2024-03-28 20:18
Another Book of the Month! Welcome. The book of this month is My last Innocent Year by Doris Alpert Florin.I'm going to start out by saying, I first heard about this book on TwoNightStands… Read More
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The Modern Cedar Blog
themoderncedar.com
My ultimate goal for this blog is for everyone who visits to leave feeling a little better than they came.
2024-03-17 15:26
There is a dream. There are even multiple dreams. And then reality comes and blows the dream so out of water, so out of bounds.It started with a whisper after dinner, once, when she was like… Read More
2024-03-09 02:09
Call it being weary. Call it laziness. Call it being pedantic. But this year on International Women's Day (IWD) 2024, I decided there wasn't any point to writing anything original. As you kn… Read More
2024-03-08 20:25
It’s the usual things. One of my fave YouTubers said she recently rushed to the ER thinking she was having a heart attack. It was a panic attack. If you’re a millennial who hasn… Read More
2024-03-06 21:22
I recently saw an extremely bizarre thing. It was a short clip of a podcast (we have to abolish these things once and for all. Podcasts are killing us, folks) where a man, let's call h… Read More
2024-02-29 15:43
Welcome to The Book of the Month! Y'all... no need to explain the long absence from here. See previous post for an explanation. Alright, let's dive in. The book of this month is Nightc… Read More
2023-09-28 16:25
This blog/site turned ten this year, rather unceremoniously. But yes, it was ten years ago I published my first post ever on the Internet. And there have been various iterations of this… Read More
2023-09-26 21:00
Welcome back to the book of the month! I love doing these because people love reading these haha. The book of this month is “The Hopefuls” by Jennifer Close. The thing about givi… Read More
2023-08-21 21:27
America’s carceral system is deeply flawed. It is filled with deep injustices and its criminalization of black and brown bodies can never be fully stated. Those are facts. More so, the… Read More
2023-08-07 19:46
I have written in bits and pieces, on this blog, about not being married to an idea. Even outside of this blog, I’m sure you’ve heard it before: don’t follow your passion… Read More
2023-06-28 18:24
Welcome to Book of the Month! The Book of this Month is a historical fiction titled Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell. I know people say awards don't matter (don't believe them by the way) but I st… Read More
2023-06-21 18:13
It was Juneteenth on Monday and as far as I'm concerned, we are celebrating all week long. As I said in a previous post on this blog, these past couple of years, more than ever, I have… Read More
2023-06-16 19:08
When Chimamanda Adichie wrote the masterpiece, "It is Obscene", one line stood out and has stuck with me since then. Okay, more accurately, I recently found it again and posted it on Instagr… Read More
2023-06-14 17:04
There was a time I was so particular (I don't want to say obsessed) about serving in my community. I truly believe in service. I believe every single person should be a part of something (or… Read More
2023-05-31 21:31
Welcome to the Book of the Month! Let's get into it. One important thing you need to know about the book of this month is that it is about time travel. Yes. I will be honest that I didn't kn… Read More
2023-05-24 18:50
On Friday, May 19, 2023, I was writing about something else and was about ready to hit publish when I heard that beloved pastor, mentor, preacher, and teacher, Timothy Keller had passed away… Read More
2023-04-25 22:03
Welcome to Book of the Month. The book of this month is Verity by Colleen Hoover. I cannot possibly continue with this post without acknowledging the HOLD Colleen Hoover has on the reading c… Read More
2023-04-13 16:45
I have been reading a lot about shame, courage, vulnerability and the intersection of those three emotions. This, of course, means tackling Brene Brown’s work, which I absolutely LOVE… Read More
2023-03-31 18:12
This post is coming about three weeks late but better late than never! We have a serious IWD series on this blog and we are not about to let it go this year. So on the very last day of… Read More
2023-03-30 11:10
I bet you thought we were going to end March without a book of the month, huh? Think again! Haha.When I got midway through the book of this month, I remember thinking finally! I deserve to r… Read More
2023-03-28 14:32
I recently had laptop issues (is it me or I seem to have those a lot?) and lost lots of the data on my computer since they had to reset it. I was so devastated. So devastated. Then I remembe… Read More
2023-02-22 21:20
Hi folks,It's another Book of the Month. Let's jump into it. The Book of this Month is Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson. I went into this book really excited and just assumed it would be a… Read More
2023-01-17 18:21
Happy New Year! I can't believe this is the first time I'm here on the blog. So let's get it out of our system. The Book of this Month is On Rotation by Shirlene Obuobi. This is a hard book… Read More
2022-12-31 20:52
It's the last day of the year, and almost automatically, we are drawn to a kind of certain retrospection. That's not the worst thing in the world, but too often we are partial to the negativ… Read More
2022-12-29 17:46
