Ore's Notes

"I live in the land of what's possible"

2012-10-06T01:44:00.001+01:00

Nora Denzel, Technical Executive and Board Member, SABA and Overland, delivers the keynote speech at the 2012 Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing Conference in Baltimore, Maryland. This is an amazing and very inspiring talk by Nora Denzel. Filled with wit and insight, it will encourage any woman working in technology and those who are planning to do great things in life. She ended her talk with two quotes. Well, the first was hers; she declared that the top reason she's lasted so long in a technology career is because she's not afraid of every opportunity or challenge that comes her way, but because she "lives in the land of what's possible." She went on to share a quote that has been her guiding mantra from the start of her career and co-incidentally recently found out that it was by Grace Hopper. Grace Hopper said: "Ships in the port are safe, but that's not what ships are meant to do."

Article: What I Know About Sisters Now That I'm in my 50s

2012-08-21T22:51:00.000+01:00

And continuing the series in Huffington Post, here is another installment. This one exploring what the writer, Barbara Hannah Grufferman, has discovered about having a sister in her 50-something years.

Article: What I Know About Having a Sister Now that I'm in my 30s

2012-08-09T09:00:00.000+01:00

It appears that it's a series in the Huffington Post and I look forward to the next ones. So, today we read about What I Know About Having a Sister Now that I'm in my 30s by Jill Di Donato.

Article: What I Know About Having A Sister Now That I'm In My 20's

2012-08-08T09:00:00.000+01:00

Awww.... aren't sisters the best? This article from the Huffington Post by Jessica Pearce Rotondi made me miss mine all the more.

Blog Find: Sporty Afros

2012-08-07T06:00:00.000+01:00

New discovery!!!!!!

In the firestorm of "Oh no! She diin't"-type comments that ensued from disparaging comments made last week on Twitter about the US gymnast and gold medalist Gabby Douglas, I discovered the blog Sporty Afros.

The tagline says it all: Where sports and hair collide.

Sporty Afros’ mission is to establish a social platform for fitness and effective hair care for black women.

Sporty Afros seeks to be a one stop shop for questions, discussions, tips and answers about living an active lifestyle in conjunction with establishing and maintaining healthy hair regimens.

My new plan is to stay off the extension braids and pay more attention to my hair. I read a post on Black Girl Long Hair a couple of months ago, which highlighted some important reasons to limit our use of extensions.

Key among them was that we tend to neglect our hair when it's in braids. However, braids or not, weaves or not, our hair still needs to be washed, conditioned and moisturised - steps that are all too easy to neglect when we have extensions in.

However, if you exercise regularly and sweat, you'll be confronted with the question of how to look good while working out and even more importantly after you work out.

Sporty Afros addresses these concerns and more. Although I don't remember seeing any explicit statements that the hair care tips were for natural hair, the "afros" in the name seems to imply this.

Now On! The 5th W.TEC Girls Technology Camp

2012-08-06T22:50:00.000+01:00

What a long way W.TEC has come.....

On Friday, we received our latest batch of girls for this year's Technology Camp.

The W.TEC Girls Technology Camp is an initiative aimed at helping secondary school students develop technology literacy skills and gain an awareness of career options related to technology, science and engineering. The long-term goal is to increase the numbers of women working with and using information technology productively for professional and leadership activities.

During the camp, the girls participate in technology workshops and leadership activities. Evaluations of previous camps show enhanced leadership skills; creativity; and problem-solving and communication abilities in the girls as a result of attending the camp.

The camp's uniqueness lies in it's girls-only design. The camp is also a residential programme and for the 2-week duration of the camp, 30 girls live and learn about the exciting opportunities that information technology presents for learning, working and living in the 21st century.

Stay tuned for updates from the camp and check out photographs from last year's camp.

Anita Borg Change Agent Award Winners Announced

2012-08-06T22:30:00.000+01:00

The Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology today announced the winners of the Change Agent awards. The winners will be be honored at the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing later this year.

Anita Borg Change Agent Awards: Dr. Ramalatha Marimuthu, Professor and Head of Department, Kumaraguru College of Technology; Maria Dubovitskaya, pre-doctoral researcher at IBM Research - Zurich and Ph.D. candidate at ETH Zurich; and Evelyn Namara, Program Coordinator at Solar Sister.

