Short Takes on 2015: Tony Elumelu

The key for Africa, says businessman and philanthropist Tony Elumelu, is by nurturing young entrepreneurs and not relying on government entirely to advance nations across the continent.  He does so via Heirs Holdings and The Tony Elumelu Foundation.  It's a two-part message I've heard in different segments of my research and work, such as from Naomi Klein in talking about climate change. 

Short Takes on 2015 from Mexico City

Oh my, there is a decided dour outlook among Mexican residents, having to do with economics, politics and security.  I can only imagine what fear and dread must course quietly in their veins, as impunity, scarcity, and perhaps even privatization underpin a sense of lawlessness. 

Short Takes on 2015 from Hong Kong

Hong Kong residents, from different walks of life, seem generally hopeful in their outlook for 2015.  At the heels of the lengthy, but recently concluded, Occupy movement, there is some expectation that democracy will continue to blossom and freedom of speech will remain.  This blossoming ought not hurt the economy, as residents expect things to get back to normal.

Short Takes on 2015 from Kiev

What delightful news forthcoming for newlyweds Alexey and Eugenia and their families and friends: a baby in 2015.  While it is possible Russia will encroach further into the Ukraine, there is hope that that war will end. 

Short Takes on 2015 from Lagos

University study Linda Chukwura takes a refreshingly honest and simple outlook: that life for her in 2015 will be as it was in 2014.  For the sake of Nigeria, I do hope that it becomes more stable and peaceful and that its citizens benefit from its being such a huge market.

Short Takes on 2015 from Madrid

Citizens from Madrid range from optimistic and fanciful, to guarded and pessimistic, as far as 2015 is concerned.  Two percent is modest growth, but at the heels of a worldwide recession, that ain't bad at all.

The Unheralded Cab Drivers Speak in Hong Kong

Occupy Central in Hong Kong affects business for cabbies, so WSJ asks them what they think.
It is well enough for professors, advisers and pundits to comment on events around the world.  But I think it's quite a journalistic privilege to go to where these events are and speak directly with the people who are in the midst of it.  I used to travel a lot: from the US and UK, to Kuwait and the UAE, to Singapore and Egypt, and very much enjoy striking up a conversation with my cab driver.  Perhaps like bartenders and hairdressers, these cab drivers are among modern day society's unheralded buddies and advisers.

Blood-Swept Lands and British Sea of Tears

The blood swept lands and seas of red,
Where angels dare to tread.
As I put my hand to reach,
As God cried a tear of pain as the angels fell,
Again and again.

As the tears of mine fell to the ground
To sleep with the flowers of red
As any be dead

My children see and work through fields of my
Own with corn and wheat,
Blessed by love so far from pain of my resting
Fields so far from my love.

It be time to put my hand up and end this pain
Of living hell, to see the people around me
Fall someone angel as the mist falls around
And the rain so thick with black thunder I hear
Over the clouds, to sleep forever and kiss
The flower of my people gone before time
To sleep and cry no more

I put my hand up and see the land of red,
This is my time to go over,
I may not come back
So sleep, kiss the boys for me

The Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red, by an unknown British soldier.

This poem was the inspiration for British artist Paul Cummins and his 888,246 ceramic poppies, bleeding from the Tower of London, each one commemorating the British dead in World War I. 

Syrian Boy Ekes Out a Living in Istanbul Streets

Issa is one of 100,000+ Syrian refugees in Istanbul, and plays his plastic flute to make $10 a day.

It's heartbreaking to see Istanbul officers confiscate Issa's plastic flute and to spend half his earnings to buy another one.  But in that hard scrabble that is life for Syrian refugees, $10 probably isn't bad at all.  I know that those who live on $1 a day or less belong to the ultra-poor of the world.  Little Issa rises above that.

Mobile Word Games I Play On The Go

 

Letters appeared one at a time, and I selected and placed letters for any of those 15 boxes.  The objective was to earn as many Moxie points as possible.  The target words, that is, on Animals, grabbed the most points.  I often scored in the 2000s range, gradually increasing my best in this range over time.  On this one occasion, I topped 3000 for the first time.  I loved playing this game, but I loved it so much it became a bit ridiculous.  I was playing in the car, mainly at red lights.  But on occasion, when the traffic was slow moving, I found myself playing it.  I had to delete this app. 

