By habit, I always pick up a new book anytime I travel to a new place - even if it is just a couple states over. It's something I started in my teens when I had some access to disposable (or borrowed - still owing some folks) income. Repeated the same thing this time I travelled to the west coast for the first time ever. I think...can't ever say ever since I got in trouble with Canadian customs last year for sneaking across the border in '86. Note, I was barely crawling that year...yeah, a relative "borrowed" my social security number - ah the life and times.

Came to the realization some weeks ago that my paltry book/music collection, save for textbooks and lecture recordings, is crying for some diversity. I have a primarily black library - spanning various corners of the African diaspora - Harlem, Enugu, Kingston, Umtali (Mutare) etc. There's a spattering of brown lit - but again, the same resistance and post-colonial themes. Largely, it's symptomatic of growing up in public high school that zealously guarded the "black is beautiful" mantra and then proceeding to a liberal arts education that offered a buffet-style selection humanities courses for those in the sciences. I grew all too comfortable in books that felt like home.

So this trip, I made the mistake of looking for book that would be representative of this elusive whiteness, you know, like how some would assign Things Fall Apart for a two-week introduction to the African experience. Needless to say, I failed horribly at this assignment.

First, it was an impulse buy at an airport bookshop. Although, I have been lucky, at times, with such on-the-fly purchases, airport shops are largely known for bright, empty magazines and self-help books. Second, I was moved primarily by my pocket and some feigned interest in the environment. You see, there was a shelf dedicated to previously read books - pre-owned novels which were 50% off. Not only was a getting a sweet deal but I was doing my part to save this text from clogging up our landfills. And third mistake - and quite cliched - I judged a book by it's cover. If I was going to read the whitest of white, why not pick up the memoir plastered with with a picture of Julia Roberts on the front?

Yes, I bought the wildly popular Elizabeth Gilbert memoir, Eat, Pray, Love - chick lit made into a chick flick a couple of years ago. Yeah, it was somewhat embarrassing, especially considering that my travel mates had their microbio textbooks in tow (don't know how I forgot mine, but was able to get a hush-hush .pdf copy hookup...whoop whoop!)

While I find Gilbert's story, thus far, refreshingly open and honest, it's a bit too stereotypically white and Western for my liking. And somehow, I empathize. It appeals to that part of my American self that I consciously work to squelch out in the open. Her story represents that part of me that tends to exoticize the other, the one that doggedly personalizes the spiritual to the neglect of the communal, the part of me that in my quiet moments, is fastidiously self-absorbed. Elizabeth Gilbert is my id.

I have yet to finish the book (may hold it off until Christmas vacation, unfortunately - got to memorize those bugs.) I'm praying for a happy ending with this book, though I have yet to put to words what that looks like. But from the reviews I briefly looked through, I doubt it.

...For yet another musical break. Big fan of Celestine Ukwu, who is my respite when I need a bit of a break from the faster-paced, "noisier," classics from the highlife era. Sharing a personal favorite, "Onwu ama eze" (Death Doesn't Recognize Royalty).

Onwu ama eze.

Other songs from Celestine Ukwu can be found here.
I know there is some unwritten code of blogging ethics which prohibits from from posting two musically related posts back to back, but suffering from persistent bouts of blogger's block. Biko, gbaghara m (please forgive me). If you care to know, I am somewhat active on Twitter.

As if October couldn't get any better.

She's back! Asa (Asha) that is. I'm probably late. Excited to see her evolution from her self-titled freshman album, to her forthcoming collection, Beautiful Perfection. The album drops October 25th - but her single, "Be My Man," is up on Youtube (H/T Asa Groupies on Facebook).



Not sure how I feel about her new look (a bit cliche***)...but she still remains incredibly adorable in my book. She recently gave an interview to HiMagazine (never heard of it, personally).

On her new style:

Its fun, I think it is part of finding myself because I spent the most of my life while growing taking care of people. I have been responsible for my siblings and so I had to grow up really fast and that took a lot of attention from me because I didn’t care about myself. So going out to various places and events has influenced me. I’m beginning to really like what I see and I tell myself that I’m beautiful and need to take care of myself. Its fun really because I enjoy the growth, I don’t think I have changed I just added more colour...[I'm] letting go of a lot of unnecessary baggage, so you can feel it because I’m happy.

