Of Death and Friendship
This is by way of tribute to an old classmate in SS3B who passed into eternal glory of recent. Man is a spirit who has a soul and dwells in a body. Therefore, man does not die. We only translate from our […]
Category: INSPIRATI
MARRIAGE; the end of all achievements in the world?
Dear readers, This is to introduce a very special guest writer to you, a wordsmith…her name is Omobolanle Adeyemo. Her writings would be featured from time to time on this page. Please drop your comments. Thank you. She desperately wanted to get […]
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The Genesis…
It all started in the month of March, 2012. I was bored. I was working in a cocoa industry(FMCG). Those were the days the alarm woke you up by five and you cursed and reluctantly dragged yourself out of bed, feeling so […]
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It all started in the month of March, 2012. I was bored. I was working in a cocoa industry(FMCG). Those were the days the alarm woke you up by five and you cursed and reluctantly dragged yourself out of bed, feeling so sad that you still had to go to work again. We, my colleagues and I always prayed for fridays to come. Friday was a day you went to work happy and relaxed. No matter the missiles and unnecessary garbage thrown at you, you simply smiled and worked on knowing you would not be there the next day and the next. Life was becoming a bore and work was even more monotonous.
So I whined and complained to my friend, tynukehbadmus(a microbiologist/biochemist inside the lab) until she gave me some blog addresses to read stories online. So I started escaping to the food lab downstairs to connect to the internet and read during off peak periods at work….until I was caught by my boss nicknamed ‘drogba’. You simply don’t want to hear about him(lol) so, let’s boycott his story. He was larger than life, almost like a principality…
I was loaded with more monotonous responsibilties as a result of this. Then, I complained to my friend again. I didn’t see her everyday because she ran shifts. She then said “why don’t you start your own blog?” I gave her one thousand and one reasons why it wasn’t possible. She countered some of them but it got me thinking and fired me up. She wrote out the addresses of some publishers for me to contact so I could publish my book. I collected it but never did.
However, on the 28th March(four days after my birthday- yes, March is a special month), I was in my small apartment playing around on my phone when I suddenly discovered and developed my own blog like play. This was how Yetunde Olasiyan’s blog was birthed. I became excited. I was amazed. And I started with juicy stories…
Two years down the line, almost four thousand views, many ‘likes’ later, even though I’ve become a lazy writer lately, I am grateful to God and to you, readers. I am happy to have come this far. I remember the stories that got the most attention on this blog such as “lessons my father taught me”, silly stupid thinz etc. I hope to bring up these posts again to commemorate our two years anniversary. And not to worry, ‘boarding house memoirs’ comes up soon too. I am most grateful to all the people who have been urging me on one way or the other, my fans abroad, friends and colleagues… We did this together. Cheers to you….we shall pop champagne on the 28th. If you are interested, drop your comments and the venue would be communicated to you.
Yetunde Olasiyan
March 2014.
Posted from WordPress for BlackBerry.
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Setting the record….
I’ve had a lot of people walk up to me and ask why I do what I do(writing). After perusing my educational background- degree, schools attended etc people look perplexed, asking if I somehow misplaced my priorities along the line (very funny, […]
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I’ve had a lot of people walk up to me and ask why I do what I do(writing). After perusing my educational background- degree, schools attended etc people look perplexed, asking if I somehow misplaced my priorities along the line (very funny, isn’t it?) This is indeed why I need to set the record straight so that I won’t need to answer these questions again, at least not to close friends and colleagues anymore. I believe friends who went to school with me shouldn’t be the one asking these questions but some of them still do. Maybe curiosity…
The truth of the matter is that I am originally an art-oriented person. My decision was to study mass communication or international relations. Well, those were my junior secondary school dreams. I had a big brother who was in the famous and highly sought after Wesley College and to cap it off, he was a prominent member of JETS club. And so he regaled us with gists about his friends in school, how they did four subjects a day instead of the regular eight subjects per day in my school, how they read in advance and asked questions in class. We were all intrigued. He wrote GCE in SS2 and had some distinctions. Mr Banji gave him a gift and boasted to high heavens. He had it in mind to be a medical doctor…yes, he eventually became one.
Now, the decision was made for me to write the entrance exam into this special school and I considered it a privilege. By this time, my brother had graduated. I wrote and passed. I didn’t see a big deal in attending a college of science. At this time, I was not yet a writer, I had written nothing before. However, the inherent abilities in me right from childhood were reading novels, newspapers, magazines and I passed English Language excellently. Aside this, there was nothing else.
By the time I gained admission into the college of science, as a fresh man in SS1,one day, I didn’t sleep far into the night and I started to write. It was a poem and it was my first attempt at writing and I like it. I was ecstatic. I ran and showed it to my brother. That was how I discovered myself through poetry. Then, I went on to write regularly for Tribune(poems mostly), participated in essay competitions(which I won mostly) and I knew I had found my path.
Nevertheless, I am not worried that writing has displaced my scientific practice(research/laboratory things). I believe that I am just going back to what I was originally destined to do. I am, however, very fortunate to have attended a college of science and a university of technology before going fully into writing. Biology is the study of nature, it further taught me how to write.
I have a long list of men and women who went into medical practice and other core professions and now combine it together with writing. There is even an organic linkage between literature and medicine which dates back to ancient times when the ancient greeks recognised and honoured the connection by placing both medicine and poetry under the dominion of Phoebus Apollo, their god of the sun. The invocation of Apollo as the patron of Medicine and Poetry stems from the belief that the Physician and the Writer can both be healers. Yes, writing is therapeutic, for me.
A writer like the late Chinua Achebe began but didn’t finish medical school. He was a celebrated writer. Everyone knows. By contrast, William Somerset Maughan finished his studies but never practised. Wale Okediran is a medical doctor, a prolific writer and a former parliamentarian-he has a blooming literary career which has now overshadowed his medical practice. Famous literary physicians include Oliver Goldsmith, John Keat, Tony Marinho, Femi Olugbile among others, who were able to combine literature with medical practice.
As a writer, I consider it my duty to tell the story around me in the best way possible. Not that I go around writing people’s personal stories and as such I get pissed when my friends say ‘don’t go and put my story on your blog o’. I also believe the duty of a writer is to write as honestly as possible what the society considers ‘unspeakable’.
Somebody should ask me about my initial childhood dream of studying mass communication or international relations.
Well, dreams do come true if you don’t give up on it and yourself. I got two opportunities to study international affairs and diplomacy(postgraduate level) at two prestigious universities at different times. While I declined one, am already pursuing the other.
Now, for mass communication, I have had the opportunity of learning what it entails without going to the four walls of a uni. I had the opportunity to work with NTA Ogbomoso back then in school and it was a unique experience. I had the opportunity of working on-air at a radio station in ibadan which I later declined through Mr Banji( a yoruba popular radio programme which many people would remember if I mention the name). Then, finally, I have had my major fulfilling work experience in a newspaper company.
I didn’t lose anything afterall. I thank God for making me to go through Wesley College and Uni where my skills were birthed and nurtured, where I met great people who are all doing well in different spheres of life. Keep believing in your dreams.
I hope I have been able to answer people’s questions. Further questions should be directed to me here on this blog and I would reply in the comment box. Thanks for reading
Yetunde Olasiyan
Posted from WordPress for BlackBerry.
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MY PLACE IN LIFE
where next?