He exhaled, ‘finally, finally you said my name’. And of course she was like ‘what are you talking about I always say your name.’ and he said ‘no you never did’. That was the meat of the issue, but she denied the charge, so the relationship didn’t go anywhere. … More Prompt # 62 – alias
Being born, we don’t realize we’re stepping into history. We think history begins with us. … More Prompt # 20 – history
I collected the ‘used’ scraps in a Canadian honey jar. Make of that what you will. … More Notes from the Canadian Honey Jar
Habesha dudes usually open with: Don’t I know you? I said, “Have you met me?”
… More A Creature of Speed and Air
I find it super neat when I request my name, or some version thereof, for my username when opening a new online account and get the message that the username is unavailable. No way! Waaay! Awesome. Now that’s belonging. … More SD Vol 8: Username Unavailable
One of the stranger questions I’ve been asked in my life, on either side of the Atlantic: “Do you have human hair?”
… More Human Hair and Me
I remember the first time I ever saw a white person. That’s not counting the ones I saw on television and in the movies. They were about as real as all the other color persons I saw on screen. No, a real live white person, in the flesh. The memory, being a very early one, … More About Face
There’s something English can’t touch. Amharic. That is the conclusion we – some fellow speakers and I – recently came to over the course of numerous, sporadic conversations on the topic. We had these conversations in English, of course – with sprinklings of Amharic thrown in when the Other tongue just wouldn’t do – because … More Talk Amharic to Me
Picking up from where I left off at the end of After Addis 2, if the diaspora – either as a whole or just one keyboard-happy representative – were to talk back, it might come out something like this. I’m not saying that these things were said necessarily but that they might be said if necessary in certain … More After Addis 3
Continuing from where I left off at the end of ‘After Addis 1‘, on the seven phases of the seven trips of this brown astronaut around the planet known as Ethiopia… Phase 1: immediately following migration, a time of feeling completely at ease with myself, it not even occurring to me to change to adapt to the norms … More After Addis 2
