My cousins in Belgium tipped us on Stromae a couple years ago and then about a year ago told my sisters and I he would be coming to the US and that we must go to his performance. I bought my tickets for his Philadelphia September show back in February, only to learn in August […]
Celebrating Mass with Pope Francis
When I went to Rome in 2008, I managed to attend a General Audience with the Holy Father, at that time Pope Benedict XVI. It was a one in a lifetime chance to pray with and receive blessings from the Holy Father, or so I thought. I barely saw him. He was a white speck […]
Brief Sojourn in Washington D.C
I had a bad week last week. All job-related. I started out the year singing “Let It Go” and failed to heed the wisdom in that simple phrase. By the end of the week, I was ready to escape. So here I am in the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C., trying my very best not to […]
Back to Las Vegas, 2014 Edition
I really don’t need to be going back to Las Vegas. Twice is enough. Yet, something tells me I have not seen the last of Vegas. My visit this year was prompted by a friend, a former colleague, who had been dead-set on celebrating her fortieth birthday in Las Vegas. She had been harping on […]
A Late Afternoon at the Philadelphia Museum of Art
I went to Philadelphia to browse the Paul Strand: A Master of Photography exhibition. It was a cold winter day. I took these pictures as I was leaving, the sun already beginning to set and casting colour into the sky. This is the Ben Franklin Parkway and the Philadelphia skyline as seen from the top […]
Paul Strand’s Portrait of Ghana at the Philadelphia Museum of Art
If I were into photography, I would know who Paul Strand was. But, I’m not, and I didn’t, not until now. It took a Groupon for reduced admission at the Philadelphia Museum of Art for me to discover that there was such a man as Paul Strand, and that for several months in the early […]
Good Eats in Brazil
I’m not one for taking pictures of my meals. But I apparently did enough of it in Brazil to make a food post. So here goes. Acaraje – akara, koose A snack of meat – at the stadium sprinkled with farina (gari) Yummy shrimp Fries – with cheese and bacom The corn is boiled before […]
Don't Flush the Toilet Paper & Other Stories
In the hotels and even in some public bathrooms there is a hose next to the toilet that you are supposed to use to clean yourself with. There usually is toilet paper available too but this is to be used to dry yourself off after first using the hose. Then you are supposed to put […]
Brazilian Sisters of the Night
I didn’t realize until much later that prostitution is legal in Brazil…as long as the prostitute is over 18. There were posters discouraging sex tourism at the Brazilian consulate in New York when I went for my visa so I assumed it was illegal. In hindsight, were I to be a prostitute in Brazil, a […]
Solo in Brazil, The Final Chapter
I was sad to leave Natal, having met some quality people. I was looking forward to not having to run into THE BOYS seeing how they were staying in rental homes and I had hotel reservations and had changed my flight itinerary. But as fate would have it, I found myself arriving to the airport […]
A lover of mangoes. A woman - smart, without pretense, lefthanded, Afropolitan - navigating this thing called life. An unapologetic believer in social justice and karma. Choosing to radiate positive energy and be true to myself. Here, my musings.