You can click on the individual pictures to enlarge the flyer :)
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Matthew Zonis - Bamboozle
Table of Contents
Section 1: Mzungu by Mzungu
The Mzungu Lives……………………………………………………………………3
Song of the Weaverbirds……………………………………………………………...4
The 9th Wonder of the Consumerist World…………………………………………..5
Section 2: From Under the Hot Tinned Rood
Fuck the Box………………………………………………………………………….7
If I Had a Penis……………………………………………………………………….8
Between Sewer Rats and Suits……………………………………………………….9
Section 3: Bridging the Chasm
Perspective Pt. 1……………………………………………………………………..10
Perspective Pt.2 ……………………………………………………………………..12
The Devil in Guise…………………………………………………………………..13
The Illusive Man.......................................................................................................14
Introducing Our Final Projects
Herrooowwww!
Long time no speak. So this Friday we presented our final projects and several of us (including yours truly) did creative projects. This post is going to summarize all of the projects and the following posts will consist of their actual projects that you can comment on and enjoy :) So, Twende!
First, we have Brianna Kelley or best known as BeeKay, BK, or Beaky.
Long time no speak. So this Friday we presented our final projects and several of us (including yours truly) did creative projects. This post is going to summarize all of the projects and the following posts will consist of their actual projects that you can comment on and enjoy :) So, Twende!
First, we have Brianna Kelley or best known as BeeKay, BK, or Beaky.
She is an SOC sophomore at AU, involved in the Rugby team, and uh... what else? Anyway the theme of her research is to explore the romantic relationship and through that project she found the nature of abusive relationship in Kenya that is protrected by the culture. For her final project she made a very satirical guidebook for dummy about "How to Beat Up Your Girlfriend/Wife" You are going to laugh and feel really sad about this topic because let's face it, a lot of countries face similar issue. So, drop some love on her project. She would LOVE to hear your feedback.
Second, we got Matthew Zonis or Matt.
Matt is an International Studies with a focus on environmental politics in SIS, he's in TKE, and generally pretty chill. He made a poetry anthology called "Bamboozle." The anthology is very different in a way that it explores Nairobi from both the point of view of a Mzungu and Kenyan. Some of the titles are a bit.. different. So read with an open mind and leave comments on his anthology!
Third, I would like to introduce Brianna Musselman, or Bri.
She observed the impact of slum tourism on the community development. In order to capture what actually happenned during slum tourism and how little impact it has, she made a very sarcastic flyer about her imaginary slum tourism business.
So I am going to keep updating this as more projects coming in from my friends!
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Happy Birthday Tania Smith!!!
Hellowwww!
So I figure since I have been blogging sparingly I will have a filler post today. So Tania, one of the girl in our program, turned 21 yesterday. We went to celebrate her birthday from March 11 with dinner at Mercury and just stay up so we can say happy birthday at 12 am.
Then yesterday, SiNae, Tania, and I went to Sankara for a "spa day" and I got to say it was pretty fantastic. The other reason why I went to lunch and spa day with Tania is so the others will have time to prepare her surprise birthday dinner and so I can sneak out and buy her birthday cake.
We had tacos and stuff for dinner and turned off the light when SiNae told us that she was downstairs. Tania was very surprised and well I didn't realize that I had bought the trick candle so we spent a while blowing all of those candles. Overall, we had a really amazing birthday celebration and the bday girl seemed really happy. So, success!!! :):)
So I figure since I have been blogging sparingly I will have a filler post today. So Tania, one of the girl in our program, turned 21 yesterday. We went to celebrate her birthday from March 11 with dinner at Mercury and just stay up so we can say happy birthday at 12 am.
Then yesterday, SiNae, Tania, and I went to Sankara for a "spa day" and I got to say it was pretty fantastic. The other reason why I went to lunch and spa day with Tania is so the others will have time to prepare her surprise birthday dinner and so I can sneak out and buy her birthday cake.
 |
| The view of Westie from Sankara |
Fortunately, Tania finished waaay later than me so I had time to run to Uchumi and grab some candles and other stuff we need for Tania's surprise party. I could not find one of those number candles so I decided to buy enough candle to make the number 21.
 |
| I think Eliza and I did a pretty good job. |
Monday, March 5, 2012
Home is....
