Welcome to My World
“We must go back and reclaim our past so we can move forward; so we understand why and how we came to be who we are today.” (The Akan principle of Sankofa) Welcome to my online home. The posts, pictures and links reflect many of the things that are most important to me, the things…
Let's Tell Our Children
Today, December 6, 2013, the morning after Nelson Mandela’s passing, I posted the following to Facebook: “When I heard of Mandela’s transition, I was deeply saddened. Yet I was consoled by a memory of [my] Dad taking us to see him in Boston after his prison release. What an amazing opportunity and blessing! Just…
Crooked Smile
A few days ago, I saw the video for J. Cole’s recent single “Crooked Smile” (featuring TLC). The lyrics of the song and the images in the video made a powerful impression on me. About a year ago, a brilliant friend/hip hop scholar (Sid Marie Arroyo) told me about J. Cole and seeing this video…
My Oprah Encounter (Almost)
I was going to be the first Cape Verdean on OPRAH, so I thought… In April 2013, on a seemingly ordinary day, I was driving home from UMass Boston in rush hour traffic and I received a call from a Chicago area code telephone number. I immediately remembered that I had written an email in…
The Power of Oral History
For one month between December 2002 and January 2003, I was fortunate to travel to Cape Verde for the first time to do research. Talking to elders who I assumed were strangers, I soon discovered family among them. In the process, I uncovered layers of my own identity. I visited sites I had only read…
Behind the Veil
I am indebted to the professors and mentors I had as an undergraduate for laying the foundation for my career and for inspiring me with the idea for this endeavor. One of the first jobs I held after graduating from Duke University, was working as a Research Associate/ Office Manager at “Behind the Veil,” a…
The "Return to the Source" Oral History Project
A major part of this website, my “home” online, is to share the work that I’ve poured my passion into over the past fifteen years. You can move through various “rooms” that display the projects I have worked on or projects currently under way. One example is an oral history project that I developed as…