modern. We see ourselves in both Keisha and Justin, as well as their families. But it is episode five, set on the picturesque island of Martha’s Vineyard, that seems to have touched Black viewers on a level that even Brock Akil herself didn’t imagine. The moment set off a flurry of posts across social media from Black women and men reminiscing on their time there, and many others wanting to know more about this magical haven.
“I discovered the vineyard first through my mentors, Ralph and Melba Farquhar, who told me about this magical place back when I was working on Moesha. It was my first time on the island. Blew my mind. Jay-Z’s Reasonable Doubt was out. I mean, it was like 1997. It was amazing,” she recalls. There’s no denying the island’s importance and why it has drawn Black people to its shores for generations. “Holistically, it is a wellspring of love,” Brock Akil says. Below, we speak more about that love, in all its forms, and where you should go when you visit Martha’s Vineyard to discover your piece of Forever.
ESSENCE: What was it about Judy Blume’s book Forever that made you want to bring this to life on screen?
Mara Brock Akil: I remember the feeling. I can immediately transport myself to those feelings. I remember being curious about my near future, boys, falling in love, maybe having sex, how to have sex–all these sorts of things. I remember that curiosity. I remember wanting to know the truth. I remember being excited about having a boyfriend. I remember that Judy Blume’s book offered a place for somebody to tell us the truth about what we were curious about. She wrote it in 1975, 50 years ago. I read it in the early ‘80s, in a world with no internet. Imagine that!
We had sex education classes, but no one was talking about the emotionality, about our curiosities, about all the unscientific things that we were going through. So, when I knew that Judy was open to her body of work being translated to the screen, my hand shot up. I think that 12-year-old girl, who knew a lot of her work by that point, wanted to know where Forever was. When you think about my body of work, all I love to talk about is love. The complications of it, the nuances of it, the beauty of it, the forgiveness of it, the pain of it. And its many different forms. Whether it be your relationship to a friend, your relationship to a parent, your relationship to work or to your work colleagues, to your girlfriends, to your boyfriends, and then of course to who you love and ultimately to self. I feel like it was just almost destined for it to happen. And I pay a lot of attention to those spiritual alignments.
I think that was what I loved the most about the book, and how you wrote Keisha and Justin’s characters. That even as children, you made them whole and human, something that’s not necessarily afforded to children in general, but especially Black children.
I think that’s why Judy Blume is so iconic. Because at any age that she wrote about children, she reflected back our whole humanness, that she treated children and young adults as full people. That is what I believe is in my body of work, what I’ve always wanted to give characters, especially since I know I’ve really talked a lot about Black women, but I’ve also talked about Black men, and I wanted to anchor us in all of who we are. The light and the dark, and accepting all of that, allows us to be fully human.
How has reading books where the children are human and whole affected how you show up as a parent in your own life?
As much as I’m well read about all these things, when you’re in the heart of the moment, sometimes the heat of the moment, sometimes, like Dawn says, when you parent from catastrophic fear, you can forget all that good advice. That’s true. You can forget. And that’s why you need a partner in the house to help balance things out. You need a village around you. You need Uncle Charlies and Auntie Jeanines as well. You know what I’m saying? You need parents who are going to be honest with each other. You need a whole thing to raise these children. You’re going to make a lot of mistakes. I always tell my oldest, I thank him all the time for being brave enough to be my first.
I also have compassion for us as Black people, as parents, who live in America. You are inherently parenting from that catastrophic place, but that is still not serving our children. Though it’s love, even though we know it comes from love, it’s not serving our children. I’m saying we can give them the information in a way that we can let them know of the challenges outside the door and prepare them for it. But to constantly pump fear into them because we’re so afraid that something’s going to happen to them, we can’t see sometimes how we could be chipping away at them right in front of us. So Forever for me was an opportunity to make space not only for my children, but for all the children. Even the children in my village who are the muses for this project. I want to make space for our Black children to have their deserved human rite of passage, a growth that they’ve deserved. To have some space to grow outside of their home and inside of their home, to honor their whole and human self. And that’s going to take, like Eric said, to talk, communicate, say the things. That’s not always easy.
I love that you mentioned holding space because in reading comments online, many people felt that Eric and Dawn’s dynamic as parents healed them and affirmed them at the same time. It made space for that inner child that wished they had that back in the day, but now as parents, it affirmed that, you know what? I’m parenting the right way. I’m on the right path. What do you feel when you hear something like that?
That’s a lot. That’s beautiful. I’m in awe of God’s grace. And I have to say that what I know is that I had a feeling that if we collectively landed this plane, I knew it was going to deliver something that God wanted to say. So I believe in my writing practice. I believe when you sit down, God, the universe, and all will meet you in your endeavor. You have to understand, there’s nothing like this that exists. So, a lot of my work is I look into the void, I look into what’s not there, and I want to feel it.
