“To listen to one who came out of the earth, who still remembers faintly her melodious tunes.” – Bayo Akomolafe

Before anything else on this site, I need to pay homage to the book that inspired this project. “These Wilds Beyond Our Fences” is a series of connected letter by Bayo Akomolafe to his daughters tackling some of the world’s most profound questions through the lens of fatherhood. Becoming a dad forces you to move beyond the hypothetical realm of questioning the world around you and into the space of concrete action. This book, coupled with the inspirational nudge from my wonderful partner, has set into motion this project I call Dada Days.

One specific part in the book comes from a passage in between two letters, written by Akomolafe’s wife. She references this idea that we should stop thinking of our children as “entering” this world, but instead consider them as coming from it. This change of perspective allows us to shift the idea that as parents we play the role of teacher and our children the blank slate. Maybe our children, so recently born from the earth, can offer us lessons. Instead of talking at our kids, we take a second to listen and gain from the “melodious tunes” that they offer us.

I want my writing to reflect this. The only wisdom I know is that I have little of it. I want to share more about what I have learned from my little girl and less of what I can offer her.