 

So You Think You Know Words is painstakingly tough, but I love the challenge it poses and the patience it takes.  Several letters are set up in a grid, and they all form three words, set up as empty boxes and hinted at with a clue on top.  I went as far as I could tolerate, that is, in figuring it all out on my own knowledge.  But I also searched on Google for information on the clue, and on occasion searched for the answers.  I managed to complete two puzzles, as you see. 

7 Words is my favorite.  I work with clues for 7 words, which I construct from blocks of two- to four-letter segments.  Sometimes there is a theme, such as this very cool one.  I had to take a screen shot.  It's a daily puzzle, and I've been playing it for two years.  Only once have I needed help completing it. 

My Birthday-Time Synchronicity

 

It must've been mid-autumn 2012 and late in the afternoon, as I picked up my daughter at school.  Since returning home in at the end of 2011, and switching from a BlackBerry to an iPhone, I had taken more photos and videos on the go.  I had an older version, and the pixels on the camera were only a few.  But I loved the convenience of it.  That afternoon, the cool, crisp sky was drenched in dark, brush stroke pink, and it was stunning to watch the setting sun.

Here, you see, one of those photos won wallpaper usage.  But this time, though, it was a synchronicity.  It was my birthday that July 31st 2013, and when I checked my iPhone the time mirrored that date perfectly.

A Sweet Visit on Mother's Day

It was May 2012, and my daughter and I were out shopping for gifts and cards for Mother's Day.  My mother was seriously ill at the time, and was recovering in a rehabilitation nursing home.  She had since passed away (July 2013), but this little visit to this quaint shop was sweet. 

Incredulity and Tragedy of Flight MH370

(image credit)

Eight months now since the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines MH370, incredibly the flight is still missing.  In an era where it seems that every move, every search, and every e-mail of ours cannot escape sophisticated tracking apps and monitoring algorithms, I wonder how an enormous thing like an airplane can simply disappear and not be found (yet).  Now the errant Airlines has another lawsuit on its hands: 2 boys sue Malaysia Airlines, government agencies over loss of father on MH370.  If it weren't for the tragedy of losing a loved one, I'd snicker at such a lawsuit from a 13- and an 11-year old boys.  This matter is certainly no laughing matter, and I pray that airplane is found soon. 

Alibaba Boss Jack Ma Knows China

Jack Ma says that he's always in love with the government, but doesn't want to marry them.
At the heels of a record $25 billion Alibaba IPO with the New York Stock Exchange, Founder and Executive Chairman Jack Ma is fast becoming a household name in Western media and circles.  Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg have had several profiles and clips on the even wealthier billionaire from China.  I wanted to see about penetrating this market with my management consulting services, so I spoke to a Chinese friend one time.  Basically he said that one would have to be Chinese to really get in what truly seems like an inscrutable, insular world.  But not only does Ma have intimate knowledge of what goes on in that (his) world, but also he clearly has an engaging, knowledgeable demeanor about him that, I'm sure, endears him to the West.

Cabbies Weigh in on Hong Kong Occupy

Occupy Central in Hong Kong affects business for cabbies, so WSJ asks them what they think.

I really appreciate learning about what is going on across the world, far from where I sit.  In particular, I also really appreciate what the Wall Street Journal did in reporting on these cabbies.  Pro-democracy protestors have, I imagine, have a noble cause for their occupation of major arteries in Hong Kong.  But their actions have a direct impact on these cabbies' livelihood.  It's fine to enlist experts or outsiders to weigh in on the occupation, but Theory of Algorithms and The Core Algorithm encourages us, as best as possible, to find out from those who are directly involved in the situation.  It isn't categorically positive or negative, but an enlightening mix of both, as far as cabbies' experiences are concerned.

My profile photo for Dr. Ron on the Internet

I felt very privileged and grateful for having been invited to many conferences, events and shows, when I lived in Dubai.  This photo was from a radio program on jobs and career, which my friends Art and Rachel hosted and they were founders of Filipino Excellence Middle East.  They had a late evening slot, and as you can see I'm a bit bleary eyed.  Still it was a lot of fun.  I use this photo for my Dr. Ron on the Internet blogs, including this one, and social media.

