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Brosdee's view

November 05, 2008
7:34
What an Obama victory means to me
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As a black immigrant presently living in the United Kingdom at the stage of starting a family, the election of Barrack Obama is very emotional and significant to me. To me it means I can tell my children to look beyond Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela as a role model. These figures were great people who were confident enough in their skin colours to stand up and fight against the injustices thrown at them for being black. While that generation fought, we are at the receiving end of the fruit of their labour. Barrack Obama presidency signifies the start of a new generation. I can tell my children to see beyond their colour in achieving their dreams. While I'm not under any illusion that this is the end of racism, I will confidently teach my children to make the case for their education, promotions or aspirations without bitterness or anger. They can look at the son of a Kenyan as a man who did not make race an issue in his run for the most important office in the United States, and yet confident in his skin. There are too many black people who are still unnecessarily struggling with the prejudice of anger against slavery, colonisation, segregation and apartheid. To me, an Obama presidency signifies the triumph of a mentality which does not totally blame the white people for all the problems facing the black race. It is a victory over the idea of 'we against them'. Yesterday's landslide paves the way for a new beginning. An assurance that my children will be evaluated based on the content of their character and not on the colour of their skin or the weirdness of their name.
October 06, 2008
16:48
My Greek Experience I
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20 September, 2008

The day started very early. After a long day before, with crazy deadlines to meet it was very difficult for me to wake up that early. But I had to. I had volunteered chauffeuring three other colleagues to the airport in the rented car. So I got to the first address by 6.30am to pick my supervisor who was also going to the conference. We left Bristol around 7am after picking the last person. The drive to London Heathrow was not eventful (thank God it was not, because eventful could mean flat tyre or worse), we got to terminal 5 just few minutes before 9.

When we got to Athens in the afternoon, the weather wasn’t as cold as I had hoped. While waiting at the airport for the connecting flight to Skiathos, I had a bit of history lesson from my supervisor who was more than happy to answer my prodding questions on European politics and history. He took me through the 15^th century to the early 20^th century and concluded that war, coups, counter coups, corruption, dictatorship and even genocide had been part of Europe’s political experience. The flight to Skiathos was rather bumpy, partly because it was raining, but mainly because (in my opinion) the plane is an air ‘molue’. It was scary for me when it was landing that I was regretting that I didn’t say enough goodbye to my wife. But it did land well, and I live to die another day.

22 September, 2008

Today is the first day of the conference and I am relieved to find out that my English accent is far better than most of the delegate’s. 90% of the delegates speak English as a foreign language, and I salute their courage to present in a language that is different from their working language. I can’t imagine myself presenting in French. Disaster! The first day of the conference was rather laborious as there were so many papers on air pollution modelling and stuffs that ‘eficos’ (studious people) do. Boring. I struggled not to sleep and could not ask any question other than…please can you explain what your research is about? Since that sound stupid, I kept quiet and wonder what I am doing here, when I should be watching CNN.

The conference is a United Nations gathering of a sort, as it has people from every continent of the globe apart from Antarctica. There were so many things I now know as a result of meeting people at the conference. For example, I never knew there was a place called Baha California in Mexico (someone was from there), I never knew a Saudi Arab can wear jeans..........I met one, and if you have a first degree in Italy, you are referred to as Doctor (can you imagine). There were delegates from Japan, India, Australia, Portugal and Spain, and almost every other parts of Europe and then from Canada, no one from the Caribbean or other parts of Africa, apart from Egypt and South Africa. I feel sad about that, because it shows something I don’t like. While my other Nigerian colleague and I tried to flaunt our ‘Nigerianness’ with our accents and green passport, our badge says we are from a university in England.

However, I love the feel of the conference and the way everybody interact with each other. It shows how good it is to be an academic. Go to conference in an exotic Greek Island, listen to boring papers and bore everyone with yours, then intersperse that with drinks and good Greek food. What a life!
September 17, 2008
13:38
Decision and Partnership
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Our focus here will be to examine how we arrive at decisions and the process of affecting them through forming powerful and God ordained partnerships. These two principles i.e. qualitative decision making and divine partnerships have been in use since the Garden of Eden. For instance, before God began creation, He first made His mind up to do so. After meditating on the chaotic state of the earth, He arrived at the decision of putting things right. The principle of partnership is then seen at work in Genesis 2:18 when He said, 'It is not good that the man should be alone I will make him an helpmeet for him.' However, it should be noted that this principle of divine partnership is not limited to the husband-wife relationship. It encompasses all God-ordained relationships that are fulfilling the purpose of fruitfulness because for every right decision that we make, there are connecting people that God has ordained to help bring these resolutions to pass. These decisions are not just good ideas that man devised but refer to a man's resolve to execute God's counsel.

