text:
Algorithms and the New Wave of Kenyan Music6 min read.
The songs don't have the best beats out there, the artists don't have makeup or extensive wardrobes nor do the video vixens necessarily appeal to the beauty ideal. They're just normal people, who are easily relatable. Plus, the meme is the message, as researchers ODIPODEV explore.
If you are a Kenyan with some form of regular access to the Internet, chances are that you've heard the chant "Wamlambez!" and the equally loud response "Wamnyonyez!". This now-ubiquitous chant is derived from a hit song by a group of five high-spirited youngsters called Sailors.
The music industry in Kenya right now seems to be caught in a philosophical daze about what this new wave of music means to Kenyan culture and musical evolution. Ezekiel Mutua, CEO of the Kenya Film and Classification Board this week forbade the song "Wamlambez", as well as the song "Tetema" by Tanzanian musicians Diamond Platnumz and Rayvanny, outside of clubs and bars. It is unclear whether this move is in his mandate, a man who is perceived to frequently overstep his boundaries and bestrides Kenya's entertainment scene as a kind of moral policeman.
It is also unclear whether this forbidding is indeed enforceable, seeing that so much popular music is accessed on personal smartphones. In any case, Kenyan clubs and airwaves have been taken over by a new organic sound and we are all paying attention. Music is very much an anthropological tool, and we see these eccentric hits as a window into culture; more specifically how the music industry in Kenya is changing and how the making of hit songs is being reorganized, both from an artist and audience perspective.
How the Internet has changed audience composition
Despite Internet penetration growing rapidly in Kenya in the early 2010s, it was still not yet a viable platform for mainstream musical success. This is partly because the audience that was considered to be the "mainstream" wasn't yet accessing the Internet as regularly or as easily. The demographic that was accessing the Internet at this point was the educated, middle to high-income earner and there still existed a lot of privilege for Internet access. As such, we believe a large number of Internet successes around reflected the tastes of this privileged group.
However, at around the halfway point of the decade, smartphone penetration reached a tipping point and Internet access became highly democratized. And herein began the true unspoken shift in power. The beauty of the Internet and the algorithms that operate it, mean that the demand side of the equation has a great influence on what surfaces to the top of search results.
One just needs to take a look at how much YouTube's Kenya home page has changed over the years. The collective action of the majority tends to push certain pieces of content to the top, hence the word "trending". As more and more of the mainstream audience began to access the Internet, they changed the entire fabric of what was popular or trending based on their own interests. It is in the midst of all this change that new genres like this so-called 'Odi pop' have emerged. The new sound has a very grassroots feel to it that is resonant with a large majority of Kenyans, especially the youth.
The medium is the message
One of the most common sayings in media theory is "The medium is the message". The basic idea behind this theory is that the medium through which we consume a specific piece of content affects how we receive the message that is presented to us. The medium is the message, the content is only incidental. The evolution of the media landscape in Kenya has definitely affected the Kenyan message across various realms and music is no exception.
Before the advent of the Internet, mainstream media acted as a gatekeeper comprising traditional media owners and editors of radio and TV stations. This small group created all sorts of creative restrictions as to what the audience would and wouldn't consume. The standard of what was considered acceptable for public consumption was sieved through the lens of these gatekeepers.
For music, this meant that certain genres or lyrics of a certain kind were promoted, while others were frowned upon. With the Internet however, music now has a chance to develop freely with no interference from the corporate or politicized media interests. As a result, this allows for very high depth and width of musical styles to come to the fore. It also means that what becomes a hit can end up being something very different from what we are used to seeing in the mainstream.
If you go down the rabbit hole that is YouTube's recommendation engine based on Odi pop, an interesting trend begins to emerge. You get a front seat to a certain type of raw authenticity that brings out the real context of the lived experiences Kenyan urban youth. You get to witness a different perception of aspiration, lifestyles, hair and dressing from what you would expect from the mainstream media. Typically, most of these songs and their videos would never make it to radio or TV.
However, when we look at how audiences consume media on the Internet and especially social media and YouTube, it is often the case that grimy production of this kind of music has more appeal than the glitzy, overproduced nature of mainstream TV and radio content, music videos in particular. The amateur aesthetic is definitely important to content creation on the web. The songs don't have the best beats out there, the artists don't have makeup or extensive wardrobes nor do the video vixens necessarily appeal to the beauty ideal. They are just normal people, who are easily relatable, and this might be one of the reasons why a lot of these songs are raking in tons of views online. The fact that YouTube is the main medium from which this music has arisen has completely changed the way the message we're getting is delivered.
The second part of the how the medium has affected this message is something that comes to mind specifically when you observe the two current champions of this sound, the groups Sailors and Ethic. The fact that the rise of the Internet in Kenya has been driven by the smartphone has meant that the power of publishing is not just with the creator but with the creator's audience as well. Every single person today who consumes content online also has the potential to create something new from the content they've just consumed. In the case of 'Odi pop', the songs seem to come with a long tail of user-generated content for the artist's audiences to snack on – that is, commentary, reactions, reviews or simply clipping highlights from the content piece, created by the audience themselves.
The technical term for this kind of audience member is the 'prosumer', and they are redefining the dynamics of how we think about popular culture. Their preferred tool of choice is the meme. Memes have been instrumental to the success and accessibility of this genre of music, and have spiked its visibility on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Songs like "Wamlambez" can be consumed multiple times a day outside the context of the full song itself. The meme has become a democratized art form that Kenyans in many ways (as with all art) have used to collectively express their traumas and interpret their culture. However, unlike almost everything else in entertainment, they are rarely made for the purpose of making money; they are simply here to make us laugh. They are an authentic intervention in our consumption of culture and we use them to evoke powerful shared moments of our collective cultural identity.
Songs have a way of capturing the national imagination, reaching moments where you almost can't seem to escape the song with it playing everywhere and being sang by everyone. Something similar happens on the Internet when things go viral – seeming to follow no rhyme or reason, people are compelled to like, share, retweet or participate in things online. In the case of Sailors, Ethic, the Boondocks Gang, Ochungulo Family, Zzero Sufuri, and the rest, the manner in which their songs have captured the national imagination is telling of how much the audience has changed. The songs are a different kind of entertainment product. They rely on the contagious nature of humor on the Internet and the sense of belonging that challenges such as the #wamlambezchallenge provides. This in many ways is evident when you look at the mentions for the term "Wamlambez" on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Odi pop in some ways isn't about the mastery of sound, it is a feel good type of music that also pays attention to the intimate ways in which we cultivate communities online. In short, we are enjoying music together in a different way, and our position in the food chain of media has changed. Again, the medium has fundamentally reorganized the way we receive this message. The way songs become hits in Kenya has changed and so has the relationship between the artist and the audience.
Still, the Internet also presents a new set of challenges, particularly with regards to issues of copyright, as Ethic came up against when their song "Figa" was pulled off YouTube and Apple Music for copyright infringement of the beats sampled in their song. The main issue here has to do with sample clearance for beats in Kenya. It is entirely possible that Ethic may have bought the beats for the song without knowledge that the beat was sampling someone else and hence infringing on their copyright.
As Kenyans begin to use more and more global music platforms to try and reach audiences, there will probably be lot more sample clearance issues popping up. Copyright enforcement becomes more and more of a global issue so you can get caught literally anywhere.
Previously Kenyans could get away with such issues, as enforcement was close to impossible when the songs were confined to analogue TV and radio. Who in the US would ever find out that one had a random Diana Ross sample in your song in Kenya?But the digital age means that local producers are not going to be able to do this anymore; the song's virality on the Internet means that they will effectively run into copyright issues.
In short, the success of the song and the way it travels ends up snitching on you. In this way, the medium is influencing the way hit music is being made because originality of the sound is going to be paramount in how the song becomes a hit, unless artists can afford to pay for the sample.
Papa Shirandula: The Footballer-Turned-Thespian Who Became a Cultural Icon
Shirandula gently managed to almost single-handedly give voice, representation, and nuance to the talented, pragmatic, modest, blue-collar masculine sub-archetypes that work in the shadows of capital and its structures.
When Charles Bukeko attended Jogoo Road Primary School in the 1970s, it was a bastion of sporting, athletic and academic prowess in an era when the emerging Eastlands urban spaces were orderly, neat, well-tended, and provided a quality environment In which to live.
Bukeko lived in Lumumba Estate, the council estate where many civil servants lived in the 1970s and 80s, and where he developed a love for football above all else.
To be fair though, the football frenzy of the seventies had a psychological grip on the national psyche, and provided the safety valve for a nation that was still reeling from the political mistakes of the mid-to-late 60s. The Abaluhya Football Club (AFC), in particular, enjoyed a winning streak year-on-year despite the cancellation of the 1971 national league halfway into the season.
The national team, Harambee Stars, had qualified for the Nations Cup finals in 1972 and at the City Stadium, Gor Sirkal had secured a big win in 1975. At the same time Kenneth Matiba had become the Kenya Football Federation chairman. The likes of the double-foot dribbling wizard Chege Ouma, the all-rounder Jackson Aluko, and maestro Livingstone Madegwa were harassing African soccer giants Cameroon, Mali, and Togo in their qualifiers group, and setting new precedents in Kenyan football.
It was inevitable then that, Papa, who had schooled just down the road from the then Jogoo Road Stadium (now City Stadium), would give football a shot, just like many youths from Mbotela, Maringo Estate, Lumumba, Jericho and along Jogoo Road. "I'm an ardent fan of AFC Leopards. My dad took me to the field to watch AFC Leopards when I was 4 years old," Bukeko once remarked. This love for football, a legacy from his father, would grow through the decades and he became an ardent fan of the local leagues, while throwing his support behind clubs like Sofapaka and AFC Leopards.
Bukeko was born in Buhalarire in the central Marachi region of Mumias, in Kakamega. The eldest son of Valeria Makokha and Cosmas Wafula, Bukeko first lived in Lumumba Estate before he was transferred to Mumias School, as an unsuccessful last-ditch effort by his parents to dissuade him from focusing too much on football. He still went on to play central midfield for Mumias FC in Kakamega, Nzoia FC and Pan Paper FC in Webuye, and for Congo boys in Mombasa. It's during his stint at the coast that he earned the name Champezi, a transliteration of champion, given to him by former president Moi's political kingpin at the coast, the late Shariff Nassir.
Bukeko eventually hang his boots and exchanged the sea and football for a life back in Nairobi, moving to a house in Uhuru Estate next to Kisimenti Building, and right around the corner from where he grew up in Lumumba Estate. Neighbours describe him as an affable man who took over the estate's security affairs in the 1990s as crime rates rose in tandem with the negative economic impact of the Structural Adjustment Programmes of the early 90s. Together with his wife Beatrice Ebbie Andega, Bukeko had three children – Anthony, born in 2006, Charlie in 2007 and Wendy in 2009. He was also man of quiet faith, an ardent teacher of the scriptures and a church leader.
Bukeko stumbled onto the stage by sheer fate when working as a halls custodian at the University of Nairobi; the set of a theatre play that his friend was staging, fell apart, the actors bailed out and Bukeko stepped in and saved the day. That act in the late 1990s marked his first appearance at the Kenya National Theatre and sparked a flame that became a burning ambition. His friend Patrick Kanyeki recalls Bukeko's laser-focused, borderline obsessive approach to acting; Papa would write his own scripts, master and rehearse his lines and start his morning trek into the city so that he would arrive at the KNT early in the day.
And so, long before he became Papa Shirandula, Charles Bukeko had established a name for himself at the Kenya National Theatre, working in the late 1990s and early 2000s alongside the likes of David Kinyua, Ben Kivuitu, Fred Muriithi, Patrick Kanyeki and Peter Mudamba, under Pambazuka Productions. He later moved to the French Cultural Centre to work alongside such emerging young talents as Nice Githinji and Shiko Mburu.
Bukeko's first big break came when he acted in playwright JPR Ochieng' Odero's The Film Doesn't Film, earning Sh30,000 for a minor role at a time when cast members regularly took home Sh300 at the day's end.
The veteran ecologist and thespian Ochieng' Odero would become Bukeko's first director before he moved on to the Phoenix Theatre and met producer Ian Mbugua, the man who introduced him to the legendary Scottish ex-serviceman and sailor-turned-thespian, James Falkland. Falkland, had just founded Phoenix Theatre with his partner Debonnaire. Bukeko spent the next three years at the Phoenix working with Falkland and his friends James Ward and Kenneth Mason. It was also around this time that he started putting together his own shows under Mbalamwezi Productions in collaboration with producer Peter Mudamba.
Faces for TV
Enter the celebrated filmmaker Bob Nyanja of Cinematic Solutions who had been a literature undergraduate at the University of Nairobi when Bukeko was employed there as a Halls custodian. Bob had returned from South Carolina with a Master of Fine Arts in film in the late 90s ready to transition Kenya's stuttering creative arts onto the screens.
Nyanja first featured Bukeko as a night guard in the 2007 film Malooned! in which Peter Ndambuki aka Churchill played the role of a street urchin. "We walked all over town looking for a guard's uniform that would fit Papa", Nyanja remarked in a tribute to Bukeko. Bob Nyanja was also the muscle behind the massive TV comedy hit Redykulass.
It was during the opening of Malooned! at the Junction Mall that Royal Media Services director Wachira Waruru proposed the idea of expanding the role of the guard into a television series. Bukeko, sensing the opportunity to do something remarkable, wrote the first scripts of what went on to become this hugely successful show, and Papa Shirandula was born.
There was a visionary zeal to try out new programming for local audiences in the mid-2000s pioneered by Wachira Waruru, Bob Nyanja, Catherine Wamuyu and a band of local directors, filmmakers and producers. This risk-taking paid off and released a tide of relatable content that beat back the dominance of foreign soap operas.
For Bukeko, Papa Shirandula was the culmination of nearly 12 years of stage productions at the Kenya National Theatre, Braeburn Theatre, Phoenix Theatre, and dozens of screen productions. When asked about his big breaks Papa remarked, "My breakout role was when I was cast as Herod for the play, Nativity at the Braeburn Theatre".
The name Shirandula is made up of the Wanga word khurandula which loosely translates as tenacity. It's clear why Bukeko would go for that moniker given his own personality. The name's resonance with the public also spoke to his impressive ability to transform seemingly mundane acts and phrases into social currency.
