The YluNta and MisTir Issue

With all the rising cross-cultured Ethiopian Rock, R&B and Hip-Hop muziqa scene, and entangling webs of confusion and controversy spun every time we're faced with those darn ethnicity boxes, the concept of color (or colour for those of you on the other side of the Atlantic pool), race, ethnicity and identity is disorienting our mental compasses more than… heck, our color coded pill QumsaTn.

Whoa?! Mascot, hey Mascot, Pharmacist, wharrever - one blue pill, two red pills, on the rocks…. waaaaaaaTTT, essssssaayyyy!

OK, it is with seasonable fervor, dear Seledawiyan, that we anticipate the Color [give/take a 'u'] and Identity issue. Is race really a societal construct? To what extent is our perspective on color and identity influenced by where we grew up and/or our present circumstance? What do you tell your neighbor who doesn't consider himself black, or better yet, your cousin who's intuitively convinced that we're not Africans? Where do first generation Ethiopians (who? INa?? Why y'all magelameTing us like dat? Shoooot) place themselves in the Ethiopian and African Diaspora at large? And what about the full spectrum of color? Imbue our senses with all the shades, shadows and cross-culture variations of being Ethiopian. What are the ramifications of being socialized into an (overly simplified or ludicrously itemized?) ethnicity box?

A gut feeling tells us, and pray it ain't indigestion, that y'all have a plenty to gorge and disgorge on the intellectual plates of our readers.

Let's see it by the 15th of September!

The Spirits & Spirituality Issue : November 2001

Just imagine... deadlines are right around the corner, the server is down, Life Diarists have seemingly irretrievably mekorarefed, mail editor is out getting her nails done, posteNa is being chased by selediNi (our pooch de month), cover artist is out demanding yet another zero at the end of his salary, and the one Seledist who has earned the ignominy of being called "gashe" is pulling his very very very last wisp of hair... OK, so this is typical Seleda... Now, imagine if our Seleda intern should suddenly decide to have an attack of .... shall we say, diggimt? nala zuret? wuqabE rqet? "buda" asserting itself on poor "budee"?

We, (heaven help us), would not know what to do. An especially yetebareke Seledist might have the brilliant idea of invoking the appropriate prayers to transform the nearest bottle of Perrier into Sebel. Problem being a) who'd give up their chic bottles of "eau" for a questionable splashing of the hair just now so well admired, or b) what to say so the proper.... "spirits" .... are invoked. Well you get the picture...

So we admit that we are the urbanized, westernized, moleqeq lijoch for whom spirits and spirituality are traditions, ceremonies or intellectual abstractions to be absorbed at an oh too long Orthodox mass every few Sundays, or a few lazy afternoons spent browsing the confluence of aisles marked "Eastern Religions", "Christianity" and "New Age" at the local Barnes and Noble, preferably in between the decidedly un-spiritual sport of surreptitiously checking out who is well endowed where and just how much.

Since we are so clueless, we ask Seledawiyans to enlighten us about their interactions with Spirituality and any manifestations of the "Spirit World" . What does spirituality mean to you? How do your spiritual and religious lives co-exist? Do you think spilling a little of your untasted drink, whether Tella, abol bunna or double latte, is creating a mess, or is it paying homage to your ancestral spirits? Have you re-discovered your ancestral faith or switched to a new one, and if so why? Would you know which toe to hold when the local exorcist (who might, just might, be that thin sallow cab driver you rubbed shoulders with) commands you to? Have any of you had a past life reading done? Do you think possession (by a "buda" or a "demon" or a "spirit") exists or do you think it is simply a case of "multiple personalities"? Could one of you expound to us why Ethiopian tradition is so full of anecdotal stories of devout Christians going to a Sheikh and Muslim visiting Christian hermits to get cured or have a child? How about slet - have any of you done so to a Saint or Church on this side of the pond?

We ask, because the phrase "seyTanE meTabN" seems to be more prevalent around here, albeit spoken in the lazy BolE accent of.. "weeeyyyynaaayyyy yhhhaayyyy balegaaayyy! seytaaannnaaaayyyy mmmTTTTiiiiitttt aaalllleeeebbbbiiiNNNN". Obviously, an exorcism is in order - not just for our "intern-on-the-edge", but also for another Seleda editor who hasn't stopped his ridiculously hysterical laughter after a colleague stabbed him with the butt end of a buttering knife (OK, story to be told another time) Since Tebel through e-mail is not yet de-jour, we'll take your stories, anecdotes and topical creations. Just make sure it is here by October 15th. alebeleziya, iNam d'gmt inawqalen.. You've been warned....

The Sex Issue : February 2002

Ay-hey-hey… wedEt wedEt. Long after we've been pegged "undersexed, desperate dorks" by those who, well, aren't, ineho proof that we might really, really …ere le werE'm ayamech.

OK… so, this is the Sex Issue. Ah…the "S" word, feared and adored in Ethiopian society…that confounding mixture of promiscuity and piety all wrapped in one neat dr'b neTela teeming with tension and confusion. We're blasé about CHn gereds but, ho-ho-ho, let an adult woman wear a strapless dress, and it's all "waiter, I will have an extra large kenfer memTeT with my outrage". Conversely, are we Diasporic Ethiopians over sexualized? Is there something to be said for ET inhibitions?

In layman's terms, at what point do issues of sex, fidelity, freedom, love, passion, lust, secrets and fantasies… megenaNet? Is our sense of piousness six feet or six inches deep? Are we capable of deep, hard thoughts about the myth and reality of sex in our society? Where is our emotional bed at? Do we have the tolerance to openly talk about sex, or are we going to just medabess the issue and not thrust to the core of the matter? Are we able to come, collectively, to an agreement, or are we doomed to always mafen our screams of ecstasy or frustration? What was the orgy-nal sin? Kama Sutra? You wish-imma!

UUUUUuhhhhhh?

Listen, we just ask the questions, aiight! Because we are proof positive that some reproductive organs should NOT reproduce, we look towards you, oh sage SELEDAwiyan, to help us address some of these issues. Enlighten us. High time for some frank, fr'T-rT , healthy discussion.

Speaking of high…we're done here. Articles are due on or before January 15

The Depression & Ecstasy Issue: March 2002

To dig or not to dig? To poke, to puncture, perchance to bleed? MoyalEs can be painful, no? Yes they can. The distress of walking on a damaged heel because that miserable little wretch decided to dig itself into your body. Imagine that! YOUR body, damn it! And there it is, lodged comfortably in your heel, the pride and soul of your flawless walk and prance. There it is, grinning ad infinitum, while you huff and puff in an effort to dare the needle. That bastard! Your heel will never be the same again. Never! Imagine the expenses for psychiatric care to nurse your severely damaged self-esteem … all on account of that miniscule wretch. Yet abatu, ya agdim-adeg!

Is the perfect heel too much to ask for? Imagine the joy, the sheer bliss of waking up and looking at a flawless, smooth heel, sans intruder infestation. It would even make the most menial, tedious jobs seem like heaven.

In all seriousness, March is our "Depression and Ecstasy" issue. The hours spent fiddling and toying with sanity while itching from depression bites … momentous outbursts of ecstatic celebration that would put to shame the CHiffera and dinfata of a igir-aTabi who got promoted to Tegur-astekakai … folks, here's your chance to tell us your stories. Come hither and vent; our support group welcomes thee.

So … all megl-yeQuaTeru terekezoch due on the 15th of February? 17th, if u have pedicured feet.

GUIDELINES