nigerianness

I didn't realize just how much so this applied to us Nigerians until recently with the fuel scarcity issue. The Statistician General, Dr. Yemi Kale @sgyemikale was reporting on the labor force numbers. He not only reported the numbers but also a brief explanation of how the unemployment numbers are derived...supply and demand. In comes the Children of Anger (coined by the eloquent Olufunke Phillips) interpreting the data with their trauma. Quickly, the data was influenced by Buhari and the govt. Anger took over and the value of the information was almost lost.

Nigerians have suffered traumatic experiences at the hands of their elected government. But it really is a case of doing ourselves. But for some reason, we remain in that traumatic place. The land may be fertile, the road paved, the flowers blooming, but we cannot let go of that trauma. Our entire identity becomes that trauma. We have trust issues and we panic. We don't know who we are, and we are content blaming and whining and complaining while submitting our request for a savior.

And I'm tired of the whiners and complainers. So I'll channel my energy on those who choose to be active rather than those who want to stay suffering.

nigeria's savior complex

We have a savior complex.

By we, I mean Nigerians. myself inclusive.
I try to catch myself when that happens.

We are looking for a savior. We are looking for someone to rescue us. That would be ideal, wouldn't it? Someone to make our lives better, clean our messes (and messes not ours), take out the trash, polish the place, and bring in new and comfortable furniture.

Except it's lazy. It is absolutely lazy with hints of entitlement. And we revel in that. We do it comfortably and with glee. We can look into the history of that for another day, but now that it has been identified (we probably won't admit it for another decade), let us try to do better. Let us try to curb it one step at a time.

So there is another fuel scarcity around year-end in Nigeria. That is actually a common recurrence. And the conversation, as always, falls on the savior we elected that ended up not saving us. Buhari needs to be critiqued and rightfully blamed for this.

But we? We also need to own some of this. We need to shift the conversation from looking for a savior to looking at what we can do. We need to own some of this. We need to shift the narrative from staying in the past and blaming the advocates of the leadership. Yes, #wetoldyou but at the end of the day we are in this mess together. Have your #wetoldyou moment. You told us and we didn't listen.

But are we going to move past it? Are we going to come up things we can do right this moment? Are we going to report those who are hoarding and overpricing? Are we going to demand accontability? Are we going to do something active other than the passive things we have always done.

And I legit just realized how much we live and die by this savior complex.
- family abroad, they should save us in poverty
- religion, God should save us
- politicians, they should save us

Everything and everyone should save us except ourselves.

Fool me once, shame on you
Fool me twice, can't put the blame on you
...
Don't save her
she don't want to be saved

No Role Modelz - J.Cole

Nigerians complain too much

I think this a lot whenever I read news articles, blog posts, blog posts about news articles, or even tweets about the going-ons in Nigeria. And I have to catch myself. In talking about and complaining about those who complain, I am also doing the same.

Nigerians complain too much
-- We are pointing out issues, concerns, worries, and problems in the society.
-- We do not know who or where to take our grievances in order to solve them
-- We may think we know how to solve them, but we do not know all the variables for an equation to solve them.

So what can be done? Well we keep complaining but with some order. Should people keep complaining, yes. They need to. Keeping silent does not help anyone. They own that narrative and they should write it. But what will be done with that energy?

Unkind Women/Unkind Ladies

Proclamation: It is absolutely possible for a korean drama to have bromance for women. What shall we call it? Sismance, sislove, womance?

Unkind Women has to be one of the best written and best-filmed Korean dramas about women I have ever seen. It is absolutely excellent. The writer is Kim In-Young and the directors are Yoo Hyun Ki and Han Sang Woo.

The drama blends traditional and modern very well without being apologetic for either. The drama has three generations of women living in a traditional-style house. The grandmother is a cook--cook vs. chef implies a difference, whether good or bad is for another day--and she made a living by cooking. She has two daughters, one of whom is a tv anchor and the other is working on getting her life together. Their lives are changed when their father leaves them for his mistress and ends up gone. Without spoiling it for everyone, this show really developed its characters. There was no lazy writing here. Even the issue of the father's betrayal is well developed as is the issue of the mistress. The focus is on the women and not-so-much the men.