As a thespian, Bukeko embodied a dogged determination and constantly decried the youth's desire for quick success. While he often spoke about the urban youth's predicaments, he also didn't shy away from criticising their impatience and the effect it had on their young budding careers. As a testament of his belief in the youth, Bukeko, now Shirandula, was the first guest at the Churchill Show set up by his contemporary Peter Ndambuki to show-case emerging talent.
His own show, Papa Shirandula, fed into the emerging classist posture of Kenya's viewership at a point where Mexican soaps like La Mujer De Lorenzo, Cuando Seas Mia, the South African TV series Reflections, and Asian acts like Kyunki and Kahaani had dominated the screens. By the early to mid-2000s, the Vioja Mahakamani, Vitimbi, Sokomoko and Tausi had long been edged out, while the Boomba Train youth culture of the early 2000s, was demanding for a yet-to-be figured out screenplays.
At the outset, Papa Shirandula's viewership was limited to its blue-collar origins and brand but soon developed crosscutting audience appeal, partly because of Bukeko's performance where his persona and his alter-ego blended deeply as both fed off each other. On screen, Bukeko would give way to Papa Shirandula, this security guard who had three wives and a white girlfriend and who manages to hide his true profession from them all. Bukeko seamlessly morphed into Papa Shirandula, a burly guard in a red uniform; an impostor who sustained his double life as a patriarch, polygamist, elder, doting father, and scheming character across a series that ran for 13 years.
As Kazungu Matano (Captain Otoyo) recalls, outside his inner circles, Papa's weight was a sensitive topic and something he privately admitted to struggling with and, indeed, the 1990s build of an athletic man had changed drastically as the years progressed.
In South Africa, Papa was well known through the viral Vodacom ad in which he played the role of a dictator, evoking the role of Joseph Olita, the man from K'ogelo who had played Amin in The Rise and Fall of Idi Amin (1981). The ad is hilarious, comical and very relatable across the continent, a feat only matched by his signature Brrrrrr! moment in the 2007 global Coca Cola advert. Papa went on to feature in the internationally acclaimed Fernando Meirelles book-to-film adaptation, The Constant Gardener (2005), in Malooned! (2007), and in The Captain of Nakara (2012).
The Cultural Phenomenon
In losing Shirandula we have lost something more than a thespian of great prowess and an industry trailblazer. He also mainstreamed a kind of Kenyan blue-collar masculinity which previously had little representation in our popular imagination, where the preacher and the politician are the epitome of masculinity. Out of these two flow all the sub-archetypes that dominate the public imagination of what it means to be a Kenyan man and, therefore, Shirandula's blue-collar, masculine sub-archetype rarely received the kind of visibility that a lot of other urban sub-archetypes in this country do.
And so, throughout the 80s and 90s, we see a masculinity where the man would comfortably live in the tea estates of Kericho, or Kaloleni—as Marjorie Oludhe chronicled in Coming To Birth —while his family lived on the land in Whisero, or Kanyadhiang. Guess who had done that decades earlier?
Bukeko played into the paradoxical stereotype of the Luhya man as a potbellied guard which fits a little too well with the all too familiar portrayal of Luhyas as dominating the private security sector, Kalenjins the police, Luos the handicrafts sector, Kikuyus trade, and Kambas as loyal civil servants and juniors to Asian bosses.
Ethnic stereotypes range from the funny to the downright disrespectful; a trope which papa had to fight as he exemplified the stigma associated with the job of a security guard. Shirandula gently managed to almost single-handedly give voice, representation, and nuance to the talented, pragmatic, modest, blue-collar masculine sub-archetypes that work in the shadows of capital and its structures. He explored the struggles of that type of man to fit in, the black tax that those men paid, and their complicated relationship with the Juma Andersons (his boss) of capitalist racketeering.
Papa made the careers of many along the way, famous of them all Felix Odiwuor (Jalango), his counterpart, Kazungu Matano (Otoyo), Papa's onscreen wife Jackie Nyaminde (Wilbroda), Daisy Odeko (Naliaka), William Juma (Juma Anderson), Jackie Vike (Awinja) and Kenneth Gichoya (Njoro), all of whom have also had significant success on radio, on YouTube, as MCs and as comedians.
So when the news of his demise reached the Kenyan newsrooms, a strong sense of loss engulfed the public, a rare occurrence in this age of post-humous flagellations. We haven't just lost Bukeko, we've lost Shirandula, the embodiment of the work ethic of the blue-collar worker, his tenuous relationship with the city—the tough underbelly of capital—and his struggle for dignity and identity.
In a country where the most dominant masculine sub-archetypes are inadvertently generated by the idealized preacher and the politician, Shirandula succeeded in giving voice and nuance to a whole masculine sub-archetype, and to working-class families, and that's no mean feat. Go well Charles Bukeko.
The Death of Kerbino
Was the former child soldier and businessman-cum-philanthropist killed for harbouring political ambitions?
On 14 June 2020, a Sunday afternoon, a young South Sudanese entrepreneur-turned-insurgent died a macabre death in the Lakes region. By Monday morning, gruesome pictures of Kerbino Wol Agok had already circulated on social media, especially in the WhatsApp groups of South Sudanese all over the world and soon, from Adelaide in Australia to Boston in the United States, to Khartoum in Sudan and Nairobi, Kenya, speculation was rife about who had killed him. But outside South Sudan and South Sudanese circles, not many people had heard of Kerbino, a soldier-turned-businessman who had lived in the United States and had trained with the American Special Forces.
One gruesome picture was of Kerbino lying on the ground in the bush surrounded by men in military garb, with a man who seemed to be their leader taking a photo of the dead Kerbino with his smartphone as his colleagues looked on. Another was a close-up of Kerbino's face showing a bloodied hole in his left cheek, a jungle cap next to his balding head. A third picture was of Kerbino lying on the ground, dressed only in a sweatshirt and boxer shorts.
The official explanation by the South Sudan government is that Kerbino was an insurgent who had been killed in a skirmish with the government security forces. According to the army spokesman, "SSPDF [South Sudan People's Defence Force] had succeeded in containing a rebellion in its infancy".
But my interviews with South Sudanese nationals living in Nairobi and South Sudan paint a different picture altogether. Examining the ghastly pictures with a South Sudanese medical doctor in Nairobi, the consultant physician said that the hole on his left cheek suggested Kerbino may have been shot by his captors at close range, the bullet entering the right side of the head and exiting through the left cheek.
Kerbino had the muscular body of one who took his exercise regime seriously. He was born in 1982, just before the rebellion broke out in southern Sudan in 1983, and would later join the "Red Army", the child-soldiers who were used in the war against the dominance of the North.
In 2010, five years after the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) of 2005, Kerbino, went back to South Sudan and founded Kerbino Agok Security Services (KASS), headquartered in Juba and which by the time of his death had spread its operations to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Nairobi. He had also started Kerbino Executive Conferences, as well as a philanthropic organisation, The Nile Foundation. In total, Kerbino's organisations employed about 2,000 people.
Despite not being well-known outside the borders of South Sudan, Kerbino was a fast-rising star, at least, according to many South Sudanese who live inside and outside South Sudan. They may not have entirely agreed with his modus operandi, but many of the South Sudanese I interviewed agreed on this one thing: the 38-year-old man was destined for greater things.
Kerbino's problems seem to have started when he was detained in April 2018, held incommunicado at the Chinese-built Blue House, the headquarters of the National Security Services (NSS) in Juba, the capital city of South Sudan.
In a recorded testimony, American academic Robert A. Portada, who had forged a lasting friendship with Kerbino, said that, "on April 27, 2018, Kerbino was arrested without charge and incarcerated inside the infamous and notorious Blue House. Despite getting closer to signing the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS), the summer of 2018 saw the arbitrary arrests, most prominently of the political activist Peter Biar Ajak in July". Ajak was a PhD student at Cambridge University in the United Kingdom.
Ajak, who has been in Nairobi since his release alongside his friend Kerbino, told the BBC on 24 July 2020 that Kerbino was captured and executed by government security forces. He also said that the National Security Service (NSS) has been sending him threatening messages telling him that they will kidnap and send him back to Juba. That NSS officers roam the streets of Nairobi is an open secret. Two years ago, they kidnapped some South Sudanese youth from the streets of Nairobi and ferried them back to Juba, where it is believed they were imprisoned and tortured. Their crime? They had been posting criticism of President Kiir on their Facebook timelines.
Kerbino was among seven detainees at the Blue House who faced trial. In the "Testimony of Kerbino Wol", Portada, an Associate Professor of political science at Kutztown University, wrote: "Since March 21, 2018 seven prisoners have sat for trial in Juba. From their cells in the Blue House, the headquarters of the NSS, they are escorted to and from the courtroom while closely guarded by the NSS officers. Among the seven is Kerbino Wol, the young South Sudan entrepreneur and philanthropist. Though the trial is being held in a civilian court, each day NSS soldiers surround the building, armed with automatic weapons. NSS officers are stationed at all entrances to the court, and roam the courtroom during the proceedings".
Portada also wrote that, "adding to the repressive environment in which the seven prisoners are being tried, the United Nations released a report on April 30 stating that it is highly probable that Dong Samuel Luak, a prominent South Sudanese lawyer and human rights activist, and Aggrey Ezbon Idri, a member of the opposition SPLM-IO [Sudan People's Liberation Movement-In-Opposition], were abducted and killed by the NSS in 2017. It is no secret that the NSS has committed atrocities with impunity in South Sudan. But now, Kerbino Wol and his fellow prisoners must sit for trial in the full presence of a national security agency revealed to have executed and disappeared nonviolent activists".
South Sudanese sources that cannot be named because of the sensitivity of the information they shared and to protect their identities, alleged that Kerbino was executed by NSS officers. "Kuol Fidel, head of NSS, which also acts as the internal security bureau, and one his officers known as Akol Khor, did not get along with Kerbino. They had always been thinking of how to neuter him. So, when news came through that he had been found dead and considering the circumstances that had led to his confrontation with the NSS, many South Sudanese couldn't fail to immediately connect Kerbino's death with NSS". Why would Kerbino pick a quarrel with top ranking NSS officers? Kerbino, Kuol and Akol are all Dinkas who come from Tonj, which is north of Lakes region.
"Kerbino as a civilian was rising all too fast. It was suspected he had political ambitions in his home region of Lakes. Kuol, too is believed to harbour political ambitions, if the peace agreement between Salva Kiir Mayardit and Riek Machar holds, there could be a general election in 2023". With his rising star, popularity, youth, access to big money and international connections, Kerbino posed a threat to certain individuals were he to choose to contest the governorship of Lakes region, for example.
One of the first things that Kuol and Akol are alleged to have done, as they continually harassed Kerbino, was to close his businesses before throwing him into detention. Portada's testimony says that "Kerbino Wol's businesses and bank accounts were shut down by NSS". In justification, the NSS alleged that Kerbino was supplying arms to Riek Machar. "But this is a spurious allegation", said a South Sudanese source in Nairobi. "All this time Kerbino is alleged to have been sending arms to Riek, he was holed up in South Africa. It is evident and obvious that there are some people in the NSS who were hell-bent on nailing Kerbino".
"On September 27, 2018", wrote Portada, "the President of the Republic, H.E. Salva Kiir Mayardit, issued Republican Order Number 17, ordering that all political prisoners be released with immediate effect under the supervision of the International Committee of the Red Cross. Nevertheless, detainees including Kerbino and Peter were locked in the Blue House". The next time the world would hear of these cases and of Kerbino in particular was during the prison break incident that took place on 7 October 2018 "to call attention to their illegal detentions", said Kerbino during his trial.
"The Blue House already had earned a notorious reputation as one of the several sites where NSS authorities had arbitrarily arrested, detained, tortured, and ill-treated people to the point of death according to a report released by Amnesty International", explained Portada's testimony. "On October 7, for the first time, prisoners in the Blue House were able to communicate with the international media and testify to these conditions themselves".
What happened at the Blue House on 7October 2018? Some South Sudanese who knew Kerbino's character well said Kerbino had become increasingly incensed with his continued detention and harassment by some of the NSS officers, and had demanded that they either release him or charge him so that he could defend himself in a court of law. "On this day, a fracas ensued at the Blue House and Kerbino is believed to have staged a kind of a Rambo-style prison break in which he led a group of fellow prisoners into storming the warehouse which also acted as an armoury".
In his notes, Portada says that, "though the state security responded by encircling the Blue House and repeatedly firing on the compound, the nonviolent prisoners negotiated a peaceful end to the standoff". It is after the "prison break" that the state now decided to take Kerbino to court and charge him with the criminal offence of causing a skirmish within the NSS precincts", explained my South Sudanese interlocutor. That now became his main charge. "Kerbino was taken to court in April 2019 and charged with causing mayhem on 7 October 2018".
In his testimony, Portada says, however, that "following the October 7 incident the Pan-African Lawyers Union (PALU), working with friends and associates of Kerbino Wol, immediately brought his case before the East Africa Court of Justice (EACJ), seeking justice for his unlawful arrest and illegal detention. In suing the Government of South Sudan, PALU asked the EACJ to order GoSS to produce Kerbino Wol before a competent and impartial court, and to restore to him his properties and stop attacks and seizure of Kerbino's businesses. Though GoSS acknowledged the authority of EACJ by sending a representative to a hearing on March 25, 2019, they have not produced Kerbino before the regional court nor accounted for the circumstances of his incarceration or seizure of his property".
Instead, what the court in Juba did was to begin the prosecution's case on the same day the EACJ asked that Kerbino be presented before it. On 25 March the South Sudan government representative said the Juba trial removed the necessity for adjudication in the EACJ.
"Called to the witness stand by the defence at the Juba court, Kerbino spoke in both Arabic and English as he delivered his testimony", said Portada. On 11 May, after two weeks of imprisonment, NSS officers accused Kerbino his security company to conspire against the state. The NSS placed Kerbino in solitary confinement with the threat that, "we have other means of getting the truth". But in a surprising twist of events, President Kiir offered a presidential amnesty to Kerbino.
Kerbino went home, but something had been implanted in his mind, said a South Sudanese who knew Kerbino personally. "Kerbino started toying with the idea of forming a movement that would agitate for political change. He called his movement 7th October". Friends and foes have faulted Kerbino for seemingly acting in a rush. A South Sudanese who knew Kerbino told me that "Monydiar Maker, the youth leader of the ethnic group called Rup, duped Kerbino that he could mobilise young men for him to form a ragtag army and it seems Kerbino, in his unprocessed anger against what he considered to be inhuman treatment from the state, believed he could orchestrate change by forming a guerilla army in present day South Sudan".
Monydiar was killed four days before Kerbino's sudden death, possibly by the same people who killed Kerbino.