I won the Change Agent award in 2009 and it was a wonderful honour and gave me the opportunity to attend the Grace Hopper Celebration for Women in Computing, which was an exciting and encouraging event for any technical or aspiring technical woman.

The other award announced include the Anita Borg Social Impact Award, which goes to Cathi Rodgveller, Founder and coordinator of IGNITE (Inspiring Girls Now In Technology Evolution) and Nontraditional Career Counselor at Seattle Public Schools.

I had the pleasure to speak at a program organised by the Nigerian chapter of IGNITE. The importance of female mentors cannot be over-emphasised and this meet-up with girls from selected secondary schools confirmed this. The other speaker and I were bombarded with questions.

Visit the Anita Borg website to learn about the other award winners.

The Anita Borg Institute seeks to: 1.) Increase the impact of women on all aspects of technology, and 2.) Increase the positive impact of technology on the world’s women.

Sis

2012-06-28T00:46:00.000+01:00

I was recently reminded by a friend of this post of mine from 2006, which I wrote in commemoration of International Women's Day.

In it, I talked about how much I respected my sister and what I had learned (and was still learning) from her (see the last but one paragraph). Sigh. I miss her so much. I can hardly believe that she is gone and in a way that could have been prevented. I can't let myself be burnt out by anger (although I have been through that phase and it still re-surfaces).

Many people have said that time will heal the pain. Others have reminded me that God is the ultimate comforter, while some others have told me that it is important to talk about her and keep her memory alive as much as I'm comfortable with. I look forward to the pain lessening over time. I look forward to a time when I can think of her, things she said, her mannerisms and still smile through it.

People have told me that in time I might struggle to even remember what she looked like or her voice. Oh my goodness, I hope not!

There is so much to celebrate about her short-yet-purposeful life. She wasted no time on things that did not appeal to her or which she thought would add no value to her life. She was driven to make our bookshop a success and was diligent in documenting processes and transactions.

And when I think about it, the way she lived is really the best way to live. Our time on this earth is a finite resource (despite how it might seem right now) and you don't want to fritter it unduly. You don't want to waste precious hours in activities that you neither enjoy or which serve no purpose to your over-arching goals just for the sake of 'being nice.' It's not to say that you don't have fun or put yourself out for others sometimes, but keep your eye on what really matters - the big picture.

My sister had a vision statement for her life, which I came across this week. Again, I was struck by how determined she was to make the most of her life. I have no written vision statement for my life, although I do have some clear ideas of how I want to live this life of mine.

So now, although the loss of my sister is easily the most devastating experience of my life, it cannot have happened to no avail. This is a very painful reminder to me to live for what's important: God, serving Him, making time for family and friends, pursuing my interests, among others. I'm going to try to articulate this in the form of a vision statement for my life. I'm going to be more mindful of how I spend my time and especially not think that things will fall apart in the office if I don't spend all my hours working. So many thoughts have run through my mind over this last few weeks about what I should do more of or less of.

Most importantly - for now, I will allow myself all the time I need to grieve and not be too bothered by those who tell me not to cry or to "be strong" or "be strong for my parents." We all need to support each other now. And we all need time to heal.

Transition

2012-06-25T00:20:00.002+01:00

The filmmaker Zina Saro-Wiwa presents an Op-Doc on black women’s decision to embrace their naturally kinky hair, rather than use chemical straighteners. She discusses in this article why she chose to appear in the documentary.
Source: New York Times website

A New Day

2012-05-31T03:56:00.000+01:00

Quite literally - as it's 2.10AM.

However, for Ore's Notes, it is a break from the past in a MAJOR way: I have finally updated the look of the blog.

I believe my blog has been thus far remarkable, among many others, for the constancy if its look. And for a long, long time I just really liked my old look. But there does get to a point when you crave something different. And that time came for me at least 2 years ago. However, when I thought about losing all the tweaks I had made to my old template, I stopped right there.

Eventually though, my itch for a fresh look won out and I started experimenting with new templates. In the course of doing that, I discovered that Blogger has some very cool dynamic templates, however these did not show up in my Blackberry and stats, as well as casual observation indicates that more people's online activities are via a mobile device.