The devil doesn't actually need advocates but every other minute, we find people volunteering for that job rather needlessly. We have just recently celebrated the birth of Jesus and we are a… Read More
2022-12-19 22:14
Welcome to the Book of the Month! Our Book of the Month series on this website is where I take you on the journey of my favorite book that month, or perhaps, it is more accurate to say… Read More
2022-12-17 20:56
Now, that's a dramatic title for what is about to be quite the benign, if adorable story. I shared it on my personal Instagram and so many people seemed to appreciate it so I thought to… Read More
2022-12-01 00:23
Hi people! First of all, Go Team USA! As I write this, the US Men’s Team just won the game against Iran. Listen, all my geopolitical/foreign policy/international nerds out there, don&r&hell…Read More
2022-10-25 23:21
Oh man, it's been a while I just free-flowed here and wrote from the "spirit". Here goes. Our world is such a constant influx of information, complex dynamics, inconsistencies, uncertai… Read More
2022-09-16 22:41
I am excited to break the fiction streak of Book of the Month for THE Viola Davis. Her memoir, Finding Me, had a sixteen-week wait or thereabout at the library. And trust me when I say this… Read More
2022-09-07 17:01
Love. Love. Love, baby. Let’s get all intellectual about love. If anything could both be underrated AND overrated, it would be this bad boy called love. Love encompasses our society. I… Read More
2022-08-08 20:25
Hi people and welcome to another installment of Book of the Month. Are we going to have two books this month to make up for the lack of last month's? Well, I hope so. So many the great books… Read More
2022-07-28 13:38
Data is interesting because it can provide answers, it can clear the path to the future, and it can resolve the past. But it can also be dangerous, and terrifyingly so. It can be wielded for… Read More
2022-06-29 18:50
I am writing a much longer post about the dignity, emotional and psychological safety, and anger of Black people. But it is too long and a little too complex in its current form so I left it… Read More
2022-06-24 15:01
Welcome to the book of the month! Let’s get to it. The book of this month is Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez. The book is about Olga Isabel Acevedo, a 40-year-old Nuyorican from… Read More
2022-06-16 20:46
When I wrote the series of posts on concentration, deep work, and curing languishing, one integral thread was focusing. And one great hinderance, as those posts show, is social media. Ohh bo… Read More
2022-06-01 00:40
I have accepted that life comes with a good deal of the good and the bad. It’s very healthy to wade through life with that mindset. Yet sometimes the bad is so staggering it can eclips… Read More
2022-05-16 18:50
As important as it is to me for this blog to feed your soul, I also am quite intentional about not talking about every darn social ill and injustice that occurs in the world. After all… Read More
2022-05-12 12:48
For as long as I have remembered, I had always wanted to visit Italy. It’s funny because I don’t like traveling. I don’t hate it. But in my list of predilections… Read More
2022-04-29 12:29
Let’s talk about habits! Actually, back it up a little. People talk a lot about habits and productivity, and all the 10-second videos on your favorite social media APPs can delud… Read More
2022-04-21 20:53
When I first started reading Gilead, I honestly didn’t think it would be the book of the month or that I would even talk about it (for various reasons, some discussed below), but gradu… Read More
2022-04-05 21:17
A few months ago, I came across a YouTube video where the vlogger had gone an entire year without sugar. I posted it on Friday Reflections. I remember thinking this is not possible. How I dr… Read More
2022-03-22 22:42
Hi people! It’s that time of the year when acceptances are rolling in from Ph.D. programs and excitement is bubbling in the hearts of recipients. Someone I am mentoring (my God, does t… Read More
2022-03-17 17:43
Hello and welcome to the book of this month! I have slacked off on this blog these past few weeks and want to get back in the groove of things. Needless to say, I LOVED the book of this mont… Read More
2022-03-08 19:54
I happened to be in Florence, Italy today, at the Accademia Gallery. The first piece of art I saw when I walked in was a marble statue, a masterpiece by Giambologna, called "Rape of th… Read More
2022-02-22 22:06
Before you continue on this post, first check out the FIRST PART. Done? Okay good. Now that you've heard all the virtues of flow and deep work in that first part, you may be askin… Read More
2022-02-17 22:33
On January 5th—the day I resumed work after the holidays—I posted on Instagram that getting back to work after a two-week break was particularly hard. In retrospect, it seems a l… Read More
2022-02-15 20:47
When I first opened this book, and on the first page, I saw "2002", I was like uh oh. Here we go with all the time travel authors take us on. It turns out this was quite the linear progressi… Read More
2022-02-02 23:08
Long long ago, I went on a vacation…I’m just kidding, mostly. It was just September last year but it feels like a distant past now. I’m not sure why it never actually got… Read More
2022-02-01 01:04
I randomly remembered that we haven't had a proper book of the month post this month and I was like we gotta fix that, because I have been reading really great books recently. And that… Read More
