ktravula – a travelogue!

The Lost Country

This post, originally intended to be titled “Mitt Romney Hates Me” in response to the decision of whoever manages his Youtube channel to ban me from leaving any further comments after I spent last week debating with some of the commenters on one of his videos. There’s something else in the news however that is a little more disconcerting than being banned from further debate by someone who wants to be the president of the country that champions free speech and democracy. It is about the so-called investigation in the corridors of power about someone in the Obama administration leaking “sensitive” foreign policy information.

It began about a week or more ago when two consecutive New York Times articles came out one of them boasting that President Obama has a “Kill List” of wanted terrorists marked for death by the US drones that he personally supervises. The other talked about an extensive cyber war conducted by the administration and Israel in which computer systems in Iran were targeted with debilitating viruses. Responses to the two articles were mixed. The response to the Kill List article was definitely very mixed, and very weird. Republicans and other right-wing conservatives who had tried to paint the president as otherwise soft on terror suddenly found themselves faced with a well-done reportage that showed that the commander-in-chief had actually been personally conducting a strong, brutal, foreign policy. The Left however, the otherwise human-right touting base of the president who beat up on George Bush for being such a hawkish man who misled the country into war in which innocent lives (and of some bad people too, no less), kept curiously quiet. They found no contradiction whatsoever in the image of a president who won the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2009 personally supervising the killing of suspected terrorists not yet convicted of any crimes.

Therefore, in a weird twist of fate, logic, and political identity, Democrats silently cheered that their president finally locked down the foreign policy cred (nevermind that his supervising of the killing of Osama Bin Laden already wrote him into the history of decisive leadership), while Republicans – otherwise usual supporters for whistleblowers who leak government information that show abuse/misuse of power – are now up in arms, jumping up and down, and making loud noises that the leaker of the said information should be found. Why? Because the leaked information made the president look good. Of course if the information “leaked” to the New York Times had included some embezzlement or some sort of information, these same Republicans would have been the first to find ways of protecting whoever the person is, touting him/her as a hero.

So, here’s where we are. The biggest developing news on TV today (bipartisan, nevertheless) is about the call for a private investigation, not – as you would imagine – to examine the rationale for the president himself personally supervising the life/death decision on who lives or who dies in Yemen, Afghanistan or Iraq tomorrow, but to punish whoever made that information public. The Republicans making the most noise about the call for this panel do not care much for those accused bad guys (and the innocent collateral deaths accompanying it), but they hope on some level that the investigation would lead to the president himself, and he would thus be embarrassed. Again, not so that the killings would stop or become more open, but so that he would be painted as a weak, narcissistic leader. The president himself, calling the insinuations that he purposefully leaked classified information “offensive” is investigating the leaks so as to plug it, and not really to stop or modify the draconian policy that made some mockery of his 2009 Nobel Prize and his earlier stance on the policies of the George Bush administration.

It all just seem weird to me. But what do I know. I’m just one naive observer. But all liberal observers now keeping quiet would do best to remember that Obama won’t be president forever. The spy and killer drones however, and the capability for government abuse, will.

Amercia’s Language Problem

It made news sometime last week that Mitt Romney’s campaign app spelt the name of the country he is aspiring to lead as “Amercia”. A likely honest mistake, perhaps, but an unfortunate one for someone who “believes in America” and wants to “restore” it. Yesterday, they also misspelt “sneak-peek” as “sneak-peak”. One thing I’ve noticed for a long time in my internet interaction with fervently patriotic citizens of the country is how they have consistently been the most grammatically incapable. I have not been able to wrap my head around it.

On the one hand, a case can be made for the laziness of online forums, and the ease of textspeak in most cases, but when those who consistently want to “take the country back” from foreigners and immigrants are the ones most unlikely to speak the language correctly, it gets worrisome. I was old enough to remember the days of Bushisms and the profundity of ungrammaticality. Somehow, it is just seemed unbelievable that the leader of a country is not able to speak the language of its people. Yesterday, I found this, from the Mitt Romney website (emphasis, mine):

As president, Mitt will work to expand and enhance access and opportunities for Americans to hunt, shoot, and protect their families, homes and property, and he will fight the battle on all fronts to protect and promote the Second Amendment.

