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21/01/2021
Arnolfini: 1961 - 2021: Coming celebrations!
January 21: My Special Day
January 21 was my father’s birthday.
Just so close to mine.
I always wonder who thinks of him apart from my mum and I.
He left the earth almost on the same day in 2009. And since, January 21 has become like my own birthday. He hoped I would wait to get born on that day, my mum told me. But of course, I’m stubborn 😂
And Aquarius season begins on that day.
It’s supposed to be symbolic of novelty and revolution.
Anyway, it’s just my special day...
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Song of the moment:
'Supersymmetry'
But it's not the same as being alive
I know you're living in my mind
But it's not the same as being alive
Supersymmetry
Then I guess we'll have to fight
If telling the truth is not polite
Then I guess we'll have to fight
Supersymmetry
Supersymmetry
Supersymmetry
Reading books better than memories
Wanna feel the seasons passing
Wanna feel the spring
Of Supersymmetry
Supersymmetry
Supersmmetry
14/01/2021
Uganda Decides
NB. To Bristolians: I'll be on Ujima Radio 98fm on Monday morning (18/01/21) around 8/9am to talk about Uganda and the recent election, with he lovely Pommy Harmar.
Tune in!
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13/01/2021
What do humanitarian crises mean in a world where people would rather just play games?
January 13. Here we go, a new report sheds light on an issue I've had on the back of my mind for years... Ever since I started studying journalism.
Yesterday (Tuesday 12), the NGO Care International published a report showing that the launch of PlayStation 5 gaming platform received 26 times more news attention than 10 humanitarian crises combined in 2020.
Having worked on crisis response for so many years, in the news or as a communication person for NGOs/UN organisations, over the years, most of the time, I couldn't get even my best friends to pay attention to humanitarian crises. This "turning-a-blind-eye" attitude can now be measured...
The Charity Care International says the media is failing countries by underreporting humanitarian emergencies, with women suffering most. And how could we disagree?
The humanitarian crises include violence in Guatemala, hunger in Madagascar and natural disasters in Papua New Guinea. They were all largely swept aside by news of Covid-19, global Black Lives Matter protests and the US election of course. More clickbait-friendly events such as the Eurovision song contest and Kanye West’s bid for the US presidency received 10 times more online news attention than the humanitarian crises in question, according to the report.
In November, I wrote an opinion piece on the dominance of the United States in the news:
https://westenglandbylines.co.uk/the-british-press-is-obsessed-with-the-american-elections/
A nation that this week has proved could not be taken as a world leader or an example for democracy worldwide. So when will journalists finally accept to reform their priorities and finally open up to the rest of the world?
In 2019, after my book on Bristol’s culture and rebel spirit came out, I started drafting an essay to highlight a few key points on these issues, having worked in world news since 2005, for different broadcasters including the BBC World Service in Africa.
But, not to my surprise, most publishers and agents I got in touch with declined even considering supporting my work let alone publishing it. Now that I teach journalism at the University of the West of England, I want to try again to open that discussion. I want my students to know about the Ugandan election of tomorrow (Thursday 14 January): https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-55573581
I want them to at least to hear about it, or just to get to know the country exists… While they have heard about the US election all day every day for months, including via the British press.
Through my work, I try to highlight how the relations between the Western World and the rest of the world are evolving. Over the years, I have been based in London, Paris, Prague, Miami, Nairobi and Central Africa, mostly as a freelance journalist, paying for most of my travels. I managed to go to Haiti, South Africa, Uganda, Turkey, Iraq. All to report on under-reported stories. I worked with a filmmaker on a project on colonial history, and its consequences in our days (details here: https://deadline.com/2020/02/raoul-peck-exterminate-all-the-brutes-josh-hartnett-hbo-1202862295/). I write about African, European, Middle Eastern and Caribbean Artists. I still follow African elections from England.
Now that travels have become dangerous if not banned, I’m gathering a collection of lessons in journalism and in politics that I learned by being a reporter for 15 years over four continents.
Can our media change? Well, they will have to! The media are the reflectors of world events that people use to connect with different places and people, and to make decisions as citizens. In a world every day more global it is sick to continue to deny over 200 countries any form of media attention at all.
10/01/2021
'England'
PJ Harvey - England
Through England
It leaves a sadness
Remedies never were within my reach
I cannot go on as I am
Withered vine reaching from the country
That I love
England
You leave a taste
A bitter one
I have searched for your springs
But people, they stagnate with time
Like water, like air
To you, England, I cling
Undaunted, never failing love for you
England
06/01/2021
Winter News // Letter: Welcome, 21!
Many thanks!melissa-
04/01/2021
21!
There we are, past the threshold of a new year.
Best wishes to you all!
I don't want to be too optimistic but 21 has been my lucky number for quite some time... It comes to me in the lucky places, as a calling or a reminder of happier times, as a sign some force is watching over me... It's hard to explain. But it resonates with, let's put it this way.
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I haven't written much here in December, it was a terribly tiring month my end, up until the 20th, when the border between the United (or more, like, dis-uniting?) Kingdom and France was closed. I had to cancel my plans to travel "home", if it is ever a home to me ever, not that I feel this way...
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Since the 21st of December, day of the Winter Solstice, a pause has begun. And I still live in this bubble of alone time, completed through walks with friends, filled with books and films about books!
The latest have involved some stories from Jane Austen, Charles Dickens and the Brontë Sisters, books by Elif Shafak and Don Miguel Ruiz.