Quick! Check out the new series at NigeriansTalk.org entitled Nigeria@50. Since last Friday, Nigerian bloggers have been posting their thoughts on Nigeria as she approaches her 50th birthday. From the intro post:

As you can imagine, there are a lot of things to complain about...but we do not want to dwell on the failures. The articles will not write away the failures of the past — as if that were even possible. While acknowledging those failures, they will be forward-looking. In short, we hope to leave the series of articles feeling not only informed, but also inspired.

July and August has passed and I promised myself that I would post at least something during the month of September. Sorry for the pause in communication – life (and laziness) got in the way.

So apparently Nigerian elections are slated for January 2011 – yeah, goodluck with that one. And speaking of Goodluck…our former Vice President, now President and (finally) presidential aspirant 2011 has recently hit the campaign trail and from the looks of things, he seems to be targeting the youth as evidenced by his widely popular presence on Facebook. Makes sense considering that Nigeria, like it's developing world contemporaries, features youth as its most popular age-bracket. But beyond making friends on Facebook, I have the sneaking suspicion – as has been mentioned elsewhere – that GJ is taking a page or two out of Barack Obama’s playbook.

Goodluck Jonathan – the next Barack Obama. I know to the most ardent Obama supporters this may seem like blasphemy, but the mercurial rise in popularity of the once (relatively) obscure Goodluck Jonathan in many ways mirrors that of the Obama during his bid for presidency in 2008. Like his American counterpart, GJ is well-educated, articulate, and compared to his competitors, somewhat scandal-free. Let us not forget that the Jonathan presidency and potential second-term carries historical weight. The United States welcomed its first black president fifty years after the death of civil rights champion, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King. And now, fifty years post-independence, Nigeria may for the first time, elect a minority president. Jonathan’s wide support from a diverse number of groups in the south and the north confirm his (or rather PDP’s) ability to shatter ethnic barriers. No small feat. The smiling president, like Obama, is well-educated, articulate, and compared to some of his competitors, somewhat scandal-free.

Recently, I came across the Youtube (yes, loves, Youtube) campaign videos of Goodluck Jonathan (H/T NigerianCuriosity). Peep the English version, which features a litany of Nollywood actors and heavyweights (including my teen heart-throb Emeka Enyiocha…taking a moment…yessss…please don’t judge me).



Cute, though (surprise! surprise!) it bears an uncanny resemblance to will.i.am’s 2008 “Yes We Can,” Youtube sensation, a similarly star-studded gushy tribute to Barack Obama’s platform of hope and change.

All well and good – but hope, change, and lofty promises can only get you so far. Obama is learning that the hard way seeing that his support over the past few months has decreased, somewhat precipitously. Over the summer, I was surprised to find out that Goodluck Jonathan commands overwhelming support from the Nigerian populace – approval ratings of up to 75% (I know…no need). Such a figure, begs the question – why? I remain concerned about declarations that Jonathan is not only blessed with good fortune, but that somehow, GJ is divinely appointed and with him lies Nigeria’s way forward (see here, here and here). While GJ’s emphasis on the youth is commendable, any failure to deliver on campaign promises such as repairing basic infrastructure, stands to add to the increased jadedness of the youth whom he seeks to inspire.

So June has passed without as much as a peep from me...and unfortunately, it looks like pyoo wata will also remain temporarily inactive through July and much of August. Just wanted to let you all know that I'm still around, just not on this blog for the moment. Expect to see my random comments on your blogs, an infrequent tweet here or there or a belated response to your email from now until August.

This past Sunday, NYTimes columnist and self-designated poor-people-of-Africa expert extraordinaire wrote penned yet another op-ed piece that forced me to change the page shortly after the first paragraph. Here is where I changed the channel:

...if the poorest families spent as much money educating their children as they do on wine, cigarettes and prostitutes, their children’s prospects would be transformed. Much suffering is caused not only by low incomes, but also by shortsighted private spending decisions by heads of households.