New year, New Me?

Hello everybody!, I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday and preparing for the New year because I certainly am. So guys, let me just pour out my heart to y'all, this is my second time writing this post because the first time my laptop internet crashed and everything I wrote was gone by the time I fixed it 😓.  So after a minute of sheer horror and annoyance I decided to compose myself and start again because this is a lesson *copy and paste all draft onto another place*

Before I also get into today topic I wanted to Thank everyone who have been supporting me whether it is re-tweeting, reading my blog to just encouraging me. I honestly appreciate it because when I started writing this blog, I only started for my own pleasure. In all honesty I didn't think anyone would read it or care so I get surprised whenever someone encourages me or say what I've written is good *cries*It's Beautiful THANKS!!!

Somewhere in Canterbury 

Anyways enough of the emotions, today I thought it would be great to do a little conclusion to my year and what I hope to gain and achieve in the new year. As were going into a new year, we all have expectations for the year to comes, goals we want to achieve, or new adventures we want to take on in the year to come. This can involve becoming more healthier,taking an initiative in starting our careers or just simply meeting new people. However, It's one thing making these resolutions but the whole purpose is the act of sticking to them and following them throughout the new year. Now, I won't lie I have never been the person to actually stick through with some of my resolutions. For example, this year I made myself the goal of being more healthier both physically but also mentally with my mindset. Although, I'm becoming more healthier in my mindset as I've gain more self-confidence in myself but also motivating myself more in things I do. The other part of my resolution did not last longer than 2 months. After a few weeks of eating healthy and exercising by April I already forgot about my goals for the year and was enjoying a packet of custard donuts on a weekly basis. 

So I thought this time around instead of just saying what I'm going to do in the new year, I think it would be best to also write it not just in my diary but in my blog. This way I can't go back on my words or forget my goals  but instead writing about it on my blog means I will be doing updates throughout the year on how I'm doing at the end of each month. This means I can't be a hypocrite and I will have to stick through with these goals 

So here are some of my goals for the 2017!

Turning 20














One of the big things that I'm looking forward to next year is turning 20. For some people being a year older isn't a big deal, it is just the process of life but for me it's a testimony in itself. Most importantly, it means I'm moving unto a new stage in my life. Although this is quite scary to think of as your 20's are seen a definitive period in your life. It is when you are expected to build the foundation of your life and who you aim to become. So to prepare myself to turning 20 I thought one of the things I'd love to start doing is putting myself out there. This means  taking the initiative in doing things that will take me into a career, making memories in my life, becoming more comfortable in taking risks but most importantly actually starting to build a strong foundation for myself. A few months ago I began writing a number of poems and bible scriptures which inspire me as a way to motivate myself everyday. Later on in the new year I will be writing more about my personal goal for my 20's.

Managing my finances
















This isn't a goal but more of a instruction to myself. This year has been financially constraining for me especially being an international student. The fact that i am an international student means money comes and goes like the wind and I don't have the expectation of having money in my account at the start of every term. However with this in mind, I wasn't very good at knowing my limit and sticking to it until a few months ago. So to avoid making some mistakes I made this year I recently got a job to start supporting myself and made 2 savings for myself-one for emergency and another for just saving. This way I can avoid spending aimlessly and become more organised.

Building a stronger faith 

This year I decided to begin a renewed journey into building a stronger relationship with God. This wasn't because I lived a different life before or anything that major but I lacked   an understanding and knowledge and with this came a disconnection. So for the New year I want to carry on with this journey into becoming more knowledgeable about the word of God, reading more self-help books ( if anyone has any suggestions please do let me know),but I've also decided to get a new bible. Although I currently read the King James version I prefer the translation of the New internationall version as it's much easier to understand so I will be getting a hard copy.


