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Read my latest newsletter: Trust Is Pure, But It Is Not Innocent. open.substack.com/pub/ibelvede...

BECAUSE I KNOW YOU. #poem

BECAUSE I KNOW YOU. #poem

Read my latest newsletter titled MY FRIEND WAS STILL BLEEDING. open.substack.com/pub/ibelvede...

Another plea for little Mila, who needs food and decent shelter.

"If you really want something, then the soul must make demands of the body." ---Simon Sarris

I spoke to the woman holding the sign and got more backstory. Her son has just gotten his PhD in neuroscience, to help find a cure for the epilepsy that killed his sister. His postdoc funding came through right before Trump stopped funds, so he can do his research, but others in his field can’t.

Read my latest newsletter titled KINDS OF GOODNESS. open.substack.com/pub/ibelvede...

My Heart Has Known Its Winter by Arna Bontemps

“People wear psychological ‘sweat shirts’: The front may say something like ‘Please love me’—but when the wearer turns around, the back may read, ‘Not you, stupid.’” —Eric Berne

Substack flagged my publication as spam and suspected it from public view for days. When I complained, they said it was "incorrectly" flagged and that it had been restored. No apologies.

"Successful people tell the world they got lucky and tell their kids about the importance of hard work and sacrifice. Critics of successful people tell the world those people got lucky and tell their kids about the importance of hard work and sacrifice." --- Rob Henderson

If you're seeing this, wins and more wins to you and yours.

Here’s a poem called ‘This was the year that was not the year’.

This is still one of the most entertaining books ever. #books

THINGS YOU MUST HAVE IN 2025 1. Ibrahim Oga's Belvedere Newsletter in your inbox.

I just saw a book marketed as being great for readers of me, and I honestly don’t know if that means I would like it or not.

BROWN by Ibrahim Oga #poetry #writer

Sometimes your life just needs an additional 7 to 9 minutes on your regular alarm time.

Names are prejudicial.

If you like Die Hard, I highly recommend watching Carry-On. The plot is absurd, but it’s a perfectly ’80s-inspired action movie. Jason Bateman is fantastic as the bad guy. I didn’t pick up my phone once, which is saying something for me. Find it on Netflix. It doesn’t disappoint.

"Let me take that off your plate" is a strong love language unless cheese is involved, in which case, and let me be clear, get away from my cheese with your awful hate language

The space dust… David Jones.

I love this!

"Nonfiction is a form of “acceptable” entertainment for the hustle-inclined mind, and once I got over the mental barrier that it was unacceptable to read for, gasp, pleasure, I realized fiction was secretly the better educator too." ---Nat Eliason #fiction

"Let’s say we’re at the front— for something worth fighting for, say." —Nâzım Hikmet

Mood.

I have three adult sons. One is a carpenter, one is a soldier, and one is a teacher. All three of them went through an apprenticeship of sorts. Only one wasn’t paid for his time. Not only was he not paid, but he paid in for the work he performed. Guess which one?

Guess the animal

Every time you go on Amazon or Goodreads to leave a review for Ta-Nehisi Coates, Ibram X. Kendi, or Alexander Chee, leave one for a first-time Black woman author, too. We need support so much more than well-established millionaire male authors.

Today's lesson discusses the American health care system for those in countries where their system provides care for free or reasonable fees. 👇

My podcast this year.

Exhibiting Forgiveness (2024) 3.6/5

Save The Tiger (1973) 3.5/5

This obituary for the award-winning costume designer of Peaky Blinders, Stephanie Collie, is a wonderful tribute to her research process and skill. It’s easy to criticise costumes in TV historical dramas, but historical inaccuracies are rarely errors, they’re often storytelling choices

I blerged. I wrote briefly about my pots, and also marketing, and literary citizenship, and my book substack.com/home/post/p-...

That fine line between hunger and boredom....

It's the simple things for me. Do check out my latest piece

Read my latest piece.

Read my latest newsletter open.substack.com/pub/ibelvede...

You’re not violating a reading rule if you opt not to finish a book that's not resonating with you. Life is finite and we thus have a finite number of books to read. Reading shouldn’t be a chore. You needn’t feel guilty for ensuring that your time reading is spent reading things that you love.

I hope to never work for any company interested in “disrupting” anything 🤮