Afro-pean

I closed Americanah three years ago. It was my first time reading a novel in which I could see myself through the main character. Just like the protagonist Ifemelu, I had struggled with my kinky, untamable, and frankly, impossible hair. Just like Ifemelu, I had been subjected to microaggressions from my peers. And just like Ifemelu, though I didn’t know it back then, I would also set foot in the United States three years later.

A few weeks ago, I watched Emma Gonzalez address hundreds of thousands of anti-gun protesters in Washington. I was one of millions more tuning in on television to hear her powerful six-minute, 20-second speech, most of which was delivered in silence as she stared fiercely ahead, tears trickling down her cheeks. The intensity of her rage, the righteousness of her cause, the incandescence of her youth brought back memories of a time 50 years ago when campuses across America were on fire. Like cicadas with a half-century life cycle, students were making deafening noises again.

Cuban dance choreography duo Osnel Delgado and Daile Carranza Gonazlez is back in New York with MalPaso Dance Company's second international tour at the Joyce Theater. Known for its innovative welding of Afro-Cuban dance and ballet, the Havana-based troupe made its international debut in New York last year. They presented "24 hours and a dog," a critically acclaimed piece choreographed by Delgado and set to music by Grammy-winning pianist Arturo O'Farrill that explores the fickleness of city life in Havana.