Reading a book once a month



Questions for Ada Ijeoma Umebinyuo

One of my key goals for next year is reading more, most importantly reading a book for every month of the year. So in order to fulfill this goal, I aim to read a book for every month next year and do a review of the book or a subject on my blog. This will not only help with my consistency in writing but will help me to become more disciplined in reading outside the reading list for my degree. For January I will be getting a copy of Questions for Ada by Ijeoma Umebinyuo which contain a number of poems by the author and I'm quite excited not only because I love poetry but also I've heard the book is amazing 

Being more healthier

So as mentioned before, being more healthier and happier was one of my key goals for 2016 and although I am becoming more happier within myself the healthier part was long forgotten until September when I went running with my amazing housemate once. So, I thought this year instead of lying to myself about being healthier and not doing anything it's better to start documenting my progress and I've decided to start running. This is not only the most effective way for me to being more active as I enjoy running and walking but these are cost free ways of being healthier. Especially being a very cheap person, the thought of about paying almost £200 for gym membership at my university was just hurting.


Here are my goals for 2017, by this time next year I want to be able to do a round up of how far I've come in achieving these goals as well as other small ones I have that are not listed. 

Let me know some of your goals for the new year and how you aim to achieve it x 

Happy new year!

Social media 

Twitter🐦: @sheisacrown
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Back and Better

Hey guys, so back at it again,  after 3 month of a "break"  I finally can take my blog seriously. These past few months to say the least have been quite hectic for me from beginning 2nd year in univeristy, being president of a society, starting a new job to just personal life I truly have not had time to actually write which is quite sad as i've missed writing for my own pleasure. But things about to CHANGE. 

So as were going to a new year there are so many thing that I want to achieve and do in the new year, Whether it is in my personal life, University or just in general with my blog. In the next few weeks I will be organising myself ( being organised has not always been my strength) and I will share the different ways I will be doing this with what to also expect from me. 

 At least if I write about it, it's documented somewhere and I can't go back on my words :) 

Is the UK innocent?

Photo: Neil Kenlock

                                                                                                                                                                                       

Hey guys!, so today post came from a very long conversation with one of my long time friend about the Black Lives Matter movement in the UK. Most importantly the #ShutDown in London, Manchester, Nottingham and Birmingham which marked the anniversary of the death of Mark Duggan. This saw protesters blocking roads near Heathrow in London, halting M4 traffic and their actions resulted in mixed emotions with those, like me, who saw the protest justifiable regardless of how they choose to protest. The fact that people were taking action to raise awareness that there is an issue in the UK and this not just a US problem. However, there were those like my friend, who argued that Black Lives matter had no place in the UK because "the few situations of police shootings we have in the UK are being capitalised and blown out of proportion" and after long exchanges of me explaining there is institutional racism in the UK and this is more than police shooting but about immigration, treatment of Blacks and ethnic minorities in healthcare, the Criminal Justice System, employment & Education. Ultimately, I decided it would be best to voice my thoughts in the best way I can. So this week I will be talking about whether the UK needs a black lives matter movement or whether we live in a post-racial society and these protests are just blowing things out of proportion. I will make sure to keep this post as short and sweet as possible as I'm still going to touch on this topic later on.

To begin with, I think it's worth giving an explanation of what the Black Lives Matter Movement is, what exactly it stands for and why its place in the UK. Black lives matter began in America in 2012 after Trayvon Martin's Murderer, George Zimmerman, was acquitted. This meant he was free from a criminal charge for the unlawful killing of an innocent boy who had not committed any crime, wasn't armed but was targeted by Zimmerman who labelled him as 'suspicious'. Trayvon, like others before and after his death have been killed for 'walking while Black'. Ever since then, there have been many more deaths at the hand of the state, not only from police brutality but the lack of acknowledgement for Black lives in the system.As a result, there those like Eric Garner, Sandra Bland, Philando Castile, Tamir Rice, whose names will always be in our memory while there are those whose names and stories we will never know. 

media diversified

Being Black and a Nigerian Immigrant living in the UK, I can understand the need for a voice in the UK. Personally, i've experienced hostile situation from being attack and bullied after I moved to the UK,being told last year I wouldn't be eligible for student finance just because I am immigrant or the instance where my own mother was called a 'slave' by one of her clients because she refused to engage in unprofessional manner with him. So, I can understand the actions taken by Black Lives Matter UK against systemic injustice. 