My profile photo for Dr. Ron Art

Art Dubai was one of my favorite events of the year, as artists from Europe, Asia and Middle East were very well represented among those exhibiting.  I gained entry via my friend Hamdan one year, then once on the e-mail list I could invite another friend Tina to join me in subsequent years.  This photo is one of a number that she took, from the 2011 show, which I really like.  I am not a selfie fiend by any means, and in general I don't crave to have my photo taken.  If someone asks, no problem.  If no one asks, no problem, either.  Fittingly, this photo graces my Dr. Ron Art website, blogs and social media.

My profile photo for sportsPond53

I took an acting class in Dubai five years ago, and made really good friends with a number of classmates.  One afternoon we met up at one of their villas to practice our acting skills with some fun improvisational scenes.  I had no designs on becoming an actor, as some friends did.  I simply wanted to gain some acting skills, as part staging my Shakespeare Talks! projects.  Interestingly, because I'm wearing my coveted Tour de France hat, I've used this photo for my sportsPond53 blog and social media.

A Perfectly Still, Mirroring Pond

In recent years, I've taken more photos and videos simply by using my trusty iPhone (before) and Galaxy Note (now).  The latter has better resolution, but unless there is plenty of light and I hold the phone steady, it is a blurry image.  Thankfully both were at my disposal, as I walked through a neighborhood nearby at mid-afternoon.  I was impressed with how still this little pond must've been to be such a perfect mirror for its surroundings.  By the brick retainer on the other side, the actual wall and its reflected image look virtually the same in terms of light, detail and color.  Impressive.

My Mindfulness and the Loud Crickets

Simple repetitive activity is meditative for me.  It was late one afternoon recently that I was raking our backyard, and I noticed how loud the crickets were.  Maybe I simply hadn't noticed that level of loud before, but I believe the mindfulness that came out of raking made me more attuned and sensitive to that sound.  The air was more humid than warm, and in fact it was a tad cool.  But as I finished, then went for a walk, the loud was reached throughout the neighborhood.  It was not at all pleasant, and it seemed almost deafening.  Further out into my walk, though, the sound dissipated, and it was soft at worst when I returned.

The sound emitted by crickets is commonly referred to as chirping; the scientific name is stridulation. Usually only the male crickets chirp, however some female crickets do as well. The sound is emitted by the stridulatory organ, a large vein running along the bottom of each wing, covered with "teeth" (serration) much like a comb. The chirping sound is created by running the top of one wing along the teeth at the bottom of the other wing. As the male cricket does this, he also holds the wings up and open, so that the wing membranes can act as acoustical sails. It is a popular myth that the cricket chirps by rubbing its legs together. 

There are four types of cricket song: The calling song attracts females and repels other males, and is fairly loud. The courting song is used when a female cricket is near, and is a very quiet song. An aggressive song is triggered by chemoreceptors on the antennae that detect the near presence of another male cricket and a copulatory song is produced for a brief period after a successful mating.

Reference: Cricket.

The Emerald Ash Borer and our Ash

It was purely by happenstance that I learned about the Emerald Ash Borer.  I was on an exercise walk through our neighborhood, and casually asked a man "You cutting down that tree?"  It was a tree like this one, also situated in the parkway, that segment of yard between the sidewalk and street.  His tree was bereft of leaves, and it was way too late to save it from the ash beetle.  I asked about it, and he showed me small D-shaped hole in the branches he had already cut.  In fact he found one crawl on my shirt, and it was a tiny thing with a body of a translucent green and yellow.  He said that his tree began to sprout branches at the trunk, and added that it was a sign the tree was in distress.  Funny, I told him, our parkway tree sprouted the same things, and my wife had me snipped them off.  Our tree, like others I began to notice in the neighborhood, was bald at the top, but otherwise it looked healthy.  I believe there is still time to save it.

Nigerian Wale Tinubu Leads African Oil and Gas

Africa as a whole has massive oil and gas reserves, but developing them is another story altogether.

