Random Musings: Happy Thanksgiving!

‪#‎FindingTheEXTRAORDINARYinTheOrdinary‬ There’s something magical about thanksgiving, in particular cooking for beloved family and friends. All the clanging of crockery, the loud clunking of pots and pans. The spices floating up our senses and all around the home.

The excited chatter of young and old voices, the sly and naughty peeks into the many pots, still cooking on the stove; tasting a sauce here, a piece of meat there, a still-warm piece of bread, fresh out of the oven.

#RandomMusingsbyJK: ‪‎Life Lessons at Tea Time‬

‪#‎LifeLessonsAtTeaTime‬ Not everybody will be your cup of tea, just as it’ll be silly to think you can be everybody’s cup of tea. Focus on the tea you love, quit forcing yourself to casually taste (and even drink) all the other teas.

And do not serve or sell your brand of tea to everyone. Seek the ones who naturally love your flavour (or have over time, acquired a good taste for your tea). In fact, it is necessary to point out that not everyone actually likes tea! Don’t take it personal. Allow people the right to their choices, okay?

Plus, know when to serve it hot, lukewarm or iced. For those moments in life when you’re forced to have teas you can’t honestly stand, simply say NO or sip very, very slowly (or add lots of sugar, close your eyes and gulp the darn thing swiftly, the caveat is of course, over time the sugar may be very bad for your health).

However, the sooner you learn to say NO, YOU’ll encounter less of those unsavoury tea-time episodes…Develop the habit of saying yes or no from an authentic space. Clarity about your boundaries attract who and what you want into your spaces. Ambiguity messes up the resonance of your vibrational frequency and simultaneously brings in both gems and craps into your energetic field.  Lol 🙂 ~ @JulietKego

Happy Father’s Day: In My Father’s Robe (Remembrances of a Beloved Father…)

On December 5, 2010, a part of me died and rose again, more alive than ever. My father transformed from this formed plane of earthly existence to the formless beauty of the heavens…A day before that, I had launched an organization I co-founded with a friend.

More than anyone on the planet, he knew why this was an important new path for me to walk. I knew I had his unwavering support. During his burial, I had to wear his chieftaincy robe and carry his customized fan. The honour! I really do love certain parts of our culture (not the oppressive, patriarchal, limiting parts…Lol)❤

#RandomMusings: Social Media Vacation, Tanking Economy and Finding Joy in Between…

Every once in a while I take a social media retreat. I reboot my social media platforms and start all over from the scratch to rebuild both my friends’ list and content. This period qualifies as one of my ‘once in a while.’ (Connect with me via email, phone, messenger etc.)

There’s a lot of economic hardship all over the land, and often this means more people flock to social media to escape the grind of reality. And it is easy for everyone to start pointing fingers, but that never solved anything. Please, be gentle with and empathetic towards people, most are dealing with different stressors, it just shows up join different ways. Be kind to yourself too. Both in the real and cyber-worlds.

#RandomMusings by JulietKego: On Jim Nwobodo, cross-carpeting and the failure in leadership.

Candidates For Psychiatric Evaluation ‪#‎MakeRoomInAROMentalFacility‬

‪#‎OurLeadersHaveGoneStarkRavingMad‬!!Jim Nwobodo was recently named by embattled former National Security Adviser (NSA) Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd) among those who benefited from the multi-billion naira Armsgate fraud, currently being investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The former Governor denied any wrongdoing, saying that the N500 million released to him by the NSA was meant for PDP leaders in the South-East to mobilize support for the re-election of Goodluck Jonathan as President in the 2015 election.

“I am not looking for a job. I am talking because I want peace. I want our people to be part of the Federal Government at the centre. I had a problem being an opposition Governor. I am not coming into APC because I want anything. I want our people to reintegrate and have our own share of the Federal Government resources.” ~ Jim Nwobodo [Source: Today.ng]

I don’t know whether to weep or laugh hysterically! I’m totally flabbergasted. O gini di ife a?? What levels of DENIAL and DELUSION are these folks operating under? What crazy alchemy is let loose in the synaptic gaps of their cells? How messed up are their neurotransmitters? I was waiting for some core ideological shifts, a value construct or belief system that propelled this move and we get this inane dribble? Are you kidding me? Hear, hear him: ‘I want our people to reintegrate and have our own share of the Federal Government resources…” So this is all about getting a share of juicy mangoes and yams?