In order to successfully execute His counsel, individuals need to realise that there is more to God's counsel than just receiving the idea. People need to go a step further to inquire about the connecting persons that God has ordained for that particular project. Once these principles are followed, the multiplying effect rests on such an assignment and will make seemingly impossible tasks possible.

With a full understanding of these principles, Jesus paired the disciples before sending them out. The principle of partnership was utilised to it's fullest in the process. The precision with which God selects people for various projects in our lives can be clearly seen from the example of Paul and Barnabas. In Acts 13:2, the Scriptures say, 'As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, 'separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.' It must be noted here that the Holy Spirit was very specific about the individuals that He required for the task at hand. The effect of this precision contributed to the great power that was found in the joint ministry of these two apostles. Likewise in our individual lives, specific sets of people are required for different tasks that God has apportioned for us. We need to ask Him to direct us to them (and them to us) in order to fulfil His plan and purpose and the results He has ordained. (Proverbs 3:6)
From Poju Oyemade © 2007 www.insightsforliving.org
September 15, 2008
10:52
Is the lipstick wearing off?
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The democrat's opposition researchers are earning their wages. Is this the beginning of dim light on Sarah Palin, or do we expect her to shine more for few weeks? By far, this is the most interesting American election I have ever followed (not that I have followed much, apart from Gore-Bush). However, for Sarah Palin, these are nest of times. Either way (whether McCain loses or win), she wins. She has been shot into the national limelight and will always be the republican darling girl in 2012 if McCain loses now. Then she can campaign on 'change', and paint President Obama as 'more of the same'. However, if McCain wins, Vice President Palin, will be more than experienced to be the number 1 in 2012 or 2016. I agree with this guy on what team Obama needs to do, in order to turn the tide. And the electoral map is not looking bad either.
Back here, the lipstick has worn off for PM Brown, and some of his hair dressers are calling for a challenge. It's rather interesting to see that the majority of the 'back benchers' calling for the leadership challenge in the labour party are women. While I personally think that there are more than meets the eye on this i.e. there are some male 'frontbenchers' kicking the ball, we cannot deny that this is what some people have termed stiletto revolution. Maybe the next decade is for the women. Maybe our children won't see women leadership in the world's top countries as a strange thing. Maybe the future G8 summits will have leaders (mothers) carrying toddlers around, there will be sufficient breaks to allow madam presidents and prime ministers feed their babies. I wonder the implication of that. But it will be interesting to see.
September 14, 2008
9:28
Long time, no hear..........even me
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I haven't been checking my blog. I'm quite sure my fan base is close to nothing. Apology to those who have been checking for the last few months. Snowed under. I have been enthralled by the US election, and it's needless to say where my loyalty lies now. However, how number has been going down since the arrival of the new girl on the block. She was misunderestimated (to use dub'ya's word) and now she is eating our numbers. I was initially fretting over this, thinking this will be a repeat of 2000, that Alaska will be Obama's Florida........not comparatively, but in a way. She was sending a lot of liberals to their cardiologists until I read this. Then it makes sense to me that Karl Rove may be a genius but David Plouffe rules ok! And this is the year that the tide is turning.
Howbeit, I'm experiencing a personal paradox when I consider this election. Shouldn't I be supporting Palin, since she is a bible-believing, tongue-speaking Christian like me? Should my African affinity to Obama trump the affinity I should have to a sister in Christ? I'm sure lots of Black Evangelicals in America will be thinking the same. However, I'm not voting anyway, so it doesn't really matter to me. I still support Obama. Sister Sarah can wait.
In the next few days I will be off to Greece, first to the Island of Skiathos, for a conference, then to Athens and then I'll be putting my feet up in another island close to Athens. What a life. It's a shame that iyawo won't be coming, and I really wish she could. Meanwhile, in order to resurrect my blog, I will posting pictures of my previous holidays in France and Italy so that the Greece pictures would be in order.
April 21, 2008
11:20
Writing papers and watching West Wing
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I'm getting busy again, writing papers, preparing for presentation and analysing questionnaires. I the midst of this, I keep the Obama vision alive, by watching the season 7 of The West Wing. Also, I have been saving towards the inauguration, should Obama win, and I’ll like to tell my grandchildren that I was among the folks that waved at his motorcade on his way to destiny.

Meanwhile, I'll like to leave you with this. It's about being Chris Okotie........

A NORMAL PERSON: People who live in glass houses should not throw stones.
Chris Okotie : Individuals who make their abodes in vitreous edifices would be advised to refrain from catapulting perilous projectiles.

************ ********* ********* ********* ********* *******

NORMAL PERSON : Twinkle, twinkle, little star
Chris Okotie : Scintillate, scintillate, asteroid minim.

