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The Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, has appealed to Judges across the nation to change negative perception of the judiciary in the public domain. Kekere-Ekun led this out on Monday, in Abuja, while declaring open the Court of Appeal 2024 Justices Annual Conference, themed “Judicial Introspection.” She said: “There is a growing negative perception of the judiciary. We must all individually and collectively work towards changing this negative perception and I must say that at the last meeting of the NJC, we did state when the press release was made, that while the court will look at the complaints, we will look into genuine complaints as we also stand to support our judges and justices. READ MORE: Alleged Defamation: Ekiti Court Grants Human Right Activist, Farotimi N50m Bail “We are looking at ways to make sure that where frivolous allegations are made, there are consequences.” “Now, the issue of conflicting decisions is one of great concern in our community at present time, and one of the reasons that we have conflicting decisions is because many panels do not hold conferences to discuss all reserved judgments. It is strongly recommended that conferences be held. “I cannot overemphasise this point. We are an appellate court for a reason, and the reason is that several heads are better than one. So holding conferences, and exchanging opinions and ideas on matters that come before us is extremely essential.
Bell Textron Inc. is bringing a new manufacturing plant to Denton County after approval from Gov. Greg Abbott, according to a release from the county on Wednesday. The new aircraft manufacturing facility from Bell, an aerospace company based in Fort Worth, will support the Army’s Future Long Rang Assault Aircraft program. The program is a $429 million investment and is expected to create 400 jobs in the area, according to the release. Support for the facility is partly being provided by a $2.67 million grant from the Texas Enterprise Fund, along with economic incentives from Denton County, the city of Fort Worth and Northwest ISD. “Bell is making a Texas-sized investment in the future of Fort Worth and our great state,” Abbott said in the release. “This new advanced manufacturing facility is the first project under Texas’ new JETI [Jobs, Energy, Technology and Innovation Act] program. "This program is part of our broader strategy to build a better-prepared and better-paid workforce by encouraging companies like Bell to expand manufacturing in Texas.” Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. Error! There was an error processing your request.
Nargess Memarsadeghi, Computer Engineer for the Cosmos
Trump to fire Jack Smith's team — and order DOJ to investigate 2020 election: reportNoneThe potential for mass deportations and travel restrictions has spurred more than a dozen U.S. universities to tell international students to return to the United States before Jan. 20. President-elect takes the oath of office on Jan. 20 and has threatened to immediately initiate mass deportations of migrants who illegally entered the United States over the past four years and international students who have engaged in sometimes violent protests. "The immigration landscape is likely to change under the new presidential administration," officials at Cornell University said in a . "This guidance is intended to inform and assist international students, faculty and staff at Cornell University." Cornell sent the notice to students and faculty from Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Libya, Myanmar, Nigeria, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Syria,Tanzania, Venezuela, Yemen and other nations. Cornell officials chose to warn students and faculty from those nations because Trump targeted those nations with visa restrictions during his first term in office. "New countries could be added to this list, particularly China and India," Cornell officials . Brown, Southern California, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and other universities, likewise, cautioned international students to return prior to Trump's inauguration in January. USC officials sent emails to its students with special visas and cautioning them to be in class when the new semester starts on Jan. 13, reported. "[It's] especially important given that a new presidential administration will take office on Jan. 20, 2025, and ... may issue one or more executive orders impacting travel to the U.S. and visa processing," USC officials said. "While there's no certainty such orders will be issued, the safest way to avoid any challenges is to be physically present in the U.S. before the spring semester" is scheduled to start, the email said. The University of Massachusetts-Amherst, likewise, cautioned students as well as staff and faculty who have immigration sponsorships from the university to "strongly consider returning to the United States" before Trump takes the oath of office. U.S. colleges and universities have about 1.1 million international students registered for classes, according to NAFSA: Association of International Educators. Trump imposed travel restrictions targeting mostly Muslin nations, including Iraq, Syria and Iran, during his first term in office, but Biden rescinded those travel restrictions in 2021. Trump's travel bans triggered more than 40,000 during his first term, which has officials at many universities concerned their international students, staff and faculty might be affected if Trump imposes similar restrictions after being sworn in.