These are the words of a 75-year old man! A former Governor AND Senator of the federal Republic. A founding member of PDP. I am outraged that this joke of a human being shames Ndi Igbo, and in fact ALL well-meaning Nigerians, by using the ‘OUR PEOPLE…REINTEGRATE…SHARE OF THE FEDERAL GOVT RESOURCES’ sickening lines!! 500 million squandered on ‘South East Leaders!’ May we please know the names of all these greedy sickos who’ve held us down for ages?

These are the men/women 30,000 Biafra Agitators should really be attacking and demonstrating against. I do not want to wish anyone evil, so I’ll hold my tongue! 500 Million of our national wealth shared among fools and charlatans in a zone with bad roads, poor water supply, out-of-kids- school, poor health infrastructure, ill-equipped/poorly trained teachers, imagine if that was used for a micro collaborative technology hub for Youths in Enugu ….

Ah my beloved, battered Naija! We must have a wall of shame to call out these folks!! Mr Jim Nwobodo, sir, with all due respect, as an Igbo lady, you do not in anyway speak for me or represent me. Not at all!!

I appreciate that he handed over power peacefully, he may even be a good man but in my opinion (and I may be wrong), GEJ was a weak, corrupt and misguided leader, with zero creativity. Just like almost all the leaders before him. That’s exactly why we are where we are today. How can you simply spend money to buy votes when all you had to do was actually plough those funds in developmental projects and leave a worthy legacy?? I don’t get the logic at all!!

Did he not read up about Awolowo, Michael Okpara, et al? A first-time South-South leader! He had a chance to transform that zone into the envy of the world and couldn’t even clean up Ogoniland! Chinua Achebe got it right: “The problem with Nigeria is simply a failure of leadership.” The caveat of course, is that we are all leaders! #APrayer4NigeriaInDistress

Cyber-hugs,
Juliet ‘Kego Ume-Onyido
(You may also find me here: http://www.wholewomannetwork.org)

#InspiredReading: A Poet’s Bible by David Rosenberg

#InspiredReading One of my dreams this year is to return to Jerusalem. It won’t be the first time. In fact, I’ve been to Jerusalem a couple of times and can attest to the poetry that exists in every inch of the city. in Africa, I had a similar experience in Botswana.

In these special places, there seems to be some unnamed beauty that calls my soul’s forgotten name. It is like every thought I have there becomes poetry…

The sacred-spiritual-sensuality of poetry has always fascinated me and i find myself drawn to only poetry that evokes all these senses at once.

Anyway, I digress, this post is about a book I’m reading now. I am ecstatic to start off the new year with David Rosenberg’s A POET’S BIBLE. I read a few pages of this remarkable book on a plane ride, after borrowing to from a fellow passenger.

I was enthralled and started devouring the words 9for lack of a better expression). I tend  to read really fast, however, this was a very voluminous book!

And by the time the plane touched down, in the flurry of disembarking, I’d somehow forgotten to write down the title of the book and the name of author. It became the gnawing, not-quite-clear, beautiful experience and memory.

This was until I recently walked into a book sale CoverNotes Coffee house in Richmond Hill and viola! A Poet’s Bible…

And then, a new writing mentor also recommends the book in an email earlier today, (he saw the book as a great fit for the style of floetry I write (and hope to continue writing) . Music to these ears1 :-).

A bit from the introduction of A POET’S BIBLE; “With vivid metaphor, Rosenberg delves into the core of each biblical book.

The Bible’s poetry has been translated as prose for centuries, usually by clerics and scholars indifferent to the provocative wordplay and imagery of the original Hebrew poet.

The evocative and engaging poetry in a Poet’s Bible will allow the secular reader to n grasp this great classic in modern term.”

*David Rosenberg is a poet, essayist and biblical scholar. He is the best known and most widely sought after translator of the bible in our time.

A Poet’s Bible is my recommended #WWNInspiredReading pick for January 2016. Enjoy!

P.S: Some of the works of the great Khalil Gibran will be our picks for the remaining months of this first quarter.

