Taking a Break from Instagram

 

A bunch of people live inside my head and I want to evict them. That’s how I’d sum up my reason for taking a break from Instagram.

A Raisin in the Sun Book Review

 

As short as the play A Raisin in the Sun is, Lorraine Hansberry, the writer wastes no words or characters. She aptly tells this story- develops characters and sets scenes in around 150 pages.

The Catcher in the Rye Book Review

Photo from Amazon

I finally read the renowned novel by JD Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye. I am so happy I decided to read it because I believe it rekindled my interest in reading. For the past two years I struggled to finish books but perhaps I needed to come across a book I genuinely would enjoy like The Catcher in the Rye.

The Trial by Franz Kafka Book Review

 

Ugh… I didn’t enjoy this book. My interpretation of the story is how elusive justice can be and how easy it is for power to be abused. I also noted how much perception can play a role in how we handle situations. For example, accessing justice was incredibly difficult, impossible in this book to be more frank. However, there was the perception that perhaps you should get a lawyer and you should be diligent about handling your case all while not knowing what your charge is. Your “defense” attorney is not allowed to be at hearings with you but there are some who trust that lawyers are working assiduously on their behalfs all while knowing getting an absolute acquittal exists only in theory.

The book also illustrates that when in doubt we can cast ourselves at the mercy of others. The priest nearing the end of the novel cautions K. not to be too eager to accept or seek help from strangers and not to be keen on people’s opinions but because K. is blinded by ignorance so he is desperate to receive the help from anyone.

Despite what I believe the story is trying to convey which I guess is powerful and profound to some extent, the story isn’t incredibly interesting. The prose other than the exchanges between Dr. Huld, Block and Leni is boring. The dialogues aren’t gripping. The characters don’t jump off the page as they do in Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. You also don’t get the impression that the meetings of characters in the book will  help propel the plot forward and will result in a new development in K.’s case. I guess that is all a part of the injustice Kafka describes… every effort is in vain.

It’s just not an interesting story.

Toni Morrison

If you are acquainted with my blog, you must know that I absolutely adore Toni Morrison.  The renown author passed away on August 5th. She is a Pulitzer Prize winner and the first black woman to win a Nobel Prize for Literature.

My sister, the Serial Killer- Book Review

Picture from Amazon

This is the first book I read for the year! Yay! It wasn’t that bad. After failed attempts to read through Toni Morrison’s Beloved and W.E.B. Dubois’ The Souls of Black Folks, I felt that I needed a book that would be more entertaining than thought- provoking. I have seen My Sister, The Serial Killer pop up on Instagram and it seemed to be quite popular so I thought I would give it a read.

8 Things Every 20 something year old Woman Should Have

Your 20s are very interesting years. You are truly embarking on your journey of adulthood and coming into your own. It is the time when many of us are building our careers, living on our own while trying to look our best.

I have compiled a list of things that have been of great value throughout my 20s which I think will be helpful to others. These are simply suggestions not laws.

It’s Ms. Morrison’s Birthday!

 

It’s my favorite author’s 88th birthday!

Toni Morrison was born in Lorain, Ohio in 1931. She is an educator and an award- winning author. Her first book, The Bluest Eye was published when she was 40 years old. Although, I don’t want to delay fulfilling my dreams, knowing what she was able to accomplish becoming a professional novelist later on in life is affirmation that there is much that can be accomplished at any age. In 1988, Morrison won a Pulitzer prize for Beloved and in 1993 became the first black woman to win a Nobel Prize in literature.

Why do I revere Toni Morrison? My February born sister? I love Toni Morrison because I cannot forget the feeling I felt when I was in my dorm room, reading The Bluest Eye. I felt like I was having an intimate conversation with a woman who had lived my life and could relate to how I felt about the different nuances which color the black experience. I wasn’t Pecola, nor was I Claudia… but the narratives woven in this single book somehow managed to feel relatable. I remember reading about Pecola being bullied by black boys, who used her skin tone as a characteristic to be met with contempt and Morrison wrote, “It was their contempt for their own blackness that gave the first insult
its teeth.” I was impressed at how eloquently she could describe how we have internalized Euro- centric beauty standards and have used them to damage our own people.

Toni Morrison has also explored the meaning of good and evil which sometimes exist within the same place in the book Sula. I love how she owns what it means to be human. She writes about the thin line between love and hate and humanizes the vilest characters which gives readers the opportunity tto learn more about what makes us who we are as people.

Thank you Toni Morrison for choosing to write and to tell stories which needed to be told. Happy birthday!

N.B.: Toni Morrison’s birthday is February 18th, the day I wrote and published this article. However, my posts are sometimes published with the wrong date for reasons unbeknownst to me.

Try Again

Photo from Inc.com

The year has almost come to a close and it’s a great time to reflect.

This year was okay. It went by quickly and I did make 2 major moves which ought to help me have a better life in the future but… I can barely remember in detail the plans I had. I know for sure I got a “F” for my 20 Book Reading Challenge as I did not even read half of that figure which means I read less books this year than I did last year. I got off to a mighty slow start and even as I told myself now would be a good time to do some reading as I have free time… I still have not taken the time to read. This year, I think I have been guided by the urge to gratify emotions as opposed to thinking of long- term benefits.

I also realize the importance of not only writing my goals as I always do but taking the time to review them and putting them in an accessible place so that I can constantly be reminded of them. Again, I cannot say this year was a fail because I know I have invested in two journeys which ought to pay off but there’s so much more that can be accomplished with proper planning. You never know what you could have done until you sit down and take the time to put things in place to accomplish your goals.

I am still steadfast in planning for 2019 and ready to pursue another reading challenge and prepared to continue pressing forward to greater things.

Be encouraged.

The Gargamel Out!

Photo from Hype Life Magazine

Buju Banton is a free man!

We all know by now he has been a free man for days, having been released from an Atlanta prison on Friday, 7th, December, a day earlier than his set release date.