Africa's oil and gas potential:  Boom or hype?

Africa's oil and gas potential will grow significantly over the next two decades, driven by population growth, urbanization and the emergence of a wealthier middle class on the continent. Six of the top 10 global discoveries in the oil and gas sector in 2013 were made in Africa, with more than 500 companies currently exploring deposits there. There were nearly nine million barrels of crude oil produced daily in Africa last year, with more than 80% of it coming from established players such as Algeria, Angola and Nigeria.

There is no doubt that Africa remains significantly under-explored by oil and gas companies. The price of oil and the incentives for exploration partly determine this, but major investors are also cautious because of the lingering challenges of corruption, lack of infrastructure and regulation.

Click on the link in the caption above for the reference and more information.

Elsewhere, Nigerian Adewale Tinubu, Group CEO of the integrated oil and gas solutions company Oando, speaks to more democratic governance in the continent (Meet Wale Tinubu, The Man Building Africa's Largest Energy Company - Part One) and adds that the corruption is just not fashionable anymore (CNN African Voices features Wale Tinubu Part 1).

Best wishes to Tinubu for further building up Africa's economic base!    

A Week with Ethiopian Supermodel Liya Kebede

Ethiopian supermodel Liya Kebede launched her own fashion line - Lemlem - which means "to flourish or bloom" in her native Amharic.  As we walk through her week (below), I love the fact that it's less about how she looks and poses, and more about what she says and does:

Monday

Ever wanted to know what it's like to sit on the FROW (that's the runway's front row in fashionista lingo)? Or to rub shoulders with the world's A-list trendsetters? Welcome to the world of super chic Ethiopian supermodel and designer Liya Kebede.

Tuesday

Day Two and Kebede took us along to her first MM6 runway show, and she loved every minute of it! She adds: "Of course, the collection is always inspiring and fun! [It's] out of the box, very imaginative and twists the impossible into the possible."

Wednesday

Time to pack your bags, Kebede's en route to Paris for a charity event. There's no rest for this jetsetting businesswoman ... not that she minds. Here's a selfie in the airport bookstore ahead of her flight. She passionately explains: "The possibility to give back is a privilege, I feel lucky that I can do my part."

Thursday

Boujour Paris! Kebede's stepped into another of her roles: as founder of the Liya Kebede Foundation, she spent the day helping brokers from consulting firm, BCG with their clients and trades. "Every year BGC commemorates colleagues lost on 9/11 by distributing the day's global revenue to dozens of charities around the world. I'm so proud that LKF can be a part of helping to focus this day."

Friday

Never forgetting her African roots, Kebede says Ethiopian weaving techniques are at the core of her label. "We use a textured fabric this season in our scarves and tunics that is traditionally used for Ethiopian wedding dresses. Supporting Ethiopian weavers and their craft has remained our central mission and we're proud we can sell a beautiful product while also helping these artisans thrive."

Saturday and Sunday

The maternal health advocate returned home in May when she spent the week with WAHA International and Save the Children. "I was stunned when I first learned that a woman was dying every minute in my home country and other developing nations from complications of pregnancy and childbirth. I'm excited at how [LKF] is continually learning and evolving to help connect more women to care," she says.

Reference: Step into a supermodel's shoes with Liya Kebede.

African Wildlife Foundation Saves Congo Basin

Wildlife 101:  Can this school save the environment?

What Patrick Bergin, CEO of African Wildlife Foundation, has conceived and developed in an awesome win-win scenario:  In brief, the AWF builds schools in remote areas of the Congo Basin that are in terrible need of care and conservation.  The governing communities in these areas are cash-strapped, and are willing to allow for conservation efforts, in exchange for AWF support.  The schools are state-of-the-art to attract the best possible teachers and therefore to teach disadvantaged children in the best possible way.  The curricula engender good environmental values and activities, and the building of the schools themselves draw on indigenous workers and materials.  The idea is to do good, which is, well, doable and sustainable.  It's all brilliant, so read more by clicking the link in the caption above.