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Netflix passed two tests on Wednesday when it for the first time in its history. First: Netflix managed to stream the games around the world without widespread that plagued its Mike Tyson-Jake Paul boxing exhibition/stunt last month. Second: Netflix managed to attract the kind of audience for the games that you'd expect from the NFL, which is continually the most popular thing on conventional TV. (Those initial numbers may swell a bit once the NFL, Netflix, and Nielsen scour for additional viewers.) The biggest audience — around 27 million viewers — showed up for the "Beyoncé Bowl" — a halftime performance during the Ravens/Texans game, featuring, of course, Beyoncé. For comparison, last year, the NFL an average of some 28 million US viewers for the two games it broadcast on Christmas Day, via conventional TV networks. (Netflix's numbers don't include viewers outside the US; it says it will report back on those on December 31. Netflix the audience for the peaked at 65 million worldwide and 38 million in the US.) All of which means that when Netflix streams Christmas games again next year, and again in 2027, it won't seem like a novelty. It will just be the most popular sport on TV, delivered via a streaming service. This is what both Netflix and the NFL want, for slightly different reasons. The NFL is always looking for another outlet that will pay it top dollar for the right to show its games — Netflix paid the NFL a reported $150 million for this year's games — and as a way to boost its nascent ad business. Win-win. This is what the NFL has been finding every time it sells streaming rights to digital players over the years, including Yahoo, Twitter, Amazon, and Google. While we are here, a couple other notes: Read the original article onLos Angeles Chargers running back Gus Edwards was ruled out for Saturday's road game against the New England Patriots with an ankle injury. Fellow Chargers running back J.K. Dobbins is close to returning from a four-game absence because of a knee injury, as he was listed questionable to play. Offensive lineman Trey Pipkins III (hip) and linebacker Denzel Perryman (groin) also have been ruled out for Saturday. Edwards, 29, has gained 365 yards rushing this season with four touchdowns, including two in Los Angeles' 34-27 victory over the Denver Broncos on Dec. 19. Dobbins, 26, gained 766 yards with eight TDs in 11 games (nine starts) during his first season with the Chargers. Dobbins joined the Chargers in the offseason while coming off an Achilles tear with the Ravens last season. The Chargers also have running backs Kimani Vidal and Hassan Haskins on the depth chart. Vidal, a rookie, has 131 yards in eight games this season, while Haskins has just 26 yards on 14 carries with a touchdown. The Chargers (9-6) can clinch a playoff berth with a win or tie against the Patriots. --Field Level Media
Please enable JavaScript to read this content. By the time Martha Karua sat for her O-Levels, she had switched schools severally. In all instances, she’d stood up for her rights as a student, and questioned unjust conventions and unfair norms condoned by students. At Kiburia Girls she had been asked to uproot a stump as a punishment for “making noise” and she declined. In another school she was ordered to bend over so she could be caned, and she said nyet! and took off for the school gate. In her final year in Karoti Girls, she took on the headmistress for humiliating her and denounced her as her teacher. For this, she had to contend with studying from home for five months, and preparing for the final exams on her own, and commuting 25 kilometers daily, to sit her exams. For all the troubles she’d gone through in Kirinyaga, she passed with flying colors, and proceeded to Nairobi Girls for her A-Levels. She never looked back and took this rebellious streak with her to the Seventh parliament. The return to multiparty politics in 1991, and the General Election of the following year, did not usher in the much-anticipated change in governance. The divisions in the ranks of the Opposition handed President Moi victory. President Moi's government continued with its tactics of repression, this time directed at the Opposition both in and out of Parliament. Although the freedoms of association and assembly were provided for in the Constitution, the Kanu government continued to curtail these and other fundamental freedoms. Administrative roadblocks were erected illegally to curtail the Opposition's interaction with the masses. This gave birth to the clamour for overhauling of the Constitution and repealing all oppressive laws, some of which were relics of the colonial order. The Opposition working closely with the civil society demanded constitutional and legal reforms ahead of the 1997 General Election, thus raising tension between the two opposing sides. The Opposition and civil society groups, including religious organisations, met regularly at Ufungamano House, which had become a refuge for dissenting voices. Many establishments at the time, out of fear of rubbing the government the wrong way, would not readily allow dissenting voices to literally camp in their premises. The Ufungamano group was led by the National Convention Execute Council (NCEC), a civil society group spearheading constitutional review. Their mantra