Watching books and reading movies
I’m not someone who has to be convinced to read a book. My father, the consummate reader, was so incredibly relieved when I showed interest in books that he bought me a ton of books: African folktales like Eze goes to School, Chike and the River, Things Fall apart, Second Chance by Nyengi Koin, Weep not Child by Ngugi wa Thiong’o. The flavour of the books increased in complexity as I grew older. When I was 8/9, my father bought me the Young Reader’s Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, The Merchant of Venice, Hamlet, but curiously, no Romeo and Juliet.. Shakespeare was a challenge for me. All those betwixts, untos, and interminable Act 1, Scenes 2. I did not really understand Shakespeare at the time, or dramas. One might say, no one really does. But I was passionate about extracting all the knowledge I could from books. So I went on Encarta Kids, a predated, micro dosed version of the wider internet and tried to understand why Shakespeare wrote what he did. Because, my dad was fond of popping quizzes at me, to make sure I had actually read and understood the books. Poor man. It can be hard when no one shows interest in the same things that you do.
I kept on with my book reading habit as I grew up. Unfortunately, a lot of things happened during puberty, that I could no longer take comfort in solely reading about war, death, destruction, famine. I needed to take refuge in my books, so I became like so many other girls, I sought out the romance books, and left the thrillers I was so fond of reading behind. But that doesn’t mean I completely abandoned thrillers, I was obsessed with Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot, Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle, The Perks of being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, the importance of being Earnest by Oscar Wilde etc. There was this book list I followed religiously, until I didn’t.
I went through seasons, when I forgot that books were my friends, that I could watch a movie until I stopped worrying about the injustices of the world, how American anchors say, “Freedom isn’t free” when they’re celebrating Veteran’s Day or things like that. Exactly who is threatening your freedom, America? 😕 I honestly would like to know. You are the country the world has most to be terrified of.
You have kidnapped a sitting president of a country that isn’t even in your continent, and through backdoor deals, your president and his capitalist friends, plunder and control their resources, you drop bombs all over the Arab nations while your politicians look at the camera and call for peace to be restored to those same nations, you arm Israel, and Al Qaeda, and Boko Haram, and Isis, you install puppets as presidents in African countries of major concern to you, like Nigeria, where you also release information about a Christian genocide. BECAUSE YOU STARTED IT!
And because people are so desperate for relief, so desperate for help that will honestly never come as long as your puppet is still installed in Aso Rock and the top 2% of Nigerians are leaving the country in droves to become “second class citizens” in your country and others like it, you keep us on the string, telling us to watch, hope and wait. THE AUDACITY!
I just went through such a depressive state again, but I’m actively working on a faster reaction time. Before, I could be laid out for years, now I’ve gotten it down to within a week. Can somebody shout Hallelujah! My name is Obianuju Jennifer Ayalogu and I can do hard things! To celebrate my fast recovery, I watched a movie
about a book that has been on my list for so long. I fell asleep as soon as I cued the movie and I woke up in the middle of the plot twist, so I watched the movie again and may I say, it was so amazing! I know that random people don’t like Sydney Sweeney, but I think she was amazing as Millie, I really do. The men, however, were very charming pieces of furniture, easily outshined, and outclassed by the superior acting of the girls. I originally had trouble telling them apart. Two dark haired men, approximately the same height. It’s an easy mistake to make.
Any way, I hope a miracle occurs and things change, I hope danger keeps being far away from all of us, I hope we’re happy, with a president who reflects our beliefs, hopes, and ambitions. I hope we aren’t so ruled by our pockets that we take desperate deals made by people who only remember they are leaders when election season rolls around.
And I hope we understand the truth of this statement, now and forever more:
Calm down, every single thing will be fine. At least, I hope.
