Of Graffiti With Punctuation

Graffiti With Punctuation

https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/becomingthemuse/episodes/Grafitti-With-Punctuation-e2l0ndd

I recall on the first day of lockdown during the Covid pandemic era, watching the movie Contagion, and there someone said this of blogging:

Blogging is not writing its graffiti with punctuation

https://www.tiktok.com/@beatonm5/video/7381739647434640646?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7173780941525485062

I felt that… it was a sharp sting.

But on the other hand calling it graffiti also appreciated it as an artform. What are bloggers but artists painting graffiti on the digital canvas of the world wide web, marking their tag, that they were here.

Leaving a mark in the world ~B

A number of people consider blogging as inconsequential personal ramblings at best or tabloid celebrity gossipmongering. Blogging may have had its humble origins in digital logs Web Logs; weblogs which became blogs but it has evolved beyond that into a power tool with uses only limited by the creativity of its wielder.

How many times have you searched for a solution to a problem on the internet to find that someone has not only experienced something similar but has a solution, or maybe just to assure you that its something that happens and life goes on…. There’s a profound feeling to the validation that you are not alone.

I grew up thinking that our staple food Sadza made from maize mealie meal, was a dish unique only to us, but imagine discovering from other blogs that it has also made many an appearance in various African homes across the continent, just with different names, posho, ugali, pap, fufu, nsima.

I am now out here wondering how it became so ubiquitous, the maize plant zea mays is exotic to Africa, and the people who introduced it to us used it as feed for their livestock… If one ponders too deeply into it, one might get offended and start demanding maize be banned in favour of healthier, disease and drought resistant smaller grains, to phrase it diplomatically.

If you run it through nutritional sequencing you will find it is so devoid of additional nutrients almost as if it were genetically modified to only serve as an energy source and nothing more… Local millers fortify their mealie meal with added nutrients to makeup for the shortfall and bring about balance in the world.

Fortification Of Staple Foods Table
Research Data by  Johanna Helena Nel

What I find most crazy about it, is how if despite its high energy yield, if you eat too much of it, especially during lunch you become less productive and feel super sleepy.. It suspiciously feels like it kills off our brain cells one by one – ok that maybe an exaggeration on my part, do your own research. I feel someone should do a research on The Relationship Between The Consumption Of Maize Mealie Meal Versus The GDP Of A Country, my prediction is that the results should be very interesting and warrant further investigation into the case of the maize maze:

– Do the low GDP countries eat more maize because their economies dont allow them the choice or ………Of Cause, Causation and Correlation.

Reading this article will probably leave you with questions or maybe they are questions you have also had yourself or something you have observed… Perhaps one day you will bring it up with family, a friend or work colleague over a meal of sadza by whatever name you call it….

….And its something you got from graffiti with punctuation.

~B

PS What are you thoughts and experiences of this “African” Staple carbohydrate?

#WinterABC24

#art #blogger #blogging #contagion #diet #Economy #lockdown #maize #sadza #stapleFood #WinterABC2024 #WinterABC24

Coffee With When The Cows Came Home

https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/becomingthemuse/episodes/Of-Coffee-When-The-Cows-Come-e2kn87m

If you were having coffee with me I would welcome you to my tangle of words, make yourself at home, have a hug in a mug, some liquid warmth would be good, winter is definitely here.

Apparently, it’s the worst season to be single, according to social media which is full of people asking how single people survive the long days and cold nights. I hope they keep same energy when the summer sweltering heat comes through and I ask how they are sharing their bed with a human stove. Anyway how do we survive the cold, water bottles, lots of blankets and pillows arranged in a fort. Ok, thanks bye!.

If you were having coffee with me, I would tell you that while scrolling Facebook, I ran into anniversary update that could have very easily been my 20th anniversary had I been a teen groom. Now that I am at age where I mention a female name to my village people, they look at me suggestively to ask if this one is the one… as if its some sacrifice to be thrown into a volcano as tribute, to stop it from erupting.

I sometimes wonder if I turned down a gift from the ancestors, who only give once. There is a Shona Proverb chawawana batisisa mudzimu haipe kaviri meaning hold tight to what you have the ancestors dont gift twice… Them ancestors be a tough crowd.

So some back story, I am an African Prince, and I don’t mean the internet kind who will entangle you into a romance scam. Don’t let my cool demeanour fool you, I come from a royal lineage and I also own a square foot of land in the Scottish Highlands which makes me a Lord, I have a certificate that says so and all, so it must be true.

Back to my African ancestry… My grandfather used to have quite the extensive herd of cattle, being royalty has its perks. He was also a generous man, strict, but generous. He would lend out his cattle to families in need, under the guise of asking them to help him look after his cattle; in return they got milk from the cows and would keep some of the off-spring, that way someone who had no cattle of their own would end up with cattle, an ingenious way of helping that kept everyone’s pride intact.

Years after my grandfather transcended to a higher plane of existence, there was a family which still owed grandad for his cattle. A combination of drought and disease had wiped away their livestock leaving them indebted and unable to return the cattle as per arrangement. While no one from the family held it against them, they took it upon themselves to find ways of honouring their debt.

If you are having coffee with me, I would tell you that traditionally cows are a symbol of wealth and prestige; not only do they provide sustenance, they provide labour and transportation, they are required in various traditional ceremonies, from cheka ukama to mombe yehumai, they are the key currency in bride price when marrying… Cattle are big deal.

So it came to be that one school holiday, I visited my grandmother Mbuyahwe and I ate a frog for the first time. The bull frog, homu yatatani or daddy’s cow is a dish fit for a king and once I ate the frog I was regarded as a household head able to hold court on household issues. That was when my grandmother informed me that there were people who sought an audience with me (well not me personally, but anyone who could speak for the family).

The family that owed cattle had come up with a new plan to settle their affairs. They had a daughter, who would soon be of the marrying age and would grant her hand in marriage TO ME and waiver the bride price in-lieu of the debt they owed.

I couldn’t refuse without making them lose face but I couldn’t accept,right?… right?

What would my grandfather have done? He was master diplomat and the wisdom of my ancestry flows in my veins.

Hi mina Beaton
wa Gilbert
wa Tsamwisi
wa Muzamani
wa Ndalega
wa Ngwena
wa Matsena
wa Bhangwani
weka Xinyori Xahomba
Wakanga nzela ribwe

I accepted their proposal, thereby cancelling the family’s debt and then in turn I asked my betrothed to free me from the obligation of our union, which she graciously granted.

If you were having coffee with me I would tell you that I had all but forgotten about this incident until I saw her anniversary post on Facebook and a tiny bit of me wondered if in a parallel universe, an alternate version had simply said I Do…. The path not taken…

Whats been going on your neck of the woods?

~B

#WinterABC24

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#bridePrice #coffee #coffeeshare #customs #debts #marriage #tradition #wedding #winter #WinterABC2024 #WinterABC24