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Here’s Why Grades Aren’t Everything
I’ve always loved school and had a natural affinity for learning in that type of environment, but through my stints in education and just talking to people, I’ve come to learn that not everyone has the same experience. There are people who HATE school, but due to the institutional and cultural pressures put upon us, still find themselves having to dedicate years of their lives (and savings) to a college degree. So, this post is for all my “Cs get degrees” homies and my “I’d rather be pursuing literally anything else” babes, but it’s also for the kids who put a jarring amount of pressure on themselves to get a…
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Sharing A Home vs. Living Together
I was fortunate enough to live (well) with my best friend for three out of my four years of college. People always say that you shouldn’t live with your friends but they couldn’t have been more wrong in our case. Kali and I blended our lives perfectly, and a lot of it happened without us even having to speak. We both loved clean counters, hated dishes in the sink and had to have our toilet roll going over and NOT under. We were a match made in roommate heaven. Kali and I worked to make our apartment feel like a home. Our trips to the grocery store were a chance…
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My Favorite Place in Zambia
After only a two-hour drive out of Lusaka, everything changes. The sound of cars disappears and is replaced with chirping birds and rushing water. The grey of the buildings becomes the green and brown of the earth. Nature takes over and reminds me why this is my favorite place. I’ve been visiting the Livingstone since I was a child. Whenever my family needs a break from the hustle and bustle of the city, we tend to venture south. Any place along the Zambezi River is particularly beautiful in my humble, unbiased opinion. Sunsets along the Zambezi are simply different from any others I’ve ever seen. It’s as if the universe’s…
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My Favorite Buildings In Chapel Hill
I am becoming increasingly nostalgic as I enter the final month of my undergraduate career. As a result, I thought that it’d be nice to dedicate a post to some of my favorite buildings in Chapel Hill. I. Carroll Hall Carroll is the building that makes me wonder why I pay rent. As the home of the School of Media and Journalism, it’s become my sanctuary. The majority of my classes (and my only all-nighters) have taken place somewhere within its walls during my time at UNC-Chapel Hill. The building is a tad bit confusing to navigate, but I’ve become an expert at finding short cuts, knowing the best times…
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Decolonize that mind, babe.
On September 23, 2017 at 2 p.m., I got the words, “Decolonize that mind,” tattooed below my heart and across my ribs. My mother freaked out when I told her, and my father went completely silent over the phone. Then I shared the meaning behind my decision with them, and it eased both their minds. During a visit to York in the UK, I came across a Jamaican bar that had words like Ubuntu, black love and black power posted all over its walls. It was powerful. Later that night, I posted a photo of that wall to my Instagram page with a caption that read, “Decolonize that mind, babe.…
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You Call It “Being Nosy.” I Call It “Being Curious.”
Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve always taken an interest in the lives of others. The main reason I learned my mother tongue was to be able to understand what my parents were saying about other people during our car rides. I was six…and they were shocked. My sneaky life-givers then moved on to using code names and ambiguities in their conversations so that I wouldn’t understand what they were saying. Though it was harder, I decoded each one, and would occasionally slip up by asking why it is that “so-and-so” did “such-and-such.” I remember that I was eight years old when I cracked a pretty complex code…
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4 Ways I’ve Embraced Change At A Time When Everything’s Changing
I’m officially at the point where everything in my life is being thrown into disarray. I’ll be graduating from college in a few months and I’ll be moving to a new city to start my first full-time job. I’ll have to make new friends and I’ll probably have to date (ew), all while doing my best maintain an active and healthy lifestyle. Through this post, I’m going to breakdown the ways that I’ve begun to think about and work through these impending changes. Maybe it will help you too. WAY 1: Learning to lead with love and not fear As someone who gets very anxious very quickly, the thought of…
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This I Believe
Last week, I was tasked with writing my personal leadership statement for my North Carolina Fellows Program capstone class. The program allows college students to define and enhance their leadership styles throughout their time at UNC-Chapel Hill. The only rules for this assignment were that the statement had to take the format of NPR’s “This I Believe” series, started in 2009, and that it had to be recorded in our own voice. Here’s what I had to say: For those of you who’d prefer to read it, there’s a transcribed version below. I was born to a mother who taught me that empathy is the key to life. She taught my brother and I…
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The Time I Got Sage Advice (From a Crazy Scotswoman) on the Train
I’ve been fortunate enough to meet interesting people in the most serendipitous of ways. This is the story about how I got some powerful advice from one of them. When I was studying abroad in London, I spent half my week taking classes at UNC’s Winston House and half my week working in Reading for Bullitt Group Ltd. The commute to and from Reading took me about an hour each way, and my rides home would often involve looking out at the sunset through the train window. I’d often get to Paddington Station for the last leg of my journey and find crowds of people all trying catch the 5.30pm train home. On one particular Thursday afternoon, the…
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My Journey with Mental Health
Today’s blog post wasn’t easy to share, but the purpose of having a platform and a voice is to use them to share stories, even the difficult ones… I was seventeen when I was diagnosed with Depression. At the beginning of my senior year of high school, my Wellness teacher had us all complete a Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). It was basically a form that we used to self-assess our wellness in order to determine if there was greater cause for concern or not. After reviewing our HADS results, she called me to her office. I had scored highly on both anxiety and depression. (This was not the…
