Mixed Signals
by Ed I saw something that really amused me today. Some lady walking around with…
The Evolution of Law
When Andrew Mbugua decided to embrace his inner self and change his name to Audrey Mbugua, she was faced with societal pressure and almost rejection. She, however, is a case of bravery and determination to conquer societal barriers and follow her reality. The topic of transgender is regarded as taboo on this side of the equator and people would rather ignore its existence than have a discussion on the same. It has often been confused with homosexuality. The law in Kenya is mum about transgender people and their rights. The law has no direct laws relating to people of this sexual orientation and therefore borrows from other jurisdictions as both persuasive and binding precedents. South Africa, being one of the countries of Africa with the most advanced and liberal laws, has made provisions for transgender people and the constitutional court of South Africa decided upon such a case in 2010. One of the most prominent transgender issues cases of our times is the Lydia Foy case in Ireland. Lydia Foy a transgender woman filed a petition in March 1993 to have her birth certificate and national identity documents changed to conform to her female gender. After years of fruitless correspondence, she began legal proceedings in 1997, represented by Free Legal Advice Centers (FLAC). In 2002, the High Court delivered a ruling against her. Two days after that, the European Court of Human Rights held that the UK had violated the rights of two transgender women who had also been refused birth certificates. The law in the UK was the same as the law in Ireland but the UK quickly amended it following the ECHR judgments. Society is changing at a rate that the making of laws cannot keep up. However, it is of paramount importance that the laws are adapted to cater for all the changing times.
Rules of Friendship
by Shee The bro code, everyone pretty much knows what it entails or at least part of it. Bro’s before whores, that other rule about boys not shagging their bro’s sister (brother in Christ, obviously not blood brother as that would make the girl your sister but that’s self-explanatory). I’m not sure if the latter falls in the bro-code but I’m very sure bro’s before hoes does. I’ve been trying to understand how a girl would think getting it on with two brothers would turn one brother against the other and make them fight for her love. Maybe if you’re Katherine from Vampire Diaries and the two brothers are Damon and Stephan but even then the brothers still locked her inside a cave for years, correct me if I’m wrong but you get the drill. Some time back a friend told me of an experience that he had. Apparently, this girl, let’s call her Katherine, had something going on with my friend Stephan. They’d agreed on being friends with benefits. It was cool for both of them for some time until Katherine got word that Stephan had similar deals with two other girls that she knew. You see she had gotten feelings for Stephan over time with all the ‘fun’ they were having so she confronted Stephan but he didn’t feel the same. For him, it was just sex. Being the wise girl that she obviously was (pun intended); she saw it fit to revenge by sleeping with Stephan’s brother Damon. She got Damon’s number from Stephan’s phone (whom she was still having fun with) and started chatting him up. This is where the code comes in; Damon, as Stephan’s brother had a duty, yes a duty to tell Stephan that the girlfriend (read whore for the purpose of the story) was chatting him up, which he did and they agreed to let the vibe flow. After a few days, Katherine had shagged with Damon as well. There is no need to say how badly this ended for Katherine but I will say it. It ended badly for her, not only did Stephan not end the friendship with the other two girls he also didn’t show any remorse. I believe this would have been different if Stephan loved the girl Katherine. If they had dated for years and Damon knew her as the brother’s girl and still shagged her. Stephan would definitely have been hurt. However, it would still end really badly for Katherine, in both cases, she would get really messed up. This brings me back to my initial thought, ‘What would make a girl think that she could shag two brothers and get away with it?’ Thou shall not seduce, or accept seduction of any form be it a wink, a long hug, a smile, or even an overextended laugh to a stupid joke from your friend’s boyfriend, ex-boyfriend, potential boyfriend, and crush. That exists in my girl code but sadly it’s not a universal rule. I’ve heard of stories where women run away with their sister’s husband, where a girl would sleep with the friend’s boyfriend and the friend would do exactly the same thing to her. It makes me envy men so much. If I could, I would invent a girl code with as many rules as I can think of. There would be a court where any woman who breaks any rule on the girl code would be sentenced and ooh would the punishments be tough. If I were the judge I would demand that women respect each other. I think we girls ‘need each other but we are too competitive to see this. I can’t enforce the girl code on every woman on earth, but if you’re my friend there are rules to be followed and I do have a strict girl code.