There was something similar said by George W. Bush sometime in the early 2000s:

Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we. — Washington, D.C., Aug. 5, 2004

Politicians are the easiest to make fun of, not just because they are the most visible, but because they represent the collective culture of a people. I imagine that if the Queen of England made a statement of stylistic or grammatical importance on television, it will either spur a flurry of linguistic dialogue all around the academic circles of the world, or just get accepted into popular usage just on the basis of the reputation of its user . What goes on in online forums (and Tea Party rallies) however is more inexcusable. It is either that the standard of English usage in America has gone horribly low among “native speakers”, or that it has always been like that, and other world users of the language have just been fooled for centuries that a mere access to the language equals proficiency, and is also a symbol of prestige and access. After all, the same Tea Party folks (think Rick Santorum, Herman Cain, Rick Perry) are the same ones with the hardest policy positions against immigration and multicultural education.

To be clear, I have nothing against the tendency of language to move towards simplification. Heck, I even favour pidgins and creoles. It’s just a little interesting that in a world where being a native speaker of English today is still defined more by where you’re born than your level of proficiency, as many ESL teachers not from the US (who have tried unsuccessfully to get a job here and elsewhere) have sadly discovered, those people who have fought the most to keep the language/culture pure are the ones most publicly embarrassed by the repercussions. That is some poetic justice, I think, pun intended.

On WALC 2004

The burden of memory, and the surfacing of an old photograph taken in 2004, has imposed on me an unconscious returning to one of my memorable times on the University of Ibadan campus. I was a student in the final year of Linguistics, and the recently appointed secretary of an international conference of linguistics. It was called the West African Languages Congress (WALC 2004) Conference. As secretary (and volunteer webmaster), my responsibility included receiving and collating abstracts, communicating with conference participants via the internet, and updating the conference website as necessary. Needless to say, it was one of the most exhilarating, fascinating, moments of my student life in the university. For the first time, I realized that I wanted to work in linguistics.

The conference, chaired by Professor Ben Elugbe in collaboration with Alt-I and the Department of Linguistics and African Languages had the theme, “Globalization and the Future of African Languages.” The picture was taken most likely on our way to get palm wine somewhere on the outskirts of the university and the conference venues.

Photo by Olumide Abimbola.

3bute.com & Caine Prize: Press Release

The 2012 winner of the of the £10,000 Caine Prize, Africa’s leading literary prize, will be announced at a celebratory dinner at the Bodleian Library, Oxford, on Monday 2 July. To promote the new crop of young writers, 3bute.com in collaboration with the Caine Prize will be adapting (so readers can mashup) all the stories shortlisted for this year’s prize before the winner is announced.

Drop dates for the Caine Prize 2012 ‘3butes’:

– Stanley Kenani (Malawi) ‘Love on Trial’ – May 27

– Melissa Tandiwe Myambo (Zimbabwe) – June 3

– Constance Myburgh (South Africa) ‘Hunter Emmanuel’ – June 11

– Rotimi Babatunde (Nigeria) ‘Bombay’s Republic’ – June 20

– Billy Kahora (Kenya) ‘Urban Zoning’ – June 30

3bute [pronounced: tribute] is an online anthology devoted to the contexts often missing when African stories are reported. Our mash-up platform lets artists collaborate with writers on 3-page visualizations of their stories and journalism. By being able to add context to these narrative and “mashable” surfaces, our goal is to render, with your help, the developing world in a more engaging and immersive way.

3bute’s mashable surface lets everyone add their voice to the story by submitting relevant links to any context/ media content they can find on the web. 3bute pages can also be embedded all over the web, and the context everyone has added to the page goes along with it. In other words, 3bute is a social, accessible and sustainable way of distributing African stories, along with much needed context, around the web.

This year, like never before, overwhelming attention is being drawn to the shortlisted stories, thanks to the efforts of portals like ZunguZungu. 3bute hopes to offer a hotspot for the discussions around the stories.

For more information visit www.3bute.com or email us at mail@3bute.com.

Book N Gauge XII: Partying with Books and YOU

It’s a year already since we started Book N Gauge. Are YOU surprised? Oh yes, it is a year since the debut edition that featured Jude Dibia and Odili Ujubuonu. If the event were a baby, we would be crawling by now; yet we have crawled, walked, learnt and are still learning. The twelfth edition of Book N Gauge is scheduled to hold on the 26th of May, 2012 at 2pm; venue is Debonair Bookstores, Sabo, Yaba.

In the one year that the event started, Book N Gauge has featured over thirty writers, and over fifteen performers. Book N Gauge has had eleven book readings with writers and performers from different parts of the country. Does this call for celebration? We think so. And that’s why the twelfth edition, a book party, is dedicated to YOU.

