One day I might write something about how tired I am about "Africans need to tell our own stories."

And the assumptions that

a) we do not tell our own stories every day within and across our circles

b) our stories must have some shape to be recognizable as ours

c) it is our MANDATE to combat stories told not by us—how boring to be endlessly reactive, never imaginative

d) our stories are not full of difference and opacity, and that we are fully transparent to each other

e) as though we do not already have institutions and networks that define what is legible as African writing worth paying attention to, and those networks and institutions are *already* exclusionary

f) please see the tedious repetition with which the same people feature on festival after festival after festival after publication after festival after publication after festival after publication

g) and that networks of patronage are not central to much of African literary production—introductions lead to introductions lead to introductions lead to repetition with little variation

anyhow, let me go back to watching gardening shows