The Year That Was

The year of the Lord, Two Thousand and Eight has come and gone. And what a year it was! At the end of the year, I was ruminating on the happenings from the past 12 months-the good, the not-so-good and the downright tragedies. This was no spring season, 2008 came in with a roar and ended with a bang.

It came in with a roar when on the night of January 3rd 2008, the whole world sat up to take notice when the scrawny black guy from Chicago toppled the Democratic Dynasty and came in first in the Iowa Primaries, giving a speech that left the hair on everyone’s skin raised. It left with a bang with the exposure of the largest, longest-running Ponzi scheme that left us wondering about otherwise intelligent people-what were they thinking? Was it avarice or a touch of stupidity or both?

An elderly acquaintance of mine who also happened to be Nigerian reminded me during a casual conversation that it was a Leap Year. ‘Strange things happen in a Leap Year’ she said, ‘we will not see these things again for another four years’. Mmmm…folk wisdom, you may say but I took a good look at this woman and went back to my office scratching my head. Putting aside my religious stand on astrology for a second, I decided to think about the possibility of a connection between Leap Years and unexpected happenings. Could this really explain the unprecedented bad and the ugly seen in this extra-ordinary year?

A year that heralded the collapse of Capitalism as we’ve always known it leaving senior apostles and evangelists of the financial doctrine biting their tongues during congressional hearings on what went wrong. Global financial strangulations, free-falling stocks, dried-up pension funds, job losses, home foreclosures, premature deaths, and all the negativities that came in 2008? Surviving the year alive and in good health was a cause for celebration and gratitude to God. I wish I could agree with my colleague on the Leap Year theory but my faith tells me it took more than the alignment of the stars.

But what about the good? The election of a first generation American of African heritage as POTUS? True, there have been first-generation American Presidents of European descent but the election of the son of an African man in a country where a good number of people still think of Africa as a place where people live on trees makes you wonder about divine ordination. The Olympic Opening Ceremonies are always worth looking forward to every four years, but I feel a deep compassion for the United Kingdom, slated next to live up to the extra-ordinary, spectacular and unbelievable Beijing Opening Ceremonies. I wish them luck.


My favorite fixation in 2008? The introduction of PALINESE into the American lexicon. Palinese is defined as a mish-mash of incoherent words and thoughts that do not convey any particular message in response to specific questions. When delivered from a pretty face, your knee-jerk reaction is to;

a) leave your jaws wide open in disbelief for 5 minutes at the risk of Temporo-mandibular dysfunction;

b)pinch yourself to check if you are in real time and space or

c) merely shake your head and close your eyes.

On the other hand, if you are from the opposing camp, you ogle at the combination of gorgeous beauty and determined grit and ignore that there was no substance in what you just heard. Whatever be the case, if only for the ability to consistently deliver these contrasting reactions, methinks the Wasilla Wonder Woman (W3) deserved to be TIME magazine’s 2008 Person of the Year. The Democrats must have felt upon her introduction to the world in August 2008, that Santa had come early. Between the fixation on Palinese and the economic catastrophe, the lucky winds shifted their way en-masse.

So long 2008! We welcome President Barack Hussein Obama and wish him all the best as he begins the hard work of actualizing his campaign promise of CHANGE. We underestimated him as being up to the task prior to his historic Iowa Primary win in January 2008. With the brilliant team he has put together, we will not underestimate him again. GO BARACK GO!!!

By MaryAnn Yonkers (buduebo@post.harvard.edu)

An Obama Win and the Black Man

I can not even begin to imagine the joy that people who have lived through segregation here and apartheid in south Africa must be going through to see a black man attain the highest political office world.

My heart goes out to them and I salute the courage of everyone who has ever stood up to segregation, racism and apartheid. Most black people are celebrating Obama's victory and everybody is talking about the change it will bring. But I keep asking myself, does this mean racism will stop? will I no longer experience overt or covert racism and stereotyping as a person of color? The answer is no.

Tomorrow, a white (or even a black) woman somewhere in the world will still cross the road when she is alone on a street and sees a black man walking towards her. Tomorrow someone is still going to be stopped and searched simply because of his color. Tomorrow someone will miss a great opportunity simply because of his color.So i ask what does Obama's win mean for the blacks?

Having thought deeply, I think it means those who have never dared to dream can dare to dream. It means u can wake up today and say; “I can fulfill my destiny no matter what my circumstances are".

To my thinking, this win means for the black person is Hope and a renewed commitment to your personal goals and vision. The change that we hope that this win will bring can only be achieved by us as individuals.

Do you have a vision or a purpose? if yes, begin to walk towards it with renewed strength knowing that circumstances cannot limit you. If no, now is the time to start dreamingwhatever your dreams are, keep on walking towards it. God helping you, you will get there.I salute President-elect Obama for daring to hope.

by Yemi Ayeni

Soda Machine

Life is like a Soda Machine. One day it's there offering multiple brands and tastes with the added luxury of ICE; the next day its OUT OF ORDER.

Life is Gamble

Back then in high school, certain individuals would always come out victorious on the chess board. I spent good time observing the trend but unfortunately did not develop an interest in the game. I just could not decipher the concept of two individuals racking their brains for hours over an imaginary medieval war.

