Casual conversation between young queer Black Canadians on an Instagram Live two days ago. I was in shock, I just left the conversation. How can someone be afraid of Africa because they are queer and not be afraid of literally the rest of the world because they are Black? What is worse: being queer in Africa or being queer AND Black in America? It was so sad. I was clearly the only person in the convo who actually lived in Africa because the "zebra" part didn't seem to offend anyone. Don't disrespect our continent. I'm sick and tired of African expats using Africa as a threat to educate their kids. My parents sent me to Europe when I was only 15 and it seriously f*cked me up. But I'm sure that if that person's LGBTphobe of a father had told them "If you're gay I'm sending you to Europe", they would have come out every day. The closet's door would have fallen off. Picture 5: The Lion King 2 Picture 8: @jidenna . . . . . . . . . #shortstories #joguestin #jogustin #storytelling #briefencounter #randomstory #randomstories #funnystory #funnystories #histoirecourte #anecdote #anecdotes #anecdoteoftheday #anecdotedujour #bipoc #africa #thisisafrica #dontdisrespect #decolonize #zebras https://www.instagram.com/p/B2XRXb4j6G5/?igshid=148qcqaiwlw2l

September 11, 2019 marks the 22nd anniversary of my first period. Of course my first period comes with a story. September 11, 1997. I am 10 years young, it’s back to school season, today’s Thursday and my parents and I agreed that every Thursday and Tuesday of this school year, I will have private piano lessons after school at home. I am not into doing anything after school (but writing my first 300-page novel on Windows ’95) so I would do anything to avoid the lesson and stay in my room as long as possible. I am pretty good at pretending to be unwell, let’s do that. So Tonton Ekollo (father of @james_nsia_ekollo) who is very much well tonight shows up for our piano lesson. I grudgingly sit on the piano bench and I start playing whatever people usually play in their third year of piano. Then I’m like «I feel so weak right now…» because it’s the plan, remember? But as I say that, I start thinking that I’m a very good actress because I do feel weak. I go to the bathroom to pee (what else do you do when you avoid a piano lesson? Take a nap?) and I see that I’m bleeding out! «MAMAAAAN!» (poor moms, we always leave the dads in peace) She shows up, 9 month pregnant with @princy_jecw. With a large grin on her face before I even say anything, she asks: «Blood?», forgetting that we never had «the talk». And she hands me one of her sanitary pads that is next to the WC and shows me how to place it on my panties. And until today, I do remember that she said: «There is a sticky part, STICK IT ON YOUR 🐱 so that it doesn’t fall» For the first few months, I had a bikini wax every time I took off my sanitary pad. Until one day, I had an epiphany: «What if I put in on the other side? I should tell Maman, I’m such a genius!» When I told her about my invention, she said she had never showed me otherwise. LESSON: You might be certain that something happened because you were there to witness it, but it did not. Isn’t that terrifying? Also: Never skip free piano lessons. They can pay your rent one day. . . . . . . . . #periodstory #joguestin #jogustin #storytelling #briefencounter #randomstory #randomstories #funnystory #funnystories #anecdote #anecdotes #anecdoteoftheday https://www.instagram.com/p/B2R9UD7j9yo/?igshid=16i5sdl4juzq7

