Posts

The Inspiration

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Please forgive me for my long hiatus, I wish I had an honest excuse. I can only express my sincerest apologies. Interestingly today, I'll be talking about one of the few "valid" reasons why I've been away. My inability to find inspiration. If you're a writer, you've probably heard of the inspiration. That one thing we're all chasing that somehow eludes us like the wind. Some call it the creative genius, the one that pulls you. Sometimes when you're going about your normal day, you find an idea come to you that is so 'crazy' you have to put it down. It is so compelling, it forces you to stop whatever you're doing and just put it down, right there! And when you're done putting it down, you feel like you just ran a marathon and won. You're exhilarated and so excited and when you look down, it's a masterpiece.  Now, that's all well and good, until you wake up a few years later and find yourself unable to recreate the ma

Redefining and Reconceptualizing Beauty

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In the wake of the recent sexual assault scandal that  rocked the world, I have been thinking a lot about what beauty means to me. So often we find ourselves looking in the mirror and condemning something we have worn or an hairstyle we have made because we think it won't be beautiful to other people, but really who makes these rules? Who decides what is and is not beautiful. Recently while watching one of my favourite shows, The Real, Loni, one of the hosts, commented on this. She was in tears over how brutal 'women' had been to a friend who wore what she could afford to a red carpet. She continued, saying, that if she were to remove her own wig on the show, a lot of people would laugh at her saying she was not beautiful. It got me thinking about what we females do to support this patriarchal, sexualized society. We feed the hate with our comments on who wore it best, why they should have worn it a certain way; instead of focusing on what lies inside. How you dress,

A Known Stranger - excerpts from The Courage To Believe - an unpublished novel

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Moyo was not alright not after feeling like her own best friends betrayed her. " How could Jola have befriended Demi? She knew she liked him and she still went ahead with it? Even after going off on her for her feelings? And Moyo just kept mute? Some friends they were!". She thought as she moved towards the school farm for some quiet. The school farm at Welsley High was a good distance from school and was quite lonely. She ignored the voice that asked her to turn back.  She knew it was early anyway and the farm will be deserted; she could have some time to herself there before having to be friendly to other people. She checked her watch 7:05 "Oh well, we're always early anyway. I better get some peace and quiet here" She thought she was alone until she hears the ruffling of grass. She looks up and sees a familiar face, her senior colleague walking away from her and further into the farm. She calls out to him with a smile "Oh hey, Sam deary, h

#MeToo - Rising Up for My and Our Dignity

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Over the course of a few months I have been quiet about a growing movement that seems to have come to stay perhaps because it hits close to home. What exactly am I going on about? You might wonder. Well unless you've been living under a rock, you must have heard of the #MeToo movement that recently rocked Hollywood and exposed the vicious arrogance of a patriarchal society. The one that quite frankly we all live in. Really, I have chosen not to talk about it because it hurts. When I hear these stories and I see these women, my heart breaks for them; I share their pain. I find myself thinking, it could have been me. It hurts to know that for so long females have been pushed aside, beaten down and shamed for telling the truth, for daring to even try. And the scary part? Almost every female has a story to tell where they've been too scared, too ashamed to speak up. And why? Just because they wanted to make their dreams come true, just because they wanted to feed their famil

The Depth and Value of Friendship

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So I happened on this very interesting picture on Twitter. It was a picture of three boys playing cars. One of them had to bend down and carry the other two, almost like the body of the car. Of course when I saw it, I didn't think it was a big deal, I mean boys play all the time. Then someone commented on it, that it was a true representation of friendship. Friendship involves sacrifice, it involves someone being willing to "carry" the other person and do it with smiles. I fell in love with that comment for it described friendship adequately. Last year, I ended the year letting go, of pain, feelings and people that do not bring me joy but this year, I want to do it differently. I want to appreciate friendships. There are so many types of friendships in the world. Those that build up (the mentors)  those that push you (the adventurer) , those that encourage you (the confidant) those that notice you, those that keep you company ( the filler friend)  but mostly those t

Dealing with Despair

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I don't know what to write but not for lack of things to write but rather a lack of the will to write. I have so much to dwell on, is it the crippling economic crisis in the country? Or is it the annoying educational sector? Or do I dwell on the pain that can only come with unguarded speech? Lately it's been everything together. I am just tired, physically, mentally and emotionally. I am so tired I am not emotionally invested in anything. Physically, my body hurts and yet I am supposed to be mentally active, ready to learn. Take for instance, as a student in the university, my penultimate year for that matter, I am supposed to be aware of the area for my research project in the ultimate year. Of course I am not aware, I am not even sure I understand why I have been in school all these years ( I'm just here trying to sleep really!) That is the power of despair - To give up hope; when nothing quite makes sense anymore. The thing about despair though is that it's ne

The Waning Sacredness and Importance of Marriage Vows

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Please permit to be as blunt as possible in my comments today. In my spare time, contrary to what a lot of people would assume of me, I like to catch up on celebrities life. Call me nosy but I enjoy it. Some of my friends complain that such pastime has the tendency to color their views of the celebrities even as it could make it hard to want to see their other works but I just do not care. I separate their lives from their work. I will have loved to explain that but that is a topic for another day. What I really want to comment on today is the blatant disregard for the marital vows these days. I happened to read a story recently on a celebrity falling in love yet again and while I rejoiced with her because I love love and falling in love, I was struck by how easy it is to fall in and out of love these days. We live in a world where our celebrities pick up and break up at will, both home and abroad. Because these celebrities are the major characters that people see relate to even