Here is one:
Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society:
The story a London writer who survived WWII, unlike her parents, and becomes obsessed with a new stories when she starts corresponding with a man from the island of Guernsey. Despite the success of her recent release, she decides to write about the island's secret Book Club formed during the occupation of Guernsey by the Nazis.
Trailer:
Anecdote: the harbour scenes have been filmed in Bristol, "my" city...
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Another great story about how books change outlives:
The Invisible Woman
Ralph Feinnes was the director and star of The Invisible Woman, with Felicity Jones as a co-star.
Here they tell The Guardian how Charles Dickens's affair with Ellen Ternan inspired the writing -€“ and why they don't view this relationship, between an older man and a teenager, as predatory:
It was "infatuation that became a huge love", Fiennes explained, despite the age and power imbalance. A love that totally transformed both of the characters and most probably inspired Dickens' strength and understanding for the writing of his novel Great Expectations.
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Thanks for these comforting stories.
TBC...
17/12/2020
A Quarantini with...
Podcast Episode 28: Last of 2020!
A Quarantini with... Marjorie Hache
What has it been like to go through the last year and be in lockdown in Paris? Or Scotland!? And what has it been like for the music industry?
In this episode we talk to Majorie Hache, a Scottish/French music journalist who tells us all about it.
ALSO - we've chosen one of our favourite pieces of music from the year - one which marks the lockdowns we have and are going through - it's called 'Gotta Be Patient' and it's by Stay Homas, a group of musicians in Barcelona who wrote songs every week, performed on their balcony.
PLUS - we bring you our usual round up of positive responses to the virus from around the world....
Music:
Hot Flu, Seb Gutiez, The Old Bones Collective - opening music
Hosts: Melissa Chemam and Pommy Harmar
Producer: Pommy Harmar
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To listen:
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link:
https://the-quarantini.captivate.fm/episode/a-quarantini-with-marjorie-hache
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we also have a bonus episode to come... in French!
Thanks for listening and stay tuned!
15/12/2020
Feature: On 'Locating Strongwoman' - A Collection Of Poems
Latest feature article: for the wonderful website I AM History, supporting African and Black artists:
Tolu Agbelusi: On Locating Strongwoman - A Collection Of Poems
By Melissa Chemam
“I am all the things I give myself permission to be,” poet, performer and educator
Tolu Agbelusi told me, toward the end of our Zoom conversation about her beautiful
poetry debut, Locating Strongwoman. The book is an attempt at defining oneself as
a woman, beyond stereotypes and with incredible authenticity. “All my life, I was
always in the margins,” she added, I always felt in between, I couldn’t be pigeon-
holed by anyone and I don’t need to be.” An experience that her poem ‘What Exactly
Do You Want To Know’ addresses.
Born in Nigeria, raised in Britain from 14 years old, trained as a lawyer in France,
Tolu also lived in the Caribbean and in Angola and is now based in London. “I’ve
often felt like people put others in boxes and in my case it was not to include me,
as a Black woman for instance, but to exclude me.” She was even told that she
wasn’t African enough after some live shows. Yet these experiences only helped
her to define who she wanted to be.
Growing up in Nigeria, her mother was an English teacher, so Tolu was always
exposed to books. And poetry became a way for her to cultivate her inner world,
especially when they moved to England and she was preparing for her A Levels.
“Then I used to write as a way to escape. I created a personal world not to be
discovered by anyone. For my A Level in French, I chose to study a poem on
‘negritude’ by Aimé Césaire: it had a huge impact on me. So had books like
Daughters of Africa by Margaret Busby and poems by Maya Angelou.”
She started studying English at university and was writing so much that at 21 years
old, she did her first poetry performance, at Poetry in Motion in London. Then she
left for Paris to pursue a law degree and started working. “Poetry found me again when I was unemployed and depressed. Soon, I thought it was more than just a
hobby and I started to take much more time to write but also to read like a writer.
It became a necessity for me: the more I did it, the more I felt good at it.” It also
became a means to empower herself and others. “Language is power,” Tolu said,
“I now teach poetry too and use performance as a tool to express myself.”
Her poems also address a lot of taboos, and Tolu does feel that – whether in
England, France or Nigeria – certain conversations are very difficult to have,
about identity, femininity and togetherness, because some people are not expecting
her to speak about race, gender or relationships as freely as she does. “I definitely
had to break a few doors down. I spent a lot of nights going to poetry events,
waiting for flyers about the next events, dragging my friends who didn’t even like
poetry for support. And after many open mic events, people started to ask me to
come again. But of course, I still face barriers, in bigger events, in certain
institutions. That’s also why I created my own events, the Home Sessions.”
The poems that we find in Locating Strongwoman were created over all these years
of writing and performing, plunging into her emotional self. “I’m a storyteller,”
Tolu added. “Some of these stories are my stories; others are inspired by people I
know or read about, but together they form a character that I am, sometimes
powerful, other times not that strong, but all these emotions are true.” She
beautifully addresses motherhood, family links, love but also consent, pain and silence. The poem ‘How It Begins’ was for instance inspired by her experience in
French Guiana, during a sexual assault. “They all reflect different levels of strength,
Tolu reflected. “There are the multiple versions of me, because no one is ever one
thing only.” And her whole book beautifully illustrates this experience, as I’m sure
many readers - like myself - will delightfully find out.