Trapped in the bush and possibly realising his folly that forming a guerilla army is not the same as starting a security company, Kerbino contacted one of his friends for help. "It is believed that Kerbino reached out to a friend, one Omar Isaak, and asked him to hire a helicopter to airlift him to Khartoum", said my South Sudanese source. "Kerbino could have given Omar upward of $200,000 for the job". Many South Sudanese believe Omar betrayed Kerbino and that is why he was captured.
The circumstances leading to Kerbino's death reflect those of the death of George Athol Deng. Deng was a Dinka from Jonglei state. Short of stature but a lethal soldier, he was a favourite fighter of John Garang's Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA).. In 2010 Deng, who was in his 50s, ran for the Jonglei governor's seat. When he lost the election he returned to the bush, but is believed to have been captured by government forces and summarily executed.
Despite the return of Riek Machar, leader of the SPLM-IO, to his old job as Vice President – which has however been split into five positions – South Sudan is a country still very much ill at ease with itself. "As we are talking, the country is on fire", said a South Sudanese in Nairobi "Militia gangs are roaming South Sudan with abandon, because Kiir is a lame duck president. He does not have the control of the country beyond Juba".
My friend said South Sudan is currently on fire: "There could be at least 10 – 15 internecine wars going on in South Sudan. The greater Dinka of Gumuruk and Pibor is at war with Murle. The Murle, who are viewed as a war-like ethnic community in South Sudan hence, always seen as an aggressor community is at war with a coalition of Dinka and Lou Nuer". The South Sudanese also said the internecine wars have not spared intra-community's wars.
"The Dinka sub-clans of Apuk and Aguok that come from the President's home county of Gogrial are at war with each other. The intra-communal war among the Agar people has been going on for nearly 20 years. The Nuer of Bentiu are busy fighting the Dinka Twic Mayardit". The Nuers, observed my friend, just like the Dinka have been fighting among themselves. "The Nuers from Bentiu have been warring with the Nuers from Warrap state. So, if the ethnic communities are not fighting between themselves, they are fighting among themselves. These inter-state fights and unrests, have made South Sudan seem ungovernable".
Said the South Sudan national: "As if the internecine wars inside South Sudan are not enough, there has been unrest between Sudan and South Sudan. "The Malual Dinka have been quarrelling with the Missinya Arabs of Sudan. The picture coming from South Sudan is not good at all. It is from this backdrop that Kerbino met his untimely death".
Racist Undertones in the Media's Reporting of COVID-19's Origins
News reports claiming that "wet markets" in Asia are the source of the coronavirus obscure the fact that the consumption of wild animals is common in the West. How can the Western media condemn "unacceptable" animal consumption practices in the global South while maintaining studious silence on the same in the global North?
In pre-colonial Africa, before the Berlin conference that led to the "Scramble for Africa" among European countries and the subsequent creation of arbitrary territorial boundaries we now refer to as countries, "states" were defined by some form of shared heritage, not just in the form of hard tangible artefacts, but in culture – practices and knowledge that are acquired by peoples in situ. When populations moved, they carried this heritage with them and adjusted it to fit in with the new realities they encountered in their new homelands.
The current crisis precipitated by the COVID-19 global pandemic has severely restricted travel for recreation and business and the sharing of experiences and ideas across the world. In a manner of speaking, it has put globalisation on "pause" as countries must look inwards for ways to mitigate its impact on health, social, and economic systems.
The complexity of the COVID-19 pandemic lies in the fact that there is still no universally accepted approach to its mitigation or management. Individual countries have, therefore, been compelled to draw on their own intellectual and material resources to address the impact of the pandemic, with varying levels of success. Some countries have taken a reactionary approach, while others struggle to find direction, illustrating the need for us to retake control of our living heritage and re-imagine ourselves in the light of our own needs and aspirations.
Double standards
The true origins of this pandemic may never be known, so those of us who are lay people take what the media give us. The spectre of a zoonosis "jumping" from wild animals into humans through the consumption of their meat and the sheer speed of communication (or mis-communication) about this are among the most startling features of this pandemic.
When the pandemic started, the media were instantly awash with (frankly revolting) images of people of Asian descent eating whole bats in soup. Suddenly, newly-used terms like "wet markets" were de rigueur in news bulletins, as were images of Chinese markets with live and dead creatures of all kinds for sale, either whole, live, or in various stages of dismemberment. It was only a matter of time before the racist dog-whistle "bush meat trade" hit the airwaves (nauseatingly familiar to those of us who work in the conservation sector).
I have often spoken about how the portrayal of the consumption of wild animals is one of the most overt and widely accepted expressions of racial prejudice in our times. It has long been an accepted norm that the meat of wild animals must be described in genteel terms when it is consumed by white people, as is the killing of all manner of creatures. The nature of conservation discourse has normalised the use of the different terms "game meat" and "bush meat" even to describe consumption of flesh from the same animal species, based on the ethnicity of the procurer. Slaughter is routinely described as "sport" and dignified as ""noble" all over the world when perpetrated by white people, and occasionally elites of colour. After 20 years as a conservation practitioner, I am familiar with the cult-like manner in which we pursue the cause. It is considered above reproach, and all manner of ills can be visited upon human societies as long as they can be demonstrated to be serving some environmental conservation goal.
When the pandemic started, the media were instantly awash with (frankly revolting) images of people of Asian descent eating whole bats in soup. Suddenly, newly-used terms like "wet markets" were de rigueur in news bulletins, as were images of Chinese markets with live and dead creatures of all kinds for sale, either whole, live, or in various stages of dismemberment.
It was, therefore, a feeling of déjà vu when the tone taken by the Western media portrayed the outbreak almost as some kind of "divine retribution" visited upon the Chinese people for the consumption of meat from wild animals. (This was before the virus spread globally and stopped being regarded as a Chinese problem.) Indeed, scientists were falling over themselves to look for coronaviruses in all manner of trafficked animals, like pangolins. Racial undertones have always been part of global conservation practice, and that is the reason why Europe and the United States have largely escaped the opprobrium that has been visited on China for the ivory trade, despite it being third globally behind the former two in this vice.
When wildlife is used as food in the global South and East, it draws near universal revulsion in the West with regards to the "cruelty" of the activity. Those who have visited the United States, however, are familiar with the seasonal hunting and eating of deer, elk, moose, squirrels, opossum and rabbits, not to mention turkeys, ducks, and other wild birds.
Those who are so irked by "wet markets" would do well to familiarise themselves with the "rattlesnake roundup", an annual activity in the state of Texas in the United States. The roundup is a display of extraordinary cruelty where thousands of rattlesnakes are collected from the wild, mostly by being flushed out of their dens with petrol. It takes around two weeks to collect the required number of snakes for the festival, during which time the captive reptiles are kept in the dark without food or water. Come the weekend of the festival, the entertainment of visitors will include the ritual decapitation of snakes and the participants (including children) competing to strip skins off the still writhing snake bodies and flaying them for meat (which is served on site and consumed with a variety of drinks). Children also engage in making murals from hand prints in snake blood, amongst other activities.
A close observation of the reportage on this reveals the degree of effort put into "cleansing" this strange ritual, notably its description as a "celebration of culture" that brings in $8.4 million into the town of Sweetwater, Texas. The scale of the carnage hit a record high in 2016 when 11 tonnes (24,262 pounds) of rattlesnakes were reportedly harvested. The reporting didn't specify that this represented around 10,000 snakes (calculation made from the average weight of a rattlesnake).
Those who are so irked by "wet markets" would do well to familiarise themselves with the "rattlesnake roundup", an annual activity in the state of Texas in the United States. The roundup is a display of extraordinary cruelty where thousands of rattlesnakes are collected from the wild, mostly by being flushed out of their dens with petrol.
How then does the Western media contrive to maintain this critical focus on "unacceptable" animal consumption practices in the global South while maintaining studious silence on the same in their own countries? What then is a "wet market"? Can the Texas rattlesnake roundup be described as such, and if not, why not?
Characterising the consumption of reptiles, rodents, chiroptera (bats), marsupials (opossums) as "Asian" traits is simply racial prejudice. Similarly, the capture, caging and sale of wild animals in Asian markets is described as cruel whereas sport hunting, whaling, and foxhunting by Caucasian peoplesare accepted, celebrated, and even defended robustly, when need be.
Conservation, tourism and dietary tastes
Personally, as an individual with very conservative (some might say pedestrian) tastes in food, travelling is full of challenges in terms of foods that I encounter around the world. I remember particularly an incident of a Maasai colleague being perturbed by a dinner offering of "venison" at a lodge in rural Quebec in Canada. I had to clarify to him that venison is deer meat.
The Maasai are traditionally livestock producers and are known to frown upon the consumption of meat from wild animals. But this was a relatively mild challenge for him, compared to various raw meats, raw fish, marine crustaceans, and snails that he and I have encountered on our travels to different continents.
The variety of dietary tastes and preferences around the world are one of the most prominent indicators of human diversity, and have long been celebrated and studied by travelers and scholars. This pandemic, however, has upset the genteel veneer with which we present our differences and has left our class, racial, and cultural prejudices ruthlessly exposed. If indeed the slaughter of wildlife is a vile aspect of human nature, then why is Theodore Roosevelt's 1909 hunting safari in Kenya so celebrated by a conservation body (The Smithsonian Institution) over a century later? This expedition was a bloodbath, where the hunters killed and trapped more than 11,000 animals, including multiple specimens of the "big game" species that Roosevelt took particular pleasure in killing.
Conservation and tourism have long been an arena that struggles with racism and classism, and my country Kenya has for the last 100 years been the poster child for what is good and wrong about the nexus of conservation and tourism in Africa. Due to travel bans and lockdowns, tourism in the country has largely collapsed. The obsession with foreign tourists (referred to lovingly as "arrivals") has left established facilities struggling to appeal to indigenous and local clients for whom they had very little time under normal circumstances.
The real tragedy, however, is in the wildlife conservancies, where conservation NGOs had been going out of their way to convince and coerce previously resilient pastoralist communities to spurn their livelihoods and identities (that were based upon livestock production) and to share landscapes with wildlife. The narrative was that livestock was bad and their numbers had to be suppressed. The landscape didn't belong to the people, but to the wildlife, and the wildlife had no intrinsic cultural value. It was for tourists, and pastoralists' livelihoods would reside in service to the tourists.
To be a "good" (read: compliant) community worthy of handouts, the community needed to move to the periphery of their lands, leaving the best parts for tourism They had to reduce their herds (or move them away to go and overgraze someone else's turf), and learn to serve (be a waiter, ranger, cook, or beadwork maker) at the altar of tourism.
Since the COVID-19 outbreak, reports from community conservancies invariably feature penury – communities struggling to make a living and depending on food handouts, all due to the collapse of tourism. For those who understand the livestock economy, pastoralist communities depending on food handouts is unthinkable in a year that has seen such abundance of rainfall and pasture growth. The conservation cult had succeeded in compromising the resilience of entire communities.
The language of environmentalism and assistance
Students of political history will experience déjà vu; 200 years after its initial foray, Western neoliberalism is once again bringing rural Africa to its knees by destroying resilience and creating dependency. The only difference is that this time it is hidden in the language of environmentalism and assistance.
The world today needs to wake up to the threat to social stability posed by the global environmental movement fashioned in the West. The pursuit of its goals is relentless, and has the hallmarks of a cult. Nonagenarian Westerners like Sir David Attenborough routinely prescribe future goals to young populations in the global South (backed by environmental cinema that deliberately excludes human populations from the frame). As our youth struggle with the visions of old Westerners, our leaders are confronted with advice and "guidance" from a European teenage girl, delivered with the glib assurance of someone who doesn't have anywhere near the amount of knowledge required to confer a modicum of self-doubt.
As African students of environmental sciences strive to make their voices heard in academia, they get confronted by ludicrous theories like the half-earth theory, proposed by E. O. Wilson, a pioneer of ecology from Harvard University, one of the pinnacles of academia. This theory proposes that half the earth should be "protected" for the survival of biodiversity.
The world today needs to wake up to the threat to social stability posed by the global environmental movement fashioned in the West. The pursuit of its goals is relentless, and has the hallmarks of a cult.
However, what proponents of this theory don't state is that this biodiversity will be protected mostly in the tropics, because the temperate lands do not have biodiversity worth protecting in such a drastic manner. Any attempt to actualise such a move would amount to genocide, but the world routinely accepts such fascism when environmental reasons are used to support it.
Indeed, the United Nations and other global bodies like the Convention for Biological Diversity (CBD) have taken up the cause, proposing to raise the recommended percentage of land under protection, from the current 14 per cent to 30 per cent. The voices pushing this movement are varied, but two uniformities persist – the voices are of white people and they say nothing about the difference in consumption patterns between themselves and the global South.
So-called "global" environmental targets must be tailored to meet the needs and aspirations of individual nations, or we run the risk of imperialism. Yellowstone National Park was created by violence and disenfranchisement, but it is still used as a template for fortress conservation over a century later, and celebrated as a world heritage site.
For generations, our consumption patterns have never been spoken about globally, because to do so would be to acknowledge that we in the global South have always been sustainable societies. Logic dictates that our consumption patterns shouldn't now be used to vilify us as the source of a scourge, which strangely appears not to have affected us in the way the global North expected.
The term "new normal" has been bandied about ad nauseam to describe the post-COVID19 world. In reality, the manner in which the people and the environment of the global South have been exploited by the Occident over generations has been abnormal. The coronavirus crisis may have just set a few things right.
Op-Eds2 weeks ago
The Chira of Christopher Msando Will Haunt His Murderers Until Justice for His Family Is Served
Op-Eds2 weeks ago
Quest for a More Equitable Nation Undermined: CRA's Mission Aborted
Ideas2 weeks ago
Cutting the Hand That Feeds: The Plight of Smallholder Farmers in Kenya
Politics2 weeks ago
Curfews, Lockdowns and Disintegrating National Food Supply Chains
Op-Eds2 weeks ago
Seeds of Neo-Colonialism: Why GMO's Create African Dependency on Global Markets
Videos6 days ago
BBI, Politics and the Legacies of Kenyatta, Odinga and Ruto
Politics2 weeks ago
Food Protectionism and Nationalism in the Age of COVID-19
Videos1 week ago
Waikwa Wanyoike: The Constitutional Referendum Won't Happen!


