Reading List | Single Mothers, Women in Technology, Pro-Choice and Rev Njoya

Here's today's reading list. J.K. Rowling writes on her life as a single mother in the UK, even after making tons of money from the Harry Potter series. Find out how this is relevant to Kenya.

The New York Times ran a revealing profile on women in Silicon Valley. We attempt to compare this to Kenya with research and articles on Kenyan women.

Rev Njoya calls out Kenya's clergy and scholars. We are not asking that you vote for the referendum as Njoya suggests, but we ask that you listen to what he has to say. Too many times we follow religious leaders blindly, and fail to think critically.

Hate speech is making its way from the Kenyan blogosphere into emails and text messages. What is the government's responsibility? Following Dec 2007 and the post election violence, how does the government regulate mediums of information without using executive arbitrary powers? Through the courts?

Pray the Devil Back to Hell (Review)

The rebels fought for resources. Charles Taylor fought to stay in power. Young boys were recruited to fight in a war they barely understood. And the women of Liberia, they fought for survival, theirs and Liberia’s.

Pray the Devil Back to Hell is a gripping, tear-jerking, yet empowering story of the resilience of the human spirit and the capacity of our survival instinct to triumph over the greatest challenges.

Read the rest of Nekessa's review here.

Deconstructing and Reconstructing Gender

When the Jamaican reggae maestro, Jimmy Cliff sung “Many Rivers to Cross” in far-flung Jamaica in 1972, the philosophical thread was certainly universal binding all struggling people who may or may not have envisioned the connection. But as one decodes the encrypted archeological relics of the living legend and the Noble Peace Laureate, Wangari Maathai , in her memoir: “Unbowed,” there is no doubt that she has wandered across many rivers—the pain, the frustration, the persecution and the humiliations finally gave way to the authentic and infectious smile on the back page of her book. 

A review on Wangari Maathai's Unbowed. 

When the New York Times forgot about the women

The New York Times ran a special food-themed issue of its Sunday magazine a week back. It was kicked off by a fine piece by Mark Bittman, who observed quite rightly that the conversation being had in the magazine’s pages reflects America’s new, and healthy, interest in what they’re eating.

Indeed, just a few years ago, it would have been difficult to imagine this sort of interest, and even harder to imagine that the New York Times would countenance the sorts of politics espoused in Michael Pollan’s Farmer in Chief essay, or David Reiff’s subtle dissection of the Gates Foundation’s African Adventures.

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Sexual Abuse in Schools

In high school, he had sexual relations with at least one girl every year. These were always rumors, and I did not believe them. In fact, I felt sorry for the girls whose names I thought were being smeared. He was my Geography teacher.

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women and trousers

For two days this week, I have listened to Maina Kageni and Mwalimu King'ang'i play their usual roles of good cop/bad cop, but listening to the male callers contribute their opinions on women and trousers gave me an unusual peak into how some brains belonging to some Kenyan men work!

To say the least, it left me on the brink of concluding that only really stupid male chauvinists call radio stations! I say brink as I have heard some of those men argue intelligently on other matters!

Read more from the Imagine Diaries.

Are you a virgin?

"Are you a virgin?" a friend of mine asked his fiancée one day. The lady looked at him and, without blinking, vowing to herself to be truthful, said that she wasn't.

Click on the title to read more.