I believe in the power of sharing ideas. This blog is an accumulation of my thoughts and experiences as an Addisababian currently living in the United States. I attempt to think outside the box and to be as open-minded as my habeshawinet will let me, thus if you’ve stumbled onto this page please feel free to be opinionated and share your ideas.
Thank you
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UPDATE
July 21, 2013
For the purpose of serving a wider and bigger purpose, this blog has started receiving and posting new articles from other writers from all walks of life. If you enjoy this blog and feel like you want to make a contribution please email your articles to riness78@gmail.com. Sharing ideas not only has the potential to change ourselves, but has the power to change our world.
Tena Yistelegn.
Addis Expressions 
Great blog!! I hope you write more frequently than you do now, because your articles are really nice. Enjoy your day!!
Thank you very much! I definitely will be doing my best to blog more often. Hope you come back and visit again =)
I am sitting inside a coffee shop, reading your blog after such a long long long time and the expression on my face would have told you how i admire your writing and you would not have disappeared for this long…. You don’t know me very well but i do know me and i am very very pick when it come to people i want to talk to at an intellectual level, people i want to learn from and I admire for their mental power and your are one, one my ears, my mouth and my mind opens up for to listen, learn from and discuss with. So far I am a reader but soon I will start commenting and share my opinion. Never stop writing!
Tena Yistilegn
Abiy (Bini’s friend from Denver)
Hi Abiy, Thank you very much for your words. It motivates me to write more and share my thoughts with readers like you, readers who i believe share the love, confusion and countless questions i have for/about life. I have more free time now, so I’ll do my utmost to write more often. Next time you’re in ATL, coffee is on me 🙂
I stumbled upon this page from facebook as I came across a shared article titled “Ethiopian Feminism, A Critique”. I am always concerned about these ideology invasions and even think about ways I could create awareness the Ethiopian community. I guess what you are doing is one good way. I loved the article, thank you for expressing those legitimate concerns. Inspired by this article, I kept on reading the other articles too. I appreciate your works. And I implore you not to stop it!
We have many great writers like you outside, whose writings I (and also others who know them) would love to read, such as Maaza Mengiste’s. Try to collab with these people and deliver great works.
I look forward to seeing more of your and others’ work on this blog.
Date: 05/08/20
I don’t even know how to start this, but I know I am determined to embarrass myself, so I am gonna write this note.
I am not a writer, as a matter of fact I don’t write at all. But I can assure you that I am The Biggest A**hole who ever read your articles!
I am supper bored this days being in quarantine for almost seven weeks now. So I had grown increasingly dependent on social media, relying on it as the source of entertainment and discovering new ideas and people, even as it had led me to distraction and unhealthy obsession. I happened to be single in this tragic time, I am sure you have a superb imagination to understand how hard it is to be single and not able to be in close proximity with a female for this long.
I had a conversation with a buddy of mine the other day about the situation, he recommended me to sign up for online dating. My answer for that was very swift! I told him that those girls on those dating sites are prepared to get picked up or they are in search of a potential mate or a date, which makes it very unattractive market for me to indulge. I am not a kind of guy who wants to be with a girl just for not to be alone. For me it has to happen naturally, meaning I have to see her first then I make a move! ( Sorry Look is not negotiable in my book) I am sure you are getting a little idea now why I called myself a name earlier 😉
So for me, I have to put an effort to swayed her my way. I enjoy the interaction, the conversation and the seduction more than anything else! I feel like those girls in the dating sites are half prepared, that is a TURN OFF for me!!! I don’t have to be in a physical contact with a female to feel alive (specially this days) I am capable of using my imagination or commanding my brain to travel anywhere to meet that person telepathically. I tried to explain this to my buddy but he couldn’t comprehend! He is suppose to be the one who should know how to use Imagination, He is an actor after all .
As I said I have been browsing some social media accounts lately, then two days ago I came across to your tweets. The first thing I notice (even before I read the tweets) was your smile and … a longe hair … and a long neck … and an attractive face 🤗 ( what an A**hole) then I decide to comment on one of your tweets and I did. Again today, you raised a plausible social issue on your tweets, then I decided to comment on it (my moves 😉). Even if I have an idea that you might be talking about economic class vs identity politics. I decided to twist the subject and made it political class vs identity politics ( Even it made me look like an idiot, I did it anyways to get your attention. (My second move 👎🏽) I don’t really care about what others think about it( I am not a politician either) I did make the comment for the sole purpose of your attention.
Then, I read your profile and the link brought me here to this page. Before I get here tho, I read the first article in title : Of Class and Addis.
I was debating on reading the whole Article or just browsing the page, then I start reading the first paragraph. And just like that, I was consumed … ! I was impressed with your story telling ability, with your language skill and how you can easily capture anyone’s attention with your writing as you do it with your looks 😉.
While I was reading my mind keep things about lots of things like, is she a pro writer or is she telling a story about how she end up settling in Addis. When I get to the point where your friend introduce you to the SPA owner, I said F**k I know she is going to say this is how She met her future hubby mr X. Then I decided not to read anymore. I just don’t wanna hear that! It’s so soon lol. ( I am a Sick F**k). Somehow the story was so good to quit, so I suck it up and read it to the end. The fact that you didn’t Hooke up or end up marring the SPA dude, gave me happy ending! too bad you guys didn’t get one 😉 ( it’s just a joke)
I was energized by the story so I decided to read one more and I read : Ethiopian Feminism, A Critique. This article impressed me as much as the first one and it revealed about your profession and passion. Now I know more about you, so I decided to read another Article. This time it was : The boy who cried ‘Weeding’. I was only through a few paragraphs, then the Big Boom!!!😱
I learned that you were married when you wrote the story. Knowing that broke my heart! (Seriously, I am a fool). I lost interest in reading the rest of the story. as much as your stories are magnificent, I couldn’t read no more! I am sorry! hey at least I read two and may be a quarter stories. That’s not bad! I wish I have the heart to finis it, but I can’t. I am sure a lot people will enjoy your stories!!!
Thanks for invading my brain inadvertently! I was alone so I could use an imaginary company, actually I was lonely so I needed a company! Thanks again!
What a wast of time, Ha? Hmmm … I don’t think so! I am happy … You see, the dating site girls will never ever give me this! I enjoyed every minutes of the last two hours writing this. Don’t ask me what I get! I can’t verbalize it, I am sure you are good enough to use your imagination.
If you made it this far, Either you are amused or confused or pissed. lol. I am sure your next stop will be the bathroom to puke! Or Not 🤞😉
You have an amazing talent keep writing. Kudos!!!👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
I’ll have to tell you, resisting the charm of that ‘spa dude” was quite challenge, I mean it’s not everyday you meet a man that understand the delicate science of scalp massages… So it seems our 2 hour relationship was quite successful… the thing about relationships is, as soon as you let them exceed 2 hours, things get too complicated, so quitting reading me after 2.25 articles wasn’t too bad of a move on your part. You might certainly be the “biggest a**hole” that has ever read my articles, but you’re certainly not the most idiotic 😉 I’ll certainly pray that this quarantine and the loneliness ends way before you’re tempted to meet a dating site girl or, God forbid, read a 3rd article… Thank you, glad you stopped by 🙂
Come back to Twitter.