IMAX'S CORNER

 Are you crazy? Are you unhinged? Congratulations, you’re halfway to surviving Lagos. If you ask me about Lagos, I'll probably say it's a crazy place. But if you buy me a hot plate of abula from the iyalamala across the street, washed down with a “mortuary standard” Pepsi,  I'll tell you how unreal a place it is. One of the things that makes Lagos so unpredictable is that every outing is an adventure.  As someone who doesn’t go out much, every time I step outside, Lagos greets me with something unexpected.   Lagos houses some of  the biggest markets in Africa, so market madness is inevitable. Take the day in October when I went to the market. It seemed like a normal day—until I saw a whole family of five: father, mother, two sons, and a daughter, in a full-blown wrestling match with a vendor. Or the first time I went to Lagos Island market alone and experienced the infamous 'marriage by change'.  The danfo driver gave me and another passenger a si...

 Dearest gentle reader, Newsletters from my favorite people have become one of my new favorite things. In Adekunle Gold’s latest “love letter” (as I like to call them), he asked where my mind was at. His exact words were, "So Immaculata, how's your mind?" You can call this my open response to AG Baby’s love letter.   It took me some time to reflect on AG's question because we’re so used to the typical, “How are you?” and let’s be honest, the response, “I’m fine,” has become almost robotic—rarely requiring any deep reflection. "How is your mind?" was more thought-provoking for me. It felt personal, deliberate, and demanding of thought. I honestly don't think I have all the answers yet, but here it goes.   I’d like to believe that, in its entirety, my mind is calm yet hungry. It’s been everywhere lately—hungry yet grateful, appreciative yet unsatisfied. It wants more out of life than I can articulate, but I’m learning to balance these desires with gratitud...

I witnessed one of the most horrific scenes  some weeks ago that made me feel so helpless. I saw a man who had just been electrocuted by a transformer; his skull was practically visible, his skin was peeling, his blood was everywhere on the tarred road, and I could tell he was in so much pain because he kept rolling on the floor as if trying to quench an internal fire. At that moment, I knew he wished he had just died from the electrocution, and I secretly wished the same because it would have saved him from his present agony. However, what made this scene even more horrifying were the things happening around him. The number of people just standing and watching, including very young children, some laughing; LASTMA officials (traffic wardens) going about their business as if everything was normal; cars driving by, simply avoiding him. There was no sense of urgency to save the victim or attempt to shield the young children from witnessing such horror. People just stood and did nothin...