That was great, thanks minifigs. posted by peep at 11:09 AM on July 6, 2011
The only "obvious" part to me is that it's an absolutely gorgeously-written piece.
Thanks - bookmarked for a less hasty read later. posted by Jody Tresidder at 11:12 AM on July 6, 2011 [6 favorites]
Yes, this was wonderful. I love how sometimes we are our own unreliable narrators. Beautiful essay. posted by mothershock at 11:15 AM on July 6, 2011 [5 favorites]
this was a very nice read, thanks posted by infini at 11:20 AM on July 6, 2011
It'll be pretty funny if he takes his wife's name when he gets married. posted by jeffburdges at 11:33 AM on July 6, 2011
It'll be pretty funny if he takes his wife's name when he gets married.
Not likely.
"Ahamefule J. Oluo has two children that he loves and two ex-wives that he hates." posted by HopperFan at 11:38 AM on July 6, 2011
This bodes well. Glad he learned these things early.
Cat's a good writer, a comedian, a trumpeter who digs Miles' Kinda Blue and Radiohead, and he's played with John Zorn, Wayne Horvitz, and Julian Priester. . .
how come I haven't heard of him before?
(Answer seems to be: he's in Seattle and I'm not.)
Woah, this essay was like looking into a funhouse mirror for me.
When I had my single lifetime conversation with my African immigrant dad, he too expressed "disappointment" with my choices -- I mean seriously, you just met your kid, and that's the first thing you do? "Lucky" for me, as it turns out he misheard me, and once we cleared that up, he was thrilled with the superficial yet socially acceptable thing he'd learned about my life.
He also tried to give me a ten dollar bill from his wallet within 10 minutes of meeting me. I had no idea what he was doing and was terribly confused and gave it back to him, which made him even more thrilled. It was only later that I realized he was testing me to see whether I was just in it for the money. Seeing as how he knew I knew he was a college professor because I met him by attending his office hours (yep), I'm not sure why he thought I'd think he was wealthy enough for that to be my main motivation.
And among the many, many other similarities between my life and Oluo's, my father also regularly lied about his age (but he didn't have a birth certificate, so he could get away with it) and he died in his 70s of diabetes.... I'm not going to get into the rest of the similarities, but wow... that was freaky. posted by lesli212 at 11:47 AM on July 6, 2011 [18 favorites]
Must add my voice to chorus. That was a wonderful (short) piece and it made me remember why good writing refreshes my soul.
(the footnotes gave me a laugh, too) posted by mer2113 at 11:52 AM on July 6, 2011
Why you should always spend as much time as possible with your children: the less you talk to them, the more of a negative impact you will have on their lives if you say one incredibly stupid thing. posted by davejay at 12:06 PM on July 6, 2011 [3 favorites]
It'll be pretty funny if he takes his wife's name when he gets married.
Great essay! posted by yarly at 6:30 PM on July 6, 2011
Asnider: why?
Ahamefule's dad gave him that name with the hope that his (the dad's) surname (Oluo) would continue. If Ahamefule takes his wife's surname, then his dad's surname would be discarded. posted by hootenatty at 7:07 PM on July 6, 2011
This is good. posted by bardic at 8:25 PM on July 6, 2011
wow, that was so good. Love his website too. posted by sweetkid at 9:05 PM on July 6, 2011
Yes, I was delighted by both the essay and the website. posted by jenfullmoon at 9:39 PM on July 6, 2011
Saw a book at Barnes and Noble titled "Behind Every Good Kid is an Awesome Dad," in the clearance bin.
Wasn't this obvious?
posted by nathancaswell at 11:05 AM on July 6, 2011