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Showing posts from 2017

# YouLead17: Talent is Genius

I am happy to know Taye Balogun .   He is a Producer, Lecturer, Photographer, social developer, Activist, Pan Africanist and he is “woke” among many things.

Sandra Creason is a friend indeed.

Sandra, I don’t know the perfect words to express how much I love this portrait; it is the most beautiful gift I have ever received from anyone in this world, after my son Shane. I can imagine the time and carefulness you have invested in reproducing it this way—as beautiful as the original. Talent is genius, you are proof positive. It takes me back to how we met four years ago—over there on twitter—and then facebook. I met a very talented writer; writing her musings under her ‘conspiracy theories blog’, her ink drew me to her. I discovered she was multi-talented. After a good number of twitter interactions, I asked her to be friends on facebook; she accepted and has since been in my corner. She has been the big sister I never had; the mother I no longer had and a strong confidant—she knows my “shit”. Two years ago—it was April 16th 2015—here on facebook, I asked a question of guidance on how I was going to roll with my career life (after a year without a job post- gradu

Looking back at 2017 through a 'camera lens'

Through Photography I learn to appreciate life as it is right now, instead of wishing better days ahead. I am so thankful for the way my camera offers me gentle reminders to have patience, slow down, and enjoy life’s moments as they happen. I write from a lens of truth. In the words of Lao Tzu, “Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power,” –there is no in-between , successful people don’t grow by accident, they grow by design. The road of truth-telling is not an easy one for many but I will still be here to smack you awake. Most of the pieces I have written through the years intersect with real life—life as it is, not as we think it should be or wish it was—this one is going to be reflective, about 2017. This year has been tough. It has at times beaten my ingrained discipline of fidelity to resilience (sometimes I have logged out of hope). I have learned though; that resilience isn’t an end in

#UGBlogWeek: The future is writers and artists, readers

The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles but to irrigate deserts- C. S. Lewis Image Source: here Writing is one of the most important things histories and the future looks at—scientists love to argue otherwise but the real truth is that the world rotates a lot around stories—stories shape the narrative of what is and what will be, erasing this truth is erasing the truth about humanity. More often than not, many of my readers ask where I get the courage to write what I write and I honestly tell them, “the truth is a balance of the past and present, if you keep a keen eye on the realities; even the unnerving stories become ‘easy’ to tell”. If there is anything I have learned through the years, there is one thing that can give you a voice, especially if you are one of the voice-less , writing and art is the way to go. If you put up a piece of work for the world to read, or paint a photo or take a picture, once you share it with the world, you don’t lea

“El Sol sale para todos/ the sun shines for everyone.”

We cannot live lives of other people but we can be authentically ourselves by the lives that give us a definition of hope, a look beyond the abyss we might be into, a way through our messy lives and a path to the bright side of life. Often the unfortunate part, we are blinded into the thoughts of repetitively thinking that somewhat, rock bottom is our place to stay, that as long as nobody lifts us up, we are never going to make it through: that is a lie, rock bottom is not a conclusion, it is a foundation. Yes, you may need someone but the first person you need for self-liberation is you. At times your help, even the one you expect so much, so soon, may take so long to come through, or even never. Once you pick your stead, tell your story, this is what this article is about— that a Paradox is also a way of being that’s key to wholeness, which does not mean perfection: it means embracing brokenness as an integral part of life. The ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus once said, “Of