The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Kehinde Matthew

  • Toni Morrison and her many awards

    Toni Morrison was born on February 18, 1931 and named Chloe Ardelia Wofford. She adopted the catholic name Anthony which earned her the nickname Toni.

    She also adopted her ex-husband’s surname, hence the name Toni Morrison. She was an American novelist, essayist, editor, teacher and professor emeritus at Princeton University until complications from pneumonia led to her death on August 5, 2019 at age 88.

    In February 2019, she published her final book, a collection of essays titled “The Source of Self Regard: Essays, Speeches, Meditations”.

    In June, two months before her death, filmmaker Timothy Greenfield-Sanders released “The Pieces I Am”, a documentary about her work and legacy.

    Read Also: Nobel laureate Morrison dies at 88

    Below is a list of Toni Morrison’s awards:

    · 1975: Ohioana Book Award for “Sula”

    · 1977: National Book Critics Circle Award for “Song of Solomon”

    · 1977: American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters Award

    · 1987–1988: Robert F. Kennedy Book Award

    · 1988: Helmerich Award

    · 1988: American Book Award for “Beloved”

    · 1988: Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in Race Relations for “Beloved”

    · 1988: Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for “Beloved”

    · 1988: Frederic G. Melcher Book Award for “Beloved”

    · 1988: Ohioana Career Medal for contributions to education, literature, and the humanities

    · 1989: Honorary Doctor of Letters at Harvard University

    · 1993: Nobel Prize for Literature

    · 1993: Commander of the Arts and Letters, Paris

    · 1994: Condorcet Medal, Paris

    · 1994: Rhegium Julii Prize for Literature

    · 1996: Jefferson Lecture

    · 1996: National Book Foundation’s Medal of Distinguished Contribution to American Letters

    · 2000: National Humanities Medal

    · 2002: 100 Greatest African Americans, list by Molefi Kete Asante

    · 2005: Honorary Doctorate of Letters from Oxford University

    · 2008: New Jersey Hall of Fame inductee

    · 2009: Norman Mailer Prize, Lifetime Achievement

    · 2010: Officier de la Légion d’Honneur.

    · 2010: Institute for Arts and Humanities Medal for Distinguished Contributions to the Arts and Humanities from the Pennsylvania State University.

    · 2011: Library of Congress Creative Achievement Award for Fiction.

    · 2011: Honorary Doctor of Letters at Rutgers University Graduation Commencement.

    · 2011: Honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University of Geneva.

    · 2012: Presidential Medal of Freedom.

    · 2013: The Nichols-Chancellor’s Medal awarded by Vanderbilt University.

    · 2014: Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award given by the National Book Critics Circle.

    · 2016: PEN/Saul Bellow Award for Achievement in American Fiction.

    · 2016: The Charles Eliot Norton Professorship in Poetry (The Norton Lectures), Harvard University.

    2016: The Edward MacDowell Medal, awarded by The MacDowell Colony.

    2018: The Thomas Jefferson Medal, awarded by The American Philosophical Society.

  • Six ways to win over your crush

    Increased heartbeat, sweaty palms, short breaths, skipping heartbeat and butterflies in the tummy. Sound familiar? These are probably what you feel when you see your crush coming and the feelings won’t just go away!

    So what are you going to do about it? Continue to struggle with the butterflies?

    I have an idea. How about you just win your crush over?

    Scared? Skeptical? Take a deep breath and try these tips to win your crush over:

    *Make a move: When I say make a move I mean put yourself out there. Come out from within the shadows and make yourself visible to your crush. Chances are that if you keep lurking in the shadows watching your crush’s every move that is where you will remain.  Talk to your crush, invite her to an event, say hi to him from time to time. That way, you don’t remain invincible to your crush but catch your crush’s attention.

    *Be attentive: Just because you have finally gotten your crush’s attention doesn’t mean you should become insensitive at the expense of your crush. Listen to what he or she says. Make mental notes and act accordingly. For example, if your crush mentions that he likes dark chocolate, it would create an impression if you get him dark chocolate the next time you see him. If your crush says she forgets to lock her windows on her way out, it would be very thoughtful to remind her to.

    *Maintain eye contact: So I know between the restless butterflies in your stomach and the skipping heartbeat, you are probably too shy to look at your crush. I tell you however, DO NOT look down or away when talking to your crush.

    Maintain an eye contact with them to show your level of interest and confidence. Nobody wants to feel like a bother. Looking down would most likely give your crush the impression that you would rather be elsewhere.

    *Do not be possessive: Being in contact with your crush does not give you the right to become possessive of him or her. Give your crush his/her space. Please do not overwhelm your crush with calls and texts in the name of being caring especially if your crush is not a fan of it.

    Also, do not go about questioning why your crush was talking with another boy or girl as the case may be.  It’s really disgusting. It shows high levels of insecurity and immaturity.

    *Be natural: I know the tendency to over impress your crush exists but you must not take it over board so as not to come off as a fake person. The more you want to impress, the more likely you are to exaggerate things you have done and things you can do.

