Is it English, Spanish, French or German? Perhaps Italian, Portuguese or Danish? These are all languages of the colonists; people who left their own lands in search of wealth and power, conquest and extraction. Once the colonists had taken what was given and, when that was not enough, removed by brute-force, gold, diamonds, bauxite, lithium, … Continue reading Whose language?
What’s in a name?
Source: UN News. Kumbukumbu Ya Historia Ya Watumwa - A slavery memorial in Stone Town, Zanzibar, United Republic of Tanzania James, the title of this month’s read at the Panafro Book Club created much discussion, critique, and questioning both to each other and deeply inwards. More than twenty of us sat around a large table at the back of a … Continue reading What’s in a name?
Is this real?
Image taken 24 February 2026. I took this photograph a few days ago on a walk close to where I live. A lone tree surrounded by life; woods, fields, wild animals, a few humans and an abundance of life, both above and below ground. I wondered if the tree still lived or if it had … Continue reading Is this real?
Who is watching you?
This cat lurks around our house. It does not belong to anyone but it is around us all. It prowls behind the mound of earth at the back of our yard towards the dark woods, watching and waiting. Sometimes it bravely looks into our house, past the large window and then into our home, watching … Continue reading Who is watching you?
I am grateful for …
the bird with the pale-butter underbelly and dark wide wings that flies overhead, dipping and soaring above my home freshly roasted peanuts, still warm and ready to be shelled, that remind me of my father and our ritual on Saturday afternoons, the empty coffee jar waiting to be filled for my mother’s delight the opportunity … Continue reading I am grateful for …
How can our memories create optimistic futures?
Some more reading material – author’s collection As a young black woman in North London in the 1970s, the present looked bleak. The ‘SUS laws’, dating back to the Vagrancy Act of 1824, were in force. Black and other minority groups were stopped, searched and arrested on the suspicion of loitering, or on the assumption of … Continue reading How can our memories create optimistic futures?
What’s in a Prize?
Author’s photo, September 2025: Picasso’s Guernica - Reina Sofia Museum - Madrid I was hoping that the Nobel Foundation would decide not to award the Peace Prize this year but rather look deep into their souls, putting their list of names aside, and be courageous enough to honour the principle of Alfred Nobel in 1901; “for the … Continue reading What’s in a Prize?
What happens when we press ‘pause’?
It is hard to stop the flow of information that mimics truth but has no history, no back story, only a present. The visual and emotional stimuli all around us leave little space and time for our minds to think about what is happening outside of ourselves and within. Time for internal dialogue, connection and … Continue reading What happens when we press ‘pause’?
Whose Truth?
Author's photograph, Jaime's 1920 Underwood typewriter Everyone has dreams and everyone has a story. A wise Rwandan father would tell his children as they went to sleep; “At the end of the day, everyone has a story.” But most stories will never be heard. They are not written in books, nor shared in literary circles. … Continue reading Whose Truth?
What do we do with our souls?
All That You Have Is Your Soul Song by Tracy Chapman 1989 Oh my mama told me 'Cause she say she learned the hard way Say she want to spare the children She say don't give or sell your soul away 'Cause all that you have is your soul Don't be tempted by the shiny apple Don't you eat of a … Continue reading What do we do with our souls?
Patricia Angoy 