So my definition of home has been turned upside down this week. As I am writing this, I can say for sure that a piece of my heart will always be with Ukambani. I started my week of self discovery at Nyumbani Village for 3 days and 2 nights. Getting my feet wet, preparing myself for the following 5 nights and 6 days with Mr. Mutisya Kaema's family. And let me tell you, that compound is huuuge. I learned that Kamba families structure their house differently. They have a building for what usually is a room in a normal house (a building for kitchen, a building for toilet, separate buildings for each children, etc). I would love to post pictures but my blog is being stupid so just check it out from my facebook.
The time I spent there with Mr. Kaema's family was fantastic. Not only I get to do my research and help out with the household job but I also had a lot of time to think (sometimes while I'm running errands). I found myself in the middle of row of maize. It was a flood of thoughts, multiple clarifying moments, and most importantly I felt accepted. I felt like I was home. The family is really nice, they even joked (and seriously) said that they will give me a piece of land as a graduation present so I will come back. These people love me and made me feel like I can live there for a while. That I will always have a place to come back too.
Also, there was a... culture clash during my week there. My first day with Mr. Kaema’s family is also the first time I went to the clan’s meeting, we sat on an open circle of some sort. Three men are sitting with their back to the wall, 4 women (including me) are completing the circle, and the other women are sitting behind my row. I was sitting in the place of honor, right next to Patrice, whose daughter is the one that is getting married, and in the first row of the women. So when I came over again on Friday to celebrate the dowry agreement and help prepare the house to welcome the future groom’s family, I immediately went to the circle of females and greet them. I can see the males already made their own circle near the slaughtered bull where they are grilling chicken and some meat. Patrice, who usually helped me navigate cultural events or activities, was no where in sight and I decided to sit with the women. I had just pulled a chair to join the circle when everybody in the compound screamed at me. I do not speak Kikamba at all and no one seemed to be yelling instruction to me in Kiswahili so I stood awkwardly outside of the circle of female until one of them kindly ushered me to sit with the male. Not only did I sit with the male, but they made me sit with the elder and let me choose the first meat pieces to eat.
It was quite uncomfortable for me at first, as many of the younger girls were staring and pointing at me. I figured they were asking their mothers why they were not allowed to sit with the male like me. My first instinct was to stand up and to help with the lawn preparation. However, one of the elder grabbed my arm and told me to sit down and enjoy the food. I tried to help with the grilling process so I would have a legitimate reason for sitting with the men but they laughed and said it is not a woman’s job. At the sight of them giving the women smaller portion of the grilled meat, I wanted to insist that they put an equal amount but I know they will be offended. Looking back, I realized that my reaction was inappropriate as I might have offended both the males and the females by refusing to sit amongst the men.
After all of the confusion and five kilos of meat they made me eat, I seek my (much older) host brother Fred to get some answer. I explained the situation and my confusion to Fred while he patiently listened and helped his children with homeworks at the same time. It turned out that no one was upset at me for sitting with the female and I just did not understand the power structure of Kamba culture (I will refrain from making generalization of Kenyan culture since I have not visited other regions). While I observed that my food is always served first at the Kaema household, I had assumed that it was simply hospitality to guest. According to Fred, that was not the case. If I had been a female Kenyan guest, I would have been seated with the female but still served first amongst the female. The main reason why they insisted that I sat with the men was because I am a mzungu. The power structure goes like this: Mzungu male, mzungu female, adult male, adult female, and finally the children.
Fred explained that, if it was just a normal dinner, all of the guests would have received the food first then the male of the family, the elder female, the children, and the person who cooked the dinner. But dowry celebration is quite a ‘formal’ event where the power structure need to be honored and followed. The problem is, according to Fred, some people are still very fascinated by foreigners to the point that they are almost scared that anything that they do will be categorized as rude. I laughed at this as I told Fred that I have been so scared to offend anyone to the extent that I tried to get more work and errands to run. I mean, you cannot really offend the maize and the livestocks.
