BELOVED, REST

Ping! Email notifications. Ping! Calendar reminders. Ping! Family duty calls. Ping! Alarm rings! Work beckons! Repeat. We live in a world where information moves faster than it ever has before. Your niece with a lisp just got married. Nigeria held its elections and the brodas (Nigerian pidgin for brother) were treated to a Nollywood blockbuster. … More BELOVED, REST

HOW TO DECLUTTER

Salaam aleikum! Last time I wrote to this beautiful audience we were pointlessly overthinking. A lot has happened since then. For starters, we just concluded a protracted general elections in my home country Kenya. This event takes place every five years here and is one of the most mentally and emotionally gruelling periods. Away from … More HOW TO DECLUTTER

MAY UBUNTU FIND YOU!

The world looks and feels like one nasty crime scene right now! From the carnage in Ukraine; the famine in Africa; the mass shootings in the US; the brutal murders in Palestine; and everything in between! There’s so much pain and suffering. Such negative energy injected and swirling all around the globe. The most worrying … More MAY UBUNTU FIND YOU!

WHAT THE LUCK?

As a species, most human beings work hard to get to where they want to be in their lives. From the valiant doctors all around the globe who risked life and limb to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic; the rags to riches CEO gracing the cover of Forbes Magazine, and everyone in between. Which begs … More WHAT THE LUCK?

WE SHALL NEVER FORGET

11th September 2021 marked twenty years since that fateful day when terrorists attacked the US. It also marked twenty three years since the terrorist attack on the American embassy in Nairobi on 7th August 1998. In both countries, what was designed to instil fear instead evoked fortitude. What was intended to sow discord instead brewed … More WE SHALL NEVER FORGET

HELLO SEPTEMBER!

Billy Osogo Hello September! It’s the ninth month of the year! Three more months and 2021 is a wrap! I know it’s been one heck of a year already! What with the mutating variants of COVID-19, what with the weather, what with the economy! We often set our goals for the year early in January. … More HELLO SEPTEMBER!

A FEW THOUGHTS ON WRITING FROM A FEW POINTLESS OVERTHINKERS

Billy Osogo Pointless Overthinking’s byline is: Understanding ourselves and the world we live in. Such an apt encapsulation of my experience here so far. One of the things I enjoy the most from being part of the Pointless Overthinking tribe is the richness of wisdom that manifests itself in our comment sections. It’s mind blowing! … More A FEW THOUGHTS ON WRITING FROM A FEW POINTLESS OVERTHINKERS

WRITING SPRINGS

Billy Osogo I ponder endlessly on writing. As an art, there’s so much to it that even those we look up to as its masters seem to be just scratching the surface. I recently came across an excerpt by Kenyan writer Bivanyanga Wainana. In his book, One Day I Will Write About this Place he … More WRITING SPRINGS

HEALING A TROUBLED PAST

For most non-Africans, South Africa is Africa and Africa is South Africa. Make no doubt about it, that’s as ignorant as it gets. Nonetheless, the ubiquity of this thought speaks to the prominece of Africa’s most industrialized nation. Home of Nelson Mandela. Yet, if the events of recent days are anything to go by, Mandela … More HEALING A TROUBLED PAST

CALLING ALL READERS

Billy Osogo In my post last week I quoted Mario Vargas Llosa and made a clarion call to all writers. This week, I am maintaining Llosa as my source of inspiration and calling on all readers. In his amazing book Letters to a Young Novelist Llosa writes: “Read constantly, because it is impossible to acquire … More CALLING ALL READERS

FATHERLY LOVE

Billy Osogo Last Sunday was Father’s Day. A day when we stop to celebrate and appreciate the father figures in our lives. Whether biological, a guardian or someone who simply performs that function. You get the picture. I spent sometime reflecting about my Dad. Due to the nature of his profession, he wasn’t around much … More FATHERLY LOVE