Latest Essays

When you are preparing to bring a child into this world for the first time, there is no shortage of advice doled out to new parents. “Don’t hold the baby too much, or she’ll get spoiled!”“Baby won’t sleep? Let her cry it out through the night. Crying never killed no baby.”“Put the baby on her […]

Aya, my sweet and surly second born, turned 16 this month. It’s difficult to believe considering that I just enrolled her in pre-school a few days ago. Nevertheless that’s what the calendar says: My baby is officially in the first phases of young adulthood. Her first decision as a young adult, you ask? “I want […]

Ping!!I glanced down at my phone and saw a new message alert. It was my brother! I was beyond excited. Last night I was already floating on a high from the success of our family photo shoot and NOW the ancestors had blessed me with the gift of contact with my brother whom I hadn’t […]

A man places his phone on selfie mode and begins to record. The lens is angled from the floor up, so that we are able to see his feet advancing towards a child cowering in the corner. Both come into view. The man is hunched over, his face contorted in fury. Without warning, he picks […]

The good people at Ottar Magazine invited me to write an article about desire earlier this year. This article appears in Swedish, but if you’re not up on your Nordic languages, I’ve got the English version for you here. @bougiefeminist, this post is just for you! Lust is a powerful psychological force as old as […]

I set my beverage down with a gentle thud and smiled generously, grateful to be surrounded by the laughter and reverie of friends I hadn’t seen in years…some in over 20. Kwae Terrace, a swanky rooftop spot in Accra, offered all of the elements required for a memorable mini class reunion: Tropical drinks infused with […]

Perspective: A few weeks ago, I took my family for a weekend getaway cabin stay in a coastal community called Brenton-On-Sea. The tiny enclave drips with opulence, generally, but not in such a way that is gaudy or ostentatious. It whispers old, confident money. New money screeches and yelps to make itself heard by any […]

Instagram is owned by Facebook, so it’s impossible to say with certainty what algorithm the company used to determine just why a 44 year old African woman living in South Africa might be interested in watching someone scrub filth from woven wool and scrape it into a hidden gutter off screen. Whatever the rationale, it […]

My Boy turns 13 this Spring and just as he did during the toddler phase, he is hitting every single benchmark and milestone by the book. He’s moody, ill-tempered, keeps a filthy bedroom and only takes instructions from his father. I have been content to leave parenting of The Boy to my husband; because quite […]