2022-01-18 22:59
A few weeks ago (last year) on a random Friday, I randomly decided I wanted cake and I headed to the best bakery in town to satisfy that craving, because when do you ever need a reason for c… Read More
2022-01-05 21:36
Happy New Year! I don't have anything wholesome to say about the end of last year or the beginning of this one because I decided sometime in December to not be retrospective about the year a… Read More
2021-12-07 23:10
It's the happiesttttt time of the year! It's the most wonderful time of the year. Welcome to December, people! One thing about me, I will help you manufacture joy and cheer for the Christmas… Read More
2021-11-16 22:06
Another book of the month, yay! Now, if you already are an ardent reader of Book of the Month on this blog you may know this, but I don’t want to assume so I will say anyway that the b… Read More
2021-10-27 14:04
Finally, a book of the month! I can NOT believe the last book of the month post on this blog was in MAY. May, ya'll! First of all, let's do black church praise dance for a second. *cue shout… Read More
2021-09-28 20:45
I know it's officially fall but I still have some old posts about summer to share so...sorry? Lol. In any case, a few weeks ago (sometime in August), we visited Philadelphia and here are som… Read More
2021-08-31 21:54
A couple of weeks ago, Cohort Sistas and Black Women PhDs invited me to be a part of a panel on how best to prepare for the academic school year. Let me start by saying it was such a fa… Read More
2021-08-10 20:50
We haven't had a book of the month SINCE MAY. And none of it is my fault. For some reason, everyone is interested in reading the same books I want to read. There are 194 people waiting… Read More
2021-07-28 00:04
Today's story is actually quite old, and it would normally have been a line in Friday's Reflections. But it was too good, too phenomenal to be a single line post. A few months ago, New… Read More
2021-07-13 21:30
Rejection in academia.Hooo boy.As we head into the academic job market season (in America), things are ramping up, people are getting confident, some are getting nervous, and others are just… Read More
2021-06-29 23:47
After not posting on the blog and on the blog's Instagram page for a while, I posted a quote by Cyril Connolly:"better to write for yourself and have no publicthan to write for the… Read More
2021-06-22 22:18
The fact that I am just now writing this post is extremely amusing, even to me. But let's go. I did a Nigerian Style Whole 30 for the second time and I decided to write abo… Read More
2021-05-19 22:24
For the longest time, every time I read Money Diaries, I would find some reference or another to this book. Someone was always reading it and they were always in awe of how fantastic a book… Read More
2021-04-21 22:33
Guilty. Guilty. Guilty.Last night, as the world watched with bated breath, the jury announced the verdict for former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who murdered George Floyd… Read More
2021-04-15 03:03
This is funny (in an ironic way) because I had been meaning to write something (anything) here concerning academia, and here we are. It's a tough one, but aren't they all? This is a pos… Read More
2021-03-31 23:03
Hello folks and welcome to another juicy book of the month post. Let me start by saying I loooveeee this book. It's so rare for something to live up to its hype the way this book does. … Read More
2021-03-09 01:19
I recently [virtually] attended an event where Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Julia Gillard had spoken. They wrote a book about women leaders all over the world and what is different for them. Fant… Read More
2021-03-04 23:23
I promised a second part to this post and here I am fulfilling that promise.Greed.This component will focus mainly on greed. For a vice as destructive as greed, it, quite interestingly, does… Read More
2021-02-26 23:41
Hello *she screams excitedly* and welcome to another book of the month. I can't believe ( I actually can) that this is only the second thing posted on this blog this month. Why does it feel… Read More
2021-01-28 22:52
Hiya, and welcome welcome welcome to another book of the month. This time, it is the absolutely brilliant book by Brit Bennet, titled "The Vanishing Half". This book examines the story of si… Read More
2021-01-21 00:07
I remember it like yesterday, President Obama's last day in office. The deep despair, angst, the paranoia, the feeling of impending doom, the intense fear that cast a shadow in people's eyes… Read More
2021-01-13 13:39
I want to acknowledge the insanity that has been ravaging the United States of America these past few days. And the best way to do it is to just...write. It's what I do. I don't… Read More
2021-01-01 00:00
I had two separate posts planned before the end of this year but honestly I just couldn't, and then I was just going to not say anything. But then I realized I would not like my last post of… Read More
2020-12-10 02:06
What I want to write about today grinds my gears real bad and frankly I've wanted to write about it for a long long while. Last month, news broke that Carl Lentz of Hillsong, usually ca… Read More
2020-12-01 01:05
Hello, and welcome to another book of the month, continuing along the lines of black female authors. Before we continue, what did you think about this post on dual identities and speaking up… Read More
2020-11-21 21:49