************ ********* ********* ********* ********* *******

NORMAL PERSON : All that glitters is not gold.
Chris Okotie : All articles that coruscate with resplendence are not truly auriferous.
************ ********* ********* ********* ********* *******

NORMAL PERSON : Beggars are not choosers
Chris Okotie : Sorting on the part of mendicants must be interdicted.

************ ********* ********* ********* ********* *******

NORMAL PERSON : Dead men tell no tales
Chris Okotie : Male cadavers are incapable of rendering any testimony.

************ ********* ********* ********* ********* *******

NORMAL PERSON : Beginner's luck
Chris Okotie : Neophyte's serendipity.

************ ********* ********* ********* ********* *******

NORMAL PERSON : A rolling stone gathers no moss
Chris Okotie : A revolving lithic conglomerate accumulates no congeries of small, green, biophytic plant.

************ ********* ********* ********* ********* *******

NORMAL PERSON : Birds of a feather flock together
Chris Okotie : Members of an avian species of identical plumage tend to congregate.

************ ********* ********* ********* ********* *******

NORMAL PERSON : Beauty is only skin deep
Chris Okotie : Pulchritude possesses solely cutaneous profundity.

************ ********* ********* ********* ********* *******

NORMAL PERSON : Cleanliness is godliness
Chris Okotie : Freedom from incrustations of grime is contiguous to rectitude.

************ ********* ********* ********* ********* *********

NORMAL PERSON : There's no use crying over spilt milk
Chris Okotie : It is fruitless to become lachrymose of precipitately departed lactile fluid.

************ ********* ********* ********* ********* *******

NORMAL PERSON : You can't try to teach an old dog new tricks
Chris Okotie : It is fruitless to attempt to indoctrinate a superannuated canine with innovative maneuvers.

************ ********* ********* ********* ********* *******
NORMAL PERSON : Look before you leap
Chris Okotie : Surveillance should precede saltation.

************ ********* ********* ********* ********* *******
NORMAL PERSON : He who laughs last, laughs best
Chris Okotie : The person presenting the ultimate cachinnation possesses thereby the optimal cachinnation.

************ ********* ********* ********* ********* *******
NORMAL PERSON : All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
Chris Okotie : Exclusive dedication to necessitous chores without interludes of hedonistic diversion renders Jack a hebetudinous fellow.

************ ********* ********* ********* ********* *******
NORMAL PERSON : Where there's smoke, there's fire!
Chris Okotie : Where there are visible vapours having their provenance in ignited carbonaceous materials, there is conflagration
March 19, 2008
8:17
Obama's pastor in the thick of it
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There has been a lot of media flogging lately about what Rev Wright, Obama’s pastor said. I do not expect less in an election year. My father used to tell me that if you want to hear your family’s scandal, go into politics. Your opponent will fish out all the stones they can possibly haul at you. But I kind of like Obama’s response, he took it beyond the level of his distractors, and got a 40 minutes free media time to give a speech that has been compared in some quarters as a variant of ‘I have a dream’.

But one cannot deny media hypocrisy in this thing. It seems the press wants to be an important kingmaker for the next US president. They seem to exercise their influence at any given opportunity. Initially they were on Hillary, but when she accused them of double standard, they switched their blade on Obama. And they seem to be drawing some blood, from Louise Farrakhan to Tony Rezco, and now Rev. Wright. I kind of like the way this commentator put it here;

‘When Senator Obama's preacher thundered about racism and injustice Obama suffered smear-by-association. But when my late father -- Religious Right leader Francis Schaeffer -- denounced America and even called for the violent overthrow of the US government, he was invited to lunch with presidents Ford, Reagan and Bush, Sr’

What I smell here is a media confused about their role in an historic election. I wonder how history will judge them later……oh, I’ve forgotten that they are the ones that will write history through the documentaries, blogs and Wikipedia entries.
March 14, 2008
13:36
Radiopalmwine.com
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This is the best discovery I've made on the internet in recent time. This station has got everything you may be looking for as far as Nigerian music is concerned. You request for any music, by artiste or genre, and they play it. From Wura fadaka's sanmari adugbo to Victor Olaiya's omo pupaa. Nice site.
March 12, 2008
11:34
First African-American
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The state of New york is having its first African-American Governor, in a rather sad circumstance, howbeit, making a record. I wonder if this is a good omen for Barrack Obama.......
March 06, 2008
11:14
The Apprentice Africa
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I'm impressed with this. It shows a good part of Nigeria many mainstream western media ignore; organisation, structure and economic muscle. With Dangote's inclusion in the Forbes list, it shows they have started listening to us, rather carrying the pictures of hungry children with flies in their eyes, or machete carrying men.

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