While it made me feel honored that they want to make sure that I feel welcomed and well taken care of, I realized that I reacted emotionally to the division of seating and food. Culturally, male will be served the bigger portion of the nyama choma because they are the one who prepare it. By sitting within the male circle, the wazungu will get their pick of the fattest (or leanest, depend on your preference) meat and bigger portion than if they sit with the female. In my family, we never specifically separated the family members by gender. We do separate by age/generation, but everybody received an equal share of food. With my (host) family in Texas, everybody just piled in the living room or the deck and mingle with everybody. In both families, the only priority we give is to the over 50 folks.
I was just greatly disappointed that gender still matters in some area, except if you are a mzungu. While culturally my ethnic group values male higher than female, in the current days no one ever treated the two genders differently. I think what really made this a big deal for me was the false sense of familiarity I experienced when I first arrived in Katangi (or Kenya in general). I was lulled by the similarities in culture and was not asking more questions to figure out the difference in the two cultures.
But anywayyyy.... at the party I got interviewed by the female elders while they take turns on making a basket/bag. At the end of the party before I leave to our own compound, two of the women slapped my shoulder and stared intently at me while saying "You're family now." I mean.. how could you not feel loved? The following day I saw a woman talking to Patrice while finishing the bag from last night. Patrice asked me if I like the style and I said "Yeah!" She told me that each of the female members of the clan contributed on the creation of that bag because they want me to feel their blessing whenever I wear that bag. Patrice went on to talk about how nice and well adjusted I am. That I am poised and smart and all of these nice things you can say to make a person feel loved and touched.
Katangi will always be my home and no matter how far I go, I will always remember my time there and how much it had clarify my mind.
The time I spent there with Mr. Kaema's family was fantastic. Not only I get to do my research and help out with the household job but I also had a lot of time to think (sometimes while I'm running errands). I found myself in the middle of row of maize. It was a flood of thoughts, multiple clarifying moments, and most importantly I felt accepted. I felt like I was home. The family is really nice, they even joked (and seriously) said that they will give me a piece of land as a graduation present so I will come back. These people love me and made me feel like I can live there for a while. That I will always have a place to come back too.
Also, there was a... culture clash during my week there. My first day with Mr. Kaema’s family is also the first time I went to the clan’s meeting, we sat on an open circle of some sort. Three men are sitting with their back to the wall, 4 women (including me) are completing the circle, and the other women are sitting behind my row. I was sitting in the place of honor, right next to Patrice, whose daughter is the one that is getting married, and in the first row of the women. So when I came over again on Friday to celebrate the dowry agreement and help prepare the house to welcome the future groom’s family, I immediately went to the circle of females and greet them. I can see the males already made their own circle near the slaughtered bull where they are grilling chicken and some meat. Patrice, who usually helped me navigate cultural events or activities, was no where in sight and I decided to sit with the women. I had just pulled a chair to join the circle when everybody in the compound screamed at me. I do not speak Kikamba at all and no one seemed to be yelling instruction to me in Kiswahili so I stood awkwardly outside of the circle of female until one of them kindly ushered me to sit with the male. Not only did I sit with the male, but they made me sit with the elder and let me choose the first meat pieces to eat.
It was quite uncomfortable for me at first, as many of the younger girls were staring and pointing at me. I figured they were asking their mothers why they were not allowed to sit with the male like me. My first instinct was to stand up and to help with the lawn preparation. However, one of the elder grabbed my arm and told me to sit down and enjoy the food. I tried to help with the grilling process so I would have a legitimate reason for sitting with the men but they laughed and said it is not a woman’s job. At the sight of them giving the women smaller portion of the grilled meat, I wanted to insist that they put an equal amount but I know they will be offended. Looking back, I realized that my reaction was inappropriate as I might have offended both the males and the females by refusing to sit amongst the men.
