a thousand [and one] hills

a few weeks ago, i was listening to zoe chace interview ms. lauryn hill on NPR. it appeared as though ms. hill was back: performing again, talking about recording again. i took to twitter and facebook and tentatively shouted it from the various virtual mountaintops. my prayers to the gods of music had been answered: ms. hill is back. i had no idea, at the time, that on her journey back, she would show up in my proverbial back yard. a little over a week ago, i was standing backstage at a concert that i had dreamed of attending since i was about 17. as the announcer began his introduction, i stood next to ms. hill as she climbed the steps to take the stage at the pan african dance festival in kigali, rwanda and i had myself a moment, y'all. i suddenly snapped out of professional organizational mode and fully realized what was happening. ms. hill was back. and she was here. in the land of a thousand hills. if you had told me 15 years ago that this was even possible, there is no way i would've been able to fathom it. but a few brilliant people with a vision and relentless determination made it happen! and i bore witness.

this is the exact time negrita's brain realized what she was witnessing.

...read more here...

a thousand [and one] hills

linkitude

friday = awesome. it usually means i do some writing as well, but...well...my back is raging against me for God knows what, so i'm going to posts links to some food for thought that i've come across over the past week and then go lie flat in a darkened room. (shout out to the fug girls for the friday link idea)

• jina moore takes on the white reporter's burden in africa. i just started following her on twitter and then realized she had emailed me ages ago inquiring about a flat for rent. ah, small world. (jina moore)
  

• this is africa is looking for bloggers, vloggers, and coolhunters! where do i sign up? (this is africa)
  

• was just explaining black hair politics to a friend the other day, then came across this great article in clutch about the politics of hair in south africa. (clutchmagazine.com)

• and, lawd...bassey ikpi, like, TOTALLY GETS ME. i love her recent piece on the constant struggle of learning to let go and stop missing: emotional hoarding. (bassey's world)

• okayplayer (my first interweb home...ah, 1999) has launched the hugely impressive okayafrica! (okayafrica.com)

• the pan african dance festival in rwanda is on the world wide webs: official site, twitter, facebook, and blog.

• and, finally, a little bit of canadiana awesome: k-os interviewed by my SHAE sister, tastykeish on societyHAE & shad k profiled in the globe and mail.

happy friday, y'all!!

linkitude