I have, during this period of being part of #Writing 101, seen some amazing writers and come across lovely thinkers in this course.
Oddly, for someone who’s not a programmer or computer geek of any kind, I was drawn most to the following two blogs, both of which are by computer programmers: GeekErgoSum and Anand’s Parodies & Caricatures.
It was surprising to me when GeekErgoSum chose one of my (least inspired) posts as one of the blogs he randomly chose to highlight — surprising and flattering, because I had been planning to highlight his post (which I came across only yesterday): Travelogue: Cruising Round the Med.
To give you a taste of his light-hearted style and skill with rhymes and half-rhymes (which I find highly appealing), here’s a little stanza from the poem he wrote on the topic:
To set sail we left the port,
On the island of Majorc..
..a, no time to wave to a farmer,
As we left from sunny Palma.
(Are you hurting yet? The English language is).
And I laughed uproariously over his (hilariously written) post about the Day 16 prompt about searching our stats for a post idea.
The other programmer with a secret blogger alter-ego is Anand, and his “quirky, snarky malarkey” is brilliantly funny. He parodies his family, his culture, himself and renders everyone in a comical, but not cruel, manner. I love his work. Check it out, but here’s a small taste to whet your appetite:
If we were having coffee right now…I’d tell you that I’m stretched to my limit and stretching me any further would break me into two. This of course will make mom and wifey very happy, because they’ll get their own halves to keep and smother with their love and affection. And yet, I foresee problems if the two halves weren’t exactly equal. The calipers and rulers are ready, I suppose, hidden behind their backs.
If we were having coffee right now…I’d tell you that my cousin has made an earth-shattering announcement. She’s going to marry a South-Indian boy.
Bua Ji (My dad’s sister) called us up last night and told us about it in hushed tones. “You know something. Honey ik South Indian munde de chakkar mein phanns gayi.” (“Honey has fallen prey to a South Indian Boy.”)
You may have surmised it already, but I’d like to clarify, especially for my international readers, This particular Honey is my Uncle’s daughter, and Honey is proper-type Punjabi name for girls. Bua ji wasn’t talking about her hubby dearest, who is straight as a ruler and has never fallen for any boy, South Indian or otherwise, ever.
There are others whose blogs I enjoy, because their personalities are revealed, and their goodness, and because they are out doing creative and good things in the world.
One of these is the Ria, whose site is Kokobookro. I just discovered her blog (how did I miss all these good people in this course? There’s so little time to read everyone!) — she has some lovely posts, and little thoughts and sayings, such as this:
Love first,
not on condition of what will be,
as the whole journey is a necessity.
Love first,
it requires bravery, exposes you naturally,
but has always been the key.
Love first – ria
A blogger with whose work I’m slowly becoming more acquainted, and which I am enjoying is Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha at http://acookingpotandtwistedtales.com. Jacqueline has a lovely sense of place and self, and her descriptions in this recent post relating to the map of our Muse in Writing 101 are very evocative:
Let us wander a bit down the red earth beaten path of this charming campus of academics which my parents were part of. I am doubtful if our GPS would work, but I can follow my nose because it knows …
The bungalows are only separated by well kept Cashuarina hedges, Queen of the night flowers, Purple Hibiscus, Honeysuckle plants or Bougainvilleas. The whistle of the swaying whistling pines pierces through the air frequently. It is also a breezy and cool town …
It is a town that reminds me of mango trees heavy laden with fat juicy fruits, of sweet sticky cashew fruits, of the best bananas this side of the planet, of lazy summers spent with friends, of the cold harmattan seasons when red dust curled up in the air painting us in light earthy dust and we glittered like happy urchins.
Another writer I have recently come across in this course is Tracey Rains. Tracey is, like I was until recently, a teacher of the English language in a public school. She has brilliant posts, wonderfully creative expressive turns of phrase, and an appreciation of the beauty of language. The following is from one of her posts, which is in a somewhat more serious vein, but full of wisdom and thoughtfulness:
As a teacher, unfortunately, I see children on a daily basis who were the result of a fanatical need to pass down DNA, thoughtlessly fulfill a societal imperative to reproduce, certain that they didn’t need to think about this prodigious responsibility. They did not give the same amount of forethought to their decision to bring children into their lives. It’s a classic Catch 22 situation. Those who truly consider the awe-inspiring commitment that having children truly may be those least likely to have them, their doubt helping them to understand what is required to be effective parents. I’m certainly not saying everyone who chose to become parents did so without thought. Obviously, many people are wonderful, nurturing parents; their children are happy and loved. Unfortunately, I see far too many cases of fools rushing in where angels fear to tread.
I couldn’t agree more with ALL of what Ms. Rains said above. My husband and I have thought the same, almost in the exact same way all through our married life. However, despite that, we went ahead, and decided to have our child at a much later age than most. We’re thrilled with our ten-year old daughter, who is a truly beautiful spirit, but we understand those who wish to remain childless in this complex and complicated world.
As a teacher, I am attracted to other teachers. I discovered another gem in this class: Leannenz, who is a teacher from New Zealand who now teaches in Japan. Her posts are lovely, detailed, informative, thoughtful, beautifully written. Please check out her work. Here’s an excerpt from one of her posts:
I have to admit now, in my late 40’s, my skin care regime is better than in my 20’s, that is to say I have the semi-semblance of one and I do think about my weight and how to get it down and then maintain it at a healthy level. That is a work in progress. However this is not a “Dorian Gray” scream for attention or an effort to be “Benjamin Button” rather it is an effort to stay healthy so I can enjoy and look forward to all the wonderful things life will have to offer me on my journey.
Aging is a fact of life, it doesn’t scare me. I find it quite intriguing. The grey hairs are beginning to appear. I am not that keen to hide them with dye. I am kind of interested to see if I will go that kind of “salt and pepper” and then one day realise my hair is white like my dad’s.
So, there it is — my Day 19 assignment: A tribute to fellow-bloggers in this course. Hope you enjoyed checking out their work!
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Note: I have some other favorite people in this course, with whom I’ve had entire post-post conversations on my blog or theirs, and many of whom I’ve not mentioned, alas, to my regret. I tried to make this a more varied group of people from different parts of the world, and heeded the recommendation in The Art of the Roundup to keep things “tight” — to quote the post, “ten links or fewer (and five are better).”
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