Muse: Tossie & A.O

Surulere, Lagos, Nigeria

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A Reason to Live: The Future is Greater

Have you ever been asked the question: "What keeps you going?" ? What is your typical answer to that?
 For me depending on where I am or the context of the question, the answer varies but is usually the same.

What keeps me going?

1. My immediate family, whom I adore and admire
2. The future/Youth

Working with youth for me has increasingly grown over the years to be akin to eating and breathing. What is the point of life if I'm not investing in the future? Why even bother? They are hope, that in a fucked up world that we've created we can still make something better.

My mom almost always says to me in those 'what are you doing with your life?' phone conversations "I want my kids to be better than me." At first I would sigh and want her to stop blabbing but now I'm repeating the same thing to my youth. She also named me 'Nkeiruka' which means: 'What is coming (the future) is greater'. Little did she (or I) know at the time that I would manifest this almost to a fault (at least if you ask her sometimes).

I know it's a cliche saying that 'Children are our future' and a lot of times it's said without the meaning or weight that it carries. But for me it's pretty much one of the few phrases that matter to me in life, and almost everything I do has to be branched with that as the root.

Sometimes I lose sight or I get frustrated with the process, but watching videos (below) like these makes me inspired to see that other people are working with the same value.

So I can keep it in my head that the only thing that matters in this world is the young people coming after me. 





Happy Mardi Gras!

your neighborhood bleeding heart radical,
N

Muse: Tossie Long

San Francisco, California, USA

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Just Because

you start your mediocre lackluster status update with 'That Awkward Moment...' doesn't mean it becomes interesting. The update. or Awkward. The moment.

Please. stop.

Thanks,
That Awkward Moment Preservation Society: Lagos Chapter.

Thelonius Monk’s advice to saxophonist Steve Lacy (1960)

This is old (duh) but the music and design hag in me has a doublemint appreciation for it. My pleasure is definitely doubled. It's on the list of Top things that can make my day.

 

How Facebook Ruined My Life

If I didn't suspect that my mom, family members and possibly impressionable youth that I work with read this blog, this post might have been titled 'Fuck Facebook!'. But as they probably all do it has the above title.

Side note: Between griping about Facebook and Beyonce I can't possibly think of what else to write about. I need to reel it in. Or else by the time I die that's all I'll have to my name.

"Our beloved N, she spent her life hating Facebook and Beyonce."

But in the spirit of my originally intended title I shall now I proceed.

Many or (one) of you may remember my TGFF (Thank God for Facebook) post. Where I described the conflict between members of the TGFF and FGRM Facebook ga a raputa mmadu (Igbo for Facebook will destroy a person). Well I'm pleased to announce to you that the FGRM has now split and a  2^nd generationer: the 'Fuck Facebook Fam' (very hip) has now formed.

Another thing you may need to know is that I'm considering joining this group, although I was one of the original founding members of the TGFF group and aslo the FGRM group as well (don't ask me how, I just got it like that).

You want to know why I am thinking of joining the FFF?

Okay sure I don't have to be on Facebook. I know. I don't know why I still am. I don't really want to go into any of the reasons personally, professionally or otherwise that I am but that's just the case. Using Facebook is like doing every sin. You feel dirty, nasty, you swear never to do it again. The next day, hour okay minute you find yourself doing it again. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

EVERYTIME Facebook introduces a new 'Privacy' setting method, all they are saying is that they have 'removed' some privacy features that you possibly took comfort in by fooling yourself that you were keeping things private. Yes. There are two ways I could go with this I could go the STIMW (semi-techno-intellectual modern woman) route and actually write down concrete things about what I mean, or I could go the ABG (Angry, not Awkward, Black Girl) route and just ramble about how wack Facebook is.

Basically here's the deal according to an FFF representative that I interviewed the other day.

"Facebook is wack. It will steal your money. Get you fired. Cheat on you. Dump you. Get you arrested. And take all your friends. Everyone will know your business, some business that you don't know they know and some that you didn't even know yourself.