Mexican-Kenyan Lupita Nyong'o after Guadalupe

Lupita Nyong'o has just a thin trail in film:  She debuted as an actress in the short film `East River (2008); starred in the TV series `Shuga (2009); and wrote, produced and directed the documentary `In my Genes (2009).  So to win an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in her very first feature-length film `12 Years a Slave (2013) is astounding.  At the Academy Awards ceremony earlier this year, the camera often stole glances of her, and no wonder, as she had such arresting looks that it was difficult to peel your eyes away from her. 

Nyong'o was born in Mexico City to Dorothy and Peter Anyang' Nyong'o, and boasts a Mexican-Kenyan dual citizenship.  She was still an infant, when her family moved back to their native Kenya, upon her father being appointed professor at the University of Nairobi.  Her family is of the Luo ethnic group from western Kenya, and it is their tradition to give a child a name that echoes the culture or events of her birth locale.  So Lupita is short for Guadalupe, as in Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City.

Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe

South African Lothando Kaka on the Bicycle

I love road cycling, particularly its most famous and grueling race - Tour de France.  South African Luthando Kaka is quite a novelty, in a peloton that is predominantly European in nationality.  He offers a simple explanation for that:  Cycling is too expensive for the lot of Africans, who may otherwise be interested in the sport.  But fortunately for him, he has managed to land a spot on a Danish team and to captain the Bonitas team in South Africa.

Best wishes to Lothando Kaka!

Malawian Fashion Designer Lilly Alfonso in Demand

I draw on the African Voices series on CNN to journey into a continent I've traveled to just once, so far, and to learn about its countries and people. 

Malawian fashion designer Lilly Alfonso

Nicknamed "The Warm Heart of Africa," Malawi is just a sliver of a country in southeastern Africa.  It is not a well-to-do country, and its government relies on outside help to run the country and take care of its people.  The tiny beats of that heart don't beat for very long, as there is high infant mortality, and the more voluble beats don't last for very long, either, as life expectancy is low.  Nevertheless, the sounds of that warm heart steadily grow stronger, in step with improving economics, education and healthcare.

Enter, Lilly Alfonso.

Alfonso is demure about her passion and talent for fashion, but she is not weak at heart.  She has tinkered with fashion, since she was a little girl, but it was only in 2010 that she accepted the sobriquet of designer.  She has an eye for color and design, even rhythm and motion, which, to my own uninitiated eyes, echo those of African art culture. 

Art, by Hamban Mhone

Lilly Alfonso

There is increasingly interest and demand for her fashion, and greater exposures at shows in London, Barcelona and Paris.

Best wishes to Lilly Alfonso!
 

Mulenga Kapwepwe Keeps On Going

There was a time when I had an abiding love affair with books.  I loved to buy them and collect them, and read them if only in part.  I had them set in particular ways and places in my basement office, and on many occasions, I'd just walk along the aisles I created, look up 10 feet to the top of the makeshift shelving, then run my fingers along the spines of books. 

Over the past 10 years, though, I've migrated onto online reading.  I read more than ever, but my consumption is virtually all online.  I hardly buy books now, and what I have are mostly in boxes in the basement and somewhere in Dubai.  On occasion I find PDFs of books I want, so I simply download them.  But in general I extract the lessons I want to learn from what I search on Google and what I find on my Timelines.

Mulenga Kapwepwe and children in their African hut

That said, I still love the idea and the haven of a library.  I am enthralled at the sort that Mulenga Kapwepwe created in Zambia:  More of an active and engaging community center, where books may be at the heart of it all, but it's curiosity and imagination that make it like an African hut:  where children can paint and dramatize, play and learn, along with getting chances for conversation, interaction and mentoring.

Mulenga Kapwepwe and children on the fútbolpitch

Kapwepwe has written plays, built libraries, started a record label, founded a youth orchestra, and run a fútbol team.  She is indeed an inspiration and a role model for me, as I want to do what she has done and is doing - the range of things, the diversity of things, the service to the community, youth and nation.

I love, too, her wisdom and advice on getting things done:  She has learned that you don't have to wait until everything is perfect.  Instead, you keep moving forward, and things get better over time.  You do your best with what you have and with what you can do, then with a decent dose of interest and willingness.  You may have scale down your dream, or even reshape them, but Kapwepwe encourages you to keep going. 