There’s a huge responsibility on me to want to land that, right? And to fill that space, fill it beautifully, not take up that space and mess it up in a sense. But I knew that to take up that space and land, I knew that God would show up in the conversation. What I didn’t know was that it was going to be on this level and to the point that you’re saying people are feeling. I’ve seen some of the responses too, and my hand goes over my mouth. My heart beats a little faster, and I’m like, oh God. That it would have this kind of impact, which only makes the story even more so, that if we treat our children whole and human, they’re here to do something. They have a mission. That’s what I hope for Justin and Keisha, and what’s beautiful about their love. Both of these children, despite however you want to see their households, what we can agree on is that they both come from love. Even if the parents are parenting through fear, we know they’re both loved. And what’s beautiful about these two people who are raised from love, and then their choosing each other, is that they actually help iron out all the mistakes of the parents. I think it’s so important for us as a community to enjoy looking at the rite of passage, knowing that they need to go through it, and how blessed are we if we get to be a witness to that so that we can help, look at them and see them and understand who they are, and also protect them from what they don’t know.
The episode at Martha’s Vineyard sparked a lot of conversation online. For some, it was their first time hearing about or seeing it. Why do you feel Martha’s Vineyard is important to Black people and Black culture?
Wow. Beautiful question. Big question. The Vineyard is safe. One thing I know about love is that in order to really experience it fully, people need to feel safe and protected and at peace. And I feel like Black people migrate there every summer for years because we just need a moment to have a little bit of freedom, love, joy, peace, rest, partying, play, and pleasure. We need community, too. That’s another thing. It’s one thing to go to Mexico City and have fun with the people you travel with, but there’s something to being part of peace, protection, pleasure. Play involves community. There have been times that I’ve been on the island and I know you’re on the island and we just didn’t see each other, but there’s a peace to knowing that I could see you. And I know that if we didn’t get together, I knew you were having a good time, and you knew I was having a good time. We’ve been going to the Vineyard for 14 years now and recently loved it so much that we have a residence there now, and God willing, we will be able to keep that in our family for the very reason of rest, restoration, peace, love, safety, and joy.
So now that you’re a seasoned vet at the Vineyard, what are some of your favorite things to do?
I’m a polar bear now, so, the rite of passage of jumping Jaws Bridge. I play tennis on the island now, which I really enjoy. I love all the beaches, but my favorite is Lambert’s Cove, and I’m so thankful that I live in the municipality where I can get my sticker and go. I love biking on the island. My youngest son learned how to ride his bike in the Vineyard and now we just bike all over that island together. I love walking. I am privileged to live in a very wooded area, so I love to get lost on the ancient trails. I almost feel the Native Americans. It’s the island of the Wampanoag, and I kind of feel them, and as I walk, I ask to know them. I think everybody should do the African-American Heritage Trail. They have a tour that is incredible. To go on that tour and learn about the history of Black people on the island only enriches the experience of being there. There’s this Black-owned store in Vineyard Haven that I really, really, really love. I always stop there to see the owners, Mark and Eric. It’s called Lennox & Harvey.
What else? I love going to my friends’ houses. I think there’s something beautiful about getting invited, and everybody brings a little food and drink, and we just cut up, laugh, and sing. Also, I normally get there and just take a two-day nap!
Where do you enjoy eating?
Fat Ronnie’s, period. You got to go to Fat Ronnie’s. My little secret place that’s got a great breakfast sandwich, my favorite breakfast sandwich, 7a Foods. I get it with the farm egg, always on an English muffin, and I get all the fixings with it. There’s a new spot called Rosewater, a cute little cafe in Edgartown. It’s hard to find matcha on the island, and I’m a matcha girl, so I love Behind the Bookstore. They’re in both Edgartown and Vineyard Haven, but I love to sit at the one in Vineyard Haven. I love Vineyard Haven. They have a really great new spot called Fish. My favorite bakery, and I kind of hate to tell everybody about this place because I love it, is North Tisbury Farm. It’s the cutest little thing. They have fresh produce, everything like that, but you have to get there when she opens because the pastries are ridiculous and sell fast. My favorite grocery store in the whole world is Morning Glory Farm. And how can I forget Backdoor Donuts!
You’re going to have everyone excited to head to Martha’s Vineyard this summer to create their own piece of forever. Looking back on the series and even your own experiences when it comes to life and love, what does the word forever mean to you?
Forever means self-love. Forever, to me, means you have the ability to keep giving love, whether it’s temporary or if it’s long and enduring. When your cup is full, you always have love, and love will shape shift in many different forms. And that is forever. But I believe it really does have to start with self-love. And I think once you have self-love, you have forever.