Musings Archives | Page 4 of 19

Can We Pause And Think Critically About Lakewood? Please?

Posted on August 31, 2017
by Malaka
with 2 Comments

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…

Race and Slavery: A Crash Course for Journalists Who Refuse to Read

Posted on August 26, 2017
by Malaka
with 3 Comments

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…

Patriarchy Killed Okonkwo

Posted on August 14, 2017
by Malaka
with 4 Comments

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…

Why Are White People Pushing the ‘Two Parent Household’ During Slavery Narrative So Hard?

Posted on June 19, 2017
by Malaka
with 0 Comments

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…

Thanks, Thinx! Now We Can All Finally Have That “Happy Period” Male Advertisers Are Forever Going On About.

Posted on April 29, 2017
by Malaka
with 0 Comments

Have you ever been watching a sci-fi series or flick and thought to yourself, “Man, it would be great if we had a tablet that held all of my books and personal information?” And then poof! 15 year later, Apple comes out with an iPad…

80s Pop Culture Reared Me to See Myself as a Monkey

Posted on March 9, 2017
by Malaka
with 4 Comments

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…

In Defense of the Cowardly Marwako Employees Who Stood By As Their Co-Worker’s Face was Pushed into Pepper

Posted on March 6, 2017
by Malaka
with 6 Comments

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…

Seven Lessons in Seven Days

Posted on February 5, 2017
by Malaka
with 4 Comments

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…

The Rejuvenating Power of Creation

Posted on January 17, 2017
by Malaka
with 2 Comments

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…

Query: Is Pumpkin Spice Supposed to be the New Watermelon?

Posted on November 15, 2016
by Malaka
with 2 Comments

The election is over, thankfully. We’d all hoped for some normalcy to return to our lives (Trump’s repeated threats to rip apart families and unleash his Gestapo on communities of color, notwithstanding) but things have only gone on to get more and more bizarre. Now,…

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