It's funny because until that fateful Tuesday when men in military uniforms fired at UNARMED peaceful protesters, this was the post I thought I would write about the #ENDSARS movement. Then… Read More
2020-10-28 22:17
Art is so subjective. Ha. Sometime in the past few weeks or so while I was reading the book of this month, I shared a picture of the cover on Instagram Stories, saying it was a fantastically… Read More
2020-10-24 01:58
When I am enraged, I write. So here goes. I explained here that there was an unprecedented movement going on in Nigeria. It started as an organized and collective anger against police brutal… Read More
2020-10-12 21:38
I think last month was the first time an entire month would pass without a single post on this blog. And goodness, there are so many reasons for that: evaluating whether I want to continue b… Read More
2020-08-31 21:58
Okay. Book of the month: Becoming by Michelle Obama. I am so stale. I know. I can't believe I'm just now reading Obama's Becoming. It is really hard to make this the a book of the month beca… Read More
2020-08-24 21:59
This year has been a LOT. A whole LOT for so many reasons. But, I can also say this year 2020 is the year I completed the most difficult task of my life. Exactly one week ago, I defended my… Read More
2020-08-11 15:50
I hate the new blogger interface. There, I said it. Something else: this is such an interesting period of time. I can't believe how lackadaisical people are during a global pandemic. I… Read More
2020-07-30 23:32
Hello and welcome to the book of this month!I'm always so excited to talk about these and I hope y'all are just as excited. If you are, please let me know and/or share with others. It encour… Read More
2020-07-25 01:49
News broke recently that some republican congressman found AOC on the capitol steps, accosted her, yelled at her, and called her disgusting for saying poverty and unemployment are increasing… Read More
2020-07-13 20:21
I listen to Dave Ramsey a lot [on YouTube]. I have to caveat that with I don't agree with everything he says, but I quite enjoy his shows and I learn a lot about living financially conservat… Read More
2020-06-29 21:55
I apologize for book of the month coming this late. As you all know, this month has been a whole lot. So anyway, let's do something fun, shall we?
This book is what you call an original. Wr… Read More
2020-06-20 01:16
I just read the last post on the blog and whew, I was angry. And make no mistake, I still am. Black lives matter even when the hashtag isn't trending. So I am here to remind you. It's hard t… Read More
2020-06-02 02:50
So far, I think I have curated this blog such that I don't immediately respond or react to every incident or news or event. It's an approach I am attempting to take towards my real life too:… Read More
2020-05-21 23:23
Fall is fast approaching and of course many applications are due soon. And one of the most important aspect of your application is your statement of interest or statement of purpose or perso… Read More
2020-05-19 01:07
I was recently going through draft posts and I saw a post with these words:
Romans 8: 31-39
For when I share my testimony
They are from 2016. And honestly, I can't quite remember what the… Read More
2020-05-12 21:37
It's been a while I've posted OG long form, freestyle, pure rambling, and just the type of words true to the style of the blog. So here we are. Day 2248940585 of Quarantine, my goodness, who… Read More
2020-05-07 19:17
Just because they have not opened outside does not mean we cannot talk about food, okay? Okay? LOL
I know how people (me included) hate how food bloggers tell unnecessary long details befor… Read More
2020-05-04 22:38
Okay I’m going to say it: am I some form of Luddite? I recently found that I in fact hate reading novels on digital devices. I read all my academic literature on my electronic de… Read More
2020-04-28 01:02
Welcome back, folks!
This is one post in which you REALLY need to read the first part, if not this would all be gibberish to you. I wanted to share about field research and particularly wha… Read More
2020-04-21 21:06
If you follow the blog on Instagram, you will see that there have been lots of posts to encourage us. We need it so much now. And as a words person, it occurred to me there is always a word… Read More
2020-04-13 02:15
Sunday is Coming.
When I am afraid, worried, unsure, I like to think, Sunday is Coming. I first learnt of this term after Hilary Clinton lost the election in 2016, in the email her pa… Read More
2020-04-09 22:21
Let's not talk about why there was no Book of the Month last month because there was supposed to be, but then I became ill and that was that. More importantly, let's talk about the book of t… Read More
2020-03-24 22:11
On an Instagram Story post recently, I said this post would be the last thing I write about COVID-19. It turns out that I kinda lied. I mean I didn't know at the time but this post you… Read More
2020-03-19 03:34
Hiya! How are y'all doing? This is a legit question. How are you doing?
If you want information (scientific and otherwise) about the Coronavirus otherwise known as COVID-19, please visit th… Read More
2020-03-09 02:11
I don't know how I committed to always writing a post on International Women's Day: see 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019. But with the current state of the world, it feels even more import… Read More
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