was "no reforms, no elections". Apart from key Opposition leaders, a good number of luminaries in Parliament attended these meetings. I, however, did not join the Ufungamano talks, although I agreed with their demand for reforms before the upcoming general election. I felt that as parliamentarians, we needed to use our space in Parliament to help the country out of the prevailing national crisis. Demonstrations organised by the Ufungamano group would be routinely dispersed through the use of excessive force by the police. The situation was threatening to get out of hand. Stay informed. Subscribe to our newsletter In response to the rising tension in June 1997, I together with a bipartisan group of Members of Parliament who included Jillo Falana, then-member for Saku Constituency; and George Anyona, then-member for Kitutu Chache; formed the Inter-Parties Parliamentary Group (IPPG). Our purpose was to negotiate constitutional and legal changes that were deemed necessary before that year's general election. The IPPG meetings quickly attracted the support of many parliamentarians from both the Opposition and the Government. Soon, we were given live coverage by the national broadcaster, KBC, an indication that the Government had warmed up to this idea, which was literally a lifeline from the developing national crisis. Parliamentarians from the government side reported progress to President Moi daily and got his blessings at every stage. The progress achieved was known to all and sundry, courtesy of the live broadcasts. We in the Opposition did not initially consult our party leaders, but we knew what the Opposition demands for minimum reforms were and used this as the basis for our negotiations. Within a few days of the IPPG talks and the progress of the reform agenda, the tension that was simmering countrywide was diffused and all eyes were now on the IPPG talks. We literally pulled the rag from under the feet of the Ufungamano group. Colleagues who had aligned themselves with Ufungamano started streaming back to Parliament. For IPPG to succeed, we needed the support of the majority, if not all Members of Parliament. Though I was poised to co-chair the constitutional, Legal and Administrative Reforms Committee with Dalmas Otieno of Kanu, I ceded the space to Kiraitu Murungi of the FORD Kenya party and member for Imenti South constituency. He was one of the early arrivals to IPPG from Ufungamano, and I proposed him as co-chair. There were two other committees of the IPPG, namely the Peace and Security Committee, and the Electoral Reforms Committee, which had Phoebe Asiyo and Agnes Ndetei respectively as the sole female members. Our committee achieved a host of reforms, among them the repeal of the offence of sedition and the repeal of the Chiefs' Authority Act, a colonial relic that gave oppressive powers to local administrators that could be used to even stop a family get-together. We also made it mandatory by law for the national broadcaster to give equal airtime to both government and Opposition candidates during campaigns. We proposed constitutional amendments to provide for the sharing of slots to nominate members both in Parliament and in Local Authorities between the Government and Opposition in proportion to their respective numbers in Parliament. Further, we outlawed discrimination based on gender. The colonial era requirement of a permit from the administration to hold public gatherings was also repealed. These were among the many legal and constitutional amendments that we believed would greatly level the playing field for all candidates. Until then, the odds were hugely stacked in favour of the government and its preferred candidates. The success of the IPPG talks was mainly due to the willingness of the government side to cede ground on key issues. MP Gathoni Wamuchomba poses for a photo with Martha Karua on the day of the launch. [Courtesy] Indeed, President Moi and those in his inner circle realised that IPP offered him and Kanu a political lifeline because our talks eased the political tensions across the country. Parliament, under Speaker Francis Kaparo, facilitated our sittings within its precincts, although the IPPG was not an official parliamentary committee, but a members' informal initiative. The failure of the opposition to unite once again cost us victory in 1997, giving President Moi his second and final term under the 1992 constitutional amendments. Having emerged first runner-up in 1997. Mr Kibaki became the Leader of the Official Opposition, succeeding Mr Matiba, who had taken up the position after finishing second in the 1992 election. I was the DP elected National Secretary for Legal and Constitutional Ali from 1993 and thus, the spokesperson for the party on all legal matters. The expectation then was that I would be the automatic shadow Attorney-General (AG) when Kibaki formed his shadow cabinet. It came as a surprise when Mr Kibaki overlooked me and appointed a new entrant to the DP Party, Mr Kiraitu Murungi, as the shadow AG while appointing me as shadow minister for Culture and Social Services. Mr Murungi's appointment as shadow AG conflicted with my elected position as National Secretary for Legal and Constitutional Affairs. It opened the possibility of conflicting decisions on legal issues by having both of us as the party's spokespersons on legal