After all of the confusion and five kilos of meat they made me eat, I seek my (much older) host brother Fred to get some answer. I explained the situation and my confusion to Fred while he patiently listened and helped his children with homeworks at the same time. It turned out that no one was upset at me for sitting with the female and I just did not understand the power structure of Kamba culture (I will refrain from making generalization of Kenyan culture since I have not visited other regions). While I observed that my food is always served first at the Kaema household, I had assumed that it was simply hospitality to guest. According to Fred, that was not the case. If I had been a female Kenyan guest, I would have been seated with the female but still served first amongst the female. The main reason why they insisted that I sat with the men was because I am a mzungu. The power structure goes like this: Mzungu male, mzungu female, adult male, adult female, and finally the children.
Fred explained that, if it was just a normal dinner, all of the guests would have received the food first then the male of the family, the elder female, the children, and the person who cooked the dinner. But dowry celebration is quite a ‘formal’ event where the power structure need to be honored and followed. The problem is, according to Fred, some people are still very fascinated by foreigners to the point that they are almost scared that anything that they do will be categorized as rude. I laughed at this as I told Fred that I have been so scared to offend anyone to the extent that I tried to get more work and errands to run. I mean, you cannot really offend the maize and the livestocks.
While it made me feel honored that they want to make sure that I feel welcomed and well taken care of, I realized that I reacted emotionally to the division of seating and food. Culturally, male will be served the bigger portion of the nyama choma because they are the one who prepare it. By sitting within the male circle, the wazungu will get their pick of the fattest (or leanest, depend on your preference) meat and bigger portion than if they sit with the female. In my family, we never specifically separated the family members by gender. We do separate by age/generation, but everybody received an equal share of food. With my (host) family in Texas, everybody just piled in the living room or the deck and mingle with everybody. In both families, the only priority we give is to the over 50 folks.
I was just greatly disappointed that gender still matters in some area, except if you are a mzungu. While culturally my ethnic group values male higher than female, in the current days no one ever treated the two genders differently. I think what really made this a big deal for me was the false sense of familiarity I experienced when I first arrived in Katangi (or Kenya in general). I was lulled by the similarities in culture and was not asking more questions to figure out the difference in the two cultures.
But anywayyyy.... at the party I got interviewed by the female elders while they take turns on making a basket/bag. At the end of the party before I leave to our own compound, two of the women slapped my shoulder and stared intently at me while saying "You're family now." I mean.. how could you not feel loved? The following day I saw a woman talking to Patrice while finishing the bag from last night. Patrice asked me if I like the style and I said "Yeah!" She told me that each of the female members of the clan contributed on the creation of that bag because they want me to feel their blessing whenever I wear that bag. Patrice went on to talk about how nice and well adjusted I am. That I am poised and smart and all of these nice things you can say to make a person feel loved and touched.
Katangi will always be my home and no matter how far I go, I will always remember my time there and how much it had clarify my mind.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Best Valentine's Day Ever!
I freaking love everybody in this program!!!!!
So for Valentine's Day yesterday, I woke up to Bri's cheesecake cupcake and cute flower thingy.
So for Valentine's Day yesterday, I woke up to Bri's cheesecake cupcake and cute flower thingy.
I really love Bri right now. She also left us some secret admirers haiku!! Then I got dressed and recorded my valentine's day video for Kenya (it was cute and adorable, okay?) I dressed cute and adorably because I promised Emily that I will take her on a date. It was Terrific Tuesday at Pizza Inn, I stay classy on dates hahaha. I love my triple date with Ashley, BK, Randi, and SiNae.
We were joined by Alec later on and he bought flower for all of the girls in the program. Awesomeness!!! Afterwards, SiNae, Randi, and I went to Sarit Center to see that movie with Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum. Tania joined us later and we had a really amazing time at the moview.
Then we played cards all night and hang out. Adam sent me a poem and well you know, it was a nice poem. But overall it was an awesome valentine's day in Kenya. Kenya is full of love!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)