Why did I have this as a note / header to follow up on in August of 2018?

While poring over some of the interviews that the team gave, there was this small yet monumental detail: Nyashinski's team turned sponsors away for not meeting the production’s standard. Me, personally, I love it.

Yes, it’s true: The Showman Residency was just that damn good. marcusolang.substack.com/p/the-showma...

I've been working on this one for a while. We're all grieving. All the time. We're just not calling it that. marcusolang.substack.com/p/adulthood-...

Adulthood is a constant state of learning and discovery. Such as learning that a core untaught (and unrecognised) skill is constantly managing grief in all its different forms. This one may need pacing on your part. Definitely needed it on mine. marcusolang.substack.com/p/adulthood-...

Once upon a LinkedIn post, I made a comment - in jest - around how someone mentioned that I need to learn to speak "the language of the platform".

Having a conversation with Johnstone Oltetia gives you the distinct impression of a person whose every waking moment revolves around solving one very specific puzzle - and no intention of letting it go.

Having a conversation with Johnstone Oltetia gives you the distinct impression of a person whose every waking moment revolves around solving one very specific puzzle - and no intention of letting it go.

I don't know who needs to hear this, but don't lie to your nurses and doctors. Even on that one thing you're embarrassed about. Your continued heartbeat may literally hinge upon that one thing you're withholding from them. DON'T LIE TO YOUR MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS.

Grief has no manners. Whenever you start to think you're OK, at the very moment you close your eyes to take in a deep breath, it seizes the opportunity: appears out of nowhere, licks its right hand, pauses a bit, then lands the sloppiest slap to your left cheek. So mannerless.

"Ghost."

Last day of 2025. With a photoshoot to wrap it up. And a quiet, firm, just-in-time affirmation with it. May the new calendar be kind to all that live in kindness.

Hi. Hello. Shikamoo. Have you taken a moment to yourself this week? How about today - have you had a moment to breathe today? How about now? Take it. Take a moment. Just... be. Here's a picture of flowers. Flowers are always nice.

Let me tell you a fun little thing about my latest video post on IG. Tried captioning it through the Edits app. Started well. Until. Until about halfway through. When I mention "Palestine". Then all of a sudden, the Edits app issues a notice. "No speech detected."

The nature of writing: Draft after draft after draft. Some drafts feel like gold when you finish them. Then you take a short walk, cast your eye upon them one more time, and what you thought was gold turns into a turd. Then that turd becomes fertiliser for a fresh draft. Next one feels better.

Off my latest, “On Raila Odinga: This will be… complex.” open.substack.com/pub/marcusol... "He contained multitudes. And we, as a nation, projected our own multitudes onto him. Our hopes, fears, resentments, dreams... a screen onto which we projected the complex, fractured nature of our identity."

I found this nuanced analysis by Marcus Olang' (@marcusolang.substack.com) helpful and insightful, on the complex, convoluted, painful and contradictory legacy of the late Raila Odinga in Kenya open.substack.com/pub/marcusol...

My new piece, “On Raila Odinga: This will be… complex.” Yet it still didn't leave me enough room to delve into the complexities as much as I had in mind. In a Part 2, perhaps. Still, given life's nuances, I make what I believe is a fair attempt at balance. marcusolang.substack.com/p/on-raila-o...

“In his last seconds of public discourse, his instinct was not to engage, not to reflect, but to casually insinuate and divide... No grand statement. No compelling closing argument. Just... deflection. Seconds later, the sound of a pop. Screams. Chaos.” marcusolang.substack.com/p/charlie-kirk

Been nagging me what it is about the iPhone 17 Pro that feels so familiar yet so out of place. It just hit me: It reminds me of a suitcase.

I watched the latest Apple Event. I had... thoughts. marcusolang.substack.com/p/church-of-...

I fell asleep editing this, phone in hand. Happy blood moon. May your beloveds find joy at the sound of your voice, and may your enemies shudder at the mention of your name.

If you know the proprietors of this place along Kiambu Road, please tell them to fix that sign. Those two missing letters are very important for clarity and context. Thanks for your attention to this matter.

"For the longest (deliberate Kenyanese is deliberate), I used language as outfits: English suit for the office, nice Swahili kanzu for my time in Diani, comfortable jeans & t-shirt of Sheng or Dholuo with family/friends, soupçon of French when feeling fancy…" marcusolang.substack.com/p/it-started...

"And right there is the punchline to this long, historical joke... The machine, in its quest to sound authoritative, ended up sounding like a KCPE graduate who scored an 'A' in English Composition. It replicated the linguistic ghost of the British Empire." marcusolang.substack.com/p/im-kenyan-...

"When you see our work, what are you really seeing? Are you seeing a robot's soulless prose? Or are you seeing the image of our Standard 8 English teacher, Mrs. Amollo, her voice reminding us to connect our paragraphs with a suitable linking phrase?" open.substack.com/pub/marcusol...

Nairobi, Kenya | July 2nd, 2025.

Calvins Omondi Onditi. Found dead in his cell Sunday morning. - arrested around midnight. - taken to Kipasi Police Post 3 hours after his arrest. - officers tell family he was transferred to Mbita. - family start going to Mbita, then called back to Kipasi. - "suicide". nation.africa/kenya/counti...

At a protest. About the killing. Of a Kenyan. In the police custody. A police officer. Shot an unarmed man. In the head. And casually walked away. An unarmed man. Selling masks. Minding his business. Shot in the head. Literally minding his business.

What happens when you take some fresh sloppy cow dung, spray air freshener on it, and put it back on the ground? That’s right: It’s still cow dung.

Earlier: The beauty goes beyond sun and sunshine.

Your MP/ MCA/ senator/ governor should be your paid activist. Your president should be your paid activist. You're PAYING them. Their literal job is to act IN YOUR INTEREST. But because they aren't doing the jobs they SWORE AN OATH to do, they have to be minded. Tunaelewana?

One of the things that stayed with me about this day was the genuine humanity amongst Kenyans. I saw street vendors, of their own volition, offering up bottle of drinking water.

I've been under a self-imposed expectation - an elective delusion - that whenever I share a picture, it must be accompanied by an elaborate essay with the backstory, or the thoughts it inspired. No more. Images shall henceforth be presented as the moment wills it. Starting now. #SliceOfLife

I have a deep love for stories. Always have. I credit my childhood and upbringing for that. So imagine what it feels like to have such a core part of who you are incapacitated at its very root. marcusolang.substack.com/p/my-brain-i...

Uncontacted by “who?” i am sure they contact each other. Y’all need to leave them alone!

Following today's #EndFemicideKE, seeing the violence shamefully meted out, we'll start to see paid actors ramping up divisive narratives around 3 specific themes: 1. "What about boychild" / "femicide is a myth". 2. Tribe. (Distraction) 3. "Funding". Their angles stay predictable.

Kenyan women are the absolute greatest.

“Use what you have.” It’s a mantra I turn to whenever that voice in my head starts those whispers. You know, the ones that try telling you how unprepared or ill-equiped you are. And yet.

My milkshakes Bring all the boys to the yard And they're like "This electric fence on a massive private farm next to a wildlife park is a symptom of so much that is wrong with this country"

Added a filter for regions bsky.app/profile/asoy...

Got tired of Kenya Power's annoying pdf for the scheduled interruptions, so i made Gizani gizani.vercel.app