True Ease in Writing comes from Art, not Chance, As those move easiest who have learned to dance. - Alexander Pope

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Barllu (Living)

By Khadijah Aja Tambajang in Essays, Gambia, guard, Hospitality, Technology

 The morning of my return to The Gambia, I left a note for my sister thanking her for her usual lovely hospitality filled with laughter, reminiscing, small rasalantehs (snobs), shopping, and over eating. My last sentence, ‘life is for the living!’ on the note clung to my memory like a baby on its mother’s back.

 

Yes, we are all alive and well, thank God for that, but are we living a purpose-driven life? Are we doing what we love? Are we holding on to excess baggage? Are we refusing to accept the inevitable? Are we being truthful to ourselves?

 

To me, living a purpose-driven life is about being faithful whatever your faith is. It is about loving what you do to define who you are regardless of people’s expectations. It is about being truthful to your core – being in tuned with our instincts to know what is fundamentally right or wrong and how it affects the people closest to us.

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Nov 25, 2012

Day Twenty-Two: Someone You Want To Give A Second Chance To

Posted by Linguere | Tags: Linguere, Non-fiction, 9, CDATA, guard, XML | 0 Comments

 

I grew up wondering why you had left us
The signs were there, but I was too young to notice them
There were many firsts in the days that built up to your departure
I just took them in and wished they would die… fast
That wish has grown with me to this day, the yearning growing stronger.

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Nov 23, 2012

Day Twenty: The One That Broke Your Heart The Hardest

Posted by Linguere | Tags: Linguere, Non-fiction, guard | 0 Comments

 

You came into my life uninvited, unwelcome and at a time when I was least prepared
I had expressed disinterest, choosing to protect my heart from the crushing I saw around me
I was young and naive but not totally oblivious to the constant regret from those who’d walked that path
I saw bitterness, anger, resentment, pain and a lethal urge for revenge in some
True to their human nature, they could handle love, but not the heartbreak.
In reflex, I watched it all, and wished I’d never fall victim to the woes
I wanted the love, but it was the only sure way of ending up on the same route.
Thus I shut myself out and despite the sometimes lonely times, I was happy.

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Oct 01, 2011

Visiting Nigeria (A Scattered Travel Log)

Posted by Omonse Esangbedo | Tags: Yours Chimerically, Culture, Nigeria, Business, Entertainment, food, guard, T.Y.S.O.N., Technology | 0 Comments

The plane landed

I paused, inhaled and tried to feel like I was at home.

But I didn't.

The interesting thing about being away from a country for so long is that when you arrive, no matter how strongly you want to embrace the culture, people and everything else that comes with it, you still feel foreign. To be true to yourself, you would have to admit that the food tastes strange in your mouth, the smells catch you off guard and the surroundings have you spending short bursts of time just standing and staring to take it all in. It didn't help that the security man's face twisted into a retort as I handed him my passport. "Ah ah, what brings you to Nigeria?" "I'm here to see my dad.

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Aug 10, 2011

Red Black Nonsense - A Cultural Reality (A Facade)

Posted by lat | Tags: Lat's Thoughts , Essays, food, guard, judge, Lies | 0 Comments

...and it rains of bloody turpentine...from the eyes of men that seek to coat up...to somewhat refine lifelessness...to look beautiful...to sanitize...to clean up...dirt...to not destroy a scent...an odour...but rather to suppress it...but only for a while...for dirt...stink...always remains underneath...and still it rains...of bloody turpentine...

...For it is a curse upon us...a desire to pre-judge...to coat up everyone...a different shade...depending on the season...the time...the moment...according to our whims...our desires...our preconceived notions...right or wrong...but still ours...and we are unmoved by gestures...or by suggestions to thwart...to throw away...to change...an idea...simply because it is ours...but that is our burden to bear...for it is a curse upon us...

...and then there is religion...read by men...translated by them...also according to their desires...their intentions...guided by emotion...

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Mar 13, 2011

In a Jail Cell

Posted by amrangaye | Tags: La Femme Noire, Fiction, Wawe, Geography, guard, Haha, LAN, Muslim, NOW, Paco, Political geography, Politics, Social Issues, South Korea | 0 Comments
 
 
By chance, they share a jail cell. They did not know each other outside, and only met in the prison. They sit together in the dark, occupying the tiny space. 
 
- Yoot
- Wawe
- Abal ma sa lighter bi. Suma bossangi banya taal.
 
He throws it up, grumbling.
 
- boy yaadeh always jehal suma lighter fluid ah! denye kore deh jaaye you know.
- Maneh fuck off, hanaa du yaafi daaha aaba lighter. 
- Hey just taalal deh-lore ma suma alel.
- Maneh mungi nee - lighter rek la - buma chop.
 
He throws the lighter back down, accompanied by a swirl of smoke.

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Feb 13, 2011

My Valentine "lull-a-bye" - A short story

Posted by lat | Tags: Lat's Thoughts , Fiction, guard, Kilimanjaro, Marc Jacobs | 0 Comments

The day I remember now as clear as the sun that now strikes my dark cheeks. It was February 14th, 2005 and I woke up like any other woman; anxious, yet happy. I must warn you before you go further, that this is not your typical love story. This is my nightmare.

So (ok where was I?)…yes It was February 14th 2005 and I woke up like any other woman; anxious yet happy. The sun had made an early rise and I had risen with it, full of life and ready for what I had planned to be the best Valentine’s Day ever.

For four full years, Musa had been after my heart and my love, but I had been hesitant. He had built himself a reputation that was without any doubt, one to be feared and never ignored. Seven months earlier however, I had let my guard down after a year of staying single due to a severely shattered heart. Now this was to be our first Valentine’s Day together as a couple and I had to be the woman he had never seen before.

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On Being Criticised

By Amran Gaye in Essays, Facebook, Blog software, Contractualism, Facebook, Ferenc Gyurcsány's speech in Balatonőszöd in May, guard, Social information processing, Social media, Technology, Web 2.0, World Wide Web

Yesterday in my psychology class we were talking about groupthink, the tendency of a group to agree on everything, even when individual members of the group think otherwise. This happens because the members of the group don't want to speak up and be seen as being negative, so they go along with the group consensus, even when it is clearly wrong. This got me thinking about the kind of community we Gambians are building online, especially on Facebook.

Facebook of course encourages groupthink, by intent as well as by design. If we agree with something someone says we comment or like it (notice how there is no dislike button), if we disagree we silently scroll past it. Naturally no one wants to be that Facebook person, the one who is always negative - not only does it earn you many enemies, our culture right from birth teaches us the value of keeping our negative thoughts to ourselves in public.

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Jan 04, 2011

Mispronounced Words

Posted by jatougaye | Tags: La Femme Noire, CDATA, Espresso, guard, XML | 5 Comments
 

This caught me off guard..I have been mispronouncing "lambast" for over 2 decades.

I found out today it is pronounced "lam-bayst" instead of "lam-bast"

Other commonly mispronounced words I came across ..

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