Before you could just hide your page and only add friends if you wanted and only the people you wanted could see things (not really but let's just say). Now as they 'update' their privacy options they take each of those things out one at a time.

So yes what I'm trying to say is, the only way to not have your business out is to leave Facebook Actually that's a lie. It's too late sucker, your business is already out there. It knows where you live and it will come and sleep with your wife and then post the pictures on Facebook and then tag you but hide it from you so that all your friends will see and tumblr tweet it and then you will finally find out and get depressed and then call in sick. But because you checked into 'places' it will know what you're not really sick so it will call your boss and tell your boss that you were not sick but that you were at the mall, so you get fired. And then you can't pay your rent so you get evicted and now you have to crash on your friends couch, you're hungry and broke so you 'borrow' your friends EBT card and get some popeyes and the police finds out and they arrest you. On Friday. And now everyone has tweeted that you're a thief so your friends won't talk to you anymore.

See? I told you Facebook will ruin your life.

So yeah FF!!"

Wow. Well that was a mouthful!

Until next time

N

(Founder TGFF & TGRM and newest inductee of FFF)

Red, Bike & Green First Friday (August 2011)

I adore my bike. I do I do.

Oh gosh. I can't believe I'm writing a freaking blog post about my bike. This may be worse than posting pictures of food (lol I'll need to check with my sister).

Anyway back to my bike. One thing I love more than my bike.
Oakland.
One thing I love more than Oakland
Black folks.
One thing I love more than Black folks
My friends.

So...
My Bike + Oakland + Black Folks + My Friends = Hella Love!

So I just want to give a shout out to Red Bike & Green and myself and my friends for finally doing our first ride with that crew!

Red, Bike and Green is a community-building collective of Black urban cyclists seeking to improve the physical and mental health, economy and local environment of African Americans by creating a relevant and sustainable Black bike culture. (Learn more)

Almost 11miles in Oakland. It was so delicious. Took some photos throughout the ride (look ma no hands). There were a few hiccups in my ride...i.e. my gears being messed up so that 1st gear the easy gear is as hard as my 3rd gear, and my bike is the heaviest bike on the planet, so when I tried to go up that steep uphill freeway overpass...it was a wrap. But thanks to the guy who was sweet enough to trade bikes so I could make it over...lol even though that was a disaster because then I was so used to riding on this hard gear that his easy gear was like flipping me out...

all in all it was the best time ever. check out the rest of the photos on good ol' facebook.

Rioting in London: Police vs. Black Man

 This is basically a bit of a stream of consciousness surrounding the recent London riot after police shot a Black man (London riot you say? What pray tell is it?) Colorlines has a "short and sweet" report about it.

Photo from Colorlines

I'm way past sick of this police vs. black man; colonist vs. black lands phenomenon. It makes me want to throw up and I feel I'm simply so over this human 'race'. And the news around the after-effects drives me crazy, aren't people tired of sick of just narrowing it down to something done by those savage-black-gang-involved-tennis-shoe-stealing youth? We're such a lazy group of people who never will actually fight for change because our lives are really just great, so we pass the blame. And so the media goes ahead and puts up their template news and we go deeper into our discrimination. But sometimes I wonder maybe that's just what we need, for everything to really go to complete shit, and for people to become REALLY uncomfortable so they can pay attention.

Here's one article that begins some exploration of the causes and effect of blaming the youth, it's not that deep (neither is this blog post) but a lot of this is very emotional for me, the comments to the article make me angry and illustrate what is messed up about our societies and how far we have to go in terms of regard for humanity.

This article is particularly interesting to me. I've been intrigued out how much the blackberry is a huge thing especially from the point of Nigerians in Nigeria and the Diaspora. If you know the half of it, you know that blackberries are now getting something akin to a human right.

Because these days twitter and facebook can get you in big shit, and BBMs are less traceable by the authorities (for now), Blackberry is saying that they would give information to the police about people's BBM messages to help aid the arrest of folks who are passing on info about the London riots. So these hackers threaten Blackberry... i.e.