Racialized womxn, how much money do people offer you to come to their events and share your experience? --- That's what I thought. Picture 1: I attended @mjsoohollywood's first poetry show "For The Queer Coloured Girls After Me" last month and @blossom.leontsai (who I heard turned 20 yesterday 😊🎂hbd sis) was one of the featured panelists. She talked about the importance of handpicking the events where we activists are invited to speak up, not only for our mental health but also for our finances (a chick gotta eat). Most of those events expect us to speak up and revive our traumas for free. Trans womxn ain't free. Racialized womxn ain't free. Give us our checks. Put some respeck on our checks. Picture 2 is a quote by @carolsankar I recently found on LinkedIn. Yeah when those events offer us money, the amount is a JOKE. Don't hesitate to ask the cis male panelist how much he got paid for that. He'll probably tell you "Well you should have negotiated" when he didn't have to and we get punished if we do. (I have a workshop about negotiation for womxn tomorrow night, I'll let you know how it went in my stories. I hope to come back with a couple of interesting quotes too!) Picture 3 is a quote by slam poet @alessandriarhines from a poem denouncing racial fetishism. To whom it may concern, don't invite us to your panels/festivals/weddings/lives to make you feel good about yourselves. Oh no what am I doing? I shouldn't talk to them! Artists, activists, know your oppression. And then handpick your oppressors. . . . . . . . . . #notyourperformingmonkey #alessandriarhines #shortstories #joguestin #jogustin #storytelling #briefencounter #randomstory #randomstories #funnystory #funnystories #histoirecourte #anecdote #anecdotes #anecdoteoftheday #anecdotedujour #carolsankor #bitchbetterhavemymoney https://www.instagram.com/p/B2RrPjpDna_/?igshid=1fjctvdwmg8k5

- Que quoi ? - On ne dit pas « Que quoi ? », on dit « Pardon ? » - On ne dit pas « Pardon ? », on dit « Comment ? » - Comment « Comment » ? - « Comment comment » comment ? - Comment ça « Comment comment comment » ? . . . . . . . . . #shortstories #joguestin #jogustin #storytelling #briefencounter #randomstory #randomstories #funnystory #funnystories #histoirecourte #anecdote #anecdotes #anecdoteoftheday #anecdotedujour #végétarien #vegetarien #veganvie https://www.instagram.com/p/B2PY7q_jhz4/?igshid=5j9a3a90lbdp

I used to believe that all of my achievements had actually been made by Jesus. I finished high school with high honors living on a different continent than my parents and siblings, in a depressing foreign country, not because I studied hard but because I prayed hard ("Work hard, Pray hard"). I was admitted to HEC because I had told Jesus: "That's the school Dad wants me to go to. Use your magic, take me there." Every single year, I would exceed my own expectations (don't look at my LinkedIn around flying insects. Seriously, it's jaw-dropping) because of something very simple: praying and believing that my prayers will be answered. Then one day, overnight, I became an atheist. My first thought was: "There's no God! There's no one to help me! I have to fend for myself!" I was extremely sad. And then with time, I realized: "Hey! I was God all this time! I did all that!" But it did not feel the same. You know, God used to be a cisgender ***** man. And now I have to put my faith in a genderfluid Black womxn. And even as an intersectional feminist activist, the system has not prepared me for that. The conversation attached was part of a workshop I had last week about self-confidence. Picture 3 is a chart used in positive psychology. The exercise was: 1) circle at least 7 of your qualities 2) Write down your dreams and goals 3) Select the qualities that will help you achieve them. On question 3, all I could see were the qualities I did not circle. That interaction with the facilitator helped me a lot. I'm sharing these 3 pictures today hoping that it will help other womxn too. . . . . . . . . . #shortstories #joguestin #jogustin #storytelling #briefencounter #randomstory #randomstories #funnystory #funnystories #histoirecourte #anecdote #anecdotes #anecdoteoftheday #anecdotedujour #selfconfidence #motivationalquotes #motivational #womenempoweringwomen #empowerment #empoweringwomen #empowering #positivepsychology https://www.instagram.com/p/B2M7DAVDvT9/?igshid=1c0q14twpqo4o

