the writing nib

Tag: internet

  • Hi again.

    Hi again.

    It’s been a while! All those memes about university life destroying your mental and physical well-being are true!

    I’ve been writing all kinds of things in the last two months: academic papers, social media posts and angry texts trying to educate people on why the n-word still has power today because of the continued oppression of black people (big sigh).

    Still, I have a couple (thousands, if not millions) of sentences that my keyboard is begging me to type (was this even funny? Haha). Recently, I’ve come across all kinds of journalism on the internet and on paper. I’ve been doing some research on magazines and article writing because I had to write and edit a couple in the last two months. A group of other Tanzanian youth and I having been working on a digital magazine that’s scheduled to come out this June! Head over to our website, Instagram , Facebook and Twitter pages for updates and whatnot. I’m really excited about this because it has been my long-time dream to see authentic written journalism from Tanzania (apart from traditional news journalism on newspapers); something educational and inspiring, yet entertaining. Although I am on the writing end in this case, I have had the most amazing experience and I hope whoever reads it enjoys every word and image.

    What I’ve learnt is that there are so many stories to tell and many different ways to tell them: writing, videography, photography and illustration, to name a few. I’ve been inspired by different photographers and travel bloggers, the likes of Natalie Basha (@thetravelmuse) who does journalism “with a beat in travel and human interest”. Head over to her YouTube channel to see her amazing work. Whenever I think of my dream of becoming a journalist, I think of it in the same way; traveling in order to learn and share what I come across with in other cultures. The world is full of very many untold stories. Platforms like WordPress and YouTube allow us to experience these stories either visually or using our imagination. I hope my words spark your imagination from time to time.

    It has been eye-opening to see how people from all around the world tell stories through photography, videography, writing 😉 and what kinds of stories they choose to tell. It feels great to be a part of the amazing fabric of journalism. The future is exciting (and uncertain, but I kinda like it that way haha). It’s like opening the big pink furry box from RuPaul’s Drag Race =D.

  • Long Live the Boybands

    It was probably you or your annoying 13-year-old cousin sister who had just gotten her first smartphone. Sometimes it was basically everyone on the internet. The sound of boy bands equaled high-pitched screams and gags. Though there are many, it is important to acknowledge the impact of one important boy band of this decade; One Direction.

    One Direction came at a perfect time in my life. I was 15 and, of course, mostly depressed because I was single and sad about nearly everything including the fact that I hadn’t had my glo up yet. Actually, at that time I didn’t believe I would ever have a glo up. Everything was just complicated on that August evening when for the first time ever I saw what came to define the next 5 years of my life: One Direction in the London 2012 Olympic closing ceremony. They sang What Makes You Beautiful and I immediately fell in love with the song that I had it on repeat for two days straight.

    It sounds like some cheesy fangirl story about how I became part of, quoting Urban Dictionary, “the MEANEST, Deadliest, Scariest and Creepiest fandom in History” that is widely known as Directioners.

    Like every other preteen and teen girl, I was going through a time when I needed to have assurance that my pain is worth the struggle. I considered What Makes You Beautiful my song and that the boys meant every lyric they sang in it. For many Directioners, we loved the boys because they filled the void left by our nonexistent boyfriends, best friends or sometimes just people who care for us and are not afraid to show it.

    For haters, it’s hard to accept the fact that One Direction and many other boy bands will always be in many girls’ hearts. Even though they (One Directions) are officially not disbanded, they remain part of a special era. An era before some of the boys that came into our lives came and took away whatever light that One Direction lit in us through their music. Today, when a Directioner is heartbroken she goes all the way back to Up All Night, their very first album. This way trying to understand all the good things about herself she knew before. Good things that were erased from her mind with every horrible experience she had.

    For old times sake, to shed a tear or two, One Direction Mashup – DJ Earworm

    And just for laughs Boy Brand – 1D, NSYNC, Jonas Brothers, Backstreet Parody