The Pretender

Fraud and falsehood only dread examination.  Truth invites it.

Samuel Johnson – author, moralist, lexicographer extraordinaire – said that.

For the record, I’m a fraud.

 

Today, I will attend the TEDx Kampala event.  People, who are People, in the world of IT and emerging technologies are meeting to share novel ideas, to debate policy and to boast of innovation.

Me, I’m just going for the coffee and a lesson on humility. Nothing humbles me more than hanging around people more intelligent than I.

 

So I’ll sit for the day listening to the likes of Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the man credited with the creation of the World Wide Web.  I nod my head, sound the ‘mms’ and ‘ahas’ of comprehension and draw doodles in a book … pretend that I know what they are speaking about.

Sign Language

As seen on the streets of my fair city …

 

I’m Done Something Bad

His name is Aggrey.

Aggrey has been ‘living’ at my home for the past four days. He’s the temp watchman, brought in by the regular guy, Martin, who traveled to Arua this week to visit his sick mother.

 

Last night, I noticed Aggrey’s strange gait. He doesn’t walk with a limp, but he’s bent to the right and hunched over like he has something to hide.  His right arm is always in his pocket, attached to his thigh, it seems. Everything about him is lopsided, even the smile he flashes when I say hello.

Obamarama and Nothing

It’s something I can’t really explain to anyone who hasn’t experienced the Ugandan education system. It’s something about the tatty school sweater and the Obama key chain. I think it’s despair …

I’m too Sexy for this Blog

For real.

Somebody at a UK rag, Glamour Magazine, has just realized that a curvy woman is a beautiful woman.

Celebrities like Kate Winslet, Jessica Simpson and now, Scarlett Johansson have spoken out against a culture that nitpicks a woman’s every thigh dimple. First Lady Michelle Obama dresses to accentuate rather than camouflage her regal curves, and has the entire world swooning. And maybe, as Emme, a pioneer plus-size supermodel and host of More to Love, believes, “we’ve just had it with the beyond-slender, airbrushed-from-head-to-toe models and actresses who’ve dominated [newsstands] for over a decade.”

Good on them.

Feeling Healthy

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

My breasts are perfect, thank you.

Literally and medically perfect.

Yours?

Getting the Word Out

From the latest Uganda AIDS Vaccine newsletter:

Just getting on

I had planned on writing a short review of two books I’ve just finished reading – Wizard of the Nile by Matthew Green and First Kill Your Family by Peter Eichestaedt.  As luck would have it, a bookstore in my neighborhood had on display, Tall Grass: Stories of Suffering and Peace in Northern Uganda by Carlos Rodriguez, the colorful former Catholic priest whom many of us in Uganda know well. 

 

So the review (it will be detailed, catchy and explosive, I promise ) will have to wait for another day.

Museveni’s Speech to Parliament

If you missed YKM’s speech to parliament today on last week’s riots, please visit my Twitter page @UgInsomniac or the #Kampala site for a brief rundown on some of the highlights.

Kenya Chick … Yes, what you asked was the truth. Kalundi Serumaga was charged before the Buganda Road Grade One Magistrate’s Court with six counts of sedition. He was granted bail this afternoon.

Changing the Tune

I have a million and one things to say about last week’s riots. A million and two. I won’t do that today because it’s the start of the National Book Week Festival. Yay!

This year’s theme is “A Reading Parent, A Reading Child.”

The National Book Week Festival is being held at the Railway Square on Jinja Road.

(Owaye, kakati esente z’akalango ziteke mu accounti.)