matters. Mr Kibaki was following President Moi's script, the latter having appointed Mrs Nyiva Mwendwa as the first female Minister and given her the portfolio of Culture and Social Services. This situation was clearly untenable. I not only publicly declined the shadow position as Secretary for Culture and Social Services, but also resigned from my elected party position as Secretary for Legal and Constitutional Affairs, in order to give way to my party leader's preferred appointee. I was roundly criticised by party members who felt that my public rejection of the position was a form of insubordination of my party leader, a point of view I disagreed with. I turned my full attention to my responsibility as a DP Member of Parliament and an activist for social justice. This was not the only controversial decision I had made in politics. Much later in June 2001, President Moi visited my home district. It was a tradition then for Opposition Members of Parliament to boycott presidential functions due to hostilities between the Government and the Opposition. I decided to show up and welcome the President at Kerugoya Girls Secondary where his helicopter was due to land. Buoyed by my presence, the President in his address to the schoolgirls, heaped praises on me, describing me as a good role model to them. After the welcome, I declined to accompany the presidential party to the district administrator's residence where the President was being hosted for refreshments. Instead, I opted to proceed directly to the Kerugoya Stadium, where the presidential function would be held. Being one of the early arrivals, I secured myself a good seat, and when the President arrived, I was just three seats away from him. He at one point leaned over and asked me if I could join the ruling party Kanu, to which I replied by quoting his speech in 1963 when he was himself a member of the Opposition, Kadu: "Mr President, as you once said, without opposition there is no life. I will remain in the Opposition to put your government on its toes," I said. He laughed off my response and let the matter rest. As the speeches by local Kanu leaders got underway, the then-local Kanu Chairman for Kirinyaga, Mr James Njiru former MP for Ndia and a former Cabinet Minister in the Moi government was invited to speak. He straight away embarked on berating the Opposition and its leadership, particularly my then-party chairman and leader of the Official Opposition Mr Mwai Kibaki. I drew President Moi's attention, asking him why he was allowing disparaging remarks against the Opposition and Mr Kibaki. President Moi made some vague remarks about not sharing the sentiments of Mr Njiru, his local party chairman, but did nothing to stop him. I then asked President Moi if he could allow me to speak in defence of the Opposition. Again, he was vague, but his body language indicated his discomfort with my request. I made up my mind there and then that I would walk out on President Moi as soon as he rose to speak. I scanned the immediate environment, aware that if I followed the President immediately, it would appear as though I wanted to attack him, and his security team would instinctively intervene. I noticed another exit to the left of his podium a metre away and settled on it. When President Moi was invited to speak, I paused for a minute or so to allow him to get to the podium before gathering my handbag and heading for the side exit. I then stopped in front of Moi's podium and flashed the DP salute a clenched fist raised above my head. I then walked towards the exit. I could hear President Moi clear his throat and then fall silent as I walked away, my clenched fist still raised. A few Kanu supporters had started jeering, but on realising that the President and his security detail were all watching silently, the hecklers too fell silent. Amid the ensuing pin-drop silence, I marched to the exit of the stadium, with some of my supporters in tow. As I exited, the police swung into action, closing the gate as I entered my car to stop my supporters from leaving the stadium. I drove slowly to Kerugoya town, accompanied by the people who had managed to leave the stadium before the gate was closed. I stopped at the Kirinyaga Tea Growers Sacco Building, now Bingwa Sacco within the town, where I used the raised staircase as a podium to address the now swelling crowd. In less than 15 minutes, the presidential convoy left the town in a rush, an indication that the incident had jolted the President. This incident earned the entire Opposition Moi's attention. He proceeded to Meru after the incident, where he allowed Opposition Members of Parliament David Mwiraria and Kiraitu Murungi to address the people. The following week, Moi was in Bungoma where, again, he gave the Opposition Members of Parliament a chance to speak. My walking out on him earned dividends for the Opposition. I was now serving my second term in Parliament. Under the IPPG constitutional and legal amendments, Opposition parties could freely traverse the country marketing their ideas with ease. We were, however, still dealing with a government keen on employing dirty tricks to obstruct the rule of law, subvert democracy and perpetuate the abuse of human rights. During the IPPG reforms, the government committed to a comprehensive constitutional review after the 1997 General Election. This