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Eid

Honestly, this was the best Eid I ever had in years. The night before I pulled an all-nighter because I went to the tailor and the ninja didn’t even start my clothes. I wanted to drill his neck, but then again he was my father at the end of the day. While waiting for him to finish my dress, I bought a sandwich, cookies and a large iced tea from subway and a caramel frappe from Starbucks. That’s what you call post-Ramadan cravings. Around 3 am, he finally finished. All can say was, HE DID THAT! Gave him a high five for his great work. Love having a tailor as a father and a hair braider as a mother. Not paying them a single dime. Anyways, around 5am I went back home and washed my hair, shaved (my legs and underarms, I know what you’re probably thinking right now, I’M A GROWN WOMEN *Beyoncé voice*), ate cereal and caught up on Riverdale. 3 hours passed and I got dressed. Every Eid morning my mom yells at my brothers and I because we are “useless names of children”. But this year it was because the iron stopped working. I just left with my dad and that's why she missed prayer because she thought she was attending a fashion show.

After prayer, my family and I had breakfast at IHOP. The first breakfast you have after Ramadan feels so haram, at least that’s how my dad feels. We went and I took the best nap ever, woke up around noonish. Okay so around 5 pm, that’s when everything gets active. My friends came over to my house and got ready for the party we were going to later on that night. Everyone’s outfit was dripping sauce (it was nice). We got to the party around 7pm and took so many pictures. It was honestly great vibes and I wish to relive that night again. BTW i got 200+ likes on insta. I DID THAT!

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Immigration

Ifemelu has emigrated from Nigeria to America and so far her experience has been troublesome. She has to face the American ideals like race, which is something that did not exist back home in Nigeria. She also has the code switch a lot when she is around Americans so that she can gain her respect from them. The more American you sounded, the more educated you were and vice versa. In the beginning of chapter 17, Ifemelu came to a realization that she wanted to “stop faking an American accent...the accent creaked with consciousness, it was an act of will”(213). Ifemelu decided that her assimilating into the American culture was an act of will, which shows how immigrants are impacted to force themselves to try to fit into the American society. I believe that immigrants have a hard time fitting into the American society because they will always be seen as outcast. As Americans, we tend to make fun of people who do not talk, eat, dress or anything that is seen as the “correct way”. This then makes immigrants feel the need to change their lifestyles just so it could pleasure Americans. We need to do better.

Furthermore, the super, Jamal tells her that she sounded American. Ifemelu did not understand why “it was a compliment, an accomplishment, to sound American”(215). Without even knowing, Jamal rewarded her for becoming a true American just because of the way she sounds. This shows that immigrants who assimilate into the American culture are way more respected and known than those who do not.

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Horrors of NYC

I have a love and hate relationship with this city. So yesterday I was on the 2 train minding my business listening to music. Everything was calm; no beggars, no crying baby, no arguments and last but not least no snack man. Oh my god! Those snack men work my nerves. Always the same line, “I could be running the streets right now, but no i'm out here selling candy”. Like seriously, find another excuse on why you do not have a real job (let me stop lol). Anyways, I get to the 149th 3v station, and the train decides to go express. I love when the train goes express, we get to skip all dangerous stops and get to the civilized part of the Bronx lol. Now this is when things start to get bad. So we reach Burke avenue and some guy gets on the train. Now this guy looked suspicious. I don't know if it was because of the shades or the hair cut, but something was not right. Then the train stops moving and the conductor says “sorry for the inconvience, but we are under a police investigation”. Out of no where, this guy starts to undress. I didn’t know what to do because i never seen anything like it before.

Fast forward, we have a naked man in my train cart. I’m painicking at this point. The conductor says again “sorry ladies and gentlemen but we are under a police investigation”. I was hoping the police would come to my cart and investigate what was going on in that mans head. Okay, so it’s been 30 mins and we still at the same station. So i decided to get out the train and take the bus home. As soon as i leave the train and take one foot down the steps, all i hear is “stand clear of the closing doors please”. I tried to run back but i didn’t make it. Now i’m pissed off. I really hate NYC.

