Musings

Many years ago, I had the honor of hearing Leymah Gbowee speak in Accra as she gave an introduction to the film ‘Pray The Devil Back to Hell.’ The documentary covers chronicles social unrest in the West African Republic of Liberia, where civil war has…

I know we don’t like Joel Osteen. I know! We hate the way his face breaks into that peculiar goofy half smirk, like he’s always primed to play a game of peek-a-boo with his audience. We hate that curly shag he sports just above the…

The idea that “Africans sold each other” into slavery is not a new one, but it is one that is generally advanced by the poorly educated or those wishing to shift the bulk of the blame from European participation and place it on the shoulders…

Until this weekend, I was among the few Ghanaians who had never read Chuninua Achebe’s critically acclaimed work, Things Fall Apart. I was familiar enough with the title and the name of the main character – Okonkwo – but much like those village-bound JSS students…

There is a push by both liberal and conservative white circles to reimagine - and now, to rewrite – the devastating effects that slavery had on the Black family unit. I first became aware of this trend (one that is part of a larger effort…

My husband says that my vast knowledge of obscure cartoons is evidence of my latchkey upbringing. “I had parents who loved and nurtured me, and made sure they were home with me after school. Whereas as YOU had television.” He was joking, but there was…

Note: I will tell you all about the brain tumor that’s kept me from writing, but let’s table that for now so we can talk about this. On the 4th of March in the year of Lord, two thousand and seventeen, it was widely reported…

Somewhere along the way in late 2016, I (apparently) uttered the words “I desperately need a vacation from my family!” Now, I don’t recall ever saying this aloud - but as the old Negro proverb goes, “From your lips to God’s ears!!!” That is how…

In the summer of 2009, I paid a drop-in visit to my cousin in Ohio. She’s an extroverted introvert, so I knew my chances of catching her at home were pretty good. And home she was, just as I’d predicted. Her house was exactly as…