"You Will _NOT_ assist the UK Police because if u do innocent members of the public who were at the wrong place at the wrong time and owned a blackberry will get charged for no reason at all,"

"If you make the wrong choice your database will be made public, save yourself the embarrassment and make the right choice. Don't be a puppet," 

(read the article for more)

Like I said most or all even of the people I know who have Blackberries are Nigerian/African/Caribbean. We support Blackberry, one (too many) of us gets killed, we up-rise, the company that we fish over our moola to fecks us in the ass.

dog eat dog sucka.

Watch: A Tribe Called Quest Documentary

I was a latecomer to the awesomeness of ATCQ, I found out about them after they went their separate ways. 10+ years later they released a new documentary (thank goodness it's not a reality show) which from the trailer and reviews is going to be amazing.

It's in limited theatrical release but look for it on DVD and Netflix in the near future.

How the revolution started

I heard and read about it in all the news reports about how Facebook started the revolution in Egypt. It's interesting to see the visual representation.
Viva la revolution!

If You Ask Me...

Sometimes I find it challenging or hopeless finding the way to bridge that gap: art & social change. A lot of times it gets all fuzzy. What does it mean? Is it possible to have one with the other? Without compromising the other? But then I watch videos like these...and I get rejuiced.

One3snapshot approved. Culture. Art. Expression elopes and gets married to Social Change.

Omawumi is so One3snapshot!

Here's what I said:

" VIDEO OF THE YEAR. I got goosebumps watching this... I used to be light weight not quite feel Omawumi but this song is pretty dope...I love the approach to the issues she brought up, and this video is pretty freaking cool. I wish we would have more naija vids like these as opposed to those useless pop champagne and girls in the club."

 

Art is Health. Health is Social Justice.
Culture. Art. Expression.

,N

 

 

Beyonce is a Damn Fool

In Honor of Black History Month, I'd like to dedicate my post to hating on Beyonce.

Beyonce I hate you.

It's funny 'cos now she keeps claiming that she draws inspiration from Fela...and I'm like since when? Lol now Fela is on Broadway and everybody wanna claim him... it's all good. Haha.

Umm Beyonce, since you love Fela so much, please be reminded that you're EXACTLY the kinda things he talked about that were wack about the system. You embody it all! Sell out oshi...

Our Fela "Teacher Don't Teach me Nonsense" was one of the first shirts we did here at one3snapshot way back before anyone thought of such a strange (but pretty cool) concept of a stage show, because art & social awareness is what we're about.  I wanna be like Beyonce here! can you read this? Can you please wear this? Can you please understand this? (lol don't knock my hustle).

I feel like a hypocrite because I'm working on this show ReVulvaLution which is all about exploring some of the issues that women have, one which is women hating on each other. I can't even believe that I'm writing this post. Because I try to have the if-something-is-rubbish-and-you-give-it-energy-by-saying-how-rubbish-it-is, then you're giving it attention and validating it's existence. But this one is so rubbish that it almost makes me laugh. I have this, I don't know if I'll call it a, love-hate relationship with Beyonce... it's more like a umm. Well here's the thing I appreciate some of her songs, I think single ladies & get me bodied are so cleverly arranged, and she's a hard worker and a pretty awesome entertainer.

As a black woman myself who's trying to do her thing, I admire some aspects of her, but in the same vein she irritates the fuck outta me. Sometimes I just wanna see her and spit in her face just a little bit like "You damn fool!!"

To me she's such a copier and a faker. She's irritated me since she said she was doing 'African dance' in the Baby Boy video with Sean Paul. I just can't explain what it is about how she does things that rubs me the wrong way. Maybe it's how she claims that she 'reinvents' herself and makes different characters when really all the time she's just a sexy blonde girl wanna be. Or how even though she's this 'strong black' woman she does not look like one and more and more is removed from that and messes everything up for the rest of us. Or the fact that she has the stereotypical American persona of capitalism and doing whatever it takes to make it to the top even if it's stiletto'ing your friends in the eyeball.