This will be just the start of an evolving look, but for now, it's amazing what a difference a new template makes. All of a sudden, I feel more excited just visiting my blog.

And when I look at my previous blog designs (courtesy of the very cool Wayback Machine), I realise how long I've been around.

Ore's Notes (2006)

Ore's Notes (2011)

Black Women Swim

2012-05-30T01:09:00.000+01:00

If you love to swim and you're on Facebook (how could you not be?), check out this page: Black Women Swim.

You'll find links to resources and plenty of advice and encouragement for black women who swim. What I found most impressive about Siana C's page are the tips she shares for women with natural hair who swim. Dealing with hair is an oft-cited reason by many black women for not swimming. And it's honestly no better among women with natural hair. Well, Siana not only wear her hair naturally, but she has a lot of it. So what's anyone's excuse?

Best Job | P&G London 2012 Olympic Games Film

2012-05-26T12:45:00.001+01:00

Procter & Gamble has a wonderful new advert celebrating mothers and especially the hard work that Mums do that leads to Olympic athletes. Source: www.youtube.com/watch?v=NScs_qX2Okk

Black Women Swimming (or Not!)

2012-05-23T16:42:00.000+01:00

I know very few people who can swim. For women who can't swim, there's always the running joke that it's due to the fear of messing up our hair.

Now, I just read a New York Times article that talks about studies that showed that "many Africans were avid swimmers when they were brought over as slaves", however "most slaves born in the United States were not allowed to learn to swim because it was a means of escape. That created generations of nonswimmers and spawned the myth that African-Americans could not swim." Imagine that!

Segregation, in the following years, compounded the problem because it meant that blacks were kept out of many pools and beaches.

In Nigeria, this cannot be the reasons that there are relatively few swimmers. Knowing how to swim requires having someone to teach you and ready access to swimmable bodies of water. And when you can't swim, you can't teach your children how to either. When you have fears about swimming, you tend to pass these on to your children.

It's important to learn to swim, as it could potentially save your life one day.

Art Show @ Nimbus Gallery (Starts May 18)

2012-05-18T00:59:00.001+01:00

I remember when I first moved back and was often parched for something fun and artsy to do over the weekend. Well, how things have changed. This weekend is shaping up quite nicely.

Here's something else for you art lovers out there.

12 artists of the new firebrand group will exhibit and show a documentary film on Yusuf Grillo, David Dale, Nike Okundaye, JD Ojeikere.

Opening: Friday, May 18
Venue: Nimbus Art Gallery
Time: 5PM

Exhibiting Artists: Agbezin Dele George, Akintoye Segun Shiigo, Arueya Joel, Bob-Nosa Nwagboe, Dimkpa Sunday, babalola Lawson, Lucky Isaiah, Linda Adeniyi, Muyiwa Owoeye-Wise, Omede Marvin, Abayomi Sokenu, Tina Adebowale

NAIJ: A History of Nigeria

2012-05-18T00:47:00.000+01:00

I saw this docu-film NAIJ: A History of Nigeria this evening at the LifeHouse.

The 2007 film by director Jide Olanrewaju, tells the story of Nigeria through its tumultuous transition from British Colony to Oil State. Using a combination of rarely seen archive footage, historical papers and interviews, the film attempts to explain how Nigeria has developed into the country it is today while shining a light on some of the individuals whose actions have helped shape the nation.

Whether you agree with the views of the director as presented in this film, you will relish the video, audio and newspaper footage shown in the film. It was a revelation for me to hear the voices of Tafawa Balewa and to learn how Anglicised he sounded. And indeed most of the early political leaders spoke in very polished tones. It was interesting to see how this changed over the years.

The director Jide is not a professional film-maker nor has any formal training. He made this film on his home computer over a period of 2 years. Working as an investment banker in mergers & acquisitions, his typical work day ended at 2am, after which he would return home and spend an hour on the film.

I was stunned to learn of his dedication to this and made me realise that, if you're sufficiently motivated, you can do anything.

This is a trailer for the film.

I'm not sure how you can get to see the whole film, but I commented at the Q&A that many Nigerians need to see it.