process formally started with the bi-partisan enactment of the Constitution of Kenya Review Act of 1998. The Act provided for gender quotas on all the review organs. Under the umbrella of the Women's Political Caucus, women were required to nominate five of the 15 commissioners. As the chair of the League of Women voters, I was unanimously elected to chair the panel that would pick the five members, while Martha Koome, then-chair of Fida-Kenya, was elected as the secretary. Other members were the late Jane Kiano, then patron of the Kanu Maendeleo ya Wanawake Organisation and Zipporah Kittony, who was the organisation's chairperson. Immediately after the selection of these women commissioners, a fissure occurred in the women's movement. A group that was believed to enjoy the tacit support of the Executive went to court to stop the five nominees from assuming office, accusing the nominating panel of unfairness in the seletion of the commissioners. Our legal team led by Ms Raychelle Omamo carried the day in court. The court dismissed the case, paving the way for the nominees to assume office. We were aware that the Kanu administration did not want the review process to commence with the assertive women nominees as part of the review team. After many months of going around in circles, the process stalled and was eventually scuttled by disagreements over the nomination of the remaining 10 commissioners. There was much drama in the national political arena. The National Democratic Party (NDP) led by Mr Odinga, then-Member of Parliament for Lang'ata Constituency in Nairobi, merged with the ruling party Kanu, weakening the Opposition ahead of the 2002 General Election. With the warmth of this new Kanu-NDP alliance, the Government brought a Bill to Parliament seeking to amend the Constitution of Kenya Review Act to re-ignite the stalled constitutional review process. This was done without any consultation, leading the Opposition to walk out of Parliament while the amendments were being debated. Opposition leader, Mr Kibaki, and Mr Wamalwa Kijana leader of FORD Kenya the second largest Opposition party-led the walkout. I decided not to walk out with the rest, remaining behind so that my objections to the proposed amendments could go on record. I needed to oppose the Bill on the floor of the House. I explained this to my party leader, Mr Kibaki, and he understood. When the debate commenced, I gave reasons for opposing the Bill amidst a barrage of interruptions by the government side, whose members raised countless points of order. I warned the government that even though they had the opportunity to bulldoze the amendments, Parliament would most probably have to revisit them in the fullness of time to make the process inclusive. After my address, I, too, walked out of the House to join my Opposition colleagues, happy that my objections would remain on record for posterity. Members of the government side went ahead and passed the amendments. The government, now keen to make progress with the constitutional review process, head hunted the renowned law scholar, Prof Yash Pal Ghai, then working abroad, to head the Constitution review process. Prof Ghai accepted the Government's appointment on condition that he would be given a free hand to unite the Government and Ufungamano parallel processes into one, which he successfully did. Consequently, the Constitution of Kenya Review Act was once again brought to Parliament for amendment to facilitate an inclusive national pro- cess with bipartisan support. Towards the end of 2001, the government side mooted the idea of extending President Moi's term by a year, ostensibly to complete the review process. This proposal was tabled in the House Business Committee where Mr Kibaki, David Mwiraria, Norman Nyaga and I sat as representatives of the Democratic Party. I opposed the proposal, and the matter was dropped from the agenda before it could be presented in the National Assembly for debate. The proposal may have sounded reasonable except that we knew he was not a constitutional review enthusiast. The presence of Mr Odinga, who had been part of the constitution reform process, convinced most of the committee members, including my party leader Mr Kibaki, to support the idea. I was, however, not convinced and became the sole opponent of the proposal. My objection did not sit well with the government. I had to endure accusations of arrogance by members of the government, who wondered how I could oppose a position my party leader was agreeable to. I suspected that push for the extension was to enable President Moi to finish another year in order to celebrate his silver jubilee in office. The press got wind of the attempt by Kanu to extend President Moi's term by one year. This story sparked a national uproar, causing the government to beat a hasty retreat in the next committee meeting. The idea was completely abandoned. A few months before the elections, the Government orchestrated the disbandment of the review process and stopped funding it, thus confirming my fears that President Moi and his administration never intended to have the review process concluded in the first place. We were back where we started. The Opposition was determined to get things right in the runner-up to the 2002 General Election, having learned their lessons in the 1992 and 1997 elections that