Chichi even blogged about this in 09 in response to this article

Why is a light skinned middle class Black woman from the suburbs of Houston perpetually singing about needing a baller when she made $87M in 07-08 and what role does this play in normalizing transactional relationships (money for sex) between young Black people? read more

I don't know how I can feel as angry at a 'black' woman  as I do some white/other knucklehead who appropriates our culture.

I just wanna be like BEYONCE SHUT THE FUCK UP and spit in her face. Lol. Gosh! Now she went and did these photos for the French Magazine, and the Blackface thing may not be the most irritating thing about the shoot... Like I can't decide if I'm more offended by that than by the stupidity and absolute wackness of the execution of the concept.

Now Get me bodied that. Idiot! *rolls eyes*

N

I feel so f**king un-LUVED

Probably this is not relevant to the rest of you out there who haven't for the past 7+ years called yourself "Southwest's Bitch" as proudly as you can. But basically my day today has been ruined by this stupid article that better be an early April Fool's joke!


The short gist of it, for years I have been crazy loyal to Southwest Airlines and if you are half my friend you've probably called me an SWA agent because I've forced suggested to you that you opt to fly Southwest. Part of the reason is their Frequent flier program, where you just got points based on amount of flights flown and not based on miles. So it was easy to track and a student, short hop business traveler or regular 'common' person could still feel 'LUVd' and be encouraged to fly more. Now SWA announced that they spent $100million dollars in the last 5 years to come up with a new program that is shit! WTF? a 100million in 5 years to come up with something that a 5-year old will tell you is a bad idea.

So because I'm so attached emotionally and such to my relationship with Southwest...what started from an angry comment of sorts on their facebook page developed to this letter. I'm so mad!
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Southwest,

I have flown Southwest since I was able to make decisions about what airline I pick and since I became more financially independent from my parents. Since then I have flown southwest as much as I can based on SWA's destination availability.

It is clear that I am not your biggest income generator, and therefore not a target customer to be catered to: I typically buy the cheapest flight option, most of my 'frequent ' trips are 1-hr flights between Oakland and Burbank, and these trips don't occur as frequent as you would like. But still I consider myself a very loyal customer to SWA; even if SWA costs more than another airline I will buy the ticket on Southwest. Not only do I fly SWA as much as I can, I strongly encourage (and sometime threaten) friends and family to do the same. Sometimes I even make decisions about where to or not go based on if Southwest flies there. “I'm sorry I can't come to your wedding, southwest does not fly there.”

My friends and family even call me a Southwest Agent. And they're serious when they say it.

Why was I such an advocate for SWA? Because I felt SWA was different and their business model showed that they 'cared' about 'people' even though they are not the most priviledged or the richest.

Over the years the RR program has been slowly climbed to cater less and less to the 'people', and now it has finally arrived to the top of the mountain.

SWA decides to say 'fuck-off' to their loyal customers and instead cater to the priviledged. I would like to say that this is a case of “biting the hands that feeds you.” But probably we less priviledged and commom people are not the hand that fed southwest, but we were the ones that did as much as we could to support a seemingly alternative and positive business model.

Yes I use the f-word in my letter to SWA because that's how I feel. Like they are really saying that to me.

These days SWA flight attendants & customer service are rude, less helpful and engaging; SWA is creating a more 'class-based' flight reservation option, and now they have a frequent flier program that is just as sucky (for lack of a better word) as any other airline.

I'm sure you don't care that you lost my loyalty. Because now you will 'exchange' me for a rich business man. I understand: It's just business!

Way to go Southwest!

Un-LUV,

Your neigbhor-hood bleeding heart radical!