Mixed Signals
by Ed I saw something that really amused me today. Some lady walking around with slippers, I mean, crocs. She had on a white dress with some variation of polka dots and her face had actual polka dot pimples. haha. Back to the slippers. Sorry, crocs. It’s a muddy Easter Monday morning (probably because it had rained hahaha), and this woman is wading like we’re down at Malindi or something. What’s with women and impractical shoes? To impress who? Guys? Are you talking about this guy who is wearing the lone pair of Timberland boots he bought with the refunded caution money after high school? Him? I am positive your advances (even sexual ones) won’t be turned down because you are in comfortable shoes! Fine, fine I admit ladies (most of them) can pass to look good in those earth-mutilating high heels. I get it; you are embracing your womanhood by wearing those handkerchiefs that cost double the ‘curtains’ the Akorino wear. Look at the music videos, Snoop is just chilling as he raps wearing a fur coat made at least from ten Dalmatian dogs but the fifteen or so ladies around him are clad in strings shaking ‘what their mama gave them’. Such women shouldn’t be offended by being objectified. It should even be illegal for such to ‘catch feelings’ for being objectified as a sex tool. Go to a lounge or a club or even a bar. I am sure you won’t miss the sound of a slap interrupting the band at the front followed by a raving mad lady who looks six feet tall but is actually 4 feet 5” storming out the exit. All that’s left of the scene is a sad young man rubbing his assaulted cheek with his shirt wet with whatever the madam was drinking. On further inquiry, the guy had asked her if he would buy her a drink and maybe later go back to his place. “You jerk!” WHAM! Right across his face. “What do you take me for? Mscheeeeew” I would take the liberty to answer that question in my head for the jamaa; “Am sorry I thought you were a whore. Your thighs were screaming at me from the other end of the counter but now I realize my mistake. I should have considered that you might be a nice girl and probably stepped on your hem and that lovely red dress ripped evenly in half.” It’s my observation that women like to be looked at and feel desired. Some kind of twisted genetic attention disorder. It is God’s way of creating employment. Think about it, all the beauty creams, salons, shoe companies, bag manufacturers, fashion designers, and almost the entire modeling industry is based on them! I make sense right? Right? My original premise was that ladies should wear practical clothes that don’t send weird signals to the brothers. Save the leather pants and the one-foot-long weapons that you purport to be shoes for the bedroom. Dress for you, not for anybody else. ed.
Metamorphosis
by Anthony Kitema Remember what we used to be taught in primary school in science class about the life cycle of insects and grasshoppers? These insects for instance butterflies went through four stages to become an adult. It was so simple; eggs, larvae, pupa, and adult! Now, on campus, this seems to be exactly the same. In the first year, people are like tiny eggs just incubating and getting used to the different environment before they hatch. Naivety, unexposed, innocent, conservative, fearful the list is endless. But some mature faster than others. They get used to the many cars in Nairobi and quite a number stop to stare at the cars and run whilst crossing the roads or wait to cross with others for unknown fear of vehicles. They later identify with the city most cases in the last semester of the first year, they try to modify their wardrobe but you can presume they still have a problem not to mention the funny hairstyles the ladies who came with from shags have and their recognizable interesting way of walking, it’s not running or jumping just something between the two and the men suit swagger nayo with sports shoes and motorcyclist shades with kind of shining rainbow colors when the sun’s rays reflect on them as they endeavor to look cool. Others are still saved. Amen. They are really negative about campus life, due to prior knowledge from their local pastors and clan men who told them stories about the University-which they never went to one. The second stage is interesting. The larvae phase. In insects during this stage, the larvae are very active eating a lot as they prepare to move to the dormant stage of inactivation as they await adulthood. Here, students have discovered what the world has to offer and realized everything is at their disposal. Don’t confuse it with the exposure it is an explosion! The men now know how to drink alcohol and to buy nice pair of jeans and cheap mutumba shirts which makes them more confident to engage in the social settings with the city people. The ladies think they have invented the Ngara market. They buy all the cheap dresses and try to look like city girls. At least, they can now go to the salon put on weaves, coloured ones, and assume to be more advanced than their friends from the rural who plait their hair. They also discover saying Hi! And you will hear a lot of that from them. They start forming an English accent and struggle to hide their rural deep roots and begin having weird names like Stacey-Jay, Ashley-Jane, and Beyonce and no longer call themselves their real African names which they are called from the village. This initiates them to the Utopia world where nothing should worry them and cuts them off from the real world. They party, travel, get into relationships with older men and women, and engage in sex as if the doctor prescribed it for them. They both begin to abuse drugs and nothing seems to stop them. Some saved ones now also see the light of the world and forget about the world. They backslide and even become experts in these deviant behaviours. Class attendance is reduced to a quarter but during exams, you remember some innocent-looking faces from the first year now covered with lots of tiredness from hangovers and sleepless nights. Guys now have rugged hair, and red eyes but still trying to look cool. The ladies with too much makeup and more sophisticated dressing and humongous handbags and now new gadgets. Finally, the adult stage has come. It is time to reap what you sow; the three fun-filled years are now over. They never thought of networking and looking for any job opportunities. Most do not know what they want to do. Rush hour is here. Panic encroaches. The now classy-looking ladies and swagger-filled guys run around looking for contacts they never had. Just to get that job in fear of returning to the upcountry. The guys then realize they only own the 3.1 hoofer and clothes; even utensils were shared because we are comrades. The ladies cannot return home with the fridge, cooker, or microwave maybe they do not have electricity back home and parents would question their origin. Just like the insect that has grown into adulthood and must now fend for itself in the world, it’s time to start a new life for these comrades too.