Read posts on Naij: - My Random Thoughts - Afrogreek

Keziah Jones Live at the Jazzhole

2012-05-18T00:22:00.002+01:00

Keziah Jones & the African Anarchist Corporation presents Uncle Fem’s Long Grain Funk – Live at the Jazzhole
in “an evening of theatre, music, digital manipulations and audience interactivity curated by Keziah Jones”

Date: Sunday 20th May 2012
Time: 4-6PM (prompt)
Fee: N 3,500
Venue: Jazzhole, 168 Awolowo Road, Ikoyi

Concert at Jazzhole (Sunday, May 13 2012)

2012-05-09T00:29:00.000+01:00

Jazzhole presents a concert featuring bass player Wole Adamolekun and the Dynamic Quartet. Date: Sunday, May 13 2012 Time: 4- 6PM (prompt) Venue: Jazzhole, 168 Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, Lagos

Book Reading: Bobo Omotayo at Patabah Books, Surulere (Sat. May 5, 2012)

2012-05-01T21:32:00.000+01:00

You're invited to a book reading at Patabah Books. See below for details. Bobo Omotayo, author of "London Life Lagos Living" will be reading excerpts from his book at our store!
London Life, Lagos Living is an exciting collection of short stories inspired by the author’s adventures through work, love, and play. The author Bobo Omotayo has contributed as a columnist and freelance writer to several print and online newspapers and magazines including The Guardian, NEXT, Business Day, TW, and BellaNaija.com.
Venue: Shop B18, Adeniran Ogunsanya Shopping Mall (Shoprite), Adeniran Ogunsanya Street, Surulere, Lagos.
Date: Saturday, 5th May, 2012.
Time: 3-5pm We look forward to seeing you there.

Lagos Museum Hosts All Female Art Exhibition

2012-04-28T08:30:00.000+01:00

From the Guardian: The 5th International All Female Art Exhibition tagged Colours and Creativity, showcasing painting, sculptor, textile and leather designs will run from May 5 - 16 at the exhibition hall of the National Museum, Onikan, Lagos. There will be a roundtable discussion on May 9 dwelling on topics such as Risk Management and Insurance for Creatives, which will be coordinated by Development Initiatives Network and The Woman and Her Creativity: Cooperation or Conflict by Juliet Ezenwa-Pierce.

Girls in ICT Day in Nigeria

2012-04-26T20:57:00.000+01:00

For the first time, Nigeria celebrates International Girls in ICT Day today April 26. The International Girls in ICT Day is celebrated on each fourth Thursday in April, when girls will have the possibility to get themselves acquainted with the opportunities for education and work in the ICT field. The objective is to make ICT familiar to girls, and to present to them the jobs within this sector, as well as to motivate them to opt for a career related to these technologies. International Girls' Day is an initiative launched through Resolution 70 (Guadalajara) by the International Telecommunications Union with the idea creating a global environment that will empower and encourage girls and young women to consider careers in the field of information and communication technologies. Activities in Nigeria include:

A week-long Technology Camp hosted by Women's Technology Empowerment Centre - W.TEC in Lagos (April 23 - 27)
A 1-day Girls Day celebration hosted by eBusiness magazine at Golden Gate, Kingsway Road, Ikoyi, Lagos (April 26, 10am - 2pm)
An ICT eContest organised by Women in Technology in Nigeria - WITIN (April 26 - August 31)

Learn more Nigeria's Girls in ICT Day celebrations. Meanwhile enjoy this video put together by Facebook to encourage more women into technology careers.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Gives Commonwealth Lecture 2012

2012-04-26T17:47:00.000+01:00

The author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was selected to give the 2012 Commonwealth Lecture. She shares her thoughts on many things, including her influences, the power books have had in her life, what propelled her to write Half of a Yellow Sun, and Africa as depicted in literature. Start watching from the 10.00 point.

Visiting Bruce Onobrakpeya

2012-04-24T17:40:00.000+01:00

On Saturday, I had the pleasure of visiting the home of the artist Bruce Onobrakpeya. He has been called a "national treasure." A walk through his home gives a little glimpse why. As you walk through the gate, you are greeted with installation pieces. The flight of steps that rises from the ante room is covered in oil paintings, water colours, plastographs and installation work.

