Friday, November 27, 2015

I'm Poe

Nigeria's very own.
http://www.africanhhb.com/2014/11/lets-meet-poe.html
Poe.  Africa's finest.  What - you don't like tall, dark, and handsome?  Ok, hear him on this utterly adorable track: ADORE HER.  Video coming soon, I bet. 


Eye candy gigs: He's in that music video for Awww, with Di'Ja ; and Marry Me, with Falz and Yemi Alade starring as the hilarious couple at Poe's wedding.
Then he's in his own videos, like New Era and Ko Ye Won.  What are the words to describe this rap style tho'?  Calmly confident?  Yeah, he's a Taurus kid alright.
We Taureans Rule!
http://notjustok.com/2015/01/31/poe-notjustok-hype/
The Lord has blessed me with bars 
but what he did with my patience?  I don't know.  
- in The Island (from the Icarus EP, long time ago)

He has this really smooth mellow vibe on mature tracks like Slow It Down and Feel Alright.  Call it Palm-wine music.  The dude real name Ladipo Eso, sometimes @Ladipoe online, is a poet, a bit like Edgar Allan hehehe. Besides music and flow, he also (apparently) loves the gym, the books, and healthcare.

He has a tiny bit of a naughty side "get in that Benz you Sexy Bitch"
but he's so smart and everything that your mother would completely approve of him,
or want him for herself ;)
No seriously.  He's like Madonna's next protégé or something. 
http://culturecustodian.com/custodian-interview-poe/
They say abeg do this 
  say abeg do that 
Abeg, Guy, Fuck you!  I'm above all that.   
- in TOMORROW (TAP Season, coming soon)

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Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Wrestling in real life


“Those small boys beat you, and you are crying?” Aunt said, then gave her permission to beat them back next time.  “Let them also cry and go and tell their parents.” 
The boys did not disappoint; the next time she was down the street one yelled “baby girl” in that accent, his brother said “my fine-fine wife” and one of the two flicked an African almond fruit at her.  It made contact, which was what she had been waiting for. 
She rushed at them with the fury of a creaking lorry. 
“Pow!” and one of the boys was on the ground.  The other she tripped with her knee to the back of his leg – Taekwondo.  He dragged her down with him, but her free hand, then the other hand, went to his throat.  “Say sorry,” she said, between massive gasps. 
As the other boy landed blows on her back, she only pushed down harder and repeated her demand, “say sorry!” in a voice now transformed into a witch-like howl. 
“Sorry.  Sorry.  Chi-hu-so sorry.”
The fighting stopped.  A lizard nodded.  Before getting up, Chibuzo wanted assurance.  “Which one of you will stone me again?”
“Just leave my brother alone,” said the younger, while his brother caught his breath.  “We will never disturb you again.” 

I wrote this fight last month and submitted it for a flash-fiction prize (the Etisalat prize), but it appears to have disappeared from the contest, so I'm posting it myself.  

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Wednesday, November 04, 2015

Be a clown, be a clown, all the world loves a clown

Musician Falz is a complete idiot.  I can only aspire to such levels of, em, stupor
https://www.google.com/search?q=be+a+clown+cole+porter
www.instagram.com/tosinbird
Watch
Me
Try
in
These
Text
Skits

+ Day +One: In which I (tosinbird)
 track down Folarin, the Barrister Lawyer, aka Falz the Bahd Guy, on social media
 and proceed to make a fool of myself

#1 Storming instagram: In which I
1. cry and  cry
2. let those floozies know that I am Senior Teacher, his Legally Wedded Wife.

#2 Home alone: In which I
recruit Michelle Obama to watch over my precious hubby while they're working in the Arabian desert. 

#3 Couple's prayer
In which I pour out my heart regarding my needs -
  twins and the action required to get the twins,
  gifts like flight tickets and an iPhone-with-camera,
  and le good work, because h'am need it, hallelujah.

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Monday, November 02, 2015

The freedom to thrive, not merely to be, AND a fun-tastic analysis of freedom in marriage

"Negative liberty is the freedom from interference by other people.  FREEDOM FROM..."
"Positive liberty is the possession of the power and resources to fulfill one's own potential.  FREEDOM TO..." 
Wikipedia / Google

States do both of these things:
1. help secure my negative freedom, for example by deterring rapists, robbers, and assassins from attacking me
2. reduce my positive freedom, with laws, laws, laws.  This is forbidden, that is required, and the other is punishable by imprisonment. 
This bargain I accept to some extent, realizing that nothing good comes free.
 
Not only states, but other authorities have dual impacts on my freedom. 
For example:
Positive liberty postponed: School would sometimes give you future power in the form of knowledge in exchange for current boredom - restricted movement, restricted course choices, restricted hobbies/activites. 
Negative liberty sacrificed: As a public figure, like a politician or a celebrity, strange people lay selfish claims to your time and personal space.  You have to care or pretend to care about trivial things, pick up the phone, sign an autograph, endure gossip and slander.  In exchange, you gain power. 

Positive freedom is the freedom to thrive, not merely to be!  (Poetic, huh?)
............
(Because the instruction says feel free to be creative with this post,) here's one more example:  

Marriage can increase freedom in many ways:
- by providing food, home, peace, caring, and money, one feels "settled down" and no longer buffeted by a harsh world.  In fact, mapping out one's own home-territory is the ultimate in negative freedom  
- by supporting each individual's activities towards achieving life's potential
- by creating opportunities for collaboration between the married people, including the making of children, but also other social, spiritual, economic, and creative collaboration.  
 
But marriage can take back what it gives:
- it is a possessive relationship in which people lay claim to each other - MY husband, MY wife , for LIFE !
- it may feel like unpaid labour and slavery for one or more parties (excessive cooking and housework, excessive scolding and abuse, excessive financial or other demands),
- it may restrict activities that can be carried on while married (cultural need to spend inordinate amounts of time together, less interaction with other people, can't learn new things and can't change freely without considering the effect on spouse, can't move to a new country without carrying family along, in some cultures you can't marry other people, in some others you can't freely befriend or relate with other people)
- it may take away your food (half if you share one income and are poor, more when you have children), home (when you lose it in a divorce), peace (when you fight), health (the stress of living with someone you can't stand, the sharing of diseases ), caring (jealousy makes your closest partner your deadliest foe) and/or money (costly marriage ceremony, large expenses in marriage, costly divorce proceedings)

Conclusion: choose wisely, and good luck ;) 

Note: I wrote this for a quick assignment in Alexander Guerrero's Coursera + U.Penn. Legal and Political Philosophy course.  Coursera can be so much fun!  (And loads of work.)

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