Circumspecte

When it's this quiet, you know someone or some thing is up to no good.  Plotting and scheming and devising plans anew, all for the amusement of what it/they can do to you. It's like an airplane ride.  You get on, make yourself comfortable, listen to the safety instructions – or not - and let your thoughts wonder far beyond the height of clouds upon which you ride. The pilot's voice comes onto the PA system; introduces him/herself as well as his co-fate holders.  You hear it, but you don't really listen, because if anyone ever asked you anew, you'd never even be able to recollect the first letter of his/her first name. And so you begin. Some turbulence here, a couple of cumuli nimbus clouds there, wait is that a bird or a plane gliding next to me? No sir, simply your imagination running wild upon the pasture of sky. Doze in, doze out, icky airplane food, yet you gobble it all down. And the musings. Oh my, those musings. Such injustice they do to the very pl...

Hi Folks, Hope this week went well for you. Mine was totally out of wack aka nothing really went the way I expected. But anyway, it's all good, we're still staying positive through it all and looking forward to the possibilities which abound. That said, I'd like to extend a personal invitation to each of you to tune in to the Writers Project of Ghana (WPG) CitiFM (97.3) radio show this Sunday, June 12, 2011 at 8:30pm GMT . I'll be a guest on the show and will be sharing the highlights of my journey as a writer, some tips and lessons from my writing experiences, as well as reading some of my creative writing pieces from right here on Circumspect! The Writers Project of Ghana is an amazing creative writing and literary initiative that was started in 2009 and is based in both Ghana and the US. In addition to organizing creative writing projects and workshops around Ghana and in particular, with the youth, WPG also encourages literary culture through public readings,...

I just had to put a quick plug in for the amazing Sherifa Gunu, a great singer from Northern Ghana. While she's pretty well known up North, Southern Ghana is just getting a glimpse of all she has to offer. From what I hear, she's been at this for quite a long time and I believe her time has come to shine. I think her flavor and style is different and helps showcase just how diverse Ghanaian culture and music is! Plus, she has a great message in her music usually centered on love, unity and togetherness. So, if you're looking to hear something slightly different from Ghana, in Dagbani rather than mainly Twi, Ga or Ewe, here's someone to check out. Find her latest video "Mbrantie" below as well as a couple others (including collabos). Enjoy! Photo Source:  http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002146927125

An attempt at describing the indescribable experience of inspiration and poetry writing It is often said that the mystical happens at the crossroads between time and space With its crescendo undulations of past, present and future, the beach is exactly that Walking along the breadth of such on a lazy Sunday morning, you encounter the known The grainy touch of micro bead stones, sandy to the touch The shelly capsules of vast underworlds unexplored And saline airy kisses brushing against your face as you walk on Often left unsaid is the fact that those unique time-space continuums spring upon you Reminiscent of African thunderstorms upon the land But how could they? Even they fall victim to its mysterious power And so it happens; your turn awaits and so does it arrive Pocket of mysticism sucking you in One minute sturdy land, the next gooey, spinning and comforting all at once And in that moment an eternity occurs Flashes of your entire life unfolding before your eyes ...

Sometimes all it takes for you to affirm who you are, is to see a glimpse of yourself in someone else. Two weekends ago I had exactly that opportunity when my friend Arame and I spent the afternoon interacting with some writers, poets and painters at the beautiful Goree Island- including Goree Institute cofounder, distinguished writer, painter and South African poet Breyten Breytenbach , renowned Tunisian painter Emna Zghal , acclaimed NYU professor, author of "Joe the Engineer", and poet Chuck Wachtel, Coordinating Editor of the Piroque Institute and Imagine Africa Cultural Fellow Adam Weidwitsch , as well as up and coming Senegalese poet and author of " Les Raisins du Baobab " Ibrahima Amadou Niang. During our time there we discussed a lot of things - the act of writing, the different styles and forms, how to draw inspiration, what it means to be a writer, the question of who forms/tells history, the act of documentation and preservation of art and history, etc. I...

Y'all know how much I adore Paulo Coelho. Well, saw this on his blog , and I just had to repost it here! His description of the writing process and himself as a writer just take my breath away! If you haven't read "The Alchemist" yet, please put it on your list of URGENT to dos!! Simple words with so much weight! Enjoy!! -- Google Alerts is great. Sometimes I found things about myself that I did not expect. Today I found an old interview for an Indian newspaper – and here are some Q&A Could you recall from your life where you felt the feminine face of God? It was in 1992, when I was sitting inside of a grotto, in Lourdes. Since then, I try to accept my feminine side. When I write, I am a woman. I got pregnant from life, and I don’t know how the baby looks like. My pregnancy cycle lasts for two years, and I don’t take notes, I don’t make plans. The only thing that I know is that life put inside me a seed that will grow when time comes. Then, when time comes, I...

This is how it ends. You. Stuck underground with a hundred or so unsuspecting victims. Only, you’re not in the warm embrace of the earth. You’re in a train, and the conductor hasn’t said a word in the last 20 or so minutes. Segments of recent news reports play back in your mind: “And in Moscow…rush hour…tens dead and hundreds injured.” Doesn’t do much to help your current situation, does it? People are getting restless. The group of three – Indian, you suppose – students chatter on, but the continuous fidgeting of a jean clad leg bemoans their growing boredom. The lady next to you squats down; obviously fatigued from standing for the last…30 minutes now. And you. Music still blaring from your ipod, you take out your notepad and jot down observations. Lady next to you is up again, and she’s struck a conversation with the passenger next to her. If the entire world were locked up in a confined space, we wouldn’t have a choice than to become best friends…or worse enemies. Either w...

Dear Ghanaian Movie Industry, Initially, I was upset because you weren't exploring the depth of your potential. But now, you've done the ultimate and unleashed untold anger upon yourself. And not just from me. By sashaying your hips into the 'soft porn' industry, many Ghanaians - and Africans - are fuming mad! There's even a Facebook group called Ghana Movie Industry, What's Going On? Enough Is Enough . What's that you say? Who am I to dare chastise you? Well, for one thing I'm a concerned Ghanaian who's tired of seeing your tasteless movie trailers. For another, I'm your consumer - the consumer is always right, no? - and even though I'm not a big fan of your products, I have sisters, a brother, family and friends who are exposed to your latest exploit. So, it ends up being my business. And finally, I'm someone who really believes that Ghanaians have a lot to offer and consequently, deserve more than you're giving. Great, now th...

[Here's an interview that has been long overdue, but which, I guarantee, will have been worth the wait. This interview, I found to be particularly inspiring, especially for African youth, and I knew that no amount of literary craft could communicate the passion and enthusiasm relayed during the interview. So, we're going to let Peter F. La-Anyane Yobo and Pichon Duplan of iStandAbove  tell you all about their amazing initiative themselves! The motivations behind it, why self-esteem is important for youth, their thoughts on development in Ghana and Africa through our first Circumspecte podcast!  Enjoy!] Pioneering Pals     In addition to having similar backgrounds and first names starting with ‘P’, Peter F. La-Anyane Yobo and Pichon Duplan have another thing in common: South Africa. “ Class four, that’s when I pretty much met Peter coming back from South Africa. Well, in fact class two I went to South Africa for a year and a half. I didn’t meet ...