Nowlin artwork photos

Starting over

It’s January 1, 2012, the beginning of a new year . . . the time that millions of people begin working on new resolutions for their lives. It’s also the one year and one day anniversary of when The Dreamer Speaks began. My goal on December 31, 2010 was to blog every day. That worked for a few months, but then life just got the best of me. I tried to keep up and publish a few random posts here and there, but I eventually stopped. I could say that the reason I stopped blogging was because I got so Read More

Nowlin artwork photos

It’s a new year!

Happy New Year! Since childhood, my family’s New Year’s Day dinner has included black-eyed peas and greens. Many of you probably know the history behind this tradition, so I won’t go into that. Today, I’m thinking about how my experiences from the past few years are shaping this tradition for 2011. I will still be preparing black-eyed peas, greens and cornbread. However, this year, I will also prepare a small serving of nshima. Nshima (pronounced “shee-ma”) is usually made from maize and is a staple dish in Zambia. It is similar to West African fufu and Kenyan ugali. I was Read More