You All Missed Out

This evening I attended an intimate mix and mingle with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie the author of Americanah. After meeting with her and other professors we went to Shwab for an information session in which she gave us background on her life followed by a Q&A. I was in awe of this woman. This beautiful talented well spoken woman. The way she carried herself and spoke was mesmerizing, like she could do no wrong. The narrative about her life was interesting but my favorite part was the question and answer portion because it wasn’t planned or practiced, it was fresh and raw. Her presentation to the audience made me reflect a lot on when we were giving our presentations, and the tactics we used. Adichies’ focus, her clear intentions, the flow of her thoughts, the volume of her steady voice, were all factors that made her talk phenomenal, but what is most important is her rhetoric. The eloquence of her words- although they were not prepared they were straight to the point and focused. She pointed out commonplaces in Americans lives, how things such as an entire isle in the super market dedicated to cereal is common for us Americans but foreign to her. She pointed out African American ideologies in our society, how she admired black Americans the most out of all black cultures because of the great lengths and struggles they have and continue to overcome. To every question she had an inspirational perfect answer and I could not have been more impressed. For those of you who started Americanah and hadn’t finished it, or those who didn’t bother to pick it up at all, shame on you because this book is something that no one should ignore. I encourage everyone to read Americanah as well as Half of a Yellow Sun, Purple Hibiscus, The Thing Around Your Neck and her Ted talks.