Image 1 : Rentrée littéraire 2017. Mon premier bébé, #9Histoireslumineuses était exposé au Salon @livre_paris, dans la section Femmes d'Afrique du Pavillon des Lettres d'Afrique. Je n'en revenais pas qu'il soit placé à côté de mon livre coup de cœur 2017, Marianne et le Garçon Noir. J'étais, pour la première fois, aux côtés de Léonora Miano ! • Image 2 : Rentrée littéraire 2019. Un rêve qui se réalise ! Je rencontre enfin Léonora Miano pour la sortie du très attendu Rouge Impératrice ! Le courant est passé direct ! Maintenant que nous sommes proches, je peux l'appeler Tata Léo. Je veux voir Rouge Impératrice au cinéma. En anglais sioplé. • Image 3 : Extrait d'un roman inédit écrit en 2010, j'avais 23 ans, je l'écrivais sur Word pendant mon stage chez L'Oréal à Düsseldorf (vu que l'IT traquait nos usages internet). C'était mon tout premier roman avec un personnage principal Noir, mon tout premier roman dont l'histoire se déroule en Afrique. Dans ce roman, Marie-Lise (héroïne de la première nouvelle de 9 Histoires lumineuses) est la cousine et BFF de Samira Ngo Massé (héroïne de ce roman à deux voix). Comme vous pouvez le voir, Sami rêvait déjà de Tata Léo et de Présence pour les intimes. Bon pour Calixte... Sans commentaire. . . . . . . . . . #shortstories #joguestin #jogustin #storytelling #briefencounter #randomstory #randomstories #funnystory #funnystories #histoirecourte #anecdote #anecdotes #anecdoteoftheday #anecdotedujour #leonoramiano #romaninedit #salonlivreparis #rentreelitteraire https://www.instagram.com/p/B2KRCZGDN_2/?igshid=my8j4uffjeiw

Aux nouveaux couples monogames qui se sont rencontrés entre mars et juillet 2019 et ont survécu à la rentrée : je vous souhaite un merveilleux séjour dans cette bulle fort sympatoche, je vous souhaite de rire bêtement lorsque vous êtes au téléphone, de vous aimer si fort que les rageux•ses s'en souviennent, d'apprendre à vous connaître tout doucement avec le même zèle que quand vous choisissez une pizza, d'être respectueux•ses, honnêtes et indulgent•e•s vis-à-vis l'un•e de l'autre et aussi de vous-mêmes, de ne laisser passer aucune violence physique, verbale ou sexuelle, de vous autoriser à être aimé•e•s, à avoir des orgasmes même s'ils prennent du temps, à être dorloté•e•s, à ne rien contrôler, à profiter du voyage comme vous le faites si bien en amitié. Je vous souhaite de vous manquer férocement pendant les fêtes de fin d'année, de vous mordre les doigts pour trouver le parfait cadeau, d'être tou•te•s timides quand vous rencontrez ses proches et/ou quand iel rencontre les vôtres, de ne pas faire de bêtises, de ne pas vous prendre pour acquis•es, de détester la police, de boycotter @amazon, de désinstaller toutes vos applis de rencontre (ne faites pas genre vous avez oublié), de communiquer, d'être vulnérables, de vieillir ensemble et de lire Jo Güstin. . . . . . . . . #shortstories #joguestin #jogustin #storytelling #briefencounter #randomstory #randomstories #funnystory #funnystories #histoirecourte #anecdote #anecdotes #anecdoteoftheday #anecdotedujour https://www.instagram.com/p/B2FNvnYj5gg/?igshid=118my6m623rd9

I would like to donate this quote to the department of psychology of @howard1867 University. This is one (OK technically two) of the sentences that made me want to create this account. When I heard it, when she actually said those words to me, I didn't think to myself: "She's a narcissist. Who says such a thing to someone?" I thought: "This sentence is weird. I'm feeling really weird right now. I don't know how to feel. This sentence is powerful. This smile when she's saying it makes it even more powerful. She's smiling like she's saying something nice! I need to write it down. There is something about those words that makes them really interesting. Something I may want to use in my writings." . . . . . . . . . #shortstories #joguestin #jogustin #storytelling #briefencounter #randomstory #randomstories #funnystory #funnystories #histoirecourte #anecdote #anecdotes #anecdoteoftheday #anecdotedujour #narcissist #narcissisticbehavior #manipulativepeople #demeaning #demeaningbehavior #quotesoftheday #thatswhatshesaid #inapt https://www.instagram.com/p/B1_0_OMjHue/?igshid=1pfh1iibds64t