The book party would feature more music performances than ever before, more giveaways and more participation from YOU. Why YOU? Because you have been with us throughout this whole year. And we need to show our appreciation to you by opening our floors to the readers in you. We have decided to open the floor to budding poets for the first time. So, if you would be interested in performing; send us your details: pulpfactioner@gmail.com so that we can include you in the plan.

HOW? YOU will read excerpts from your favourite books. YOU will tell us what makes the book your favourite and why you love it so much.

Our lineup of performers include: Musicians, Ese Peters, Isebiama and poets, Plumbline, Efe Paul Azino, Razaq Ivori and YOU!

Performers

Efe Paul Azino got a rousing ovation after he thrilled the crowd at the last edition of the Book N Gauge. Regarded as one of Nigeria’s leading Spoken Word Poets, Efe Paul has been a headline performer in many performance poetry venues, including Anthill 2.0 and Taruwa. Efe has delivered Spoken Word Poetry locally and internationally. Reflecting the suffering in African societies and the hope that keeps them going; Efe Paul’s poems cut across class, social and religious boundaries. Efe Paul is at once entertaining and thought-provoking; he leads a generation of poets in lifting poetry off the printed page, out of the shadows of academia and placing it right before the audience.

Plumbline studied as a Geo-scientist, rather than digging oil pipes; he “mines” words. Influenced by poets like the late Mamman Vatsa and the late Ken Saro Wiwa, the songwriter and spoken word artist wrote poetry from his secondary school days. He performs Spoken Word Poetry at most Lagos Events like Wordslam, Anthill, Taruwa and hosts Chill and Relax. His words dash straight through the heart of the audience and leaving them with thoughts, little mementos to take home.

Isebiama

ISEBIAMA is a sensational singer, songwriter, guitarist whose love and passion for music has taken him through phases most focused and accomplished musicians pass through. He is a product of the MUSON Diploma School Of Music;where he learnt a whole lot about music. From the basic music foundation, to sight reading & writing his own music, to understanding the connection that should exist between different instruments & performers in small ensembles, group performances & chamber groups. Isebiama is indeed a musician of purpose; his genre of music is deeply rooted with originality and cultural credibility in Soul and World Music. Though born and bred in Lagos, Isebiama hails from Okrika in Rivers State. His songs which are written & delivered in English, Yoruba, Okrika and Pidgin English, are an expression of his experiences and the stuff that go on in his heart. His dynamic play of the guitar with speed, passion, mental strength, balance and panache, and his remarkable vocal intonation through his mid to high notes registration are assets to be reckoned with. ISEBIAMA, the new sound of music.

Razaq Ivori: Spoken Word Artiste. He is a prolific writer whose career was launched by writing as “a ghost pen”, in the form of biographies, for the rich and famous. Razaq Ivori graduated from Ahmadu Bello University and the Institute of Journalism. He has two unpublished works in the offing: The Sperm, a Sci-Fi African drama piece and The Adventures of Illinick. He longs to bring back the art of the quintessential town crier poetic semantics which he dubs “narrative news”—a system where actual news content is infused in free flowing prose rendition like the Yoruba “ewi”, though delivered in English yet not without the characteristic melodic chant of the past. For six months, Ivori premiered this art at the Bogobiri House, ikoyi, where some said the uproar it generated prompted the proprietors to establish a full scale stage house next door for performance poetry

Ese Peters (Musician) : Ese Peters has a knack for making beautiful music. A self-taught guitar player, He started out as a solo performer of the Alternative Rock/Soul genre after graduating from the university in 2008. A young man who sings from his heart, Ese carefully crafts his songs which come from his experiences and a wealth of influences, citing John Mayer as a major reason he decided to pursue music as a career. Ese puts an interesting spin on guitar-driven pop music.

Auction Session: There will be an auction session. What do you get? Latest books that you can only find online. Hot CDs that are yet to be on the streets… There is also a surprise X auction item, come to find out. What are you waiting for? Let the bargaining begin.

Also:

A platform for book lovers to meet, interact and network.
Freebies, lots of it. Let’s start with this. Invite five friends, ensure they come for the event and win a free book.
Live Musical performances by: Ese Peters and Isebiama.
Poetry by Efe Paul Azino, Razaq Ivori and Plumbline

DATE: May 26, 2012

TIME: STRICTLY 2pm – 5pm

VENUE: Debonair Bookstore, 294, Herbert Macaulay Way, Sabo, Yaba.

Remember: Bring five friends and win a free book! Gifts are available for early birds too.

There will also be a raffle draw with the star prize being a Kindle.

« Older Entries Newer Entries »