Rehearsal & Recital

The first time I knew choir was not for me; I was about 12-14 years old. I was the most senior at home at this time, and leadership has been "forced" on me. Added to this was that Mum had dusted wonranworan(unsalted sanguinity) away from my body; I knew I was too "choleric" to be in the choir. I approached rehearsal like exams as I read all the lines of the songs and got to rehearsal to perform; other people came "unprepared" because what makes rehearsal is experimentation or practice. Rehearsal for them was the playful and creative experimentation of sounds, beats, and voices until they arrive at what they consider presentable. For lack of a better illustration, Recital is the blend of all the voices and sounds as research output is an excellent blend of different voices and sources with your own insight drawn from your interactions with data. A beautiful recital takes hours of preparation. It takes hours like research, where you blend and move ideas around a little bit. We celebrate the outcome (Recital/publication), but the process or rehearsal takes longer. Like my experience at choir rehearsal, it can be draining, exasperating, and overwhelming, but when you see the outcome, you rejoice.

The second time I knew my destiny and choir did not line was in 2012. I told my Egbon I wanted to serve. Since many who know me intimately know I am a worshipper, he recommended choir. I went to the choirmaster that I wanted to join the choir. I even went for my first and it turn out last rehearsal. The moment the choir Director saw me and my "carnality" (braids color 4 reaching my hip), my long nails, and my then signature red lipstick, he said with that Christian self-righteous and judgmental pose, "You cannot join the choir. We don't wear colored hair, trousers, and long nails". The following day, I saw my Egbon, and he told me that he met Deacon X(the choir director) and told him his niece wanted to join the choir and could help them with XYZ. The Choir Director said he told me the requirement, and I said thank you and left.

Since these two events, I kuku joined the "come as you are choir" ( bathroom choir), and I tell you the man upstairs likes to hear my voice. My soap sings tenor, my shower gel sings Soprano, and my sponge sings Alto. Even Angels gets jealous because the shower takes longer than usual. And if I see my mother in my dream (Iya Onijo herself). Eh! I can hear Mum singing, "nigban mba Jo lo onilu gbe ilu omo arijo sebi oba" (when I wanted to really dance, the drummer took the drum away). The audience of "Come as You Are Choir", my bathtub, wash hand base, and other witnesses are not judgmental. They will not gossip about you after church or rehearsal that you are always singing off-key. Sadly, same cannot be said for academic publishing. Academic rehearsal comes with some vitriol that calls themselves reviewer two.

As academics, we are always in different levels of rehearsals. Rehearsal with ideas . Rehearsal with the reviewers and many more rehearsals. Also, academic rehearsal and Recital is a circle; it is repetitive, is a marathon, not a sprint! We do it as often as we can.

Today, I present the outcome (Recital) of my rehearsal of moving around ideas. Synthesizing thoughts, finding where they concur and clash while inserting my insight and marshaling evidence on why my intervention is essential. My article "Nigerian Universities' Sexual Harassment Policies: Palliative or Provocative?" just published in the Journal of African Cultural Studies, Volume 35, Issue 3,

I wouldn't be the kind of scholar that I am without my friend, sister-mum, destiny mum, Florence Ajokeade Johnson-Solomon . Omo awoso! Life has not been the same without you, but I will keep living. It is a promise. Your Love is the fuel that continues to drive me toward what is next. You remain indelibly engraved in my heart.

I am equally grateful to my sponsor and mentor, Professor Saheed Aderinto, for setting the template of "publish and flourish," not publish or perish."

I thank the anonymous reviewers and the editors of this special issue on Campus Form, Dr. Carli Coetzee and Dr.Louisa Uchum Egbunike. Especially my mentor and "academic mother", Dr. Carli Coetzee, for your patience, empathy, nurturance and mentorship to graduate students and early career scholars across the globe, from Africa to North America, Europe, and Asia. Prof. Coetzee loves upcoming scholars with a similar zeal that Prof. Aderinto loves, Amala or even more. Mum, I plan to come to the UK to finalize my "adoption papers" since we could not do it in the US this year.

Use this link; the first 50 download is free.

https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/URCRZUX6ECAGDI5SQJGE/full?target=10.1080/13696815.2023.2237922the

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