AND THE WOMEN ARE DYNAMIC!!!

Do you know how rare it is to find well-developed female characters in kdramas?? Talkless of well-developed female villains??

Issues touched on:
- ageism
- platonic and nonplatonic love in elderly folks
- platonic and nonplatonic love in young folks
- one-sided love in elderly folks
- one-sided love in young folks
- abuse of power
- MENTAL HEALTH!!!!!
- the power of words
- the mental health of students
- the massive effects a criminal accusation can make on a young person's life
- looking back to the past

With the "massive effects a criminal accusation can make on a young person's life" issue, I recall something I read in my power and gender class. It is that a mere accusation by an authority or even handcuffing a child or student whether or not that person goes to jail or prison can have an immense effect on that person. It can foretell a person's life or stunt their progress for years or decades. That part really stuck with me.

Looking back at the past has become a favorite theme of mine either in the dramaworld or in everyday life. I want to know how life was in the past. With Nigeria, I am interested in precolonial life. I see a parallel with the actuarial field and looking at historical data.

Chika Ike's African Diva Reality TV Show S1 Ep1

Okay, having watched through it I think I want to make reviews or video reactions to these episodes. I'll start here.

1. I can understand why she titled it African Diva because most Nigerians, and other Africans, often refer to their countries as Africa. "I'm from Africa...I'm going back to Africa," etc. A more fitting name would be something along the lines of Bad Girls Club Naija edition which brings me to our lovely Isio De-laVega's post. I nominate Naija BABELs (Baddest Babes Ever Liveth). I will be tagging my comments #chikaike. I cannot bring myself to call it African Diva when most of the women are Nigerian.

2. Sahhnnnn....I didn't know Chika was all about culture and I love her for this. From the all-women dance group at the beginning of this video to the mansion decorated with traditional artifacts, Chika really wowed me and I did not hexperrerit. And her green outfit is gorgeous.

3. Yeah, we are going to have to define what a diva is or does. These women are entertaining. I am entertained. I love our own ratchetness. There is nothing like it. Love and Hip Hop, LA Preachers, Real Housewives, none of it compares to our very own ratchetness. It's beautiful. Having said that, what are these women's plans? Some mentioned their goals but it should be a requirement that the purpose of each woman's entry into the competition be made known, and there should be some challenge that shows that. Hey, notice I'm calling them women not girls or ladies...yeah XD

4. I have not seen such diversity in a long time. We have all women here: lepa and orobo, dark, light, and bleached, natural hair, weave, and braids, glasses and no glasses, varying age groups, and different personalities. Hey Chika, perhaps you and your crew should develop a casting agency, and I'm serious.

5. So this mansion has 5 bedrooms and one big bed. 1 bed for 5 women to share. And there is a mat. I love how realistic this is, I do. But they are strangers. How about bunk beds instead so each person has their own sleeping area. So many things can happen. What if one pulls a Mary Jane and wets the bed due to some psychological issue? And what about those surprise period stains? Worst of all, people exercising in their sleep. Look, I shared a bed with my cousins when we visited my grandma in Ajegunle but that was family. I believe there is room for modification.

6. You showed food!!!! I love korean dramas for many reasons: for the story (shoutout to tvN), the pretty people, the cinematography, the clothes, and greatest of all the food. I started going to korean restaurants because of kdramas. And when I'm on the train home and hunger is shoki-ing my stomach, I peruse instagram for hashtags of Nigerianfoods and that tides me over till I get home (boy, do I miss kpomo). So you see, thank you for that 5 second clip of jollof rice and salad, not let's do more.

7. I love the energy from these women. That intro was beautifully done. I can see their personalities, and they are comfortable with themselves and comfortable with one another. I really do like them, and I find them relatable. And they aren't camera shy. Speaking of which, are you guys cursed to never have a proper sound person? I know there is some physics involved when shooting indoors but if kdramas can perfect it...please ehn do something abourrit

8. They go to the market!!!!! Honestly, this is an excellent way to export Nigerian culture. And this brings me back to the "African Diva" point. Will you guys be shooting in other countries? And do not mention South Africa abeg? Togo nko? Gambia? Kenya? Namibia? Botswana? Rwanda? I know it will cost money but there are so many untapped potential for advertisers.

