Mekdela

  Young Adult Books that Build Character I believe that the children's and Young Adult books I read growing up helped develop my character and personality. Many others have noted the power of young adult books to shape minds and values in children. This is largely why English was always my favorite and best class growing up: because I love reading, being transported into other stories and worlds, and most importantly, gleaning the moral lessons. I still love Greek mythology and other cultures' folklore thanks to English class. However, I first started reading when my Dad gave me the first Harry Potter book at 6 years old. I haven't stopped loving to read (or write) since. Here are the books that impacted me as a kid. 1. Harry Potter - 1st grade Well, this one practically goes without saying. Harry Potter was the gold standard for children's literature for generations, beloved by kids and adults alike. The books became a zeitgeist and sold exorbitant numbers around the w

  Pandemic Reflections: One Year Later It has been a year since the Covid pandemic descended on the world, I landed my dream job and wrote the blog post Post-Grad Part II . As one could imagine, a lot has happened in that time. I am happy to report that my dream job is still my dream job: I love working there and I know that I am contributing meaningfully to my communities, society and the world. I really feel that I am putting my education, professional and lived experience to good use and making a difference, as cliché as that sounds. That is very important to me and plays a big role in how I value myself: through my social contributions. While this world has always been a nightmare, between capitalism, imperialism, colonialism, racism, white supremacy, anti-Blackness, police brutality, etc., the Covid pandemic has been no different. It has (predictably) resulted in the deaths of mainly Black and Brown essential workers and  demonstrated what people like me knew all along: that privi

Muriel's Wedding Recently, when I watched the quirky 1994 Aussie film Muriel's Wedding   for the first time, it was just what the doctor prescribed. I wanted to watch it because I am always looking for positive representations of plus-size women. However, I was initially put off by the lackluster and downright offensive descriptions HBO has given the film. From HBO's website: "Toni Collette ("The Sixth Sense") is the "ugly duckling" of this "romping, bittersweet comedy" (The Hollywood Reporter) about an ugly, overweight and often inappropriate young woman who yearns to walk down the aisle...even though she's never had a date! It all leads to an adventure that is both funny and poignant." I, as well as many others take offense to the false notion that fat and ugly are synonymous, which a lot of thin people seem to mistakenly believe. Toni Collette in Muriel's Wedding (and now)   is not ugly just because she doesn&#

Post-Grad Part II When I wrote my first Post-Grad blog post I really felt like I had reached the end of the marathon to end all marathons and that the struggle would be unparalleled. Now that I am nearing the end of my second post-grad phase (after I earned my Master's degree in England), I now know that the post-grad struggle knows no bounds. I can say that my second post-grad phase was just as challenging as my first one: in fact, it was a continuation of it.  The start of my second post-grad experience is excellently summed up by this article " The Hardest Part of Traveling No One Talks About ." You are on a complete high and "then you return home, have your reunions, spend your first two weeks meeting with family and friends, catch up, tell stories, etc. You're Hollywood for the first few weeks back and it's all new and exciting. And then it all just...goes away. Everyone gets used to you being at home, you're not the shiny new object

What Decolonization Means to Me Decolonization means centering Black and Indigenous people Decolonization means acknowledging that anti-Indigenous and anti-African sentiment are synonymous and exist Decolonization means acknowledging that African and Indigenous people exist and are still subjected to colonialism, including in the United States Decolonization means recognizing and working to stem the national crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, MMIW in conjunction with Indigenous struggles around the world Decolonization means recognizing that the MMIW crisis is fueled by colonialism and the devaluation of Indigenous people that feeds misogynoir and violence against women, non-binary and queer folks Decolonization means remembering that African and Indigenous women are revered and central figures in many African and Indigenous cultures Decolonization means recognizing all of the ways the settler state was formed and still profits at the expense

Corporations in Popular Culture: iZombie and Catwoman "I'm a social worker, my health insurance covers like 2 band-aids a year" - Major, iZombie While recent CW show iZombie and the 2004 movie starring Halle Berry might not seem to have much in common at face value, this blog post will illuminate the common thread running through both stories. For starters, both the TV show and the movie are based on comic books (more roughly so in the case of Catwoman, which may have just lifted the character from the comic books). However, I chose these two popular media for this pop culture mash-up review because of their similar villains. And by villains, I don't mean zombie Blaine from iZombie or Catwoman's Laurel Hedare. I would argue that the biggest villains in both iZombie and Catwoman are their respective corporations. Both media feature a prominent corporation that is making people sick for profits and are going to great lengths to cover up their wro

