The Thing Around Your Neck May 2026

Akunna feels "invisible" and struggles with the "mix of ignorance and arrogance" from Americans who assume all Africans are from the same place or share the same background.

The title refers to a metaphorical "thing" that wraps around Akunna's neck at night, symbolizing her suffocating loneliness , anxiety, and the heavy burdens of her identity as an immigrant. The Thing Around Your Neck

In Connecticut, she works as a waitress and experiences profound loneliness and cultural isolation. She meets a young white man who is genuinely interested in her culture, and they begin a relationship. However, cultural tensions persist; he often displays a subtle condescension or fails to understand the depth of her immigrant experience. Akunna feels "invisible" and struggles with the "mix