Thoughts of a 90's child
Born in one millennium living in another. Here's my perspective of things.
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Being black in a white world
I grew up on a healthy diet of High School Musical and Glee club, I wanted to be all these beautiful ladies in the shows with blonde hair and blue eyes, it didn’t matter if they were American and I was African, for me all that needed to happen was I’d grow up have the money and all that needed fixing would be fixed. Not knowing that even that desire to ‘fix’ something to look like another visual representation was a big problem. Now I’m all grown up and I am learning not to constantly watch American shows that sell the idea that size 4 is the way the truth…
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Life is for the living
In our world there’s always been an imbalance; there’s the rich and the poor, there’s health and ill health, there’s suffering and joy. It’s gotten to a point where most people believe that if they are experiencing one then the other is not far by. Because we are happy and well, at the back of our minds we wait for the other shoe to drop. When it does we think, c’est la vie! The life’s rat race is therefore to make so much money we have enough to cushion us from what life throws. An insurance policy. We’ve seen the 1% and know how they control the economies of the…
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Just Mercy
Last week I had the opportunity to attend a premier of the movie, Just Mercy starring Michael B Jordan and Jamie Fox. The event was sponsored by MMS Advocates and Corazon Kwamboka, Valentine’s Cake House, Anga Imax Cinemas and Vera Beauty College aimed to create a platform for lawyers and advocates to interact from all over Nairobi. Here’s the trailer to give you an overview of the movie. The movie is based in the United States and hits the nerve on matters race: How being born black in the US has condemned people to being guilty because of their skin color. It is based on a true story of prisoners,…
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Friday Afternoons
I’m one of those weird people who go to restaurants alone, order a meal and read my book. Sometimes I even carry work along (to avoid looking so weird) and type away while I barely pay attention to the food till it turns cols. The best part however isn’t the work, it could be the food but it’s largely observing the people who get into the restaurants. There’s always a story if you stick around long enough. In my books, there’s definite categories of people you’ll see on a Friday afternoon. The boys. These guys are probably in their late 30’s and early 40’s they were supposed to ‘grab lunch…
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Climate Change
Our generation will have to decide on how to deal with the issue of climate change despite some people believing that it is a hoax. I believe it is a reality that needs to be dealt with yesterday. A few issues I find appalling for instance are the intensity of the cyclones we are experiencing today. Cyclone Idai in Mozambique killed about 1000 people. Not to say the cyclone was caused by climate change but rather its intensity I believe was contributed upon by the changes we are experiencing today. Moreover, there have been record highs in this year’s winter in the United States where there were lows of -70…
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The Midterm Elections
The United States are heading on to the midterms in less than a week. An exercise that has seen a revolution in not just getting people to register to vote but showing exactly why it is important for everyone to vote. Back in 2016 Obama handed over to Trump in a historic electoral college win and now the midterms determine whether the President and largely the Republicans will have control over congress. To bring to you up to speed, the midterm elections in the United States are elections held in November every four years, near the mid point of the president’s four year term in office. They elect the United…
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The ‘Scramble’ and ‘Partition’ for Africa.
When Senegal and Nigeria got knocked out of the world cup, I automatically moved to France, because it was the only African team left. Sure the question has been debated on whether they really are ‘African’ being French players but I believe there’s a blood line and we Kenyans know how to claim people. Look at what we’ve done with Obama. During the finals, we were thrilled when France won. I’m sure there’s a child somewhere called Pogba. Then out of nowhere a discussion on colonialism starts, whether or not colonialism was a good thing. I thought we were all high from the win, but this was a group of…
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Let’s talk about the Finance Bill
Our generation is very fortunate to have been born in a day and age where we don’t have to fight for fundamental rights that our forefathers did. Though I am alive to the fact that these rights may not be fully realized and have many imperfections we cannot say we are where we were half a century ago. It’s easy to get tired of the news because a great deal of the time we are reminded of the challenges we face as a country. The good days don’t really last as long. A meme lifespan to be precise and we’re on to the next story. (Notice how we’re not longer…
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Red Flags
There’s a gifting with how well we ignore the red flags in our friends lives. There’s always an explanation. He’s just needy, she’s just busy, we’re all grown up and they should understand. It’s interesting how then we live in a world where in less than two months Avicii, Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain died. It’s not just dying, they took their own lives. *** We’re in the kitchen and Melissa* is trying to explain why she wants to kill herself. She has all the reasons, all the explanations, all the logical conclusions. To her I’m privileged to be there ‘in her last days.’ She’s not sorry she wants to…
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Is home really home or are we still tenants of the Crown?
The afternoon train at the Mombasa terminus has a reputation for leaving people who don’t make it on time. We all don’t want that, especially when you have to be at work the next morning, therefore human beings endowed with paranoia, like myself, leave Mombasa at 12:00pm for a train scheduled at 3:00pm. Easiest means of transport, take a cab, especially if you have luggage. No need to Uber and pay 600 – 800 bob, you just need to know someone in the business. (Welcome to Kenya!) It ends up being way cheaper. The cab pulls up after church at exactly 12:00pm and as is custom, I take the back…
