TWENTYPLUSTOU

Happy Kwanzaa! Habari gani (translates to what's the news) is the greeting for every day of Kwanzaa. There are 7 days of Kwanzaa and today happens to be one of my favorite days: Ujamaa! Ujamaa means cooperative economics. Giving back and investing in the community goes a long way. The other day I saw a few people talking about black businesses on Twitter and I felt conflicted. I was conflicted because people were saying how they don’t support black businesses because everythi

I was watching a documentary by Obehi Peter Ewanfoh titled Pan-Africanism: Testing Ideas on Reality when a Nigerian-Cameroonian artist named Dencia came on the screen. Dencia has created her own skin-enhancing line called “Whitenicious”. She said, “White means pure. It doesn’t mean white skin, but white in general means pure." Dencia is 32-years old. My close friend sent a message to a group chat that I am in with my friends who are originally from Detroit and go to Howard wi

I finished reading the stories of Ms. Ann Tyler's family dating back to the early 1800s last year in September. As a student, it's easy to complain about the mishaps of a university, but being able to work a Howard University Commencement with the 50th year graduating class truly has truly impacted my life for the better. I met Ms. Tyler at the 148th Howard University Commencement in May 2016 and instantly connected with her. A Howard graduate from the class of 1976, Ms. Tyle

Drink tea: Calm your nerves and have a sip. Add a little bit of sugar or honey and fresh lemon. Read a book: It helps when there’s complete silence, but if you need music, try to play something soothing like nature sounds or instrumentals. Take a walk: You can walk down the hall, you can walk down the street, wherever. Meditate: You don’t have to say “ommm” 30 times, but sitting with your eyes closed in a quiet place helps. Pray: Or call someone and ask them to pray for you.

Monday, August 1st I just boarded my flight for Egypt. It’s strange because I’m not excited as I felt when I was going to Senegal. I also noticed that I wasn’t very excited while I was in Harlem. I’m starting to feel more like a world citizen. My black body is floating from city to city and country to country. I am 18 years old and by August 2nd, 2016, I would have been to 2 countries in Africa. And I’m not done yet. I don’t know what to expect while I’m there. But I’m excite