text:
We have lusted after each other for 10 years - but he is a married man
Dear Coleen
I've known this man for many years – we used to work together and even went to college together. And since then we have crossed paths on many occasions.
He is married with several children and I am single.
The problem is, we are lusting after one another and it has been like this for a very long time.
In terms of being physical with each other, we have only ever hugged.
I feel the situation is in danger of getting out of control emotionally because he genuinely cares for me and I do him.
It's not just about lust any more.
I actually took the drastic step of moving away from home and got a new job just to put some distance between us, but it didn't work.
I find it amazing that we have such strong feelings for each other when we have never had sex.
I'm confused – is this just lust or something deeper?
Ten years is a long time to have such strong feelings for a person. The way we feel about each other has never changed in all that time.
Please help.
Coleen says
It all sounds very romantic but I honestly think that's all it is – a romantic notion.
If you did decide to be together and he left his wife and kids devastated, all of a sudden it's not as romantic or exciting.
Right now he can see you whenever he wants to flirt and there's all that sexual tension going on, but you're not washing his undies.
It's not real life.
Think this through very carefully because, in the majority of cases, this kind of thing leaves only heartache and destruction in its wake.
You need to think about yourself too. Who's to say that if you did get together that he wouldn't go back to his wife after six months?
All this unrequited love is stopping you from meeting someone who is free to date you and that you have a long-term future with.
I know you tried to start a new life but you've clearly kept in touch.
I honestly don't think he is serious about your "romance". I think he enjoys the flirting and likes to know there's someone out there who's interested in him, but he can still go home to the security of his wife and family.
Trust me, if he really wanted to be with you he'd have left his wife at some point during those 10 years.
Easy recipe: Sirloin steak with roasted garlic
Recipes By Chef Ali Mandhry | 1 month ago
#FashionTips: How to develop your personal fashion style
Fashion Tips By Lolita Bunde | 2 months ago
Four reasons why your manhood is changing color
Health By The Mirror | 2 years ago
Why you shouldn't accept chewing gum from strangers
Readers Lounge By Nasibo Kabale | 3 years ago
Hilarious: The day I mistook my baby for rat
Baby Care By Beryl Itindi | 3 years ago
What is Annual reproductive health screening and why you need it
Health By Dr. Alfred Murage | 3 years ago
Savvy woman shares how easy it is to fold fitted bedsheets in under 30 seconds
Your Home By Mirror
Meghan Markle sacked Archie's nanny after two days following 'incident during the night'
Entertainment By Mirror
Mum's happiness as daughter comes home 34 years after she was kidnapped
Readers Lounge By Mirror
Tips on cooking with alcohol
Cooking Tips By Audrey Masitsa
Relationship green flags: Signs you've found a keeper
Girl Talk By Audrey Masitsa
Five things you should know about your credit score and why it's important
Money By Rachel Murugi

