After forcing myself to read 1984 because it is the book of 2017, it was a breath of fresh air to read Isabel Allende‘s Island Beneath the Sea, which is essentially my kind of book. It is one of those historical multi-generational family epics. It tells the story of Zarité (Tété), a mulatto woman born […]
Copenhagen: A Play
Copenhagen is a play by Michael Faryn based upon a meeting between the physicists Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg in 1941. Why the German Heisenberg travelled to Copenhagen and what he said to the half-Jewish Danish Bohr, is the central theme of this play, as the old friends subsequently find themselves on opposite ends of […]
1984 by George Orwell
So, Donald Trump wins the US Presidency, and I along with millions of others pick up 1984 by George Orwell to read. Sigh. I downloaded an audiobook from my local library’s Overdrive and over the course of a week soberingly listened to it. Published in 1949, the futuristic 1984 novel portrays London as a city […]
Women’s March on Washington 2017
So I just got home from the Women’s March on Washington D.C. Wow! Let me just start by saying that the atmosphere in D.C. today was energetic, boisterous, busy, and squished, as compared to yesterday (Trump’s inauguration). I’m so proud of women around the world, the thousands who gathered as far away as Antarctica, and […]
This IS America
In all of our different emotions and reactions to the results of the US Presidential Election 2016, we must remember that this is America. An America where the next President lost the popular vote, yet again, and was voted in by a little more than 25% of eligible voters. An America where the Electoral College […]
A Visit to the National Air and Space Museum, DC
The National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC has the largest collection of aviation and spacecraft in the world. It boasts being the most visited museum in the United States. It boasts the Wright brother’s plane, the Lindbergh Spirit of St. Louis, Amelia Earhart’s Lockheed Vega 5B, the Friendship 7 capsule and the Apollo […]
How to Make Ghanaian Doughnut (Bofrot)
I’m soon to head to New Orleans for a conference but I could not wait to dig into beignets. So here I am making bofrot. I served them at a recent dinner party where my East African friends had the nerve to call them mandazi in my own house. Nigerians call them puff-puff and I […]
A Visit to the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC)
I didn’t expect the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) to be Black. Don’t groan. I didn’t expect there to be a Sweet Home Café and as delicious as the offerings sounded I dared not brave the lines. Not only were there so many Black people of all hues but a good number […]
Nzema Staple Attieke Popularized by Ivory Coast
Attiéké. Akyeke. Aky3k3. Attieke. Acheke. Adj3k3. However you want to spell it, there is no denying that the Nzema staple attieke has been popularized for international customers over the past several decades by Ivory Coast. Well done! But now Ivory Coast wants Intellectual Property Protection for attieke. That gives me pause. Let me explain. What […]
Naija Beta Film Explores New Generation of Nigerian Innovators
Naija Beta is a documentary that follows a team of Nigerian and Nigerian-American MIT students introducing robotics engineering to high school students in Nigeria. The director is my friend Arthur Musah, an engineer turned filmmaker. While working on his documentary One Day I Too Go Fly in which he follows the adventures of four African students at […]