Hi everyone, I’m Naeema Salau and welcome to my blog!!

I’m a first-year student at the Pennsylvania State University and I’m studying Biomedical Engineering. I’m originally from Allentown, PA (about an hour north of Philly, as no one seems to know where that is, and I can’t blame them). In my free time I love to spend time with my family, watch TRASHY reality TV, spend time in the gym, run outside, make TikToks, and take really long naps.

I have created this blog for my honors Rhetoric and Civic Life (RCL) course, where I hope to share my opinions and personal passions using two separate blog threads. The RCL course allows students, like me to develop good oral, communication, speaking and writing skills that can serve us throughout the rest of our lives. The course provides me with the opportunity to become more aware of pressing issues in the world around me through discussion and research. I’m incredibly excited to be taking this course this semester, as it will allow me to improve my writing and speaking skills, which are essential for the career I hope to have after college.

In addition to my RCL thread,  this blog will also have a passion thread where I’ll be focusing on all things related to Black culture. On the passion blog, I’ll be deep diving into elements of ‘Blackness’ like music, hair, fashion, and language and comparing, contrasting, and relating my findings back to my life as a Black woman born and raised in a predominantly white city in Eastern Pennsylvania.

I hope you all stick around this semester and enjoy the posts that are to come!!