subset: commoncrawl


text:
LNG import news
Qatargas delivers first Q-Flex LNG cargo to Adriatic LNG
Qatargas has delivered its first cargo of LNG on a Q-Flex LNG carrier to the Adriatic LNG receiving terminal in Italy.
Chevron signs new domestic gas sale agreement
Chevron has signed a domestic gas sale agreement with BHP Billiton Nickel West for the delivery of natural gas from Wheatstone LNG.
Tokyo Gas and Hiroshima Gas receive joint LNG cargo at Hatsukaichi LNG terminal
The first commingling LNG cargo of Hiroshima Gas and Tokyo Gas, transported by Tokyo LNG Tanker, has arrived at Hiroshima Gas' Hatsukaichi LNG terminal.
Annex to Yamal LNG contract executed by PGNiG and Gazprom
An annex has been signed by PGNiG SA and Gazprom to confirm the application of a new pricing formula and an overpayments refund deadline.
PGNiG receives first supply of LNG in Klaipeda
PGNiG has received the first supply of LNG delivered by sea to Klaipeda, Lithuania.
MVM books Croatia LNG capacity from 2021
Hungary's MVM energy group has announced that one of its units, MFGK Croatia, has reserved capacity at Croatia LNG's Krk LNG terminal from January 2021.
PETRONAS delivers first LNG to Myanmar
PETRONAS LNG Ltd. has completed its maiden delivery of LNG to Yangon, Myanmar, with two LNG cargoes delivered in May and June 2020.
Santos wins new gas exploration acreage in Queensland
Santos has been awarded four new gas exploration permits in Queensland; two for domestic-only supply and two which could supply both domestic and LNG markets.
Lithuanian LNG terminal proving to be a player in the global market
The Klaipeda LNG terminal in Lithuania has regasified the second largest LNG cargo this year, imported from the US.
MOL and LTW sign FSRU construction and charter contract
MOL and LTW have signed a contract to build and charter an FSRU for the planned LNG landing terminal in Wilhelmshaven.