The Many Faces of Mulenga Kapwepwe

Often sponsored sites make it a minor inconvenience to scroll through their photos and blurbs.  Their idea is that every time visitors open a new page on the site, that's an important to pop an ad in front of their eyeballs.  This CNN site, on the other hand, is actually pretty good.  The photos of Mulenga Kapwepwe scroll cleanly and quickly, and the blurbs are simple and useful.  Nevertheless, I'm so taken by her that I gather these up all on one page for our reference, enjoyment and learning.

1.  Mulenga Kapwepwe is the daughter of Zambia's former vice president, Simon Kapwepwe. Growing up in a house full of the nation's liberators left a lasting impression on the young girl. Today, Kapwepwe has become something of a tour de force for Zambian arts and culture.

2.  Her favorite place in Lusaka is the National Archives -- it also holds a special place in her heart thanks to the moments in Zambian history captured on film including her father. "They do have some really nice photographs that for me are very real because some of are my parents."

3.  It's also where the de facto arts patron takes her artistic inspiration from. She tells CNN: "This is where I do most of my research work ... I'd begun to write the history of my tribe. And as I got into it and I dug into it, I thought this would make a really good play." Despite the fact she had no formal theater training, Kapwepwe has become a celebrated playwright in Zambia.

4.  Mulenga Kapwepwe stands on stage providing script direction while preparing her latest play, "Rufino's Wife." Kapwepwe says: "That again was inspired by the fact that there were members of my family: my uncles, my father's sister's husband for example, who went and fought in the Second World War. And it struck me that the Second World War actually had an impact on my family and the village that we come from. But you don't hear those stories anywhere. What happened tot he Africans who fought in the war who came back to their villages. What is the story?"

5.  The talented playwright was surrounded by books during her childhood -- something she wanted to share with children today. So she built three libraries in Lusaka. "We kind of mix it up with the traditional African hut, where you discuss things and you are mentored. You get knowledge and you interact, there's drama."

6.  In addition to her work on stage, she found traditional music in the National Archives and decided to ask young up-and-coming musicians to incorporate it in their work to find a new audience. In doing so, she founded a record label, which has since released three albums.

7.  When she's not wrapped up in the world of entertainment, Kapwepwe can often be found cheering enthusiastically from the sidelines of the Chilenge Girls football team -- a group she set up. Kapwepwe herself was born in Chilenge and wanted to give something back to her community while helping young girls stay "off the streets." She reveals: "We've managed to push girls into the national team and play for Zambia ... It's a nice avenue that we've created for girls to go a little bit further than they would like to do."

8.  Another achievement on her list of many accomplishments is the Lusaka Youth Orchestra which Kapwepwe founded to provide teens with a place to embrace music.

9.  She explains, "These young people are from different backgrounds, from different parts of Lusaka, and some of them very vulnerable. But I think when they all come together like this, music is an equalizer and everybody enjoys themselves and they learn something."

Reference, with warm thanks to CNN:  She's written plays, built libraries and started an orchestra... Meet Mulenga Kapwepwe, Zambia's patron of the arts.

I am very grateful to have met this lady.  I love the arts, and besides Kapwepwe being an inspiration, there are, in my conceptual and practical language, wonderful algorithms to extract from this very informative, very engaging feature on her.

Zambian Patron of the Arts Mulenga Kapwepwe

In recent weeks, I've spent a dedicated hour every Friday, scouring key sites for world news: Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and CNN.  TV is the worst place for me to consume news, because what I get is what is fed to me.  CNN is among the worst, for example, at obsessing for hours or days on particular topics:  from flooding to murders, to rioting and accidents.  It's as if nothing else is happening anywhere else.  Newspapers and magazines are fine, but they're a small inconvenience and cost I simply do not need to tolerate and incur.  Online, however, the news are in my control and choice, and over the years news sites have put more and more of their reports and features at us consumers' disposal.  I can scope quickly, and read, watch or contemplate whatever it is that catches my attention. 

That preamble done, let's head off to Zambia, and meet Mulenga Kapwepwe.  She is the patron of the arts, sports and education, with an actively creative mind and seemingly boundless energy.

