January 20th, 2012 | by Ms. Veralyn | published in Blog, Featured, Living Life
Originally written for Turnstyle News. It had been 25 years since my mom, Lois Williams, saw Freetown, Sierra Leone: the place she was born and raised, schooled, married, and had me, her first of three children. My parents left Sierra Leone in 1986, five years before the official start to the 11 year civil war that [...]
January 20th, 2012 | by Ms. Veralyn | published in Blog, Dating & Relationships, Featured, Videos
When you’re single and travel as much as I do, dating while away does not seem like a choice, but a necessity. When I’m in NYC (home)—between work, family, and friends—it’s hard to give 100% to getting to know someone new. But when I’m away, “getting to know” everything about where I’m visiting is exactly [...]
January 10th, 2012 | by Ms. Veralyn | published in Blog, Featured, To Do List
I just came back from spending 3 weeks in Sierra Leone for the holidays, and my feet have not recovered from all the dancing I did while I was there. One thing I LOVE about Sierra Leoneans (and most Africans in general) is we know how to have a good time! And I don’t care if [...]
October 30th, 2011 | by Ms. Veralyn | published in Blog, Living Life, Videos
SwitSalone.com just brought a very disturbing documentary to my attention, Vice Travel Guide to LIberia. As part of their on-going “Vice Travel” series, VICE took their cameras and money to Monrovia, and made an hour-long film. Vickie Remoe, SwitSalone: If you ever wanted to get an impression of what some white middle class American men may find interesting about Africa then this [...]
October 29th, 2011 | by Ms. Veralyn | published in Blog, Dating & Relationships, Videos
After reporting on, “Safe Sex: Are you having it?”, I started to think about the first time I received the message that if I was going to have sex- it NEEDED to be safe sex. And I remember getting that memo at 10 years old, listening to Salt-N-Pepa’s “Very Necessary” album. The last track was a [...]
September 7th, 2011 | by Ms. Veralyn | published in Blog, Living Life
This past weekend I attended the Krio Descendants Union Global “Family Reunion” [See pictures here]- a weekend all about celebrating the culture and heritage of Krios, which is an ethnic group in Sierra Leone. An ethnic group that biologically I belong to, but one I had nearly no idea how it separated me from [...]
August 28th, 2011 | by Ms. Veralyn | published in Blog, Living Life, Videos
In case you don’t know I was born in Sierra Leone, was moved to America as a baby, and did not get my green card until I was 20 years old (hear my story here). And as soon as I got my legal status here in the U.S.– I booked a flight to see my country of [...]
March 24th, 2011 | by Ms. Veralyn | published in Blog, Dating & Relationships, Videos
Is a successful career at odds with a successful relationship? During my last trip to my birthplace of Freetown, Sierra Leone, I wanted to see if educated African women face the same dating challenges as their American counterparts. Listen to what I found: How do you define being independent? What do you make of what [...]
How many times have I told you, you have to be what?
This eternal struggle to remain a writer is getting real. I want to write. But instead of just writing, I make lists of what I should write about. (sigh) So… I’ve decided to turn my tumblr into my on-going stream of consciousness. All ideas welcomed. Very little filtering. Though as always (as most-days) I will think before I post. :)