 ♥ Cyber-hugs,

Juliet Kego |The Reminderist™

(You may also find me here: http://www.wholewomannetwork.org)

#RandomMusings – Finding that special one that fits perfectly!

‪#‎RandomMusings‬ by JulietKego: Maka Chukwu! I honestly did not set out to get him. I was walking and facing forward jejeli. Minding my own business. No aproko spirit in the air. No amebo or tatafo energy anywhere around. The gbegborun spirit had been quenched at night vigil the day before.

That Fada sabi do anointing and say correct prayers sha o (that one na correct story for another day! Hian, since this new handsome priest come to our parish, all the mothers and young girls don dey come receive communion. I no go lie jare, even me dey hear and understand the Word better now. E be like say Redemption get fine face o). Lol.

Anyway back to my Tori. Eh henn I was doing my daily walks in the mall like usual (Truth be told, I fell off the wargon for a while now, but this body must hot like Cameroun pepper by Easter of next year. E be like I go dey Television well well next year). Anyway, as I was saying, all of a sudden I see him hanging on her lifeless form.

So I thought: what nonsense. Correct looking thing like this should be on a living-breathing woman (insert my name here). I finished my walk and decided to wait o. Right in front of his dormot. Soon, the time to open up all the stores came and you better believe I was the first person in.

Told the salesgirl to take him off that mannequin, so I can try him on. Ahhh haha. E no reach 3 minutes, I don swipe card. As in, immediate decision. Love at first sight no ni.

This bobo knows how to hold a woman joor. Na so he package all my Ikebe in very ghenghen order, And even flattened this my one-pack belly with style. His colour was just gbam. Too much! Dark to my fair skin. We jel like ogbono soup and kpomo. His length nko? It was perfect for me. Not all those Ajasco, MJ-type, open-mouth for calves or before ankles type.

He was kissing the floor I walked on. Holding me firmly but not too tight or loose. Just perfectly so. And with each step, I heard him whispering in my ears: ‘Walk for me baby, strut your stuff!’ Me too dey whisper back to him: “17, 18, 19, Bobo!”  🙂

My people, una see me see wahala o. Na so o! I go do exercise with track suit and came back home in jeans. This is is the story of how I bought a perfect pair of dark, blue, stretch jeans! ❤Jules

DigitalBackBooks.com – Discover Africa’s Stories.

‪‪#‎AfricanLiterature‬
#TheDangerofASingleStory
#‎AfricanStories‬ ‪#‎PostcardsFromAfrica‬

I’ve always believed and harped on the fact that as Africans, we have to begin to tell empowering and more complete stories about ourselves. And also, to use more creative platforms to tell these stories, in order to be more relatable, accessible and in effect, a reach a wider audience. Watching Chimamanda Adichie’s brilliant TED Talk: The Danger of a Single Story, cemented this belief for me.

#RandomMusings Elnathan John’s Born on a Tuesday sheds some light on the Northern Experience (Almajiri, Fundamentalism, Faith, Family….)

Between my dear friend Adaobi Nkeokelonye’s heart-tugging and brave chronicles of the IDPs in the North and Elnathan John’s new book ‘Born on a Tuesday’, I can confess that I know more now about a part of my homeland and the lives of many of our brothers and sisters than I ever did before.

#120. Floetry by JulietKego: Foolish and Wise

‪#‎ThisIsNotAPoem‬ #RandomMusings

Sigh
Foolish, is I
Found not truth
In your doe-eyes
Sigh
Foolish, is I
Scalded as I tasted hot lies
In your loose tongue
Sigh
Foolish, is I
Saw but a child
In your man-girth

Sigh
Wise is I
Give you hot kisses
In honour of my love
Sigh
Wise is I
Laced my lips
With goodbye rums
Sigh
Wise is I
Intoxicate you to sleep
As I stealthily slip away

Sigh,
Foolish and wise, I
See scared little you
Simply as you really are
Afraid to grow up or own up

Sigh,
Foolish and wise, I
Listen to your jumbled lies
Still loving you as I let you go

Sigh,
Forever foolish is I
Missing the cold warmth of you
even when you’re not yet gone….

 

(C) Juliet Kego Ume-Onyido