For what it's worth, your country has a democracy that works. With all the bickering and Washington drama, I know it doesn't seem that way. But (I'm about to pull the "I'm from an African country -- pity me" card) I come from a place where, erm, our politicians really are pigs. So much so that we call our Members of Parliament, MPigs. Because they are only after their own interests. Indeed, that is what politics is about, but your politicians at least consider their constituents. Sure that might be big oil and not the farmer in Idaho, but at least they care for other people besides themselves and their bank accounts.
I'm sitting here watching jealously -- like a kid at recess who doesn't have toys, watching their classmate play with the flashiest Lego set -- how you have thousands of people engaged in the political process; how much, regardless of the left/right split, your politics are about more than just
tribal affiliations and what part of the country the representatives are from; how much fun speeches can be because the people writing them, and the people delivering them, are extremely passionate about what they believe in.
This is me, as the kid who can't get the flashy toy, asking you, the kid with the awesome Lego set to please, please, please, build the living daylights out of that set. You have that privilege, use it to the max. Please, register to vote if you haven't. Register for an absentee vote if you aren't close. Please go out and vote on election day. (Heck, you guys have an electronic voting system!) You may think you don't care, please care. You may not realize it, but politics dictates even the air you breathe. Figure out who's closet to the values that are most important to you and go for that guy. Decide for yourself, don't let anyone dictate your choice, and please, please, go out and vote.
Signed,
Me and my Kenyan friends watching the election process enviously, and all other people around everywhere wishing they could go out and vote.
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Monday, August 13, 2012
Currently Reading...
I'll tell you one of the biggest perks of being done with undergrad life is that I can finally get some time to read a novel or two without feeling even a wee-bit guilty. I set out to read a book a week for the summer and managed to get as far as week five before finally Obama's "The Audacity of Hope" and Saima Wahib's "In My Father's Country" slowed me down.
The first one is President Obama's recollection of his years in Congress and as an Illinois senator. I was a little fooled that the book would be a light autobiography. It has plenty of that, but it is also filled with discussions of the US constitution (he was a constitutional law professor after all) and policy recommendations for congress and so on. It's not the kind of book that I wanted to (or even could) breeze past in a week. Three weeks in, after only managing a third of the book, I put it aside for lighter reads. I've edited my originally ambitious plan for this book, I'll try a chapter a week so that I can unpack it.
The second I found in the book-giveaway shelf (yes, free books up for grabs) of another department of the place I interned for over the summer. It caught my eye because it is set in Afghanistan and I am generally curious about the Middle East -- in a "I'm probably never going to experience this for myself" kind of way. But it was really hard to read. I must say, I loved that the author painted a very vivid picture of the US Military efforts in post-9/11 Afghanistan. I benefited from reading about more than the casualties and the atrocities. Instead of a general US-Army good/Suicide bomber bad view, the account provides a more humanized complexity of the mistakes that the US troops make and the intentions behind them, as well as explaining from an Afghani and a Pashtun's perspective why these attempts of good-will are actually insults.
And finally, a friend of mine recommended (and later gave me) these next series of books after I talked about Saima Wahib's "In My Father's Country" and Khaled Hosseini's books. It's a mystery/whoddunit by an American author, Zoe Ferraris, set in Saudi Arabia. The book offers a different view of the region. Ferraris was married to a Saudi Arabian and lived in the country for a significant number of years and thus, I would like to trust she knows about what she's writing about -- but a few instances made me pause and have to remind myself that an American wrote the book. All the same, I rushed through the book I was reading between part 1 and part 2 of the series so that I could get to part 2 and be absorbed in the world of Katya and Nayir -- I'm trying not to give spoilers.
This is my attempt to get back to blogging about my life because I am awesome! Please, bear with me!
The first one is President Obama's recollection of his years in Congress and as an Illinois senator. I was a little fooled that the book would be a light autobiography. It has plenty of that, but it is also filled with discussions of the US constitution (he was a constitutional law professor after all) and policy recommendations for congress and so on. It's not the kind of book that I wanted to (or even could) breeze past in a week. Three weeks in, after only managing a third of the book, I put it aside for lighter reads. I've edited my originally ambitious plan for this book, I'll try a chapter a week so that I can unpack it.
The second I found in the book-giveaway shelf (yes, free books up for grabs) of another department of the place I interned for over the summer. It caught my eye because it is set in Afghanistan and I am generally curious about the Middle East -- in a "I'm probably never going to experience this for myself" kind of way. But it was really hard to read. I must say, I loved that the author painted a very vivid picture of the US Military efforts in post-9/11 Afghanistan. I benefited from reading about more than the casualties and the atrocities. Instead of a general US-Army good/Suicide bomber bad view, the account provides a more humanized complexity of the mistakes that the US troops make and the intentions behind them, as well as explaining from an Afghani and a Pashtun's perspective why these attempts of good-will are actually insults.
And finally, a friend of mine recommended (and later gave me) these next series of books after I talked about Saima Wahib's "In My Father's Country" and Khaled Hosseini's books. It's a mystery/whoddunit by an American author, Zoe Ferraris, set in Saudi Arabia. The book offers a different view of the region. Ferraris was married to a Saudi Arabian and lived in the country for a significant number of years and thus, I would like to trust she knows about what she's writing about -- but a few instances made me pause and have to remind myself that an American wrote the book. All the same, I rushed through the book I was reading between part 1 and part 2 of the series so that I could get to part 2 and be absorbed in the world of Katya and Nayir -- I'm trying not to give spoilers.
This is my attempt to get back to blogging about my life because I am awesome! Please, bear with me!
Monday, April 16, 2012
Introductions [Updated]
There are about 17, 000, 000 blogs created every day. That was January 2012. How many more are there now?
Welcome to one more.
My name is Atieno. I have a first name -- an English name -- by which most people know me. But I like the look of "Atieno" in text. I'll probably introduce myself differently if we ever meet. And I refer to myself differently within the blog when it applies. But calling me "Atieno" makes me smile. It's a novelty.
At the time I am writing this, I am almost a college graduate. I don't know how much further in the future you are reading this, but my hope is that that status has changed.
I like writing, although this should not be taken to mean that I write creative pieces. I learned early that my creativity can stretch only so far. I am passionate about self-expression. In writing. In speech. In art. I believe strongly in articulating the innermost corners of our mind in ways that can be understood by those outside our minds. So when I say I like writing, I mean, I am enthusiastic about articulately and accessibly conveying my thoughts. Or something like that.
To start you off with the cliches, I find myself in a situation that many others before me have experienced. I toiled 8 years in primary school, and then four years in high school and four more years in college, soooo, now what?
This blog is about that. And then some.
Welcome to one more.
My name is Atieno. I have a first name -- an English name -- by which most people know me. But I like the look of "Atieno" in text. I'll probably introduce myself differently if we ever meet. And I refer to myself differently within the blog when it applies. But calling me "Atieno" makes me smile. It's a novelty.
At the time I am writing this, I am almost a college graduate. I don't know how much further in the future you are reading this, but my hope is that that status has changed.
I like writing, although this should not be taken to mean that I write creative pieces. I learned early that my creativity can stretch only so far. I am passionate about self-expression. In writing. In speech. In art. I believe strongly in articulating the innermost corners of our mind in ways that can be understood by those outside our minds. So when I say I like writing, I mean, I am enthusiastic about articulately and accessibly conveying my thoughts. Or something like that.
To start you off with the cliches, I find myself in a situation that many others before me have experienced. I toiled 8 years in primary school, and then four years in high school and four more years in college, soooo, now what?
This blog is about that. And then some.
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