On the 11th day of March 1702, Elizabeth Mallet published the first edition of the daily Courant, the world’s first daily newspaper and from then on, news reporting has never been the same. The Courant was a single sheet with two columns, and adverts on the back. It carried digests of news from foreign papers,...
Dear All Men: Violence Against Women is Everybody’s Business
In April 2021, the world was rocked by the death of Sarah Everard. Sarah Everard, a 33-year-old marketing executive, left a friend’s home in the Clapham neighborhood of London at 9 p.m. on March 3 to make her way back to her apartment in nearby Brixton. The walk should have taken her 50 minutes. She...
2020: The Year of the New, Not Just the Year of ‘Doomscrolling’
When uncertainty strikes, can a search for adventure bring solace? One writer looks back at how trying new things became her way of coping with 2020. There’s a video on my phone of me trying to hula hoop at 1am with a glass of Prosecco in my hand. I’m wearing a mini dress with a...
Harry Styles on the Cover of Vogue Sparks Discussion About ‘New’ Masculinity
British musician Harry Styles was on the December cover of fashion magazine Vogue and this was significant for two reasons. First, throughout the long history of the magazine spanning about 127 years, he was the first man to grace the prestigious fashion magazine cover solo. The second reason was that Styles was wearing a dress;...
Why I Changed My Mind About Black Friday
Last year, on the last Friday in November, also known as Black Friday – a day that has its origins in 1950s America, when post-Thanksgiving shopping would turn shops’ balance sheet from red to black, meaning a return to profit – I posted a photo of myself on Instagram, holding a handmade cardboard sign with...
Africa is Not a Country: Dispelling Common Stereotypes and Western Narratives of Africa
In the year 2014, the African Students Association of Ithaca College in New York launched a photo campaign called ‘The Real Africa: Fight the Stereotype’. The purpose of this social media initiative was to educate and raise awareness about the common stereotypes surrounding Africa and its people; misunderstandings like Africa being a country rather than...
#CancelNetflix in Response to the Film ‘Cuties’: Too Little, Too Late
The hashtag #CancelNetflix recently trended on Twitter, and the reactions it has elicited from individuals across the globe is a clear indication that Netflix may have crossed the line. This public outcry for the cancellation of Netflix was in reaction to the release of the movie ‘Cuties’, and far from being another baseless example of...
Decolonising Creativity: Why is the Western Standard What We Measure?
ABUJA, Nigeria: In 2018, I attended the GTBank Fashion weekend on assignment for EWP and it was an amazing experience. The weekend did not just showcase the best of fashion from all over Africa, but there were also notable fashion designers from other parts of the world as well. There were panels, fireside chats, wholesale...
Binary Thinking and Polarization: Life is Not Black and White and Global Discussions Shouldn’t Be Either
Our world seems to be constantly in turmoil. When there is no outright crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic, then there are always contentious issues. Issues such as racism, capitalism, immigration, poverty and gender are constantly under discussion. Generally, these discussions are held to proffer solutions. Due to their near-universal and complex nature, one would expect...
The Pandemic Has Many of Us Appreciating What We Have; So Moving Forward, Will We Buy Less?
As cities around the world start taking steps to resume normal life, on some level, we all can agree that life can never return to the ‘normal’ as we knew it. Education systems have gone online; employers have finally understood that remote working isn’t so bad for their workers, conferences are now being held virtually,...
Why Billionaire Climate Philanthropists Will Always Be Part of the Problem
Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO and the richest man alive, recently made headlines after pledging to donate $10 billion to a new “Bezos Earth Fund” to help combat climate change. It’s one of the largest charitable gifts in history. Though details regarding the exact kind of work that will be funded are scarce, Bezos noted in...
Dear Eco-Community, What Are Our Goals for 2020?
A few weeks ago, ‘Climate Emergency’ was declared word of the year by Oxford Dictionary. Personally, I feel that this is a good way to end the year; a signifier, if any was needed that the message of the eco-community has transcended various borders to finally go mainstream. Generally speaking, 2019 has been a good...