 N

Ify Aniebo

Winner of the 2010 Future Awards Young Person of the Year

My message to all would be to stop talking and start acting. Enough of the facebook updates, facebook groups wanting change, twittering, BBing etc. I do understand we haven’t had the best leaders but we need to stop dwelling on that and move on. What I’m saying is the future of the country does not just lie in the hands of our leaders, it lies in every individual as well. We all need to look in the mirror and start affecting change where necessary. We need to be more positive and supportive of each other. We need to be more helpful to our neighbors and communities. We need to stop being selfish. We need to be the change we want to see in the country because we would become leaders one day and if we do not start doing all these things now then we would be no different from our leaders. We might even end up being worse. A vicious cycle really. Stop waiting for someone or a group of people to change Nigeria. We all can start in our own little way. I’m not saying you cannot pop champagne or fix your hair, all I’m saying is do something positive and impact visible change around you.

[Source]

Expression: Prop 8

This photo just made my month I think. LMAO. I think no matter what your views are, if you got even a bit of a sense of humor you gotta admit it's funny. But then again, people and politics. eh!
-N
Source

Art: Kosibah

A Kosibah design can take six months to create.{...} According to the designer, a good finishing is essential to the perfect dress. He believes that a dress's seams should almost feel and look invisible. "Normally, if you turn your dress inside out, you shouldn't really see any seam and any seam you see has to be perfectly finished," he says.

A man after my own heart! Thanks to my teacher Mrs. Gbugu for instilling in me the importance of good finishing.

[Excerpt source]

What to do?

The image on the left is an ad I came across reading a home decor magazine (click the image to view the full version) and I thought to myself here we go again, 36.1 million people have been reduced to a charity case. I hate this depiction of African countries, which is what the image on the right evokes in people's minds. I am especially weary of patronizing non-profits who use us to make millions. When I have conversations with my peers about the state of Nigeria, I hear them echoing the very same things our parents said - our leaders have failed us, we are corrupt to the point of no return. We have all at one point or multiple points in time done the kanye shrug and simply put our noses to the grindstone so we can work hard and support our families here and back in Nigeria. Lately I have been wondering is that all we can do?

The earthquake in Haiti has people talking about the effects of Haiti being marginalized dating back to the 1900s. It scares me because Caribbean and African immigrants typically send money home, we are not too big on investing and give the side eye to widely publicized Let's save Africa campaigns, Project (Red), Live 8 anyone? The earthquake happened, and where is all the money that was sent home over the years now? If even a portion of it had been redirected into infrastructural investments maybe they would have more than one functioning port, perhaps another airport...I don't know. I am in no way saying that we should stop remittances entirely, but instead of clucking our tongues and shaking our heads at the state of things and the people in government are not doing anything, can't we private individuals collectively do something substantial?

Honestly, I don't know the answers... all I know is we have entrusted strangers with our dirty laundry and they are publicly displaying it and dirtying it up even further. Dambisa Moyo thinks foreign aid is impeding our ability to thrive and thinks micro finance is part of the solution. To a very large extent it has worked, there are numerous success stories to prove it but sometimes I wonder if it will turn out to be just like the others. Maybe it isn't micro financing, maybe it's supporting fair trade businesses like My Asho and Mad Imports that directly impact communities in African countries. Maybe it's investing in the Africa Vectors ETF (AFK) or directly in the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

I am so inspired by the Light Up Nigeria movement, I hope it can eventually be channeled into doing something more concrete than #lightupnigeria tags on twitter and who is not to say it will not in the future? And if it does, I hope they don't tow the line and ask China to invest in a power generating plant in Calabar but actually tap into the immense and under-utilized power of the Nigerian diaspora. If people actually see results, I know that they will invest in it. Nollywood and the burgeoning music industry in Nigeria can attest to that - the profits are actually going into the hands of regular people. Chijioke in his stall in Onitsha market is making money because Jumoke bought Nollywood DVDs that were made in Nigeria and is now selling them from her Brooklyn apartment.

Besides complaining, what else can we do?

Further reading:
Why Haiti Matters Part 1, Part 2
Stop Trying to Save Africa

Araminta Ross

Bet you didn't know that Harriet Tubman changed her name from Araminta Ross, maybe I'm the only one in the world that did not know. I was googling this vintage shop - Araminta Rose and found that out. Love this dress, wish it came in my size.