splitting the Opposition vote always gave the ruling party, Kanu, an upper hand. The key opposition parties then-DP led by Mwai Kibaki, SDP, and FORD Kenya came together to form the National Alliance Party of Kenya (NAK), the United Front, which would lead them to capture the hitherto elusive leadership of the country. The party leaders held regular strategy consultations which were informally referred to as "tea meetings", as they sought to craft a winning formula and put together a formidable team. After one such meeting, they were asked by journalists what they had discussed, and Mr Wamalwa and Ms Ngilu replied that they had met "for tea". One journalist asked whether it was just about tea and no politics, to which Mr Kibaki cheekily quipped: "Tea can be very political". As the talks went on, the political marriage between NDP and Kanu was starting to become shaky. President Moi gave indications that his preferred successor was Mr Uhuru Kenyatta, then a political greenhorn, who had been nominated first to Parliament in 2001 and quick succession, to the Cabinet as Minister for Local Government. Soon after the President made his decision public, Mr Odinga, who was one of the presidential hopefuls, led a mass walkout from Kanu to his recently acquired Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). One thing led to another and soon after, we all united under the umbrella of the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC), whose symbol was the flame of peace. The closing of ranks by the Opposition was a game-changer, leading to rebirth of the Kenyan republic under Mr. Kibaki in 2002. The book was published with support of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation Regional Office, South Africa. It’s available in leading bookshops.After a long day, it’s easy to plunk yourself down on the couch and watch TV or scroll through your phone. Not too long later, you’ll be asking yourself where the time has gone, possibly unsatisfied that you didn’t make better use of your free time. It’s a similar feeling to when you’re so hungry, instead of cooking, you purchase fast food or cook up a frozen meal. It’s convenient and is initially satisfying, but it doesn’t satiate one for long. Why is it that we are drawn to convenience rather than what makes us feel good in the long run? Our collective social media use is a similar plight. App developers do everything they can to keep us engaged and they do a sensational job at it, primarily by taking advantage of the brain’s happy hormones. With curated feeds and algorithms, time spent online triggers a release of dopamine and increases the user’s desire to continue scrolling (“Addictive potential of social media,” Stanford Medicine). Engaging content and rewards like notifications and social updates feed the reward center in our brain making phones ever so addicting. Excess phone use has since led to an influx of individuals creating “dopamine menus” to increase self-care and decrease time spent online. When much of our lives are consumed with work, people are noticing how much technology consumes their free time. If this rings true for you, a dopamine menu might be just the solution you’re looking for. What is a dopamine menu? It is a curated list of activities that bring you joy categorized by their level of commitment. The list should include activities specific to you that are enjoyable, stimulating and healthy for your mind, body or soul while boosting your feel-good hormones. While we all have an idea of what activities we enjoy, a dopamine menu removes any chance of decision paralysis or excuses that may keep you scrolling. There are no excuses with a list. The idea of a menu is simple — just brainstorm and jot down your favorite ways to spend your time. With a categorized list, dopamine menus are a personalized cheat-sheet to escaping the clutches of blue light. The categories are: Starters: A quick boost of dopamine, examples for starters may include petting an animal, doing jumping jacks or eating a snack. Mains: This includes any larger breaks or time commitments such as reading a book, meeting a friend for coffee or going for a run. Sides: Sides are exactly that — side activities that can assist with other tasks. Why is it that listening to music or a podcast makes doing the dishes more bearable? Try calling a friend or listening to an audiobook, podcast or music while you complete a mundane chore. Dessert: Similarly to our favorite sweet treats, these activities are good in moderation such as online shopping, planning a getaway and yes, even scrolling through social media. Specials: Included amongst the specials are anything that are considered “big events” that involve a larger monetary or time commitment. These may be attending a live performance, visiting a museum, getting a massage or going out to dinner. When creating your menu, only include activities that are achievable and enjoyable to you — there are no wrong answers. A list of activities you hope to do rather than things you want to do will not get you off the couch. Whether digital or printed, keep your menu accessible for those moments you need a recharge. As we progress deeper into the digital age, tools such as this are paramount to preserving our physical and mental wellbeing while also finding balance with the technology we increasingly rely on.
