Introducing Thoughts Day
It’s been a very sad week for Nigerians, and to some extent the world. The Ethiopian Airlines plane crash took several lives including some of the most amazing minds. Professor Pius Adesanmi was one, and it has broken my heart in more ways than one. Two tragedies occurred on Wednesday: the building collapse at Ita Faaji and the tanker accident in Onitsha. May the souls of the departed rest in peace.
I didn't start this newsletter to remind you of pain though. I was thinking about feminism when the idea to start a newsletter came to me. I’d just finished re-reading Who Does She Think She is? on how women deal with harassment and how the internet is dangerous and misogynistic. I thought of writing a response, to sort of confirm the author’s point based on my experiences and the experiences of other Nigerian women. But seeing as fiction and creative nonfiction are my priorities right now, I knew I’d likely not get to it. Enter this tinyletter, for short thoughts and opinions on things like this. I’ve always done this on Twitter, but Twitter doesn’t feel as intimate as a newsletter. Also, the Twitter form can be pretty distracting.
I'm not particularly witty, punny or interesting but on my walk home from work on Tuesday, “Thoughts day”, a Thursday newsletter came to me and I thought, damn girl. (Things don’t always “come” to me, and this is not a sexual joke.)
So what did I read this week? I read and reread fiction from past Commonwealth shortlists and winners. My favourite was Ghilles Mum. I’m not sure what category of literary fiction it would fall under, perhaps magical realism? I enjoyed the way in which the subject matter—humans that can transform to animals—was treated in such a light manner, and how it subtly preaches acceptance. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
My friend sent me this podcast on a tragic social experiment in American history. It made me cry.
I did some research on Reincarnation for a story I was working on and learned about the Yoruba belief system in Reincarnation: Atunwaye, Abiku and Akudaya. The next time you meet your friend Yewande or Babajide, be sure to ask who they’ve come back as. Read an excerpt below:
Oh yeah, I’ve been keeping this little news to myself but it is public now: I’m a 2019 Short Story Day Africa Editing Fellow!
Unfortunately, I lost a war to tough ponmo today. Tough pornmo should be illegal in my opinion. We live to try again, aye?
Because I promised to keep this tiny, I won’t keep you any longer. Before I let you go, I recommend that you read this:
“Social media made me angry and anxious, and even the digital spaces I once found soothing (group texts, podcasts, YouTube k-holes) weren’t helping. I tried various tricks to curb my usage, like deleting Twitter every weekend, turning my screen grayscale and installing app-blockers. But I always relapsed.”