The postulation from my consistent observation was that the winners or "check mate experts" were not necessarily the most brilliant guy's in class, but the smartest. How? the winners were often the group of guy's who never spent time in class and whose names were never called as the top five on exam results or routing tests.

Contrary to this, the other party would be the guy whose head would literally be smoking in class. The guy who would spend time in unknown zones. The guy whose name would always feature on the top 5 list. Then someday, some guy comes in from out of the blues and takes over the board.

look my friends (borrowed line), Life comes with all kinds of scenarios. There are those who are faced with certain opportunities, grab the chance and succeed over and over again. Then comes another group who always have greater chances, grab them and falter consistently even in the eye's of positive mathematical projections.

This may sound absurd but it does seem that life is a gamble and if it is; you just have to keep at it even though it seems to falter recurrently. Some of this situations are checks and balances for the future. You grab an opportunity, you take it up and try. Sometimes the fall is so hard that it really leads to a chain of catastrophe's but never give up.

Look at it this way, if millions of individuals had given up after trying, there would be no Las Vegas, Atlantic City or the great Atlantis. Last line: be smarter than intelligent. A combination of the two would even be better. So my friends, life is a gamble. You rather stay in and keep trying because one day will be yours or you pull up the hand brake and give up.

Any experiences? Post and share on comments.

Overloaded USA

This is USA. It gets overloaded from time to time and eventually sheds its "feathers"...Housing, Finance, Oil, Politics....

opinions welcomed.

Extreme Paranoia

I certainly hope that we all take a moment to reflect on how much the world has changed in just a short time. There is always the good side of change, the bad, the scary and the unsure. I will take you through a realistic scenario which would give you the opportunity to probably reflect some more.

At 35,000 ft above sea level, a glance through the windows of the pressurized cabin brings some memory to your sub conscious mind or at least makes you marvel at the experience. To keep the time ticking and keep your mind distracted from the pressures of life especially on long distance flights, lots of unique scenarios come to mind.

One of these is the constant call and choice of Cabernet, Merlot, straight up Johnny Walker or fruit juices as the case may be. Others choose flipping through tons of megabytes of stored movies; that is if you are lucky to be on one of those tech A340's or B777's.

What I find really unique is the "boardroom Meetings" at the AFT-rear of the plane where passengers decide to hang out after exercising their human rights in the toilets. Between 3-5 hours into a transatlantic flight is always the fun time and right time to hear all the economic gossips and other hilarious comments by passengers some of whom might be embarking on journeys to the unknown.

The Air hostesses sometimes join in on the gist session and are always on hand to lend a Cabernet or a micro bottle of Bailey's and some other condiment's. The interesting aspect of these gatherings is that brand new friends and business contacts are consummated.

Well folks, I am sorry to announce that all that fun has now become a federal offence especially on flights to and from the USA. I guess its just another example of extreme paranoia. The sad announcement came through the speakers on one of my recent flights. We were advised not to gather at the rear of the plane for any reason other than waiting to use the toilet(bathroom). Such are the times we live in.

We leave in a world full of fear. It feels like freedom has become an element of diction and not a human right. There are thousands of CCTV's everywhere you go. Wire taps, text taps, toothbrush taps and all other taps just makes you wonder what the world has turned into. Your comments will be appreciated.

What If

What if Eskimo's suddenly found themselves in the Sahara Dessert? if Lions found themselves in posh homes as pets? if electric power stayed on uninterrupted for 2 weeks in Victoria Island? if a drive along the Sagamu Benin expressway was devoid of a single pot hole?

What if motorists in Nigeria suddenly found themselves with a choice of bio diesel, Flex Fuels, mid and super grade of fuel at the gas pump? if the Naira to the dollar became 1:1 again?

The world we live in today is highly complex. As at 2005, real estate investors in the United States had no clue that trouble was brewing. As at 2006, the great American Dream was fulfilled by numerous tax payers. Working class citizens and their families were proud to be at home, in their own houses watching the NFL, NASCAR or NBA as a family unit.

It's 2008. Suddenly, the same home is boarded up. The breadwinner is out of job. The family unit crumbles. What if the real estate market remained the same as 2004? Great institutions have crumbled. Fannie Mae, Indymac and so many billion dollar companies; Insurance giants AIG??

Look guys, I do not know what they tell you but it a disastrous situation that surpasses the impact of Katrina, Ike, twin towers, the tour bus crash in Texas and the train crash in California. This is the Great Mortgage Meltdown.

What if the real estate guy's never showed you a house to buy? what if your apartment complex management dangled great incentives at you? what if the lenders never gave you those enticing ARMS or payment schemes or interest only payments?

What if the suitcase carrying mortgage brokers never invited the public to those weekend forums at posh hotels with free coffee and snacks which they used as avenues to enlighten dreamers about the gains of home ownership? what if they did not use examples of people who made 1000% profit in a few months?

Guess what? its possible for lions to live as pets, for Eskimo's to adapt to the Sahara and for electric power to stay on uninterrupted in Victoria Island Lagos for 2 weeks.