Actually, I can see where you are coming. There are times when I lay down at night and become overwhelmed with all of the traumatic things which occur around the globe at any given moment of the day and it feels like I can’t find the air I’m surrounded by. You are right, the death toll has reached the millions in the conflict in Congo and it continues to rise, people are living without a government in Somalia, the Ethiopian history which has been written in my lifetime has and is taking turns like the plot of a Tarentino movie, Haiti’s been pummeled with unimaginable tragedy for far longer than it has been in the news when it got hit with 3 consecutive hurricanes last year, my sister went to Sri Lanka after the Tsunami and came back to report about the countless families who went from 10-20 to one man sitting on a mound which used to be his home wondering what the hell is next…Brazil, Mexico City, California… So I think it’s fair to say that you are wrong in assuming that hair is all that preoccupies my mind. I write this blog to focus on social observations, not current events. And though I do think about other world events, I do try to widen my horizons so I don’t get into this narrow mindset from which this statement of yours must have been born. These..eh hem… apocalyptic… events you describe are not new in History. The day my mother heard the Haile Sellasie had been killed, she went outside to see if the sun was still shining. The last Native American who died to defend his/her world—can claim ‘apocalypse’. Ethiopia and all the other nations, peoples-species in this world have faced what they believed were “apocalyptic events” since the beginning of time.

I commend you for your conviction- though presented here in a tactless manner which actually detracts from the legitimacy of your passion. So, I will continue writing about social observations which are refractions of larger world events– like light through a prism which shows us a rainbow. And challenge you to see the connections… and continue to read and give feedback.

Still smiling because I’m thankful
Liya
Oh- And I didn’t just absorb this American culture. I am American culture. And I’m thankful for that, too.

And although you don’t know it, or fail to comprehend it. What Liya writes about strikes at the heart of the problem with our community. So to you, hair is trivial, but Liya is not writing about hair, she is writing about a complex. A complex which has enslaved us for way too long. This complex is the reason why Haiti is Haiti and why Ethiopia is Ethiopia, two of the poorest countries in the world begging for handouts. Maybe you should go back and reread what she wrote, and you will understand that Liya is not writing about physical appearances, rather a mental condition that enslaves the mind and the body.

Thank you Liya, and thank you EA4C for being a fresh of breath air, you continue to amaze me by writing about things which are often thought about as taboo in our community. In due time, your work will be appreciated.