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The “N” word

The N-word was brought upon African Americans during slavery to belittle them in the American society. It was meant to put shame, inferiority and fear onto them as well. The N-word lost its meaning over the years and it is now used to represent friendship/brotherhood. However, the N-word is still very offense because before it was used by the black community as slang, white supremacists used it against African American slaves to show that they are the ones in power. White people took advantage of that power and began to use the N-word during violent situations to anger slaves. In my opinion, i believe that no one should ever use the N-word because black people suffered from white people using it against them for many decades. However, the meaning of the word changed as a representation for friendship/brotherhood. Therefore only black people should use it because slang started within the black community to have different words represent different things. The only time black people should not use this word is in music because they have white audience as well. Having white audience means that they will use the word and they do not deserve to use this words after 400 years of oppression they gave black people. The word with the “er” should not be used because of its context. “Nigga” is a new type of representation within the black community ONLY. It is used to represent many things like gender, ownership and brotherhood. The term “nigga” has a new meaning and it is okay to use, but “nigger” is unacceptable to use because of its historical context.

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“Race” in Americanah

The term “race” is a grouping of humans based on shared physical or social qualities into categories generally viewed as distinct by society. In Americanah, readers are allowed to see how race affected many characters in the book differently. Personally, my own race affects my experience of reading this novel because it forces me to sympathize with different characters. Race affects the reader’s ability to identify with Aunty Uju because she forces herself to assimilate into the American culture to be more respected by both her fellow Africans and Americans.For example, before she goes to her job interview, Aunty Uju knows that she must take out her braids and relax her hair because “Americans won’t find it professional”. Ifemelu did not understand why hair defined your intelligence, but it was a thing that Americans found important to define who you are. The overall significance of this is it shows how Aunty Uju must subdue her natural hair in order to be respectable by other American doctors. Furthermore, when Ginika and Ifemelu meet at the bus stop, they catch up on what they missed on each other. Ginika tells her that she might have a harder time with white people because of her “darker skin”. Ifemelu does not understand the things that would be offensive to an African American because she doesn’t think of herself as the same race as an African-American. However, to whites she is, because of her skin color. The overall significance of this shows that race affected Ifemelu and Aunty Uju because it automatically labeled them, separating them from their Nigerian culture because in America, black is black.

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Nappily Ever After?

What types of hair would be accepted in Nigeria?

So I just started reading this book called Americanah and I must say, the tea on hair is just getting hot. Okay so Ifemelu, one of the main characters of our book, goes to the hair salon to get her hair braided. The hair braider, Aisha, is shocked when she sees her because her hair was TOO curly ( if you know, then you know ). Aisha tells her “why don’t you get a relaxer?” and Ifemelu says “i love the way god created me”. Aisha knew she was bluffing and continued to look at her with absolute disgust.That’s when Ifemelu got those dark memories from the past: her mother’s hair. Her mother’s hair was “black-black, so thick it drank two containers of relaxers at the salon”. Ifemelu was a shadow behind her mother’s hair and she hated it. Hair, in the book Americanah, symbolizes western culture and a destruction of identity. Her mother becomes so conservative that she cut off all her beautiful hair and burned it (now that’s kinda personal, am i right?) It was like she found herself after she cut her hair because she was living a life that society forced her to live up to. The influence of western culture makes African women like Ifemelu, Aisha and her mother to be obsessed with hair, debating about what could be considered good or bad hair. Back to the present, Aisha ask Ifemelu what color hair she wants and she says 4 ( color 4 is like a reddish brown ). Aisha again looks at her with disgust and mumbles words under her breath. When she begins braiding the comb did not even go through her hair. Aisha yells as if its her fault. Looks like Ifemelu couldn't have that nappily ever after dream after all. Hair is a big controversial debate. In my opinon you should be able to style your hair the way you like without anyone putting their input about whats good or bad yeah. Yeah Aisha, I’m subbing you!