    This can make you come off as proud and be a hindrance to winning your crush over. Whatever you do, be natural; never fake it.

    *Be bold about your feelings: For heaven’s sake do not wallow in silence; confess your feelings! Let your crush know what you feel if not, even though you might make an impression to your crush, he/she might think you are not serious about him/her.

    Then all the moves you have made will  likely be in vain when John the bolder guy, confesses his feelings to her.

    Warm regards,

    Kehinde Oluwafisayo Matthew

     

  • How to make fortune from waste collection

    They say money is everywhere. You just have to know where to look. If you are thinking of starting a business and do not have capital, fear not.

    All you need to do is to direct your focus on the gold mine called waste collection and recycling. Drop your ego, forget your pride and begin collecting. This is all you need to know about waste collection.

    · You can gather things like laundry bags, plastic bottles water sachets, yogurt wrappers, polythene bags, hospital drip bags, pop-corn wrapper, bread wrapper, cellophane, shopping bags etc.

    · You can also take it a notch higher by collecting scrap iron materials as they earn you higher income.

    Read Also:$8m ACPML’s liquid waste treatment plant begins operation

    · Sort them each of them out into batches according to their materials.

    · Weigh them to know how many kilograms each batch weighs.

    · Take them to collection centre operators to earn money for collected waste. Recycling centres include: Recycle point, Wecyclers Nigeria Limited Hub, Richbol Environmental Services, Greenhill Recycling, Shonghai Packaging Industry etc.

    It really is as simple as explained. You can be earning ₦140,000 per month depending on how serious you are. For every kilogram of polythene, you get around ₦45-₦55 depending on the recycling centre you go to.

    If you can collect 100kilograms of polythene per day, you would get ₦5,500 daily. If you work for 26 days each month, you earn a whooping ₦140,000 with little or no capital! And guess what? You would be helping the environment be a safer place to live in!

    Now you have no excuse to be idle. The question is: how willing are you to let go of your pride?

  • How to build your business brand on social media

    Almost everyone wants to get their business online and rightly so. It is after all, a digital age we live in. However, many fail to understand that getting your business online does not automatic guarantee results. Only those who understand the intricacies of social media can succeed. Below are tips on how to build your business on social media.

    Have a plan

    It is appropriate to say that without a plan, failure is certain. The same applies for using social media for business growth. Set social media goals, create a social media calendar, research your online competition and plan accordingly.

    Choose the right platform

    Do not assume that all social media platforms are for you. You must know where your audience spend their time and focus on them. Depending on what the business is about, decide which is platform is appropriate for your audience- Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. However, bear in mind that you can use different social media channels to reach different audience or to meet business goals.

    Know your audience

    Understand and know who your audience is. You can do this by having a knowledge of social media analytics. From the analytics you, can know for sure who and who are interested in your business and eventually adjust your strategy to reach more similar people.

    Read Also: ‘Social media addicts susceptible to mental health challenges’

    Build relationships

    Do not just open a business account on social media and forget about it. There are a lot of businesses online and one of the ways to stand out is to actively interact with your customers. You can interact by replying to messages on time and building communities.

    Quality over quantity

    This means that all social post must be relevant and goal-oriented. It is better to have posts that offer value than to flood your account with valueless posts. It is also important that you post honest, accurate and truthful posts. Lying about your business could cost you dearly in the long run.

    Employ appropriate social media tools.

    Learn how to make use of social media tools to help boost your productivity and reduce stress on your part. Tools such as HootSuite, Hubspot, Google Analytics, Canva, Buffer, Pexel etct will help with Analytics, social media management, graphics, pictures etc.

    Be flexible

    Living in a digital age means technology changes quite quickly. Keep an eye out for new ways to reach more people and make adjustments where needed.

    Evaluate your performance

    It is imperative that you evaluate all you have done from time to time. It will help you know what you are doing right and what you need to adjust to achieve better results.

    Above all, remain focused and dedicated and your business  flourish.

     

  • A season of great comebacks

    Times and seasons are natural phenomena of life. There is a season to sow, a season to plant, a season of rains, a season to laugh and a season to weep. A new season, it would seem, has come for the sporting world. It is the season of great comebacks.

    From the world of golf to the world of football, a common trend has taken over and it is leaving hearts inspired. The two nearly opposite sporting worlds have experienced great unprecedented comebacks in the first few months of 2019.

    In golf, Tiger Woods delivered the greatest comeback ever seen by winning the 2019 Masters more than a decade after a great lapse. So great was his extraordinary feat that it earned him the highest US civilian honor. This award was presented to him by US President himself, Donald Trump.

    For someone who had lost his wife to divorce, lost key sponsors and underwent different surgeries ranging from his knee to his Achilles tendons, and to his back, his win on Sunday, 14th April 2019 was a great inspiration to many.

    Delving into the world of football, Liverpool completed one of the greatest comebacks in football history, beating Barcelona 4-0 at Anfield and 4-3 on aggregate thrusting the club to the Champions League final. This occurred on Tuesday, 7th May 2019.

