"You are all set!" Lost in Translation and Lifelong Learning:

My first time being in America in summer was three years ago; the other times I came were in winter or spring, with its cold chill effect. Arriving in summer means my body is not shrouded in oversized winter jackets, which are sometimes two sizes big in case I need to layer as much as possible.

In what I later learned as the trademark of American customer relations, sales, and marketing, she smiled big at me and said, "You are all set." I smiled back but was confused about how my body had become interpellated while grocery shopping. I smiled back, and if it were today, I would have paraphrased a line from Mohbad's song pe, "lati aye genesis I was always set." She smiled again, said, "You are all set," and pushed my package toward me. I picked up my things and left. As I walked towards the bus stop, I said in my head, "If she saw my pre-COVID2019 in my office gown, wetin she for say?". In Nigeria everyday episteme, when they say that you are all set, means you have flesh in all of the right places that make you admirable.

I went to another store the following week, and while pressing my phone, a male attendant said the same thing. When I looked up, the guy smiled and said, "You are all set." I frowned, picked up my things, and left. In my head, I thought, na so una dey do for here? Commenting on people's bodies anyhow". In my feminist thinking, I was already thinking of objectification and the voyeurism that black women's bodies have been subjected to. I kept thinking about it until months into consistently using stores when I learned that it is the American way of saying you are ready to go. This was my first extended stay in the US beyond 3 weeks.

Weeks ago, someone accused me of ignoring them and only talking with their daughter occasionally when I called. I told her that whenever I wanted to speak to this couple, I was told by their daughter that they were praying. She responded in a very irritated tone, "Aunty Rosemary, which kind of prayer are we praying after 5 children in this economy? God will not allow me to see stupid prayers". I was confused about whether prayer was a bad thing for a Christian family. She educated me that prayer in the popular imagination, particularly Nigerian popular culture, was a euphemism for sexual intimacy. I was lost because I had only left Nigeria two seconds ago, and everything had changed, including the meaning of prayer.

I write all these to say that learning, formally or informally, is continuous. Someone said that When you stop learning, you start dying. Ololade told me years ago that you can be selective about what you eat and wear, but you cannot be selective about where you learn because wisdom sometimes emerges from the mouth of the crazy (ogbon wa lenu ashiere).

If you are looking for where to learn and grow, find associations that challenge you in every way imaginable. I highly recommend the Lagos Studies Association (LSA)

If you are all set for LSA, I will see you as the spirit leads in person or virtually

Posted on Facebook on  June 26, 2024

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