Ex-Klarna UK CEO Alex Marsh Named Chair of Salad Money
As I listen to my friends sprinkle “Pookie” into conversation like a modern-day sonnet, I can’t help but wonder: Is this what poetry has become in the 21st century? Sonnets, once prose dipped in honey, now seem to have dissolved into emojis and cutesy nicknames. Has poetry lost its shine, its luster, in our era of abbreviations and TikTok trends? Of course, I am not hoping my friends write me poems proclaiming my beauty and intellect each morning (although I wouldn’t mind it). Still, in contrast to a century ago, or even thirty years ago, our language and poetry have been reduced to abbreviations and line breaks. Has poetry lost its shine and luster, turned into jargon being spoon-fed to the masses? With the welcoming of niche groups all over social media platforms, including groups for the more literary-minded amongst us (search for “BookTok,” for example), anything and everything is out there. However, despite that, it seems people have only further diluted the meaning of poetry and art for cheap and quick views. This brings me back to the question: is poetry alive, especially within young people? Or does our Rilke lie within TikTok slideshows? With little to no encouragement in public schools toward careers in the arts, many are left to find their interest in poetry piqued within the confines of TikTok. To explore this question further, I turned to young creatives who are redefining what poetry means today. First up, Roswitha Bwanga, who was the second-place winner of the Allyship Poetry Contest. They have been completing their studies in visual and creative arts at Sheridan College. They explore many fields of artistry, dabbling in poetry. In order to maintain clarity and flow, the following interview has been lightly edited. How did your interest in poetry emerge? I started writing poetry when I was 15, at first just to appreciate things I saw in nature. A beautiful sunrise, or a pleasant sunny day, I just wanted to write about things I would see. Then I went through a brief phase of thinking poetry was cringe-worthy, and I stopped writing altogether. But soon my life went through a lot of changes: I went to university, I learned more about the world and I realized how stressed I felt most of the time. While it was a rough time to go through, that’s how I rediscovered poetry. Writing poems became a way to get rid of all the negativity that was always holding me down, and I’ve continued to write ever since. Was there any specific poem that shaped your own life, inspiring you to write? If so, what in particular stood out? I’ve only recently started to read other poems. Before then, I never really read any classical, or contemporary poetry. Essentially, there has not been a specific poem that inspired me to write, rather it was the need to process emotions that became the motivation for me to write. As a writer, how have you adapted methods of the classics and applied them to modern pieces? I’ve never paid much attention to classical poetry methods when I originally started writing, but now I’m interested in learning about rhyming schemes and different meters. I think free verse style poetry is the most appealing to contemporary poets because there is no ideal to follow. While studying how other people approach poetry is interesting, I think poets, especially young poets just starting to write, should just write how they feel. Writing without restrictions will help you get your words out. Do you think most teenagers are capable of connecting to poetry today? This is a huge question because I think there is a multitude of factors that differ for each individual, which influences whether a person connects with poetry or not, but on the surface, I think most teenagers today think of poetry as outdated, boring, or cringey. While part of the problem lies in the way many teens might associate poetry with Shakespeare, an unpleasant English course, or school in general, I believe an inability to discuss and deal with feelings is another big reason for the disconnect between youths and poetry. It’s unfortunate because, in my opinion, many teens could benefit from writing poetry, so I really wish there was a way to get more of them engaged with writing. Even something small, like including more diverse and contemporary perspectives about poetry in school might help change their perception. —————————————————————————————————————————— After speaking with Bwanga, it seems that the key issue might not be whether teens have an innate interest in poetry, but whether they are provided with the resources to explore it. While factors like literacy rates and a focus on STEM subjects in schools play a role, the way poetry is approached within the English curriculum in Ontario’s schools also significantly influences students’ engagement with it. The only way we can expect our generation to produce poetry is to push avenues