"I don't think Shakespeare went to a playwright school so I'm sure I don't have to."

What a wonderful feature on Kapwepwe, her country and her work.  Hers is an easy-going manner, and it feels rather natural to admire, appreciate and like her.

"I grew up in an environment where the struggle for the country, the liberation of this country, was very much a part of the conversation in the home," says Kapwepwe, a renowned Zambian playwright and daughter of the country's former vice president, Simon Kapwepwe.

Imagine talking about things of such national import at home.

"For me, Zambia is not an abstract concept," she says. "It's something that I heard being birthed in the house that I lived in -- even the name of the country, the answer came from our house. Literally. My father coined the name and it was agreed that this country would be called Zambia."

I think Zambia must've been an abstraction in the 20 years leading up to its fateful flag-raising in 1964.  It is a real country now, in ways it wasn't before.

"I'd begun to write the history of my tribe," she recalls. "And as I got into it and I dug into it, I thought this would make a really good play, but I didn't know how to write a play," explains Kapwepwe. "I told myself, 'Well, I don't think Shakespeare went to a playwright school so I'm sure I don't have to."

This is such an endearing admission.  I, too, am working on my very first play.  I conceived it five years ago, and it wasn't until this summer that I began to actively research it and sketch it out.  But first, like Kapwepwe, I have to learn how to write a play.  I am very much in the midst of that as well.  Like Kapwepwe, I am confident I can learn how to write the play I have in mind.

Reference: She's written plays, built libraries and started an orchestra... Meet Mulenga Kapwepwe, Zambia's patron of the arts.

Selfie "Stitching" Experiences in London Elevator

I don't care to have my photo taken, but I don't mind it either, if the occasion calls for it and a friend or colleague asks.  But I've come to realize that over the years there are scant such records of me.  Since returning home to Chicago, from Dubai, at the end of 2011, I have been part of family gatherings again and they're always an occasion for taking photos.  Selfies are an outcrop of that shift.  As an aspiring photographer in my 20s, I worked at composing my shots as creatively as I could and thought about the visual messages I conveyed.  Nothing profound or aesthetic necessarily with my selfies above, in the elevator of a client office building, but they're the stitching of the meetings and conversations I had there.

Adobo Restaurant in London Alleyway

In a quaint alleyway nearby the London office building of a Middle Eastern client were several restaurants.  I loved their convenience and affordability, and took note of this one in particular.  You see, adobo is a very tasty Filipino dish, dominated by pork and chicken and garnished with a smattering of vegetables.  It wasn't a Filipino restaurant obviously, but it made me pause for a moment and taste that dish in my mouth.  

Sweet Sense of Humor in London Meetings

In January this year, I had client meetings at the London offices of a major Middle Eastern oil and gas producer.  I was in their conference room, where discovered a sweet sense of humor.  It was sitting in a little dish for an hour or two, before I even realized it was there.

The Golden Lady and the Little Girl

The lady in gold is a street performer, and she was good at make-believing she is a statue-cum-robot.  When she is still, she is really still.  But when she moves, she moves slowly and haltingly.  This little girl reveled in that, and relatively approach the golden lady, who gave her a warm, robotic hug.  Sometimes children can get scared.  Sometimes, too, the statue-cum-robot startles passerby, and that can be hilarious.  This plaza is just north of the Chicago River, by the Tribune Tower, and it had a smattering of art pieces on display when we spent the afternoon and evening there for the July 4th holiday.

Looking at Things at Millennium Park

I am intrigued by how our eye functions vis-a-vis the lens:  When we look at things, we may focus our vision.  So by the hot dog stand at Millennium Park, I see The Bean standout in my view.  By the outdoor art pieces nearby, I see what may be Roman columns in the background and its unusual architecture relative to the modern city.  But my Samsung Galaxy Note has a dispassionate, mechanical eye, so its camera doesn't capture how well I saw The Bean and those columns.  That's a fundamental lesson in photography: We must school our eyes into seeing how a camera sees things, not how we ourselves see things.  Nonetheless for me the whole of it comprise my experience.  Lesson or no lesson, I love looking at things, reflecting on them, and wondering about them.