And I am learning to say no
I let out in the night
A bitter or a hopeful voice

– Montserrat Abello

I’m currently reading “Dance the Guns to Silence” a collection of one hundred poems in memory of Ken Saro Wiwa and the Ogoni 8. So far so good, but the poem I like the most is ‘And I am Learning to Say No’ (from which the above quote comes) by Montserrat Abello – its short, simple, resigned and dare I say quietly defiant – which is how I like poems :). I found, thanks to google, some other works by her here. Perhaps I am drawn to it because in many ways toughening up, learning to say no to people, is one of the major failings I think I have had in my life.

I have the burden priviledge of sharing an office with a couple of Nigerian blokes at work . Inevitably, our lunch break discourses turn to Nigeria – issues, future plans and matters arising. The other day, the subject of patriotism came up – and I argued that in the main, the Nigerian problem is firmly rooted in the allegiance to personal pockets, family, ethnicity, state and only then the country. Quite a few of the blokes have great ideas – I only hope the ideas persist. I think Chxta dropped some useful food for thought on NEXT on the subject a few weeks back now.

I’m intriuged by the definition of BLACK. Have been for a while – since the news of the first black player to play for Athletic Bilbao first team broke late in December of 2009. The bloke is Jonas Ralmaho – he’s also the youngest player in the first team, so he must be some prodigy. Growing up all those many years ago, there was ‘us’, and the others – any one who was not totally black was different – celebrated and accepted but still different… My Question – Is being black the absence of any non- african blood, or the presence of even the slightest pigementation derived from African genes? Or is it a fluid definition – dependent on context?

Still on the subject of football – Javier Mascherano came out in the papers to insist he would never  move to Manchester City.  Considering the same bloke wanted to escape to Barcelona in the summer  – I’d say he should keep his lips zipped and perform on the field. After ‘we’ rescued his career from the doldrums at West Ham, the least he can do is keep faith with ‘us’.  His take:

Here, we play with the history of the club behind us. We don’t have their money but we are proud to play for Liverpool. I know that they have the money and they are building a good side but I am still so proud to play for Liverpool.

Yeah right, except its Barcelona! Bollocks I’d say!

Is NITEL sold or not? And if it was, does a Chinese company have a hand in it? Seems to me that a lot of assets in Africa are being purloined bought by the Chinese. Allied to their economic growth rate and all that – might we have a new world order in our lifetimes yet? The folks over at the Financial Times suspect the numbers do not add up. I say, let those in charge clarify o….

I think buses – and trains –  are the best places to know a lot about people; next  to living with them 24/7. Maybe its something about the anonymity – but I find that quite a few louts typically exercise their worst behaviour on buses – like putting their wet, snow covered feet on seats, like playing music very loud (it’s cool that you have all the songs in the UK top 40 or whatever on your iPod – but I don’t want to know – thank you very much), like chatting and swearing very loudly – and being very in your face. Perhaps my thresholds are too low… I dunno.

The last post was a poem – just a poem.. Based on what Mother said long ago – So long ago that the events that led to it are now the subject of legend and friendly sibling yabs! 🙂 Thanks for commiserating anyways!