Thursday, July 17, 2008

Managing and Living with Tension


I am author Joseph R. Alila. In a number of my novels, there are moments and periods of tension: between husbands and their wives; between widows and their in-laws; between religious beliefs; between children and their parents; between changing cultures. Those heroes and heroins in these novels, who live to see a better tomorrow, are those who manage to live above tension by realising that tension is caused by, and is between, two or more parties; that the very act of one party refusing to negatively promote the tension, by reaching across and promoting positive dialogue instead, is enough to diffuse the tension. These individuals, also realized that tension denies them the energy and emotional health to function as normal human beings.
Why don't we resolve to turn our backs on situations that can promote tension. For those in polygamous relationships, this will be adaily effort. But those of us in monogomous marriages are not safe from the constant wind of negative emotions: we still have to contend with that mother-in-law whose dinners are compulsory weekly affairs; there is that woman in Church whom you imagine to be dressing for you or your husband, and whose every word must be analyzed with the help of a thesaurus; there is your neighbor, who in innocence, packs his Next-Year Lexus infront of your old GM Blazer during these trying economic times, and whom you believe to be doing that so as to fuel the tension between you and your wife.
I could cite more situations in our lives that do promote tension, and which we have a choice as human beings to recoil from.
Can we make "tension diffusion" our daily goals in life, can't we? Don't we have our Holy Scriptures, Consellors, and Devotional Authors.
JR Alila

Tuesday, July 15, 2008


You Mr/Ms Prejudized Out There:


Are you struggling with the soul-snapping-and-draining Sin of Prejudice? Are hate and prejudice lowering your productivity at work?

Is your mental, spiritual and physical health going down the drain because of private guilt against spouse, child, friend, anybody, or self?

If your answer is yes, know that You are Not Alone. You need help. Reading "essential literature" (Like the Bible for me as a Christian) and face-to-face counsel can help.

Writing letters, stories, . . . too can help.

I have found myself healthier, emotionally, spiritually and socially by writing books that examine the inner lives and private journeys of individuals within societies, both modern and historical.
Since embarking on my current literary journey, I have found it easier to empathize with other people's situations without appearing to demean them.

JR Alila
Author:


-"SUNSET ON POLYGAMY,"

-"WHISPER TO MY ACHING HEART,"

-"SINS OF OUR HEARTS"

-"THE MILAYI CURSE"

Saturday, July 5, 2008

Thomas Joseph (TJ) Mboya: Anniversary

July 5th is the late TJ Mboya's 39th anniversary. That is the day he died (in 1969) at the hands of a gunman known as Nashon Isaac Njenga Njoroge. Students of history, and the recent upsurge in new revelations about his death are attached below for any of you, who occossionaly stray into my e-hut.
http://www.eastandard.net/news/?id=1143989571&cid=4
http://www.eastandard.net/news/?id=1143989575&cid=4


You may also sample these verses from "RATENG' AND BRIDE.* TJ was popularly called, Rateng', by his contemporaries, but he is not the RATENG' in my epic poem. For the young among us, you want to know that this native son of Rusinga Island---a seed of Ramogi Ajwang' (Ramogi ka Podho son of the great Ramogi)---was a GO-GETTER.
In this regard, TJ is remembered for the great Mboya Airlifts (educational) that saw the arrival of many sons of Kenya at the shores of the Americas, as the late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga was doing the same in the Soviet Block. Two sons of Ramogi, polarized by an ideaologically polarized world of the 1950s and 1960s, yet able to bring the kill home for their nation, Kenya! The Shield, the Spear, the Cock and the Axe (all four are requisite in starting a Luo home) in "Kenya's Court of Arms" are a testimony to Ramogi's footprints and Wisdom in Kenya's political journey.
Rateng TJ is my inspiration---only I can't do even a millionth of what he did!


Rateng',
This genie-of-a-woman
Has wooed and killed
Each and every one
of our brothers
She ever danced with:


AK Joremo—
the best legal mind
Of his generation—
Fell on her chest after a brief
but romantic affair—
AK fell to an irate, rival’s barb.


TJ JaRusinga,
Was then the best dancer
On the floor—a dancer
with a golden tongue,
A fast pair of feet
And a sharp mind;
TJ was a dancer with
An unmatchable speed
On his feet
On any dance floor—
TJ Fell to a jealous rival’s
Arrow of passion.


Rateng’,
TJ fell to a jealous rival’s
arrow of passion,
As he flirted, chatted
and danced to a slow Rumba
with the woman.


Rateng’,
TJ fell in broad daylight—
Like a common-street thief—
He fell, the bride’s
freshly-minted ring
Still in his pocket.


* Source: RATENG' AND BRIDE (a poem) pp 19&20)----NEW
Author: Joseph R. Alila
Published by CreateSpace
www.createspace.com/3346481

Thursday, July 3, 2008

NEW BOOK RELEASE

BOOK RELEASE
RATENG" AND BRIDE (A Poem)
ISBN: 143-825109-2 ; EAN-13: 978-143-825109-7
Author: Joseph R. Alila
Published by CreateSpace An Amozon.com Company
(http://www.createspace.com/)


Within the next month, and in remeberance of the events that have redefined Kenya in recent times, and remeberance our heroes (dead or alive) who have shaped Kenya's democratic space, I intend to bring to my readership the epic poem "RATENG' AND BRIDE published by CreateSpace an amazon.com company (http://www.createspace.com/ ). Here is the synopsis.

SYNOPSIS:
In the epic poem, "RATENG’ AND BRIDE," (ISBN: 143-825109-2 ; EAN-13: 978-143-825109-7,) poet Joseph R Alila (Author of such novels as "Whisper to My Aching Heart" and Sunset on Polygamy") pleads with his hero (Rateng’) to abandon a lifelong ambition of reigning in a killer, illusive Bride, and redeeming his honor and his people’s collective pride.
Of Rateng’s illusive Bride—call her Power, Leadership or The Presidency—Alila reminds his hero of her corrupting, material allure and deadly charms. Like a gem, a Powerful Presidency corrupts everybody it touches, and its corrupting effects linger like the nauseating smell of a scared skunk.
Employing rich imagery and proverbs, and never shy to go Luo vernacular with proverbs, in "RATENG’ AND BRIDE," Alila has played his satirical hand, again, and demonstrated his knowledge of the political landscape of Kenya—only here, he walks with the reader into, and out of, a more recent, and more deadly, political match between two powerful suitors (Rateng’ and Milo) over one Bride, with one biased Referee in the ring, and their adversarial supporters fighting ringside.
In the second poem, "Fellow Kenyan," Alila talks to Kenya’s most-recent electoral crisis and warns every Kenyan of the dangers of losing their country to ethnic rivalries and hatred; and being exploited by a powerful cabal of elites to fight the latter’s wars over power. In a final mournful appeal, Alila sings of the need for Kenyans to reconcile their differences because there is only one Mother Kenya, and she must not be allowed to go to the manipulative crows of Nairobi.