Happy New Year everyone! Yes! I know! I’ve been MIA!!! So deeply sorry for that. I guess work got the best of me and I totally lost my writing mojo (Why does everyone say that!)

Anyway, here’s to a sort of come back. And I ain’t making any promises. I will do my best to write posts every now and then. No promises though. I won’t say you’ll get a post once every week but that’s what I’m aiming for. At least one post. Reading and writing helps me improve, gives me somewhere to unleash, pour out my soul & stuff. Kinda like how my mind goes into thought mode when I’m in the shower! (Don’t ask!) Lets just say that these could be my new years resolutions.

I also hope to read, and comment more, on my fellow bloggers’ blogs. I have my google reader on and I will try my level best to keep up.

Hope you all have a marvellous, prosperous, fun-filled, challenge-filled year as I do!

*Over & Out*

Wamathai.com presents Wamathai Spoken Word December on Saturday 3rd December 2011 at The Michael Joseph Centre, Safaricom House on Waiyaki Way.

The event will be hosted by TV personality Anyiko Owoko & Blogger and Auditor Robert Kunga.

There will be Poetry Performances by: Wanjiku Mwaurah, Asali, Pearl, Jeremy Levinger, Lonesome Bounty, Kennet B, Nuru Bahati,Kevin ‘Man Njoro’, M.K, Abu Sense, Claude Baus, Miss Soulful, Ngatia, Dave Ndirangu, Aisha Salim, Ami, Mugambi Nthiga, Vickie Zosi, Mark Anthony, PotentAsh and many more

Music by: Elani & Afrology

The event will feature an exhibition of poetographs from the Koroga II project, a collaboration between Kenyan poets and photographers.

Other Details

Time: 4pm – 7pm
Charges: Kshs. 300 in advance & Kshs. 400 at the gate

Advance tickets are available from WWW.TICKETSASA.COM & at the Michael Joseph Centre reception desk.

But I usually go further and ask the question. Why assert it? Why say it? What’s the big deal? You don’t see me going around and say “I am _sexual and proud about it!” do you?

Here is one way of looking at it. It is known that being gay for aeons has been viewed at as a taboo, something shunned from society, something wrong. At this point in writing this I feel like this must have been written somewhere else but let me go on. I feel like straight people (which is assumed to be the majority, depending on your definition of straight – story for another day) have never needed to think about their sexuality. Only a handful have been involved in some form of same sex activity which (they say) somewhat made them settle into their heterosexuality. Because of heteronormativity, anything but heterosexuality, is viewed as ‘abnormal’.

So a gay person trying to understand their sexuality begins this understand knowing that they are abnormal, shunned and a taboo. They feel worthless and outcast from the rest of society who happen to be heterosexual.

In their reconciliation of their sexuality, they begin coming to terms with it and begin accepting themselves for who they are and it is in this acceptance that they feel the necessity to assert their sexuality and in some ways make the world know that they are okay with it.

This, for them, I figure, is one way of coming to terms with them being who they are and is also another way of trying to tell society that they may view his/her/their sexuality as a taboo/something to be shunned but they don’t have to because he/she/they are fine with it.

Maybe my analysis is not in depth, but it also helps me in some ways, come to understand why it is important to mention it.

But the so called ‘liberal self’ in me wonders, is it important? Why is it so important for anyone to mention their sexuality with such pride? Arent we all ‘proud of being who we are’? Maybe not. But I think this is something we as a society are yet to come to terms with.

We still live in a “majority rules and directs” kind of life. We have not allowed ourselves to be open to diversity and fluidity. Because of how we have been socialised, we are expected to to view the world in a “dichotomous, gendered, with specific roles, one sex” type of beings; heterosexual and heteronormative. We, for some reason or other, expect everyone coming out of a female womb is either going to be male or female and will be heterosexual; will conform to certain roles ascribed to their gender, and these roles include being sexually attracted to the opposite gender and nothing else. We even further expect that the female role and gender will be below and submissive to the male gender and role.

I still insist, this must have been mentioned elsewhere. I have just touched on bits and pieces of the broader topic. But these are things I feel need to be interrogated further, thought through and, be there any barriers, those barriers to be eliminated.

For me, I hope for a society where diversity and fluidity are a norm. Where being who we are is just that, being.

Related articles

• Gender Differences in Emotional Health (everydayhealth.com)
• Excerpt: Queer Indigenous Studies (indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com)
• The Gay Partnership: The New Standard for the Healthy Heterosexual Relationship? (masculinityu.wordpress.com)

Barbra’s gonna pick up a book n start reading…… again!

I have to admit. I’m a lousy reader. Terrible even. The last time I reeeealy read a book was when I was reading “As Nature Made Him“. I loved that book. If you haven’t read it yet, soma!

Now, my focus is turned towards Chimamanda Adichie’s “Purple Hibiscus“

And I will definitely do a review afterwards.

And maybe, just maybe, I will somehow get rid of this TV addiction I’ve got. And telling myself that TV taught me good English LOL! SMH!

Wish me luck!!!

The event was held on Friday 2nd from 6pm to 8pm and Saturday 3rd the whole day. I only went on Friday and boy was it packed! See a (dark) pic I took:

I was standing at the back! Apparently, according to this story here, the organisers anticipated for a 60pax turnout but lo and behold, 200 came!

Its easy to assume that most peeps who showed up were just curious. I for one was indeed. But my main motivation was that it was the FIRST!

Just having such an event in Kenya for me is a great stride. It means we’re moving somewhere.

I only feel sad that the reporting on that Daily Nation story was done poorly. But that’s a story for another day.

Most of the films on the list I’d already watched. Such as, Kuchus of Uganda, Milk and Transformations. It was unfortunate some of the Kenyan productions wouldn’t be viewed because of stigma and discrimination but that was understandable.

Kuchus of Uganda is a film (not well shot) about the gay people in Uganda, and especially so in Kampala. It  highlights the issues they face day to day, their joys and pains, their ups and downs. It seems it was done by a hand held camcorder but at least it captures the views of the community.

Milk is a famous famous show and I’d only direct you to Wikipedia for more details and tell you that its a MUST WATCH. Seriously.

Milk is a 2008 American biographical film on the life of gay rights activist and politician Harvey Milk, who was the first openly gay person to be elected to public office in California, as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Directed by Gus Van Sant and written by Dustin Lance Black, the film stars Sean Penn as Milk and Josh Brolin as Dan White, another city supervisor who was Milk’s assassin. The film was released to much acclaim and earned numerous accolades from film critics and guilds. Ultimately, it received eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, winning two forBest Actor in a Leading Role for Penn and Best Original Screenplay for Black.

I recommend also, in case you’ll be looking for other films, to find “Getting Out” a film by Refugee Law Project in Uganda. Its better than Kuchus of Uganda.

Let me know what you think. Post a comment, visit the facebook page, tweet me…. I can even help you, start with: “Me I think…….”