Getting back lost time
by Beatrice Gatwiri An understanding of life sometimes comes through death, it strikes once and the consequences are grave, it strikes twice, in the same family, and it becomes dire. At the tender age of ten, David lost both his parents. His father passed away when he was only three years old. He left behind his massive wealth which his brothers divided amongst themselves. Penniless, David’s mother was forced to move back to Kitui and live with her parents. Life became harder for his mother who was expectant at her husband’s death. She delivered and now had two children to care for after David was taken away by her in-laws to live in Nairobi. She visited him once in Nairobi and left him 500 hundred shillings, which was a lot of money back then. That was the last time he saw her. In the year 2003, when he was in class five, his uncle told him his mother had passed away due to stomach complications. Looking back, David can’t help but feel his mother deserved better, “She died in the house, with no money to take her to the hospital.” With the news of his mother’s demise, David became a quiet child as it dawned on him that he was now an orphan. He did not attend the burial of his mother and to date has not seen her grave. David did well in primary school and got an opportunity to study at St Mary’s Yala in Nyanza. He graduated in 2010 with a B+. In that December holiday after the examinations, his sister came looking for him “She called and told me she was my older sister and wanted to come and visit me” The meeting was awkward for both of them. David had so many questions but did not know how to ask them. “The first meeting was weird, but we are closer since.” David has only talked to his younger sister once, on the phone, but hopes to develop a relationship with her as well. David and his sisters were separated by time, but their resolve to even this out is what puts them ahead, “What’s in life for my sisters and I is a personal journey that we are currently on. All I can say is, tomorrow has never looked brighter, for there is an understanding to life”
Kenya Film Industry
By Samuel Luchemo Since the 1950s Kenya has produced films such as “Men Against the Sun” which was one of the successes of Kenya’s film industry shot in Hollywood. During this time, Kenya was not able to produce many films since the cost of producing was quite high and thus was dependent on International filmmakers to produce for them. By the year 2000, there was hope in the film industry whereby the Kenya Film Commission was established by the Kenyan government in 2005, as it also gave birth to the Kalasha Awards for filmmakers. However, (KFC) came into full function in mid-2006 and due to its vast growth in supporting local production, movies such as Kibera Kid 2010, and Nairobi Half-Life 2012 came to be known globally through prestigious awards recognition such as Oscars, Academy Awards, and International Film festivals among others. However, as much as the Kenya Film Commission is doing its best to support local talent, there is still an issue of finances in that the industry is not well funded. Due to the high rate of corruption in the country, we find that most actors are poorly paid and that is why they cannot march up with their Nigerian counterparts who are well supported and in good financial positions. Moreover, there are many film directors/ producers who are not following the law, in that they hold hidden Auditions which only favour specific known actors instead of fishing for new talent out there, they go ahead to call prominent TV actors. This type of choice is clearly seen in “MTV SHUGA”, and MALI in NTV among others. The mode of casting in Kenya denies many actors a chance to showcase their versatile talents. If this trend continues it will put the entertainment industry in jeopardy since there is no introduction of new ideas or concepts. Therefore, the joy of having a low cost of production will seem to be of no use since it’s the same old faces that are frequently seen on Television. The good news is that with the development of counties e.g. Machakos county under Francis Mutua, has held conferences with International Film investors, encouraging them to invest in the Konza City since he has set aside 50 Acres of land for film production, and with the lowest cost of film equipment it will make it easier for them to consider the offer. Therefore, better days are foreseen in the Kenyan film industry.
