Understanding ourselves and the world we live in.
Billy Osogo Njia panda is the Swahili word for crossroad. Every now and then we find ourselves at a njia panda. Two opportunities arise. Too good to lose. Yet a choice must be made. Sleepless nights kick in. Pulling out of hair begins. Mental paralysis makes itself at home. The simple truth is that there’s... Continue Reading →
A Slice of Heaven, 2021. North Carolina, USA. Original Photo by SnapDragon X. All rights reserved, yo. Inside this chest pounds a heart so steady. Inside this head lives a brain so alive. And somewhere in between rests a spirit so gentle, even the tiniest of scratches leaves a scar. . . . How would... Continue Reading →
Thomas Sankara of Burkina Faso was a man ahead of his milieu. He spoke bluntly and decisively. Even though a bullet cut his life short, his words, like his legacy, have outlived even his detractors. In an interview with a Swiss Journalist, Sankara said: "You cannot carry out fundamental change without a certain amount of... Continue Reading →
Billy Osogo I conscientiously followed the trial of the ex-officer responsible for George Floyd’s death. For 9 minutes and 29 seconds he pocketed as his knee snuffed the life out of a helpless, unarmed, handcuffed George Floyd. 331 days later his actions caught up with him. He was found guilty of all charges. Speaking after... Continue Reading →
A Messy Reflection from Yours Truly. . . . Greetings from my warm, bird-chirping corner of the globe, Dear Reader. I’m in my bare feet, I have a tall iced coffee within reach, and approximately half an hour or so of solitude. Here I am. And, simply put, I’m a mess. Top-knot hairdo. Disheveled clothes.... Continue Reading →
IMAGE: DREAMSTIME. COM I love literature! I am deliberate about being diverse in my reading. I try to read as much literature from as wide a geographical pool as I can. One of the things I have discovered is that literature from different parts of the world have certain distinguishing features. For African literature, the... Continue Reading →
Billy Osogo The Covid-19 pandemic has greatly changed life as we knew it heretofore. With severe restrictions on movement imposed by most governments, there's only so much one can do. Part of what I have had more time to do during this pandemic is to read widely. There's something exclusively inimitable about the written word.... Continue Reading →
-Previously posted on Snippets of SnapDragon- Always There, 2021. Digital Art by SnapDragon X. All rights reserved, yo. So I sat down with amateur blogger SnapDragon X., to ask her a thing or two about life. She wore an over-sized teal dress/shirt thing, which she said seems to have become her unofficial uniform as of... Continue Reading →
By Billy Osogo "Educate, Empathize and Empower all!" That was the comment by my friend SnapDragon X on my previous piece. A brilliant choice of words, if I do so say myself! As I mentioned heretofore, the subject of racism is one that we must continue to have genuine conversations on. Educating yourself, allows you... Continue Reading →
Tired Beauty, 2021. St. Andrews State Park, Florida. Original Photo by SnapDragon X. All rights reserved, yo. Greetings, Dear Reader! The SnapDragon Family is currently on the road, seeing some sights during this all-too-depressing season of lockdown during winter in Pennsylvania. (starts shivering, and hides head beneath a blanket) We’re cozied up in our Berkshire... Continue Reading →
IMAGE: OXYGEN.IE (*Sniff*Sniff*) Do you smell that? Imagine living in a world where the size of your nose determined the quality of your life. A large nose would guarantee you access to good schools, quality healthcare, higher wages and everything in between. Conversely having a small nose would automatically disenfranchise you from everything that people... Continue Reading →
Death is a subject we seldom discuss yet we know it is inevitable. A few years ago I attended a requiem mass for a relative at the Holy Family Basilica in Nairobi. It was a teary and somber service. A sniff would start in one corner, a pain-laden sigh in another and soon, the entire building... Continue Reading →
Still Here, 2019. Paris. Original Photo by SnapDragon X. All rights reserved, yo. Hi. SnapDragon here. It's been awhile. And who knows why, really. I mean, I do have a toddler. I tend to the house and home. I technically work full-time, although it's more like a part-time, online gig at the moment. (No complaints.... Continue Reading →
IMAGE: PINCLIPART. COM Paulo Coelho in his best-selling book, The Alchemist, writes of children; “A child can teach an adult three things: to be happy for no reason, to always be busy with something, and to know how to demand with all his might that which he desires.” COVID-19 hit Nairobi sometime in March. That's... Continue Reading →
Happy New Year! I recently watched in shock the chaotic scenes at the US Capitol building. The brazzen attempt to subvert democracy seemed almost impossible for the world's most advanced democracy. Another reminder that democracy, like a baby, needs round-the-clock tending to. Even more reason to look forward to January 20th. One hopes that Joe... Continue Reading →
“Throughout our lives we long to love ourselves more deeply and to feel connected with others. Instead, we often contract, fear intimacy, and suffer a bewildering sense of separation. We crave love, and yet we are lonely. Our delusion of being separate from one another, of being apart from all that is around us, gives... Continue Reading →
Don't Wait, 2020. Original Photo by SnapDragon X. All rights reserved. Once upon a time, when I had recently graduated from college and found myself alone in a large city, I felt those first unsettling pangs of depression. Quiet. So quiet. So very very quiet. At 22, it was the first time in my life... Continue Reading →
“Blame doesn't empower you. It keeps you stuck in a place you don't want to be because you don't want to make the temporary, but painful decision, to be responsible for the outcome of your own life's happiness.”- Shannon L. Alder Let's be honest...we have all played the Blame Game. It is easy to do... Continue Reading →
“We try so hard to hide everything we're really feeling from those who probably need to know our true feelings the most. People try to bottle up their emotions, as if it's somehow wrong to have natural reactions to life.”Colleen Hoover I have been thinking about my "feelings" a lot lately. Emotional feelings that is,... Continue Reading →
Silent Shrug, 2015. Belgium. Original Photo by SnapDragon X.All rights reserved. What is with us humans? Why do we have a tendency to trivialize other people's problems, but when they happen to us, it's the end of the effing world? We compartmentalize for our friends: Hey, at least you don't have to worry about: the... Continue Reading →
