Circumspecte

Grand plans. That’s what we had. Of where we’d end up, how we’d end up, when we’d end up. I mean, we said “let’s leave it to Allah, let’s wait and see”. But really, the levers in our mind had long clanked away. Breaking news: I will never be Ghanaian, African [insert whatever label] enough. Trust me, I have tried. To hold on to the vestiges of who I think - we think - I should be To reformulate the   Ghanaianness   in me  Down to the last ei, o, and more recently, the last tweaa I mean, how can you possibly not know how to Azonto It was the fad. Now it’s vintage.  Encoded in our identical histories. Yet it seems you missed that particular memo. “Too American”, “Too White”, “Too Outspoken”, “Too Different” Yeah I know.   You make me aware of the fact daily. With every “It’s not how we do things”, Each “why can’t you be like…” But see - we traded all those possibilities in. The minute I checked in, went throu...

Yesterday was the 50th anniversary of the African Union - formerly the Organization for African Unity - and while much of the attention might have been on the Chinese-built AU headquarters in Addis Ababa where Africa's leaders gathered for the AU Summit, there was certainly a lot of coffee shop talk in Cyberville as well. One of the many discussions I participated in yesterday was the Africa on the Blog Chat (#AOTBChat) on Twitter which questioned the AU's relevance today. The AU also updated its Facebook page with a reference to a tweet by George Ayittey - the Ghanaian economist of Cheetahs vs. Hippos fame who is very outspoken regarding his opinion of Africa's leaders: "Name one crisis the African Union has been able to resolve in the past decade. Scratching your head? Always appealing to the int'l community" - George Ayittey's tweet from May 18.

The thing about embarking on a new experience - travel, project, idea, decision, dream, opportunity - is that you always uncover yourself anew. -- "Why don't you write anymore?" That's the question that sent me running back here. The number of false-start posts I've had in the last two months are shameful to say the least You either go all in or it's nothing at all. So what keeps stopping me? Sense of duty Of what I should be doing (studying, reading, problem solving), and when I should be doing it (NOW!). Ironically, that's also what keeps me from starting. Anything. When did the notion of putting thoughts out there seem so scary? The moment certainty walked out the door Of who I am/should be and exactly what I am/should be up to. We all - or I do - like to put things out there that We are - I am - sure about Nobody wants to be accused of plagiarizing, heresay or concocting pure nonsense Unless you're just in the business of plagiariz...