Historically in the UK, race relations amongst whites and non-white hasn't always been great as shown from the treatment of Black soldiers who fought for Britain, African/Caribbean immigrants during the Windrush era till today especially the recent brexit vote which saw a surge in racial violence. However, it seems we are made to believe that we live in this post-racial age far from the days of Enoch Powell and the Teddy boys but this isn't the case and it is very clear there is a lack of discussion on racial inequality amongst whites and ethnic minorities. Issues of racism has been confined to the US and the fact that racial inequality is deeply entrenched in the system makes it easier to normalise issues of racial injustice in the UK. This can be shown by the lack of coverage on death in police custody, lack of reporting of racial violence, but also the lack of education on racism in the UK. As a result, many of the victim's police brutality and systemic injustice such as Joy Gardner, Mark Duggan, Sean Rigg, Sheku Bayoh, Sarah Reed, Mzee Mohammed, most recently footballer Dalian Atkinson and much more are forgotten with their families left to fighting for justice. in addition, there have been many reports which have mentioned time and time again how institutionally racist the police force. An example is the failure of the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) who have shown complicity with the police overtime in their investigation of these cases and of the 509 black and minority ethnic people who’ve died in state detention since 1991 not one person has been held accountable and we still don't know what happened to those who have died at the hand of the state. 

This institutional racism is also shown by the disparities in the criminal justice system, healthcare, housing, employment amongst whites and nonwhites. According to the Institute of Race Relations,people in BAME communities are over-represented at almost all stages of the criminal justice process, disproportionately targeted by the police, more likely to be imprisoned and more likely to be imprisoned for longer than white British people with approximately 25 percent of the overall prison population from a BAME community. More recently, after the death of Dalian Atkinson it is reported that Black people were 'three times more likely' to be tasered than white people. Its clear that Government officials and even the public in general tend to overlook these disparities maybe due to the fact that ethnic minorities only make a small percentage of the population whilst the majority race are white. So issues affecting ethnic minorities become unimportant and make it difficult to have these discussion as we are either silenced by the majority or told that things are just being blown out of proportion.

At the end of the day, its important to understand that issues concerning racism aren't just a US issue but are of concern in other parts of the world. It is also important that we do not discredit Black voices in the UK who have been speaking out against police brutality, racial violence, workers exploitation and immigration controls way before the Black Lives Matter protest. It is time we, whether Black, Asian or even White in the UK start to have these conversation on holding the police and government accountable in order to get justice. In addition, its also time for us to start educating ourselves about the system and dismantling white supremacy, to be strategic in the ways we seek to gain change, but also standing in unity with each other whether its at home or abroad. 

The only protection against injustice in man is power: Physical, financial, and scientific - Marcus Garvey 

Ebb and Flow

Hey guys, so this month I thought I would write about something quite personal to me that I've somewhat struggled with during my teenage years and this struggle has to do with faith and my relationship with God. This inclination to speak about my faith  is not something I'm used to especially speaking out loud to other but I feel this is an issue most young people go through especially during our teenage years as we go through a number of changes physically, mentally  but also spiritually and with these changes are also the ebb and flow of our relationship with God. This is something I've struggled with especially beginning university this past year which allowed me to question my faith and spirituality and I'm sure I'm not alone in this. So I thought, I would write about the ways I've started to build my faith and renewing my spiritual life. I hope this can help someone who may also be struggling with a constant ebb and flow especially as we are getting to the last few months of the year, it would be amazing finishing this year 2016 with God on your side and entering the new year on a good note.

Have faith

Fear is one the weapons the enemy will use to pull you down and I can say that I have certainly let fear take over in my life. In the past few years, I've found it difficult overcoming fears in my personal problems and this inability to overcome my fears left me confused and questioning my faith. One thing I've learnt through these times of fear is that these moments aren't forever and in times of loneliness or confusion it's always wise to have faith and pray that God pulls you out of whatever traps you are in. This mean praying without seizing, meaning you just don't pray once about something but if you really want answers you have to be persistent and through that persistence in due time you will get an answer. As obvious as it sounds this is something i feel we sometimes forget to do instead we try to solve problems ourselves as soon as possible rather than having faith and leaving it all in God hands to take control. Here is a article that speaks more about overcoming fear that helped me https://www.joycemeyer.org/articles/ea.aspx?article=the_key_to_overcoming_every_fear

