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Originally published on Vijana FM | 22nd July 2012 On a recent album release by Nas called Life is Good , Anthony Hamilton sings “The world is an addiction / serving up a fix”. The track goes on to discuss the dangers of selling out in pursuit of irrational dreams; indeed, “you gain your life just to lose your soul”. Sometimes I wonder if Tanzania is losing her soul. Perhaps – as time passes – it is me growing more conscious, or media becoming more pervasive to drama. But it seems like this country is chasing grandeur that is alien to her history and at odds with what she needs today. Her history and her needs; what do these mean? For the purpose of this post, I am pointing to Tanzania’s historical pursuit to be an independent nation-state, free of international dues and reliance on help. I am also referring to her current state of affairs, mainly consisting of an inefficient system of education coupled with an unbalanced system of trade. There are a few example...

Sampling Nas feat. Mary J. Blige: Reach out.... [Verse 1 extracts] When you’re too hood to be in them Hollywood circles And you’re too rich to be in that hood that birthed you And you become better than legends you thought were the greatest And out grow women you love and thought you could stay with Life become clearer when you wipe down your mirror And leave notes around for yourself to remember... ...Nasty the nicest, I’m somewhat of a psychic Just one minute after it’s heard You all excited, you all repeat it So call me a genius, if you didn’t Now that I said it I force you to think it [Chorus extract] This kind of love is a once in a lifetime cruise Reach out and touch the love that I have for you... From Life is Good . Photo and lyrics credits go to KillerHiphop .

Information that is fed out needs feedback; that is, it needs to be fed right back with further information about whether the original stuff was relevant/useful/worthy. Otherwise there is no movement from the original source. And where there is no movement, how is change defined ?

A friend of mine pointed out something tonight that has loosely been on my mind lately: We look at, hear and feel life through a lot of screens and even more interfaces today, and increasingly we seem to rely on these very screens and interfaces to give us the whole picture. Doesn't this run the risk of shortening the experience of life itself? Is this even a risk at all? (Thanks, Ender.)

Not so long ago, I listed several binary oppositions ; the purpose was to remember them as having come up many times in my studies. Here's one more: Heros and Villians.  The other day at work (feels good to be back at home doing this thing called 'work') my coworkers were discussing the show Heros . It got me thinking about every hero I had come to admire in my life, from the fictional ones like Jerry , Liono and He-Man , to the real ones like Mother Theresa , Gandhi and Mandela . The list is pretty long, but what stood out is that these heros championed causes, fought obstacles and stood their ground... against other actors. In the case of Jerry, his opponent was Tom. For Liono it was any ally of Mumra, while for He-Man it was any ally of Skeletor. In real life, Mother Theresa fought poverty; Gandhi and Mandela both made substantial moves against inequality and injustice. Can there be hereos without villians? If so, what would justify their existence, knowled...