One of the tenants of being a Good African Mother is to make sure that your children have a quality education that will ultimately prepare them for one of three respectable professions – those being: Doctor, Lawyer and Engineer. (Engineer usurped ‘Banker’ about 15 years ego, coinciding with the rise of the proliferation of social […]
My friend Dr. Suwilanji Situmbeko is missing, and we are all left with are a series of bizarre tweets and more questions than answers. In April of 2015, a 26-year-old Zambian Medical Doctor and MBA candidate majoring in Financial Management named Suwilanji Situmbeko shared his exciting news with me. He had been selected as a […]
My phone rang deep in the night as I was settling my head into my pillow. It was a dear friend calling from the US. “Girl, I know it’s late where you are…but we haven’t spoken in a while so I don’t care.” I laughed at her candor and told her I didn’t mind. I […]
There are only 11 days to go before the US election is upon us. Depending on who comes out the victor, half of the country will be in mourning for the next four years while the other half will move forward with muted optimism. No matter what side of the divide you’re on, we (excluding […]
Hi! HI! HIIII!!!! I’m excited! Can you tell? I am so thrilled to share something I’ve been working on – or spent months not working on, if I’m honest – recently. I’m not entirely sure what to call the final product, so I’m calling it an InterWebz Audio Storybook (or IWAS) until one of you […]
Ordinarily I would react to President Muhammadu Buhari’s comments about his wife with irritation and rancor, but a weekend trip to Johannesburg helped me see the situation with new clarity. Here’s why. At best, we are all 5 degrees of separation from a couple like the Buharis – possibly fewer if you happen to be […]
A blogging buddy of mine, whom I very much admire, redesigned her website a few months ago with stunning results. She is an essayist, and her posts are heavy on written content. Her redesign changed the way her readers interact with her words, employing color contrasts, a pleasing font and a bright white background that […]
A chance encounter on a street corner “Who are you?” “Who are you?” I retorted with a slight roll of the neck. What a strange question from a total stranger! I looked at the man who’d paused as he was tying his shoes to address me so abruptly. We stood on the sidewalk on Plett’s […]
Any footwear enthusiast is sure to agree with this statement, both because of its hilarity and for its inherent truth. The apparel we purchase for our feet has the power to provide the sort of gratification that extends long past the exchange at the check out counter. For an uncountable number of men and women […]
The world has been focused on the lunacy that has become the US presidential race circa 2016 that it may have overlooked that Ghana – the land of my birth – is also going through a period of election madness. You may not think so, but the West African nation of 27 million citizens provides […]
As an RN trained in Western medicine, Tia Boone’s championing of essential oils as an alternative to drug therapy may seem strange. However, to listen to Tia speak on the topic in depth, her fascination and support of essential oils makes total sense. “I have had this big question on my mind for a while […]
Damon Young, editor in chief over at VSB, has curated a list of things Bougie Black People (BBPs) love. Among the litany are unnecessary hashtags, Solange and full beards and Jesse Williams. (I think it’s fair to say that ALL Black people love Jesse, bougie and otherwise.) If there were a published list of things […]
On early Monday morning, a member of the Plett health and wellness community published a request for bloggers to bid on a writing position he had available for his organization. The opportunity to write for a genre I’d never focused on before – drug rehabilitation – intrigued me. Unfortunately, I was thinking (and quoting) in […]
I like to imagine the guys over at Men’s Health/GQ/Esquire/Popular White Male magazine tossing around a mini foam football to each other as they pitch ideas for an upcoming issue. “How about testicular cancer?” “Nah. We did that last issue. Exposés on cancer cycle every 4 months. Don’t want to alarm the readership.” “Right…right.” “Five […]
It’s easy to get caught up in the splendor and beauty of South Africa’s Garden Route along the N2. This is wine country. The fields are lush and green, the earth bountiful. And yet despite all the plenty that surrounds and inundates us, there is intense poverty everywhere you look. People lack jobs, but more […]
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump faced each other in their first public debate vying for the position of ruler or the Seven Kingdoms where one of them will eventually govern from King’s Landing aka the White House. Seriously, if there was ever a better metaphor for Game of Thrones, it was the mess that unfolded […]
President Mahama is on the campaign trail like it’s a trick or treat track and I want to know which one of you is responsible. No. No! I know John Dramani Mahama did not contrive with these shenanigans alone. He has co-conspirators. He has collaborators. I want you to show yourselves! I refuse to believe […]
Dear Brother Paul: I am compelled to check up on you after that amazing interview with Abyna Ansaa Adjei burst through the airwaves. Not amazing as in “stellar”, mind you. More along the lines of ‘What the heck did I just watch and more importantly, WHY is this happening????’ Have you ever seen a Chinese […]
Nina Simone once said that it is “the artist’s duty to reflect the times in which we live.” Ms. Simone was many things all at once: an enigma – an undisputed musical genius whose unpredictable mood swings made her a polarizing figure. These elements were often a volatile recipe for calamity in her personal life; […]
The topic of reparations is never far from the minds of most people in America. Even if it’s not a subject dominating the conversation, it is always niggling at the subconscious of the population, and just about every one has a strong opinion on the matter: Either reparations is owed to the descendants of slaves […]
Last week we saw #TeacherBae briefly captivate our online attention. #TeacherBae is the hashtag that became Patrice Brown’s – an Atlanta public school paraprofessional – digital appendage after pictures that she posted of herself at work and/or at play on Instagram went viral. She’s a beautiful woman with a full, curvy body. Black Twitter did […]