Tokesan -- Wandering Jonser

A few days ago, weeks really, I wrote on how hard it is to write and become known these days. This article from LA Times couldn't have elaborated my point much better. Still some of us who caught the writing bug cannot easily let go. One can only wonder what the "paper" publishing industry would look like in the next decade. A writing career becomes harder to scale - latimes.com Posted using ShareThis

It seems that to write a bestseller these days one has to be one of the staple writers already earned their stripes on the New York Times. LA Times or USA bestseller's list. Else one has to be a politician of some reputation or spouse of such a politician to make a dent in the publishing industry. The news that Amazon eBooks outsold paper books during Christmas 2009 isn't encouraging! Getting one's name in hardbound will keep getting tougher and tougher. People like us that values holding a good book to lull us to sleep, at end of tough days, with eyes glued to the typeset pages would, in soon enough time, look nostalgically at these days. That brings the question: are there any hopes for up and coming writers, aspirants and dreamers? I am though, especially partial to the latter group, of which I am one. If you have procrastinated penning your story (rather, typing your story), the story that will make you heard, time may be running out for you. Fact is that there are so m...

Ok, here is my own resolution. I resolve not to make any resolution at all. That is not entirely true though. Before the end of the year, while lying up in bed counting the ceiling tiles (really more effective than counting sheep) I must have come up with some 20 items that could go on my resolution. Then I fell asleep and didn’t remember when I woke up. My 13 year old asked me what my resolution was and I escaped and told him that it was to help him with his resolution. He totally bought it, he replied, “So, your resolution is to help me successful in school?” “Yep,” was my response. I can’t remember ever keeping a resolution, lucky that I am one of those peoples that never have to worry about weight – keeping certain weight or living healthy is peoples most common resolution. Most of what I will resolve to do this year is private, other than the obvious – keeping up with the bills! Resolutions are like goals, one has to keep running tab, write them down and actively commit to them. I...

Ummm, "Hip-hop is the culture of transformation" That's the first of this I am hearing. I guess it is because I am not hip. However, I agree with the article, the election may be over but the real work begins, and like Barack mentioned he will demand more of everyone of us, perhaps in little ways like the country demanded citizens participation during the world war. But I doubt the hip-hop community have the stomach for anything that altruistic. I really hope that the hip-hop community that is claiming to contribute to Obama's success will take cue from the future president - he is ever impeccable in his appearance, whether in suit or rolled up sleeves. Enough of this hip-hop fashion - saggy baggy pants, long white/black t-shirts flowing to the ankles! When I see the pictures and films from the 70s, other than skin, one can hardly tell whites and blacks apart in what the wore. And then came hip-hop and everything and people went out of their ways to look different, s...

It is quiet sad to learn of the death of Miriam Makeba, however sad, I am glad it happened while she was doing what she loved most - singing. She will surely be missed. Those of us that grew up in Africa in the 70s wil especially remember her as our first glance of her talent was at the FESTAC, Festival of African Arts and Cluture that was hosted in Lagos, Nigiera in 1977. Then only the elits and most of them resided in Lagos, were able to see her on televison, and of course that period in Nigeria Lagos had the best TV reception. Those of us that lived in the hinterland we re able to see her perform through the grainy B7W tubes. As a 15 year old or so back then, it was amazing to see her then, her fantastically beautiful back-up singers, agile dancers and her supremely soulful voice evoking the South Africa yearning for freedom in the throes of apartheid. I am glad Miriam Makeba had a wonderful, accomplished life and may she rest in peace. If anyone has the chance to see her on VHS, o...

Part of the process of donating for a candidate is to become a member of the candidate's website. So I became a member of the Obama's campaign and receive regular email updates, (numerous, I might add). On October 7th I was asked and I believe hundreds of thousands of people were asked to write to editors of local news saying why they support Barack. Here is what I wrote: I was an ardent Hilary Clinton supporter and the reason I supported her was because I knew that if she won we will be getting two presidents for one. To me the Clintons are very hard-working and focused and that is the kind of leadership we need. I reserved my support for Obama until he took the lead in the Democratic race back in April. I contributed to Clinton's campaign and didn't think about it much before switching my support to Barack Obama. In Barack, I believe we are going to have a truly, honest, hard working President. We need to throw our supports fully behind him through the election period...

Here is an idea for you but I know it will nver fly... Every year we have these destructive floods in the Midwest of the country. And evidence has shown that because of the effects of global warming, there will be more disasters of this nature in the coming years. Why not device a way to harvest the water run-off from the floods and transport them to other parts of the country that is prone to drought? If that is too complex, why not store the excess water in underground tanks or lakes for subsequent transportation to drought areas? The idea is not actually far fetched. We can transport oil though pipelines across the country and even from Alaska. Therefore transporting water across thousand of miles should not be that difficult. Since the construction of the Alaskan pipeline, there have been better technology and developments that will add to the feasibility of this project. The only stumbling block I see is the lack of will, precisely, lack of political will. The government seems not...