Talking Head

Talking About…”Fifty” – Review

Media entrepreneur, Mo Abudu is no stranger to using TV to offer a more glamorous depiction of Africa. Her media company, Ebonylife TV, produces films, lifestyle shows and even scripted series that attempt to debunk the narrative that has haunted the continent by offering a more nuanced version of our reality.

Directed by Biyi Bandele, her latest feature film venture, Fifty maintains an unspoiled and glossy depiction of Lagos; luxury cars, townhouses in the city’s most expensive neighborhoods with large bay windows and enough modern African art and print accessories to denote the owners allegiance. In the film, Mo unfurls the lives of four women whose experiences converge to tell a story so ubiquitous in its real life occurrences but rarely displayed on our TV screens.

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Eclipsed Is An Act of Naming – Review

I remember discussing the film Beasts of No Nation with my Women’s Studies and English professor. While she lamented the films hyper-masculine narrative arc, I nodded and offered very little comments or criticism about her point. As someone who likes to think about how we see, understand, and experience gender, I felt that I should have had something to say, but I didn’t. Instead, I told her that I hadn’t considered that; I was too preoccupied with the fact that the film was a story about Africa, adapted from a screenplay written by an African, and featured African actors. I was a proud African, who was excited that we had accrued some agency about how our stories were told in mass media, and at that moment, the thought of gender hadn’t occurred to me at all.

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Becoming Myself

I can’t dance, I know because I’ve been told. When I was 10, I joined a dance club and had trouble keeping up. My steps were jerky and I bumped into so many people that after a while I was afraid to make any movements. After class, my teacher not so subtly asked people without rhythm to consider looking for another extracurricular activity. My cheeks marooned and my face felt hot, I walked away from the class and never returned.

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#MasculinitySoFragile makes an appearance on RHOA

I don’t apologize too much for my bad habits. If I did, I would spend my whole life apologizing for watching copious amounts of reality TV, leaving important things till the last minute (and even then, procrastinating till I can’t procrastinate anymore) and most importantly, neglecting this blog.

So, instead of apologizing, I will talk about how one of my many bad habits brought me back to the site.

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Humans of Lagos offers a glimpse at daily life in the West African mega city

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In the recent abundance of social media pages and campaigns that focus on portraying a more extensive image of Africa, Lagos is one of the many cities that have been photographed and put on display. Not only because of its towering architecture and vast expanse of water, but also because of how well this resilient, rousing and restorative city capture the essence of Nigeria. Like New York, Lagos is viewed as less of a place and more of a feeling; the rambunctiousness of the yellow Danfo buses or the leafy trees that shade the milk colored house in Ikoyi evoke as much emotion as the people do.

Home to 17 million people and counting, the people of Lagos, or Lagosians as they have been dubbed, are some of the most captivating people in the world and there’s a man whose mission it is to make sure everyone knows this, one picture at a time. Tochi Ani, the photographer and curator behind the immensely successful Instagram page, Humans of Lagos isn’t very open to revealing information about himself or the page that has over 10,000 people talking.

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What Feminism Means To – Selorm Quist

Selorm Quist

Curriculum Writer

I often used to wear a Vagina Monologues t-shirt my sister gave me when I was 17. It had a huge, pink Lucida Grande ‘f’ on it. Naturally, people asked me why I had the Facebook logo on my shirt. I told them the ‘f’ was for ‘feminism’ and quickly followed up with, “but I’m not a feminist or anything.” For a long time I believed that feminism was equivalent to man-hating, bra-burning ‘butchism.’ Moreover, I thought openly declaring a feminist stance meant I was guaranteed no love life. With a deep interest in global affairs, I considered myself knowledgeable about injustices women faced around the world. But I failed to acknowledge obvious systemic issues and refused to advocate for myself and other women and girls because I thought it would make me more appealing to the opposite sex. I literally cringe when I think about that now.

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On Masculinity – A Lesson From Dame Dash

What makes a man, a man? An imposing swagger, a voice that’s several decibels lower than most, a quickness to violence, a sense of entitlement? These are only a few of the characteristics that society has associated with a typical “mans man.”

In a ~~not so~~ recent interview with “The Breakfast Club” ~~former~~ hip-hop mogul, Dame Dash was quick to school Charlamagne, DJ Envy and Angela Yee on what makes a man, a real man. According to Dash’s standards, unless you’re a fear mongering, arrogant, self-entitled, “boss” you aren’t a man.

Here a some of the lessons we learned from Dame Dash’s lessons on masculinity

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What Feminism Means To – Melanie Martin

Melanie Martin

Founder of Beautifully Brown

To be honest: I didn’t know there was a word to describe the way I cared about girls and women when I was younger, realizing that one of my passions was beauty and how girls were affected by it. But, it was in high school where I sort of caught myself unexplainably obsessed with the unique features of the girls in my class. I went to an all girl Catholic high school, so we wore uniforms and all that was left for our individuality was makeup and hair. To this day, that’s still the number one reason I’m so happy I went to that school. Being surrounded by women who were so individual and unique in their beauty was inspiring.

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Rad Reading

Literacy and women empowerment come together like never before.

The alphabet has never looked this good. Rad American Women A-Z, a collaboration between writer Kate Schatz and artist Miriam Klein Stahl is officially the coolest way to teach your kids the alphabet.

This book “for kids – and their parents, teachers, and cool grown up friends” is a pairing of the building blocks of education with an introduction to the women who shaped history as we know it. This my friends is a (necessary) double dose of learning.

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What Feminism Means To – Dèj Jones

Dèj Jones

Writer

I remember being 14 years old and working a newspaper route with other teenagers. A mixture of girls and boys, mainly boys. During our lunch breaks, I learned that it was always expected for the girls to make the sandwiches or whatever lunch for the boys. I thought it was ridiculous. I thought “we all have working hands, why do I need to make their food while they just sit and twiddle their thumbs waiting?”

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