text:
Jorge Carapinha
- Publications
- Influence
Claim Your Author Page
Ensure your research is discoverable on Semantic Scholar. Claiming your author page allows you to personalize the information displayed and manage your publications. Semantic Scholar automatically creates author pages based on data aggregated from public sources and our publisher partners.
The interest in network virtualization has been growing steadily among the networking community in the last few years. Network virtualization opens up new possibilities for the evolution path to the… Expand
European Conference on Networks and…
Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) is a concept, which has attracted significant attention as a promising approach towards the virtualization/"softwarisation" of network infrastructures. With the… Expand
IEEE Transactions on Network and Service…
Network Virtualization is claimed to be a key component of the Future Internet, providing the dynamic support of different networks with different paradigms and mechanisms in the same physical… Expand
IEEE 3rd International Conference on Cloud…
The principle of Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) aims to transform network architectures by implementing Network Functions (NFs) in software that can run on commodity hardware. There are… Expand
Deploying service functions, SFs, is an essential action for a network provider. However, the action of creating, modifying and removing network SFs is traditionally very costly in time and effort,… Expand
IEEE Symposium on Computers and Communications…
As the interest on Network Virtualization continues to grow, so does the awareness of the many technical obstacles to transpose before the envisioned virtualized network environment may become a… Expand
Network Virtualization is claimed to be a key component of the Future Internet by enabling the coexistence of heterogeneous (virtual) networks on the same physical infrastructure, providing the… Expand
Network Virtualization is a key component of the Future Internet, providing the dynamic support of different networks with different paradigms and mechanisms in the same physical infrastructure. A… Expand
In the last few years, the concept of network virtualization has gained a lot of attention both from industry and research projects. This paper evaluates the potential of network virtualization from… Expand
We present an architecture for cloud networking, the provision of virtual infrastructure in a multi-administrative domain scenario, where data centre and network operators interact through defined… Expand


text:
For over 18 years, Richard Stanley has been the guardian of about 1,100 students a day as the Kilgore Independent School District's resource officer.
He'll soon be wearing a different hat – Stanley was elected just over two weeks ago as the new Rusk County Precinct One Constable – but he doesn't plan to be a stranger.
"I'll still be there," he laughed, in an interview with the News Herald on Thursday. "Might not be as much as I'm used to being there, but I'll still be there. I don't think I could give that up.
"The friendships and relationships I've built with the faculty, staff and students, and also the parents – that means so much to me. Parents trust you to take care of their kids. It's kind of hard not to develop friendships and bonds with them, throughout all this time. I'll miss that day-to-day interaction very much."
Stanley won the runoff for the constable's position on July 14, and he has no opponent in the November election, so he'll take office in January. And it'll be the latest chapter of a life that seems to be all about public service.
Richard Stanley grew up in Longview, in the Spring Hill area, one of the children of Lynn and Brenda Stanley, and after becoming a law enforcement officer, he eventually found his way to Kilgore.
"I started (as KISD resource officer) in spring break of the 2002 school year," he said. "(Wife) Farris and I immediately felt like Kilgore was home. We moved over here in Christmas that year."
Richard and Farris have one child, a daughter, Ashley, herself a Kilgore High School alum now working at Longview Regional.
One brief break in his KISD career was time he spent in the military, called up in 2008 for a trip to Iraq. Stanley was there for about a year, from Thanksgiving, 2008 until the same holiday the next year.
Stanley, 47, said he's going to take on his new position just like he has everything else: head on, full steam ahead. He explained the duties of a constable in Texas.
"A constable is an elected law enforcement officer whose duties include bailiff for the Justice of the Peace court, and serving civil papers that come through that court, or any other court," he said. "A constable is a law enforcement officer, just like a sheriff's deputy or a police officer. Have the same rights granted as other officers."
Stanley was just learning how to operate a campaign when the COVID-19 virus not only slowed everything down but also changed the rules of the campaigning game.
"Once (COVID) began shutting things down, we all pretty much agreed the door-to-door standard campaign had to be changed, that we had to change our ways," he said. "I did most of my campaigning through phone calls and Facebook, so the majority of mine was done at a distance. Luckily for me, I know a lot of people.
"…For me, it wasn't so much stressful as it was frustrating. From the time I decided to run until the final election was almost a year. It was frustrating that it got pushed back a couple of months. I understood the reason for it. I was more concerned that the ones who got out to vote could do it in a healthy way."
The night he won, Stanley spent with family, with great anticipation of the results.
"After the polls closed," he recalled, "we went to my parents' house and watched the news. We were seeing all the results coming in, but not ours. (Rusk County Republican Party Chairman) Charlie Williamson rang my phone, and said, 'This is the official phone call. I'll be announcing you as the winner of the run-off election.' It was huge relief, that all the effort, all the time, all the energy – not only myself and my family, but for all those who went so far to support me, just a great relief, but also a sense of new responsibility."
That's a challenge in which Stanley has been meeting his entire life.
"I worked with the schools just over 18 years," he said. "I have so enjoyed it. I've enjoyed it, and all the positive things I've gotten to be involved in – what other position in the police department allows you to go and celebrate state championships?
"I really feel that serving our community in that capacity was my calling. I want to continue what I'm doing but broaden that to a bigger area. I'm looking at the opportunity (of helping serve) four school districts in Precinct One of Rusk County. I'm looking at the possibility of expanding to others. There's nothing else within the law enforcement community that you can make such an impact on so many people."
Stanley said the next chapter in his career, he'll have the same attitude as the first few.
"I'm willing to work with anybody who's willing to work with me," he said. "We all have ultimately the same goal, which is to make this area a better place."


text:
Inches to metres: how the metric system was born
Political strife, the industrial revolution and a shifting economy all played a part in the making of the metre
PRECISION and fastidiousness – at first blush the quest for a precise system of measurement might seem a plodding pursuit. But as philosopher Robert P. Crease makes clear in World in the Balance, it was anything but.
From prehistory to the present, Crease ties humanity's search for precision to the history of nations and of ideas. Any measurement must be based on a "standard" that embodies a unit, such as a foot, a finger or a hand. Eventually standards came to be inscribed in stone or metal and stored in protected areas such as the Acropolis for the Greeks, and in later centuries in Paris and Washington …
Continue reading
Subscribe for unlimited digital access
Subscribe now for unlimited access
App + Web
- Unlimited web access
- New Scientist app
- Videos of over 200 science talks plus weekly crosswords available exclusively to subscribers
- Free New Scientist Tote Bag*
Print + App + Web
- Unlimited web access
- Weekly print edition
- New Scientist app
- Videos of over 200 science talks plus weekly crosswords available exclusively to subscribers
- Free New Scientist Tote Bag*
Existing subscribers, please log in with your email address to link your account access.
Paid annually by Credit Card
Inclusive of applicable taxes (VAT)
*Free gift is only available with annual subscription purchases where subscription delivery is in the United Kingdom, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand or Euro area


text: munboy Report post Posted January 17, 2015 $57.63 after taxes and fees. Have stayed here before for slightly less. Take note that there are two extended stay america locations next door, this is 55 Junction Court (the lower end location) not 45 Junction Court (the nicer one) Free breakfastFree InternetPet friendlySmoke-free roomsSelf-service laundryInternet access100% reccomended There are likely more amenities but I didn't save them before checkout Share this post Link to post


text:
Chateau Champoux: Washington's Finest Wines A few miles after the turn-off to the north onto Alderdale Road, a brown sign announces the Horse Heaven Hills AVA, which was founded in 2005. On Washington Route 14, which borders the Columbia River, southbound, travelers will see the first sign of Chateau Championoux on the left, near the intersection with Washington State Route 13. read more
Columbia Valley Wine and Vineyards The term Columbia Valley is confusing because the AVA is so massive and contains so many other terms. It is best imagined as an umbrella covering all the vineyards in the Central Valley of California, but it includes more than 1,000 acres of vineyards, wineries, and other wineries, including the largest single winegrowing denomination outside California and the second largest in North America. read more