toward pursuing poetry and reading modern poetry. The curriculum pushes Shakesphere under the guise we can always learn from the past, which isn’t wrong, but rarely are students ever given opportunities to be pushed towards poetry that reflects their own lives today, leaving disinterested minds in and out of the classroom. This also becomes a discussion, then, on the value of art, and the value of learning art; while it is easy to find articles online that support teaching arts and crafts in early childhood, with benefits ranging from development of fine motor skills to overall growth and wellbeing, you need to dig a bit deeper see the benefits for older students. But find it you can: a study from earlier this year, for example, reported better problem-solving and cognitive flexibility in arts-educated students. Creativity, in other words. If we understand and buy into the argument for teaching the arts to young people, we should also be concerned with offering material that speaks to young people, material that they can connect with and may spur on their own artistic journeys. However, those who seem to be interested aren’t exactly uplifted in their environments to pursue poetry. Shakespeare does give lessons in how the magic of language changes over time, but when was the last time a teenager found inspiration for their Instagram caption in iambic pentameter? I discussed the twisted discourse with Patricia Zhang, a young creative who resides in Toronto — considered by many as the epicentre of arts and culture in the surround sound of placid Ontario. Her work consists of photography, capturing her own stylistic shots as well as portraits for smaller magazines. Although it isn’t necessarily poetry, Zhang can speak for being a young creative who pursued the arts on her own. What type of art do you do? Have you tried poetry? I do photography and writing — I have tried poetry but am not great at it, I prefer prose. Has your school encouraged you to explore other artistic pursuits, perhaps in the form of extracurriculars or via a range of courses on offer? Since I don’t go to an art school I can’t really speak on this — but I think the school I go to does have a lot of opportunities for art and I’ve participated in our school-wide art show in photography and won first. We also have a really amazing photography and art department overall. Is there a desire in teenagers to dabble in art and poetry? Is it a lack of interest or support? There is a desire in teens to dabble in art and poetry. I think that a lot of the time, it seems really scary or impossible to get published — and that deters a lot of young artists. I think there is a lot of interest for these young voices in art, but for support, I would definitely say for things such as writing and art it would be great if young artists could have a way to access a larger network of people who can help them get published since it looks super daunting at first sight. The art culture in Toronto specifically is really beautiful, though, and so, so, so welcoming to emerging artists. —————————————————————————————————————————- Zhang seems to be in the lucky majority, residing in Toronto where art runs around like the debris of construction. But she does offer more evidence that teens are willing and able to write poetry, they just lack access to the tools needed. Networks that offer connections and provide examples of what a successful working artist (in whatever medium) looks like in today’s world might encourage more young creatives to enter into that space. Representation is, as ever, another essential piece — seeing successful, working artists of colour can only expand minds and possibilities. It is up to you to decide whether or not poetry is still alive. The exploration of poetry’s relevance today is far from settled, but I can’t dictate what poetry means to you. Though I may trash it, people are fleeing to TikTok and other social media apps to access their dose of poetry. Does this type of poetry, that great tweet, a J. Cole song, or a surprisingly inspiring real-estate slogan, make the medium less valuable — or simply more accessible? Language, after all, is an ever-morphing tool that will carry new turns of phrase to new generations. And social media, like it or not, is where young people congregate today, so if socials manage to engage teenagers in poetry and other art forms that they may not otherwise see, this surely is a positive. It’s up to us to decide whether we see poetry as something to be left in the past or as a powerful catalyst for creativity and progress — a medium that not only evolves with each generation but also propels us forward, shaping how we express, connect, and grow as individuals and as a society. Maybe poetry is now tucked inside the emojis we send, the lyrics we hum, and the TikTok slideshows we scroll past. Like sunlight through curtains, it sneaks in, whether we notice it or not.