Korks Talks

This episode deep-dives into the pedestalling of romantic love by inviting viewers to consider alternative forms. By introducing the multiple forms of love - from parental to sibling to friend to neighborly - I challenge what I consider to be a hyper fixation on romantic love that does not appreciate the breadth and complexity of desire or appetite for love. I then link this to the nuclear family...

Happy Easter! In this episode, I collaborate with my sister, biomed and finance grad, Stacey as we talk about attitudes to learning - ranging from the workplace to everyday life. I draw upon my experience in mentorship and as an ambassador to an educational charity, and she draws upon her experience working in a leading educational management company and voluntary tutoring, to reframe what we thin...

A continuation of the previous episode which focuses on the unfair criticisms of the Afro-Caribbean population, providing context as to their provenance by mentioning the effects of the Windrush scandal, sub-par treatment by the State in terms of education and other overt racism.  

In this episode, I talk about the plight of missing Black people in Britain, naming present and historical cases including Joy Morgan, Richard Okorogheye, Sarah Everard, Bibaa Henry, Nicole Smallman and Joyce Carol Vincent, and how the media coverage of them differed to Sarah Everard who was found murdered this March of 2021. I also talk about today's publication of "The report of the Commission o...

Trigger warning: sexual abuse, domestic violence and financial abuse A continuation of the previous episode, I share my review of Tina Turner's documentary 'Tina,' assessing how her trauma, and that of many other black women, informs their artistry. Briefly talking about Cicely Tyson's book 'Just As I Am', I go on to speak about the importance of black women telling their own stories from their ow...

Trigger warning: sexual abuse  Inspired by Audre Lorde's "Eye to Eye: Black Women, Hatred and Anger," I'm sharing my thoughts on the typecasting of black women in terms of hypersexuality, trauma and abuse and attempting to contextualise it in history and theory; I am also trying to explain the unconscious lack of grace we offer to black women. Examples include but are not limited to: Nina Sim...

This episode deconstructs everybody's favourite topic: love. For just under 50 minutes, I traverse through the 4 different types of love: familial, storge, eros, unconditional, made popular by the Greeks. Comparing a few dichotomies, I compare a few models of love: from individualist vs kinship, to pro-black vs interracial. I speak about role modelling (using examples of Quavo and Saweetie), the c...

A short stream of consciousness as to how I'm feeling on a Thursday evening when I have deadlines looming and thoughts rail my mind.

This episode questions the idea of ownership - centring around the kente cloth which is a symbolic piece of clothing worn by the Akan and Ewe people in Ghana, Ivory Coast and Togo. Using my fascination with visual artist Toyin Ojih Odutola as a springboard, I traverse through the connection between culture, art, and identity; how we redeem ourselves as diasporans looking for belonging and why it's...

In this episode I speak about navigating the wins and losses of adulthood, debate the constructs and conventions of womanhood and decide different ways to practise self-care in the social media age - from drawing on radical collective politics to the simple practice of journalling. Briefly touching on some of the literature I've read - from Audre Lorde's "Use of the erotic", to Avna Doshi's "burnt...

This episode touches on Harry and Meghan's interview with Oprah, the connotations of colourism, the institutional racism and white supremacy of the Royal Family and why we need a republic.

A short introduction into my thoughts and feelings of the concept of self and the topics I will be evaluating in further episodes.