9. I forgot one thing. That intro...hmmm Aunty Chika. I was not there with you in labour and I appreciate your hustle. You are encouraging me to keep up with this blogging thing, as well as to keep going with school. However...you know, and I know, and I know that you know we know that you need to modify that intro a lil bit. Just a lil bit.

I like this venture. We see average Nigerians, and I am here for it. It is madly entertaining. I laughed..a lot...with the women, at the women...it was a ball. So keep it up Chike.

tvN Korean Dramas

Oh my goodness. There is a new favorite in town. Move over everyone else, tvN network is awesome and I really hope they are here to stay.

I like Korean dramas, otherwise known as KDramas, but after a while the ridiculous naivete, the hand grabbing, and the absolute disregard of the woman and for the woman in relationship setting was disturbing. Oh and the frozen face kisses and never hugging back. It was just simply too absurd. There is a reason It Started With a Kiss and My Name is Kim Sam Soon will always have a space in my heart.

So I watched I Need Romance and I LOVED IT!!!! I wanted to find the entire cast and follow their works, it was that good. Did it pass the Bechdel test, where women are in a scene talking about something other than men? I'm not sure. And that is unfortunate and it is such a good and mature drama. You have women being their own agency and making their own decisions for themselves, whether it is to try again and be hurt or to forgive and forget and move on. You have women deciding for themselves whether to kiss...I never realized just how big a deal this was much less to have sex. So I watched all three series and I am so glad.

Then I saw Dating, not Marriage. In addition to seeing actors I had been denying myself the pleasure of watching, my kdrama mind was blown. Every single thing was perfect, my goodness I have never seen a much more perfect drama. The writing was beautiful, the acting excellent, the every single thing, the subtle things, the major things, all were perfection. And there was actually characterization here not stereotypes.

And then came Queen In-Hyun's Man. From the first episode alone, I knew I was going to love this. I love well-developed characters and the true test of that is with the antagonist. It is not enough to make someone the bad guy, there must be a reason. Why are they the bad guy? There is always a reason. The leads were just amazing.

And the granddaddy of them all, the drama that was not centered on a romantic plot, the drama of all dramas Misaeng. This drama had my life and gave it back. I could only watch an episode a day because it was just too good. First is the casting. I am not used to kdramas having non-skinny/non-muscled actors playing a non-comedic role. Having the chubby coworker with the curly hair in the role he played was as groundbreaking as having a chubby Kim Sun-ah in My Name is Kim Sam-Soon. It was that important. And the way the drama was shot...the camera work was orgasmic. It was absolutely creative and beautiful. Then the female characters and their clothes and positions....sahn!!!!! You have a brilliant female working with a bunch of prejudiced men and she kept at it and was strong for herself, not strong to prove a point. I got to see the life of the salaryman and there were other languages other than English. So yes, this drama is not for the lighthearted, and I appreciated that it did not rely on a romantic crutch.

I just finished Heart to Heart and again I bow for tvN. You guys must have recruited the noisemakers, troublemakers, and outcasts from the other networks because you guys did not play! We finally have couples addressing matters in a mature manner. We have characters who are vulnerable and honest with their emotions. We saw the same in Marriage not Dating. We see complex characters not that saccharine syrupy nonsense, and there is actual relevance to real life. They misunderstand and resolve matters. They talk and deal with issues. They address their expectations of each other and sex is not some sacred subject that gets pushed aside. You guys did you research and now you have spoiled me for all dramas.

I await that collaboration with Nigerian film industry, and while we are at it let's have Chimamanda Adichie collaborate on a script eh?

Chimamanda Adichie

I like this person.
I absolutely like this person.

I truly admire her.
I do hope she has her own blog. The machine of her mind is simply fascinating.

She is brilliant.