Circumspecte

Today was a blog waiting to happen. Only, it’s not going to be about the Ghanaian and African Embassies in the West as I’d intended – don’t worry, it will have its time too – but rather about contemporary books, libraries and reading in major African cities like Accra, Lusaka, Jo-burg, Lagos, Dakar. It features some   great insights from people on Facebook   and Twitter on   Africa’s reading culture   and access to contemporary books. Yesterday I participated in a very fruitful Virtual Americanah Book Club meeting with two of my friends – one in Accra, Ghana and the other in Maputo, Mozambique – and we had a swell time reflecting on Chimamanda Adichie’s latest, how it resonates with us, the different themes and so on. I posted some of my thoughts and a tweep asked where they could get the book. I have gotten this question so many times this year – especially after   my “summer reads” blog   - and so I automatically responded “Amazon” and sent a link. T...

Design By Sughey Abreu Salut Tout le Monde! I hope each of you is having a restful Sunday wherever you are in the world. It's been a minute since I wrote a personal update on here and I think today's a good day as any other to resume that. So, I've been pretty busy over the past couple of months, and particularly this last month, preparing for the Young Women's Knowledge and Leadership Institute (YOWLI) 2010. I've generally been set on "GO" such that even when I'm sleeping, I find myself dreaming about YOWLI and which partners we're supposed to be following up on, whether so-so and so got their visa already, whatever happened to this or that. It's a whole lot, but I'm loving every bit of it as what was only a vision a few months ago is beginning to take shape. I'm SUPER excited!! The "Little" Things YOWLI 2010 is going to be a bit smaller than YOWLI 2008 which had over 100 people living together for a month on Goree Isl...

Jemi: You are soo cheating! RealJemi: No, I’m not. J: Really? RJ: Yes. I think. J: Didn’t you feed the same lines to the other fella from yesterday? RJ: Yes…but, it’s not the same. J: [Raised eyebrow] RJ: What?! This interaction has the potential for something much more different. Much better. Much more…challenging and stimulating. J: Doesn’t change anything. You’re still cheating. RJ: Ei, why? Did someone patent the lines I’m using and hire you to police the rest of us? No? Well, last I checked, there was freedom of expression and association. So mind your own business. J: What do you think they will say when they find out what you’re up to? Two-timing them the way you are. RJ: [Mischievous grin] But who says they ever have to know? -- And so it goes. The guilt-trip that follows the ritualistic love dance, mating call, whatever-you-want-to-call-it, that is West African price bargaining. They say everyone likes a good bargain. But what they don’t mention is that the true art...