An accountability partner or group 

Being someone who is quite optimistic and  talkative to everyone, I've found it difficult opening up about my feelings and most importantly on my ebb and flow in faith. This is due to the fear of being judged or ridiculed by others and I know this is a common feeling with most people. Although there are those who have someone to mentor them through their time's of worries and confusion; there are others, like me, who may not have a mentor or a support group around them to guide them on the right paths. However, through getting an accountability partner or group I would advocate to ensure that you don't put confidence in the wrong companions but to surround yourself with  those who won't ridicule or judge you but will love and support you rather than those who will pull your spirits. These are the wrong companions that you must guard the doors of your mouth to ( Micah 7:5). That is why it's important to surround ourselves with likeminded people who have the intentions of  drawing you closer to God rather than letting you indulge in the wrong things

Changing your mindset 

This is an advice I had to learn the hard way by myself. Truthfully, I am someone who doubts my every action and every time I decided to stop relapsing and actually commit myself to walking with Christ, I would still doubt whether I was worthy enough, whether I could stand with Christ without falling back into worldly things but also constantly comparing myself to others. It's these mindsets that stopped me from actually making a commitment because when I did fall back to my old ways of not praying, reading the word of God or indulging in sin. I would simply live in my wrong ways rather than getting back up and this mindset also affected my actions in real life situations. However, what I've learnt is the fact that walking with Christ is a journey from understanding the word, finding yourself and going through a growth spiritually. Therefore, It's your choice whether you want to start this  journey to achieve the end result (The kingdom of God) or give up with questions of what if I did and if I didn't.

I really hope this speaks to someone :) x

Events showcasing Black Culture this summer

So I'm back, after months of procrastination I finally have the time to dedicate to starting this blog. Since this is my first post, I thought why not share some of the events that I will be attending this summer which celebrates Black culture. Hopefully, some of these events are of interests to others and I advocate we all try to support the work of our brothers and sisters. 

Raphael Albert Miss Black and Beautiful 8 JULY - 24 SEPTEMBER 2016 @ RIVINGTON PLACE

Autograph ABP which is based in London where it runs a photography gallery and a programme of talks and educational activities. They showcase artists and artwork which draw attention to cultural identity, race, representation and human rights. Amongst a number of exhibitions that will be on show, I will be checking out Aida Silvestri: Unsterile Clinic, which raises awareness on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and photographs by the late Raphael Albert who documented numerous black beauty pageants and other cultural events in London. So while out and about in London make sure to check out Autograph ABP and amazing work they have on show.

The Hard Stop in Cinema 15 July

We all remember the killing of Mark Duggan in 2011 which shed a light on misconduct in the police force. His death sparked the 2011 London riots in several London boroughs and in cities across the country. The Hard stop documents the life of Mark Duggan from the perspective of  his friends and family and follows their lives and how they are coping with the death of Mark. it essentially presents a narrative of Mark Duggan away from the media portrayal of his death and the aftermath. Hard Stop is out in cinema  15th July and I definitely know I won't be missing it. 

The Black Market & Film Festival

The Black History Studies are amazing and applaud them for all the work they do to showcase and educate on black history. I would advise everyone to check out their website (http://www.blackhistorystudies.com).  This summer they are organising The Black market & Film Festival on July 30th. I already know this will be a momentous eventful day which will involve a number of activities from a number of film screenings to opportunities to support black owned business who will have stalls showcasing their products. The festival is £6.50 in advance or £8.50 on the door so don't forget to come support and educate yourselves.

I am so excited for Africa fashion week as I wasn't able to go last year so I'm really looking forward to seeing the great lineup of designers showcasing African inspired fashion. Tickets are £20 for standard and £40 for VIP which I think is worth it from what I've heard as its a great atmosphere to be as your able to network and meet new people. Most importantly you have the opportunity to buy products by black-owned business which is GREAT!. 

Other events to keep in mind

Time Travellers to Crop Pickers by Alvin Kofi explores the ancient cultures of Africa; examining the origins of our food and the many women who and harvest them. 

Black Chronicles Photographic Portraits 1862-1948: 18 MAY - 11 DECEMBER 2016  @ NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY.

Africa Art Showcase  ON FRIDAY 29 JULY 2016 @  THE UNIT GALLERY IN HACKNEY. the exhibition will be featuring a unique selection of artist from Zimbabwe,Nigeria and Sudan.  

Comment below if you know other events to check out this summer :)