Paidion Coalition

Obi Asika tweeted this video a while ago. The documentary is too powerful to not have its history lesson written out. So, I spent three hours transcribing its message. I hope you read and share this post or the video itself. It is important that we learn our past in order to craft out the future we dream, seek, and criticize our leaders about.  Next year, it will be a hundred years since the amalgamation of the Northern and Southern Nigeria into one country. Was it worth it or was it a mistake?  

Lost Girl Synopsis: This Canadian science fiction beauty and my current obsession tells the tale of supernatural seductress succubus Bo, who feeds off both people’s sexual energy and life force (chi), and her various friends in the fae community. The series basically runs around Bo’s search for her identity – for she had been abandoned at birth by her biological parents and her foster parents/experiences were not  exactly poster board material –, ability control, and her hero ego – she has this constant ache to help both humans and fae.  Fae  are supernatural beings with extraordinary powers predating the rise of humans who usually keep themselves hidden, and have worked hard to make humanity believe that they are just myths.

In The Magic Toyshop , Angela Carter tells of scenarios of how and why women tend to be dependent on men. In doing so, she explores the subjectivity, victimization and sexuality of women. Melanie’s reliance on her father, Uncle Philip, and possibly Finn, is reminiscent of the women in her life and suggestive of the societal values of her time. In the beginning, the reader experiences Melanie's discovery of herself  –  as a creation made of flesh and blood, and as a sexual being (1). She imagines herself as a nude model for Lautrec and sees her self-worth in the appreciating gaze of a man and not in her mental prowess.

Note: I wrote this post over two years and five months ago but never published it until now.     I must tell you that this post is in response to Glory Edozien's article, Addicted to Love . Now as I read the article, my emotions ran amuck, from wanting to shout 'yes!' to 'preach it' to 'steady there, not totally so.' Gloria professes that love between a man and a woman is totally non-existent and that love between a mother and her child is basically the purest of love in itself. I agree, to a point. Love is real and tangible, and it is feasible between a man and a woman. Couples can make their love work and long lasting. However, I believe our problem most times is our fundamental definition of love. 

           The constant use of magical realism in  The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao  caught my fancy. Now, I have read some magical realism stories and they were either the classic vampire/witch/werewolf story or just one event that had trace of magic in it like "The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. But, it is not so in The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao . If it was just the “fuku” that is just portrayed in the novel, it would have been different. Rather, other magical encounters were recounted in the book to make it more authentic and provide the feeling of a rich culture. Now, I come from a culture that has its share of magic too. This made me see the book, as not just a story but also a biography of a young boy in an exotic culture.

      To be or not to be is always the basis of contention in all humans. In the case of Flush , the debate seems to be whether it, meaning Flush , fits into the literary canon- the modernist canon to be exact. The literary canon, according to Kershner, is “the accepted academic list of writers to be studied” (39). Therefore, if what is accepted in the literary canon is determined by a group of people, acclaimed critics of that era, then what is actually the criteria for such distinguished badge of canonical status? Is it the relationship between the work and the historical, or the artistic and social context of the era the work was published? Or is it being relevant to the changes, experiences and context of the writer, public and the supposed law on canonical issues?