The Good Place "In America, everyone does whatever they want [and] society did break down. It's terrible, and it's great. You only look out for number one [and] scream at whoever disagrees with you. There are no bees because they all died, and if you need surgery, you just beg for money on the internet. It's a perfect system." - Eleanor Shellstrop, The Good Place One of my favorite shows on television right now is NBC's "The Good Place." It's a hilarious satire of life in the U.S. and an imagining of the afterlife as illustrated through philosophical principles. Like the subject of philosophy itself, the show grapples with questions of morality and how one truly becomes a good person. The basic premise of the show is that the four main characters, Eleanor, Tahani, Jason and Chidi, are humans that died on Earth and went to "The Good Place." However, they eventually discover that they are being psychologically to

The South In America's imagination, version of history and popular culture, the South is both the boogeyman and a scapegoat for its worst sins. Because of the ("completely honest and unbiased") U.S. history lessons I received, I grew up terrified of the South, a place where danger was imminent for a Black woman like myself. Famous for the Klan, the Confederacy (and proudly displayed Confederate flags) and explicit racism, I vowed never to set foot in the South out of fear for my life. Despite this I did eventually end up visiting the South - I have family living in Texas. I have heard second-hand stories about what living with explicit racism is like - some of these stories sound like they are straight out of the Civil Rights era in my U.S. history textbooks. They are shockingly different from the culture I am accustomed to living in on the West Coast, in California no less. When I traveled abroad recently, I met Americans from all of the ot

Orthodox Christian A panorama view of the University of Gondar in Gondar, Ethiopia, where I am from I was raised Orthodox Christian in an Ethiopian family that migrated to the U.S. Even now, my Ethiopian heritage feels linked to my Orthodox Christian religion. However, this reality is difficult for me to articulate because of how the U.S. perceives Christianity and my communities. Here, Christianity is largely associated with the Western-Judeo variety that white European settlers brought to the Americas and around the world through colonization and slavery. The first Christian religion, Eastern-Orthodox Christianity, existed long before this and is said to have originated around modern-day Ethiopia, the location of the first human civilization in the world. This Christianity, traced back as far as 300 A.D., is said to have been brought to Ethiopia by Arabs, although I am uncertain of the exact story. Today, Orthodox Christianity is practiced in Ethiopia as well as Greece,

The Spice Girls From left to right, clockwise: Posh, Sporty, Scary, Baby and Ginger Spice standing in front of a glittery Union Jack flag On this blog I have published short non-fiction pieces, poetry, blog series (on Ethiopian history and my year abroad in England), and most recently, pop culture reviews of film, television and books. In honor of my third year as Scary Spice aka Mel B for Halloween (my favorite holiday), I am blogging about the mid-to-late 90s pop culture phenomenon known as the Spice Girls.  A photo of me as Scary Spice aka Mel B for Halloween, featuring dirty blonde curls, a choker and a leopard print catsuit. The Spice Girls, a 90s British all-woman band, is still considered the most successful girl group of all time (at least in the West). According to Wikipedia, they are credited with the second British invasion of the U.S., the first one being The Beatles (huge deal!). I remember growing up with the Spice Girls in the U.S. and going

"Obesity," the Medical Industry and the "Health" conversation I recently read a Tweet by a doctor (that happened to be both white and male) about how he can no longer remain quiet when people equate "obesity" with good health. The tweet contained pictures of the hearts of what are presumably two deceased patients. There is no explanation of their causes of death or the circumstances surrounding their deaths. "I don't condone body shaming. Beauty is skin deep but fat deposits go straight to your inner organs," doc says. Wow, my mind immediately thinks 1. Medical malpractice - who are these unknown deceased people, can one even consent to having your inner organs publicly shamed by medical practitioners in death, and uh-oh, I hope this Dr. didn't kill these people - in any case I would never make an appointment with him.  This Tweet inspired me to break down the hypocrisies of the medical industrial complex, which I wi