May 13th, 2014 | by Veralyn Williams | published in Blog, Featured, My Two Cents
On the morning I heard about the 200+ Nigerian girls who were kidnapped at their Chibok boarding school by the militant group Boko Haram I was with guy I’m seeing, who happens to be Nigerian. We were listening to the BBC and he (basically) assured me this happens all the time, that they (Boko Haram) […]
January 20th, 2012 | by Veralyn Williams | published in Blog, Featured, Personal Essays
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 Veralyn Williams | published in Blog, Dating Chatter, 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 Veralyn Williams | published in Blog, My Two Cents
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 Veralyn Williams | published in Blog, My Two Cents, 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 Veralyn Williams | published in Blog, Dating Chatter, 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 Veralyn Williams | published in Blog, My Two Cents
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 Veralyn Williams | published in Blog, My Two Cents, 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 […]
Remember #BringBackOurGirls? This Is What Happened In The 5 Months Since
As I mentally prepare to watch and discuss #GirlsRising today– a film that portrays the lives of nine young girls from around the world describing the challenges they face being denied an education– I googled “chibok kidnapping nigeria."
On the night of April 14, 2014, hundreds of schoolgirls at the Chibok boarding school in northeastern Nigeria awoke to the sound of gunfire. They saw men in camouflage approaching and thought soldiers were coming to save them from a militant attack, …
My new essay explores how Beyonce’s feminist stance in pop culture helped frame my own feminist awakening:
“I am in my 30s and was emboldened by Beyonce’s feminist stance on that stage, and can’t help but believe that that image will be equally as powerful to young people who witness that moment, whose first engagement with feminism will be that moment. Maybe, just maybe, Beyonce will serve as the bridgebetween pop culture and feminists like bell and Barbara and Audre, maybe some young woman bobbing her head to ‘Blow’ or ‘Partition’ or ‘Flawless’ will do so while reading Ain’t I A Woman? or Homegirls or Sister Outsider.”
—FROM my new essay: My Feminist Awakening & the Influence of Beyonce’s Pop Culture Declaration