    As with Tiger Woods, so great was the comeback that popular singer KCee lost a whooping sum of 1million Naira to a @mrchidozie on twitter. The singer had placed his confidence in Barcelona and promised 1 million Naira if Liverpool won.

    Read Also: Seven interesting facts about Awujale of Ijebu at 85

    The singer’s confidence wasn’t out of place. After all, the chances of Liverpool winning against Barcelona was next to impossible given that Barcelona was coming into the game with a 3-0 lead against Liverpool from their first leg. However, Liverpool shocked the world by winning the match with an irrefutable 4-0 win.

    And just when we thought comebacks were over, Tottenham pulled off a beautiful 96th-minute last-gasp comeback by beating Ajax 3-2 just a day after Liverpool’s defeat of Barcelona. The win enabled them join their Premier League rival, Liverpool in the final of the Champions League.

    Indeed it is a season of comebacks that leaves the same quote on everyone’s lips: “never give up”. For the sporting world, one question remains, is the comeback season here to stay? And if it is, in whose court or field will it land next?

  • Seven interesting facts about Awujale of Ijebu at 85

    One might be quick to assume Awujale of Ijebuland Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona is a regular monarch. However, this is not the case; he is a monarch with a difference. His very ascension to power was a pacesetting novelty that broke the traditional practice of ascension to power.

    He authored his biography titled: “Awujale: The Autobiography of Alaiyeluwa Oba SK Adetona, Ogbagba II” where he revealed attributes and events that single him out as a one-of-a-kind monarch.

    1. The third child of seven children, Oba Adetona was born to Omo-oba (Prince) Rufai Adetona and Wolemot Ajibabi Adetona (née Onashile) on May 10th 1934.

    2. For his primary school education, he attended Baptist School, Ereko, Ijebu Ode; Ogbere United Primary School, Oke Agbo, Ijebu Igbo and Ansar-Ud-Deen School, Ijebu Ode between 1943 and 1950. He proceeded to Olu-Iwa (now Adeola Odutola) College, Ijebu Ode for his secondary school education from 1951 to 1956.

    3. On the 2nd of April 1960, he ascended the throne much to his surprise. He had been called back from London where he went to study accounting and was only 25 years old at the time.

    4. He was nominated along with 5 others for the ascension as the Awujale of Ijebuland. Despite him being an unlikely choice and his obvious young age, he was unanimously selected by the kingmakers to ascend the throne.

    5. He has reigned since 1960 making him the longest serving monarch in Nigeria. For an initial unlikely candidate, he has exceeded expectations by sitting on the throne for 59 years.

    6. He has several honorary degrees including the Doctor of Law (LL.D) from the University of Technology, Yola and Doctor of Civil Law (D.CL) from Ogun State University, now Olabisi Onabanjo University.

    7. Oba Sikiru Adetona has three wives and nine children. He is also a proud grandfather.

    Hearty cheers to his majesty, Kabiyesi Alaiyeluwa Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona CFR, Ogbagba II The Awujale of Ijebuland as he celebrates his 85th birthday.

  • Seven ways to win your mother-in-law’s heart

    What exactly is the fuss about mother in-laws?  Why do so many people have issues with them? Are they really the monsters people say they are?

    The answer is simple. They are not. They are simply mothers; mothers who have to give out their children to another person.

    It really is all about perception. Once you have the right perception, it will be a smooth ride with your mother in-law.

    If you are lucky to have your mother-in-law on your side, you can be sure you are off to an enjoyable marital experience.

    These are 7 easy ways to win your mother in-law’s heart:

    1. See her as your mother

    This is the very first step to winning her over. Once you stop looking at her as the black monster out to steal your spouse, you tend to love her just as you would your mother.

    1. Get to know her

    How do you love someone you do not know? Find out what she likes. Know her values , her best food, what gets her angry, etc. Do the necessary digging around.

    1. Act accordingly

    Cook her that special meal she likes from time to time. Call her as you would someone you genuinely love. Avoid doing things that piss her off, make her know you have taken her as a mother.

    Read Also: ‘My husband takes care of his Mother than our kids’

    1. Do not overdo it

    Overdoing everything has negative consequences. Overdoing your acts of love with you mother in-law might just turn into a case of familiarity breeds contempt. The key is maintaining a balance.

    1. Prove your love for her child

    She needs to know that her child who she has nurtured for decades is in safe hands. Prove to her that you are the right partner for her child. This is where knowing her comes to play. If she is particular about healthy feeding, cook balanced diets for her child.

    1. Make sure her child fulfills parental responsibilities

    This is very important. It will make her feel less like her child was stolen from her. Make sure financial and emotional needs are fulfilled. Emphasize seriously on this.

    1. Appreciate her:

    Nothing softens the heart like a good dose of appreciation. Call her up one day and tell her how you appreciate how well she brought up her child, tell her how she has been a blessing to you and how you’d rather have no other as a mother in-law.

    Follow these steps, and watch your mother in-law love you like her child.