Mind of Malaka

I’m Not ‘Going Through’ A Midlife Crisis: I’m Pouring On Gasoline and Jumping Feet First Into That Bish

Posted on February 2, 2021
by Malaka
with 0 Comments

The Wax “What brings you in here today?” I gazed into the green eyes of the svelte brunette, barely visible above her mask as she snapped a pair of plastic gloves on her delicate porcelain hands. Hands that were soon about to deliver a peculiar…

Musings

How Cicely Tyson Helped Me Make Sense of My Diasporan Identity

Posted on January 29, 2021
by Malaka
with 0 Comments

Forgive me if this is clumsily expressed. I have been misty eyed all morning, reflecting on the life of Ms. Tyson. The first time I ever saw a Black woman give birth on screen was in the movie The Color Purple. I was 8 years…

Motherhood

Pride and Parenting

Posted on January 28, 2021
by Malaka
with 4 Comments

“Mom?” Crap. I had been summoned by my child. The pitch of her voice and query-tinged timbre with which my pseudonym had been uttered meant that the next words out of her mouth were going to cost me something. What was it this time? Money?…

Motherhood

My Preemie is Applying for Her First Job. How Did We Get Here So Fast?

Posted on January 9, 2021
by Malaka
with 2 Comments

The child who was once small enough to fit in the palm of my hand stood towering over me, tears brimming her eyes. “Are you crying?” “No,” she said. A renegade tear plunked down her cheek. She brushed it away, but that only opened up…

Musings

How A Kulula Flight Inspired Me to Rethink Aging

Posted on January 4, 2021
by Malaka
with 0 Comments

"Aging is inevitable. Getting old is optional." - Some wokeness I read somewhere online once. What is occupying your thoughts at the beginning of this year? (The raging global pandemic aside.) This is normally a time for resolution and goal setting, but in light of…

Musings

I’m Looking Back on 2020 With Gratitude

Posted on December 27, 2020
by Malaka
with 0 Comments

Cast your mind back to December 2019. It seems impossible to fathom now, but it’s fair to say most people began looking forward to the new year – 2020 - with optimism and enthusiasm. 12 months later, a quick poll might reveal that the majority…

Musings

‘The Christmas Return’ is the Type of Holiday Romance We All Come Back For

Posted on December 19, 2020
by Malaka
with 0 Comments

“When I go to the movies, I go to escape reality… not to be confronted with more of it.” – Frances Scarlett When I relocated to Atlanta in 2000, I was coming into the discovery of my Blackness. And what better place to do so…

Madness

What COVID 19 Taught Me About Consent

Posted on December 8, 2020
by Malaka
with 0 Comments

I rolled out of bed just before midday on Saturday, driven to the bathroom by a coughing fit. Saturdays are the only days in the month I permit myself the delight of complete mental barrenness; the days where I ignore emails, watch old episodes of…

Musings

The Utility of Rejection

Posted on December 3, 2020
by Malaka
with 6 Comments

Before ‘ally fatigue’ set in, back when brands across the globe believed in earnest that the best way to demonstrate their solidarity with marginalized groups was to post a black square on Instagram, or combat racism by renaming the ‘master bedroom’ the ‘main bedroom’ (not…

Madness

“Di Rice Dun Finish. Dem Say E Go Extinct.” – Inside the Dark Mind of Nnedi Okorafor

Posted on November 22, 2020
by Malaka
with 2 Comments

Close your eyes and think about the future a hundred, maybe a thousand years ahead. What’s the worst thing you can imagine? What event would you consider utterly catastrophic? Nnedi Okorafor puts forward an unutterable possibility. This week on my best friend’s podcast, LeVar Burton…

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