“Have you ever felt stifled by attention?” “Ever felt how raw and exposing it is to be surrounded by strangers who believe they know and own you?” “No, no. I have never.” “Haa. Are you shaking your head?” “Could I be the only one who has ever felt this way?” “C’mon!” “Hey, I am not trying to make you feel out of place” “don’t get me wrong,” “as for me, I love it when people…

If you are a book lover and haven’t been to this pleasantly old-fashioned bookshop, you miss the boat daily. I had visited virtually all the bookshops on the Island part of Lagos except The Jazzhole. I guess I was unconsciously saving the best for the last? I set up a meeting with a friend. He wanted to meet at The Traffic bar and restaurant Ikoyi. I suggested a first stop at The Jazzhole. Best decision…

“I want things kept this way” “the toothbrush stays here and nowhere else” “who moved my phone charger from here”.” it’s always got to be here, why don’t you get it?” “you have to suffer before you make money, things don’t just come to you” “Jane and John sitting in the tree. K-i-s-s-i-n-g. first comes love. Then comes marriage. Then comes a baby in the baby carriage, sucking his thumb, wetting his pants, doing the…

The saying of last things. This is one slot a terminal illness offers you that being run over by a bus doesn’t. There is no mourning with a bus. There are no regrets. The opportunity to be candid is totally gone. You can’t set the records straight. There is no time for openness. There is no later time to redress things. When you are hit by a bus, you can’t strip away the pretense.  …

“Mama, I can’t sit here,” I said, the corners of my mouth dragging downwards. “I cannot legitimise this …” Yassmin Abdel-Magied recalls telling her mother right before she walked out of Lionel Shriver as she gave her keynote address at the Brisbane writers festival. Lionel Shriver, an unconventional writer best known for her novel, “We need to talk about Kevin” was meant to have a talk on “community and belonging” but instead deviated and spoke…

Do you remember this thing they say about Silence being loaded with answers? Scam! And then they go ahead to tell you that silence is a source of great strength. You know what? That’s another scam. Look, except you intentionally want to abuse someone by giving them the silent treatment, don’t ever close your mouth when you should be saying something. What most people do not know is that being ignored causes the same chemical…

Have you ever been in one of those shaky yellow buses, whose tyres could barely hold together, swinging like the ‘k-legs’ of this guy doing a match past? Stuck in-between the door and a male man whose legs unashamedly occupy spaces, with his ears completely deafened to your pleas of ‘oga abeg dress well’. Tiny drops of salty sweats caked in specks of dust trickling down your face, which of course you do not take…

So for some time now, Donald Trump Jr. has been trolling the youngest female member of U.S Congress, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Just like his dad and other vicious Republicans, they continually ensure they never run out of insults for the Democrats. Dude went as low as trolling Ocasio with a meme that implied she eats dogs. Really? How pathetic are you? Once in a while, these name callings get to the Democrats and they too retaliate….

“There is no little irony in the fact that the man who was seen as the answer to populism has provoked the most high-profile demonstration of the populist rage Europe has yet seen,” writes Larry Elliott, economics editor of The Guardian 40-year-old Emmanuel Macron is the first president of France with no direct memory of what happened on the streets of Paris in May of 1968. And just like in 1968, some of the protesters…

How badly do you want what you want? I talk a lot about identity. I am so particular about it because I think it is important. Sometimes, you find out that it is easier to fantasize and daydream about being someone or something else. It is easier not being YOU. Why is it easier? Because then you do not have to deal with the shit and all the baggage that comes with being you. Things…