Odiere_desk

My niece just turned 2 years old and last weekend, my mom was talking about shaving her hair.   The reason? " She has come of age, and her hair is getting harder to comb.” My mom proposed that shaving her hair now would make it grow back thick.   And it made me wonder... how?   What if the hair doesn’t grow thick?   My niece basically has virgin hair right now because we haven’t started using artificial products to soften it. So why rush to shave it? That one conversation sent me down a rabbit hole. Because it wasn’t just about hair. It was about how we learn, what we believe, and who we trust for answers now.   For generations, Nigerian children didn’t learn about life from Google or YouTube. They learned from grandparents under the moonlight, from parents at the dinner table, and from community elders during gatherings.   Stories, warnings, and advice passed down through oral tradition shaped how young people unde...

This morning, I was watching Black a popular Korean series. Although the series was interesting, being a Korean fan for years I can still differentiate the actors from who is who. But my friend couldn’t.  He paused and asked me: “ Why do Korean, Chinese and Japanese people look alike ?” If you’ve ever had that question, you’re not alone. And if you’re Asian, you’ve probably been asked it too. The truth is: this doesn’t just happen with Asians. Black people get mixed up by non-Black people. White people get mixed up by non-White people. But because “ Asian ” covers 4.7 billion people from 48 countries, the stereotype hits harder.  So why does our brain do this?   It’s not because Asians actually look the same. It’s because of something psychologists call the “ cross-race effect” or “ own-race bias .” And it’s 100% about how your brain is trained, not about how people look. 1. What Is The Cross-Race Effect? The cross-race effect is simple: We are better a...