text: Steve Jobs funeral Steve Jobs Dies at 56 [Live Coverage, Pictures & Videos] 6 October, 2011 Apple has announced its former chief executive Steve Jobs has died. Mr Jobs, who stepped down recently as chief executive, had been suffering from pancreatic cancer. Tributes for Steve Jobs from the people he competed against and inspired: Steve Wozniak, Apple co-founder: "People sometimes have goals in life. Steve Jobs exceeded every goal he Read More Top 10 WordPress Contact Form Plugins Geek Transform Your Phone Photos to Paintings with Waterlogue App Geek Emirates to Fly 5 Star Hotel on Airbus A380 Geek iLauncher By Apple Geek How to Install Windows Xp on Macbook or Mac Using Boot Camp Geek Making Blackberry to act as a TV Remote Geek World's Largest Dome Structure Is Singapore Sports Hub Arena Geek If You Fancy Earning like a Sports-Person… Geek Physical Emoji Keyboard Featuring 120 Popular Symbols Can Be Yours For $100! Geek South Korea Rejects iPhone 4S Due To Its Hardware Issues Geek


text:
Title: M2 Cooling hose sets
Post by: Matt Rimmer on September 13, 2011, 09:41:03 AM
I need to replace the rubber cooling hoses on my M2 and in order to get the size of hose I need I have to buy it in three foot lengths so I will have more than I require. I intend to make as many M2 cooling hose sets as I can,keeping a spare set for myself there should be another four or five sets.
Would anyone be interested in complete rubber cooling hose sets?.
I am also getting the metal sections reproduced and sourcing the correct hose clips.
Title: Re: M2 Cooling hose sets
Post by: wanderingwillys on March 06, 2012, 04:46:24 AM
Have any progress on getting the metal bits for the cooling system made?
Title: Re: M2 Cooling hose sets
Post by: Matt Rimmer on August 19, 2012, 04:12:38 AM
Hi Matt,
Not really,I have now been loaned originals of the metal parts I didn't have,just need to get the funds together to get some made. Had a slight setback with my MG project when the "rebuilt" waterpump came back with the casting broken.
I will post an update as soon as I have something to report.
Title: Re: M2 Cooling hose sets
Post by: wanderingwillys on September 08, 2012, 03:14:55 PM
What part of your pump is broken I have a few cores that also have misc broken ears and casting bits - maybe we can mix and match something to get you going - a few pictures would be good...
Also did you find an interchange number for the mechanical seals (carbon / ceramic rotating seals) or did your unit have the packing nuts with a compressable packing for a seal?


text: LucyGoose 121 Posted October 18, 2017 My DS is 2.5 and really loves his trucks and construction machinery.I have bought a few little CAT trucks for him which have held up well, but other cheap little trucks have had bits broken off.I want to buy him a few for Christmas but am not sure what brands are good quality/ worth the money? Or even cheap ones that are sturdy enough to withstand rough play?Any suggestions? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites


text: President Trump claims that the U.S. has the lowest coronavirus mortality rate in the world, but according to Johns Hopkins University, the U.S. has the sixth-highest death rate. Dr. Anthony Fauci says "it's a false narrative to take comfort in a lower rate of death" from the coronavirus. Ben Tracy reports.


text:
Тегов нет
Our Unique Nautical TelescopesWe at Jomira are fully aware how badly amateur astronomers need a high-quality nautical telescope and that is why we became suppliers of some of the most exclusive nautical telescopes in the world. We have a few telescopes in our offer which are referred to as antique telescope. All of the antique telescopes we have in our offer are exclusively imported to the United States by us http://www.nhlislandersteamshop.com/mike-bossy-islanders-jersey-c-10/ , which means that nowhere else in the United States you can find telescopes you are able to purchase on our website. That is why we are the best place to buy telescope on the Internet. The antique telescope we take the most pride for making it available to the people of the United States is Admiral Farragut Telescope ™. Let's find more about this unique telescope.Admiral Farragut Telescope ™ in a NutshellYou have probably heard about Admiral Farragut and his legendary telescope if you are a person interested in naval history and astronomy. We must boast that we are the exclusive importers of the replica of the Admiral Farragut's antique telescope, which belongs to the category of naval telescopes. Besides this naval telescope, we also have a plethora of other telescopes in our offer, and that is why you should stop at by us to buy telescope.Admiral Farragut Telescope ™, in a nutshell, is a telescope which is 5" long when it is collapsed and 12" long when it is extended. This gorgeous antique telescope replica has a 25x magnification, which will allow you to see things 25x closer. Admiral Farragut Telescope ™ has a 30mm objective lens, which is an ideal lens for a naval telescope. Advantages of Admiral Farragut Telescope ™We can guarantee you that this antique telescope is the exact replica of the original telescope which Admiral Farragut held while he was involved in his legendary naval battles. Thus, the main advantage of this naval telescope is its authenticity and historical accuracy.Another advantage of this telescope which belongs to naval telescopes category is that it comes with a table-top tripod, which ensures the stability of the telescope itself. Be sure to buy telescope such as Admiral Farragut telescope is from us since we have only a limited number of it at the moment. We are ReliableIn case you have ordered your Admiral Farragut antique telescope but it came to you broken or with some other mistakes, you can return it within 30 days after you got it. After we receive this naval telescope back, we will refund you. This is why we are reliable and the best place to buy telescope on the Internet. The modern approach towards business centres is fast changing. Employees today expect their workspace to offer an ambiance that is supportive to productivity. They demand it to offer all modern amenities, and security when they feverishly work towards meeting impending deadline. It is no longer acceptable to modern workers to work confined within four blank walls; amidst clatter of desks, chairs and telephone rings, bulky systems etc. Modern office interiors must sooth tensed nerves and at the same time encourage a competitive environment. It must offer necessary seclusion to one to complete hisher tasks as well throws in enough opportunities to socialize with colleagues while working. As a result, many new age employers are striving to create a work environment that meets the demands of modern employees. Over the year, Bangalore, Mumbai, Gurgoan and Noida have developed to be the most thriving business hubs in India. Since these cities are thriving business sectors of India, a large number of modern offices, inspired by new office design movement, are coming up in these areas to support the growth of different industries out there. What modern office spaces are expected to offer?Identity: If you are one of those startups then the office design you choose must promote the sense of belonging. The design must identify with the personality and philosophy of the company. Keep in mind that once you start believing and living your customer motto in every aspect only then you can deliver the same. Inspired by the idea most office spaces now design their interior based on their company theme – in colour schemes on the walls, furniture, motifs etc. Comfortability: Nowadays employees tend to spend more time in office and hence, a comfortable ambiance is a prerequisite to keep them motivated. A blend of appropriate space distribution, furniture arrangement and technology to facilitate day-to-day activities remains the building block of any modern office space in Noida. Factors like – appropriate desk size, pin-up space, privacy, sound barriers, sightline view are taken care of to make the employee comfortable in his workspace. A comfortable employee tends to be more productive and effective. Flexibility: The nature of work is fast changing. Today corporate looks for flexible workspaces, supported by the newest technology, modular and demountable furniture, to promote the concept of comfortable working. Customized furniture and partitions are available to offer the office an overnight face change. The office is often connected through wi-fi to comply with the concept of mobile or remote working.Socialize: Most modern office space in Gurgaon comes with cafeteria and breakout areas where employees can socialize. This is done in order to retain the talents. These spaces though created for employees to catch up with each other during breaks can also double as occasional meeting venues. Most recent office space developers take all these crucial factors into consideration while designing office floors. Office space in Gurgaon, Noida, Mumbai, Bangalore and other places in India is increasingly designed to su. Cheap NCAA Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Cheap Jerseys From China Cheap Jerseys China Wholesale NFL Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Wholesale Basketball Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys


text:
frankly speaking,He was not a"poor child"from the beginning,Host vehicle position (2) 4 or controller (3) of the pedal simulator;Its appearance uses a brand new hole instead of rice and red rice Note 7 professional;And landed him at home,March and July and August Tianzhuruzhu packed with water!
The country has a professional team for investigation and research,now,An ancient hero prevents boiling blood.Coordinated planning products!They won't listen,Cistanche is called"desert ginseng"!
Due to the huge influence of Jin Yu's martial arts novels,therefore,Respiratory infection cough,Besides,You can follow Xiaobian,More often,The price was implemented in 1995,Many people feel black beard,Exchanges between countries are full of interest...He is the second national actor;
No wonder garlic has no taste,Waist waist design...If you love her and you are sincere to a woman,And changed dramatically from a different perspective...But let them be fastened by the seat belt;His body is a blessing,Cars will be more economical,lettuce!
I wonder if you should know which part of the market can prevent further losses? The market and your reckless progress...I am famous for participating in the parent-child show"Where is Dad?",Also in late 2018,Introduce your career,Women have jobs.Low price,Unless you have strong hematopoietic capacity or bandwidth costs,Cheating companies have also cheered for fellow citizens...
The distance between the horizontal pipe clips is 600mm.Logically!1,After investigation.Although Zhang Benzhi and these two years are not very young,I was she had to go back to the cave,lemon,Never use plastic products as containers.
Swiper Slider
Headers & Footers
Icon Boxes
Calls to Action
Subscribe Form
Pricing Tables
Teams Page


text:
Victor Osimhen's fantastic debut season in France has earned him a place in Ligue 1's Team of the Season.
Osimhen who joined Lille in the summer of 2019 and went on to become their first-choice striker, scored 13 Ligue 1 goals to become the joint fourth-highest goal scorer alongside Paris Saint-Germain superstar Neymar.
The 21-year-old also managed four assists in the league before the season was suspended and then cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Nigeria international made the Team of the Season alongside names like Kylian Mbappé (Paris Saint-Germain), Neymar (Paris Saint-Germain), Renato Sanches (Lille), Marquinhos (Paris Saint-Germain), Dimitri Payet (Marseille), Marco Verratti (Paris Saint-Germain), Islam Slimani (Monaco), Thiago Silva (Paris Saint-Germain), Wissam Ben Yedder (Moanco), Memphis Depay (Lyon), Steve Mandanda (Marseille) and Benjamin André (Lille).
This recognition caps an incredible season for Osimhen who finished as Lille's highest goalscorer with 18 goals in all competition.
His impressive season has caught the attention of some huge clubs across Europe with the striker being linked with the likes of Napoli and Tottenham.