Upstairs is his work room and out of the turmoil emerges the beautiful work that I saw everywhere. His work is notable for its diversity. He is not an artist who works within one particular medium. He experiments and learns from other artists, including from his students. These influences are evident in a myriad of ways from the materials he chooses to use, from the way he presents the work.

Photo Credit: Ore's Notes

The stairwell in the Onobrakpeya house. It took me at least 15 minutes to move up one flight of steps.

Photo Credit: Ore's Notes

Inside the artist's workshop.

Photo Credit: Ore's Notes

Work in progress.

Photo Credit: Ore's Notes

The artist talks about this installation piece, created in celebration for Nigeria's 50th year of independence.

Photo Credit: Ore's Notes

Bruce Onabrakpeya uses all kinds of materials - including lace fabric - in his work. Waste not. Want not.

Photo Credit: Ore's Notes

Full view of the 50th independence installation piece.

Photo Credit: Ore's Notes

The artist signs one of his paintings.

The Bruce Onobrakpeya Foundation organises the Harmattan Workshop for artists, which is supported by the Ford Foundation amongst other funders.

Do you want to support a worthy cause? Then think about the Bruce Onabrakpeya Foundation.

Tayari Jones - Coming Soon

2012-04-20T23:30:00.000+01:00

One of my favourite writers is Tayari Jones and I love her work for her bold storylines. Not for her, the perfect lead character. Neither does she go in the opposite direction with completely unlikeable characters. No, her characters are complex and multi-layered. In short, they are as human as you or I.

The first book of hers I read was The Untelling. I read it several years ago and the main character, Aria stayed with me for a long time afterwards. I can't say much about it without giving major parts of the plot away, but I will say that something Aria did not say (an impression she does not 'untell') caused her to drift into a situation that spun faster and wider than she could have imagined.

Tayari is fearless in creating fully-fleshed characters who sometimes make horrible decisions. You - the reader - know already that the end will not be a good one for the character. But they are like that friend who knows the right thing to do but chooses a different path. You can smell the very likely dangers on the horizon, but you can't do much to stop it.

Tayari is equally as bodacious in her third and most recent novel Silver Sparrow, where she explores the subject bigamy. I admire that the themes of her novels are as different from each other as can be - child murders, infertility, bigamy - and yet each uses these subjects as vehicles to explore our desires and weaknesses as human beings.

I follow Tayari's blog, Facebook and Twitter accounts and I'm constantly astonished at how she can produce such a prodigious amount of content on her social media channels and still get work done. I can only conclude that she has sharply-developed time management skills and is extremely efficient at getting down to brass tacks when it's time for work.

She has been at Radcliffe on a writing fellowship since last year and the Harvard Gazette wrote a piece on an event where she shared excerpts of her new novel-in-progress, Dear History. I cannot wait until this new book is completed and published. I know that no matter what it's about, I will get it and I will love it.

Swimming: Phelps & Pride

2012-04-13T01:10:00.007+01:00

I’ve (inadvertently) had a swimming-themed weekend. For the last few weeks I’ve been reading Micheal Phelps’ memoir No Limits: The Will to Succeed. The book charts his journey to swimming success, starting off from his childhood in Baltimore, Maryland in the US to his astounding feat of winning eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

I’ve always had a lot of respect for sports people and kind of regretted that I was not more of an athlete (but that couldn’t be helped – I was useless at virtually every sport I tried in school). The only thing I was sort of okay at was swimming and even that, I didn’t develop with any seriousness. So, it was interesting to read what it takes to become an Olympian and more so a gold medalist. The other sports memoirs and autobiographies, which I’ve read (Dara Torres’ Age is Just a Number and Andre Agassi’s Open) also gave a powerful insight into the demands on the athlete’s body, mind, will and lifestyle.

I think that participating in sports is a very good way to develop discipline, the ability to work hard, and learning to work in a team but yet be an individual (for instance, choosing to swim laps or practice your shots when everyone else is sleeping in). It is also a wonderful way to learn how to handle life’s vicissitudes. Sometimes you will win and other times, you will not. This fact is taken for granted in sports: today’s champion might have been yesterday’s underdog and almost surely will be knocked off their pedestal one day by a younger, faster and stronger challenger.

