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

Presidency of Jimmy Carter

Apr 19, 2012

On the Unwarranted Jadedness of Privileged Young People

Posted by Omonse Esangbedo | Tags: Yours Chimerically, Essays, Ferenc Gyurcsány's speech in Balatonőszöd in May, food, Presidency of Jimmy Carter, President Jimmy Carter's Moral Equivalent of War Speech, Social Issues, Technology | 0 Comments

Something is wrong. Teens and young adults troll around social networking websites and mope through life, not in the glorious joy of youth, but with a dark cloud hanging over them. They describe themselves as alone and misunderstood, and one would almost think it was a front - a tool to seek attention, until one looked at suicide rates. Is there any good reason why at the prime of life, a mentally stable young person, with very easily diagnose-able problems would be conned into thinking that their life is so bad that they need to end it?

I won't pretend to know why our seemingly perfect lives are marked with purposeless sadness and unnecessary depression, but permit me to offer some ideas.

1. It's cool to be miserable. We're always complaining about something. Something always gets on our nerves. Everyone has their special little irritation and loves to flaunt it.

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Feb 18, 2011

The Forgotten Generation

Posted by lat | Tags: Lat's Thoughts , Essays, Gambia, Great Britain, Francis Edward Small, Presidency of Jimmy Carter, President Jimmy Carter's Moral Equivalent of War Speech, Social Issues, Technology, War, west Africa | 0 Comments

The Gambia is its river…narrow, long and beautiful. When in 1455 portuguese explorers banked on our shores, we were not The Gambia, but a river as beautiful as it was navigable. We were a route that served an end. We did not have gold, or diamonds – or so we are told – but what we had was the one thing that was necessary for the stealing and smuggling of West Africa’s vast natural resources and that was the river.

The two warring, rival European nations –France and Great Britain – are again drawn in by the river and a people that share a culture, a history and an identity are set on due to the strategic, interesting positions of their rivers and the efficiency of their navigation. There is no interest to develop our lands, educate our peoples or feed our hungry. They are not here for the people but rather for our river.

But then, the physique of our people becomes an added resource.

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Nov 09, 2010

Against a Gambian Monarchy: An Essay

Posted by amrangaye | Tags: Live From the Gambia, Gambia, Antonis Angastiniotis, Entertainment, journalist, Presidency of Jimmy Carter, President Jimmy Carter's Moral Equivalent of War Speech, representative, Rhetoric, Technology, War, writer | 0 Comments
Lately I have been hearing rumors that have left me feeling greatly disturbed, concerning the current system of government in Gambia, and a possible change to it. I religiously stay away from politics in my writing. But this is a big enough change that I feel I cannot in all good conscience hold my peace, as a writer, and as a Gambian.

There are problems, with the method of discourse we have chosen. It is polarizing - a fake distinction has been set up, for every issue: for and against, good and evil. Yet it occurs to me that we must first try to understand our problems, before we attempt to solve them. Insults are free - any idiot can utter them. They change nothing, engender nothing - they are the worst kind of masturbation.

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