text:
Former Pakistan batting coach Grant Flower has issued an apology for his highly controversial revelation of the knife incident involving veteran batsman Younis Khan.
Flower had claimed that Younis once held a knife to his throat when he offered him batting advice, during a tour of Australia.
"I apologise for my remarks regarding Younis Khan," Flower had said.
"I gave that answer in response to a question, after the interview had finished, but I did not know that it would get so much hype in media," he added.
The 49-year-old had initially stated that Younis, who is currently the Men in Green's batting coach, was a tough player to handle despite being the highest scorer in the longest format for Pakistan.
"Younis Khan… quite tough to master. Obviously, a brilliant career. I remember one incident in Brisbane, during the Test, at breakfast I tried to give him a bit of batting advice, not that my career was anywhere near his regarding stats, as he is the highest scorer in Pakistan Test cricket," said Flower.
"But he didn't take kindly to my advice and brought a knife to my throat, with Mickey Arthur sitting alongside, who had to intervene. Yeah, it's been interesting. But that's part of coaching. It makes it a hell of a journey, and I've really enjoyed it. I've still got a lot to learn, but I'm very fortunate to be in the position I am," he added.
Flower served as Pakistan's batting coach in a tenure that started in 2014 and ended in 2019.


text:
Job Seekers, Welcome to AUA JobFinder
The job you tried to view is no longer active.
See similar jobs below or perform a new job search.
Sort By
201 'urology OR physician OR STATECODE:"OR"' Jobs
Regional, Florida
Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospital
5 Days Ago
Staten Island, New York
Northwell Health
1 Month Ago
Charlottesville, Virginia
University of Virginia
6 Days Ago
Jackson Physician Search
2 Days Ago
Savannah, Georgia
Urological Associates of Savannah, P.C.
1 Year Ago
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
University of Pittsburgh
2 Weeks Ago
Advanced Urology and Surgery Centers
2 Months Ago
Atlanta, Georgia
Advanced Health System
2 Months Ago
Jackson Physician Search
3 Weeks Ago
Milton, Florida
Community Health Systems
4 Weeks Ago
Ashley Regional Medical Center
2 Weeks Ago
St. Simons Island, Georgia
4 Days Ago
Urology of Virginia
5 Months Ago
Stanford, California
Stanford School of Medicine Department of Urology
11 Months Ago
Powered By
For Phone Support, please call: 1-888-491-8833 Ext. 1021 (Extension Required) Monday through Friday, 8:30 am EDT to 5:30 PM EDT or e-mail us a question by clicking here.
|© 2017 American Urological Association


text:
- Updated Feb 11, 2019 at 7:30pm
Every person gets date that is first, no real matter what age these are generally. After 50, a romantic date can feel especially intimidating. If you're recently divorced and now haven't had to carry on a very first date in a few years, those "getting right back on the market" jitters may be crippling.
Fortunately, you're not by yourself. A growing amount of older Us citizens are utilizing online dating sites to get companionship. While there are numerous internet dating sites online, unfortunately, only a few of these are senior-friendly.
Age bias is a thing that is real internet dating, especially on platforms like Tinder. The Washington Post has highlighted issues that are past age discrimination on Tinder. While Tinder isn't the many senior-friendly dating app out here, numerous options occur which can be perfect for the over 50 set.
Prepared to reunite available to you? We're right here to assist. We've compared all the most well known online dating sites, and zeroed in regarding the most useful senior internet dating sites for individuals 50 or above. You find someone wonderful to spend time with whether you're looking for something casual, or hoping to find the new love of your life, these mature dating sites and apps will help.
Keep reading to master which dating website for seniors will match you best. Please be aware that monthly prices can vary dependent on period of membership chosen, or as a result of marketing prices targeted towards choose users.
Do you know the mature that is best online dating sites for seniors?
- Most Prospective Partners: Match.com | $20.99/month
- Perfect for Marriage-Minded: eHarmony | $25.95/month
- Perfect for Seniors Looking For Seniors: Our Time | $15/month
- Most useful "H $29.95/month
- Perfect for Your Financial Allowance: SilverSingles.com | $12.95/month
Join Match.com right right here.
Everyone's heard of Match.com, in accordance with valid reason. It had been one of several earliest Internet internet dating sites, launched long ago in April 1995, also it's nevertheless going strong today.
Match is among the biggest sites that are dating here, with an incredible number of users around the globe. With many active users, your likelihood of locating a match that is perfect a lot higher than on a newer application with a smaller pool of active users.
Match.com is absolve to join, but compensated subscribers obtain access to many more functionality. Free people can only just develop a profile that is basic post photos, seek out matches, and send and receive Winks. A Wink is ways to casually show you're interested in some body, without the need to compose a real message. You can easily Wink at as much as 60 various users during a 24 hour duration.
To obtain the complete advantages of Match, you ought to put up a compensated registration. Only paid users have the ability to deliver communications, enjoy communications, or respond to messages. Paid users can additionally see that has seen their profile, filter down profiles that don't interest them, and attend real-life Match meetup occasions.
Free trials of paid advantages can be found to those people who haven't utilized Match in past times. Nevertheless, those trial that is free are delivered via e-mail by Match, which means you have actually to wait to be invited to take pleasure from a totally free trial period, that might be irritating for users who would like to begin finding matches straight away.
Match.com is a fit that is good those seeking to locate a partner inside their 50s or 60s. Due to the large, diverse pool of users, it is similarly well worthy of those to locate a dating that is mature or those available to dating some https://anastasiadates.net/fuck-marry-kill-review body considerably more youthful than their very own age. Whilst not solely for seniors, Match.com allows users choose a long time for prospective matches, up to the chronilogical age of 110.
This dating solution is perfect for: people who would you like to throw the widest feasible internet when trying to find an enchanting partner, those who find themselves enthusiastic about dating individuals who are more youthful than on their own.
Cost: Absolve To join. Paid account runs $20.99/month when you join one year. Or spend $23.99/month for 6 months, or $26.99/month for 3 months.
Join Match.com right here.
2. EHarmony
Register for eHarmony right right here.
EHarmony stands apart off their senior internet dating sites due to the give attention to compatibility and long-lasting partnering. The organization is well-known for its patented Compatibility Matching System®, made to assist users match with only folks who are profoundly appropriate for the other person.


text:
- February 10th, 2013
- Posted by CW Staff
- in Blue Jackets (NHL)
So much recently has gone against the Edmonton Oilers. The team was involved in a five-game losing streak coming into Sunday night's game against Columbus. And the Oilers had some shaky moments during the game, being outshot 40-14 and held to three shots in the final 30 minutes. But...


text:
DIY venue in Akron, Ohio! :)
Akron DIY venue on Rentschler Street. Sweaty basement, killer bands, overall decent time.
Still recovering from how amazing the fest was, and just wanted to say thank you to Mercy, Ben, Kevin, every band that played, the BTM crew, all the volunteers that made this possible, all the people who let us borrow equipment, and of course all of the wonderful people who came out. I am so lucky to be part of this scene and to have such amazing friends who helped make this possible. I love you all.
and a big f**k you to rain, seriously what the f**k
stay tuned for Bless This Fest 2: The Reckoning
-Brad ❤
[09/16/17] Thank you so much to all the bands that played last night and everyone who came to support them! If you liked what you heard, be sure to show them some love by checking out their pages 👍 they definitely deserve it
Akron Bless This Mess
Akron Bless This Mess's cover photo
Here we're allowed everything all the time
Summit Choral Society provides a continuum of musical training for young children through senior adults, produce exceptional choral performances, and preserve the art of choral music for the enrichment and enjoyment for the Greater Akron community,
Welcome to the House of Jazz Akron's only venue dedicated to live Jazz concerts & Wine Pop-up Parties! Tickets for all upcoming events can be found on www.eventbrite.com. Get them while you can, limited ticket sales available.
Hang with the Turtle and see the best in original Folk, Rock, Pop, Roots, Bluegrass and More performed live just for you and our cameras.
DIY promotion and booking outfit
Akron's Original Home For Live Music. For booking, please email [email protected]
The Historic Arts District's new Craft Beer and Choice Bourbon Bar. Located next to Uncorked Wine Bar.
In service of civic progress by bridging artists, businesses, and individuals through the facilitation of impactful, interactive, educational experiences
The Rubber City Noise Center for Audio/Visual Experimentation (contact: rubbercitynoise [at] gmail dot com)
E.J. Thomas Performing Arts Hall is owned and operated by The University of Akron for use by students and faculty of The University and by community and civic organizations active in the performing arts. Home of Broadway in Akron Series and more.
A FREE Calendar of Events for Singers, Songwriters & Acoustic Artists in Ohio. Also free to the Venues that promote and host Live Music, Open Mics and support our musical community. "It's All About The Music"