Anyway, back to the book by Michael Phelps, it was an engaging read. I was not impressed with the writing quality in the first chapter, but it became smoother with each page.

Each chapter is named for each of the events in which he won eight gold medals in Beijing and for a quality that helped him to the top e.g. “Perseverance: The 400 Individual Medley” and “Will: The 100 Fly.” Phelps is detailed in his description of his workout routines (I gasped at how much he swum each week). At 12 years old, a typical set could include 1,200 meters (1 length of an Olympic sized pool is 50m, so going one way and then back is 100m). When he started taking swimming more seriously in his mid-teens, a workout could comprise of 12,000 meters.

The physical preparation is obviously key. A champion has to be willing to go that extra step and do what all the others don’t. So, for instance, if other swimmers rested on Sundays, Phelps trained every blessed day of the week. However, what really differentiates a champion from everyone else is mental toughness: the ability to take loses in one’s stride (yes, learn from them and then put them out of your mind and move on). No Limits showed Phelps to be the type of person who didn’t allow mistakes to consume him, but to put them aside and to focus on the job at hand. This is a trait summed-up by his coach Bob Bowman’s acronym: What’s Important Now (W.I.N).

This mental strength was a strong feature in the 2007 film Pride. Directed by a first-time director Sunu Gonera and starring Terrence Howard and Bernie Mac, Pride tells the story of a college swimming star Jim Ellis (Howard) whose dreams of sporting glory are shattered by racism. Following a disastrous swim meet, when his Caucasian competitors refuse to participate in a race with a Black swimmer, he is ordered out off the pool grounds by the police. He explodes, lashes out at a policeman and is arrested for assaulting a police officer.

Fast forward a few years later and he finds himself, by a series of accidents, the coach of a group of teenagers in one of Philadelphia’s roughest neighbourhoods (the team is later known as PDR, named for the Philadeplhia Department of Recreation, but also suitably standing for Pride, Determination and Resilience). The swimmers, Ellis takes charge of have none of the advantages that Michael Phelps probably did. For many of them, swimming is not a sport that is highly regarded in the African American community (in fact, a common statement made about Black people is that most of us cannot swim).

So, Jim Ellis starts from the basics and gradually builds-up the physical strengths of his team. The bigger task, though, is getting their minds in the right state of discipline, self-respect and fearlessness. Youthful exuberance aside, these teenagers display very little sense of purpose, probably in part as a result of a lack of real-life mentors and role models.

It is unrealistic to expect that such a rag-tag bunch would win at their first swim meet and thankfully this film avoids the tendency for any unbelievable Hollywood-type triumph. In fact, you could say that their first experience of competition is downright disastrous with almost all the PDR swimmers coming in last in their races. One of them (Reggie) is unable to accurately gauge when he should turn and hits his head on the pool wall. The swimmers refuse to wear the swimming briefs provided by Coach Ellis and the result is embarrassing for another of the swimmers as his denim shorts, which he insists on swimming in come off mid-swim.

Gradually though, the swimmers start to take the sport more seriously, develop a stronger work ethic and coalesce into a team. They practice harder and get better at taking instruction. Slowly, the medals start trickling in. At the climax of the film, PDR participates in a major regional swim meet in Baltimore (hey, this could be the pool that Michael Phelps trained in). Although they are intimidated by the size of the competition pool (50 meters compared to their 25-yard pool), by this time they’ve started to learn the lesson of facing your fears squarely.

It’s obviously a feel good film, but one which is based on the real life story of Jim Ellis. I think swimmers would enjoy it for, aside from the swimming sequences, the film is replete with beautiful shots of glistening swimming pools.

Google's Marissa Mayer: Passion is a gender-neutralizing force

2012-04-12T22:00:00.000+01:00

This interview with Marissa Mayer, Google's VP of Local, Maps and Localization Services, is part of CNN's Leading Women series.

In the early days of Google, she and most of the technical staff routinely worked 100-hour weeks. However, she was motivated to do so, because she felt that the technology that Google was developing was really important. And indeed it has turned out be. Aside from the incomparable search engine, the company has birthed many tools that have changed how we work, find and use information and play today.