How do you feel?

I've just discovered a remarkable little website thanks to gstar. The website is called We Feel Fine and it is a delightful gem, tracking and categorising the changing feelings in the blogosphere. Every few minutes the We Feel Fine Monkeys 'harvest feelings' from the world's weblogs, making a note of the blogger's age, sex, location and the current weather conditions. Any blogger who uses the words "I feel..." may find their feelings contributing to the dynamic landscape of this site.

The result is a beautifully crafted and animated collection of the ever changing feelings of the world - it reveals a startling window to the pain and the joy felt by real people, right now. Is it art, is it research, is it fun? Perhaps it's all three, nevertheless it is intriguing, saddening and inspiring.

Check it out... and be aware next time you document your feelings!

I feel happy to have found it.

Are you muzungu?

I was at a talk yesterday, given by two colleagues who had just returned from doing some charity work in Uganda. In and amongst all the stunning photos, cute stories of village children and tales of goat kebabs, the phrase 'white people' kept popping up and it was starting to make me feel uncomfortable. The term was used to describe the volunteers who go over to help the mainly black (and Asian) native people.

However, not all volunteers, travellers and tourists to the region are white. In fact the representative from our company, who went last year, is black himself. Therefore the liberally applied 'white people' term just cannot be used to describe all foreigners who come out to help.

When I questioned it, I was told it was a translation of the word muzungu, which means white person and this is the term of address and exclamation of general excitement and amazement when a non-Ugandan person is spotted. Regardless of the words direct translation, when we translate words, we translate the meaning in context and not the literal translation.

For example, in Japanese the term gaijin literally means outside person. However, on my return to England I would not refer to all the non-Japanese I had seen as 'outside people'. Even if I was relating some Japanese conversations about gaijin , I would most likely translate it as foreigner, or perhaps Westerner, depending on the context.

The Ugandans use the word muzungu to refer to visitors who are not Ugandan. True, they may be mostly white but not exclusively so. We have to be aware of the power of our words and talking about the help that 'white people' offer Uganda, to a multicultural London audience is just not right. It alienates those who are not white. A more suitable term may be foreigner, although these word is not free from controversy. Or perhaps Westerner as these may be in the majority, but I'm sure there may be Indians or Japanese, for example, who may fancy a bit of a holiday or some volunteer work, so the term Westerner doesn't really fit the bill either.

A little bit of Wiki magic reveals the origins of muzungu to be a description of 'one who moves around'. Not exclusively white then, hey?

Brighton, baby

I've done it; I've joined Brighton Bloggers. Check out my coding wizardry in the form of the little Brighton Bloggers button, down the right hand side of the page. Wow, I'm good! What do you mean it's a just a bit of copy and paste? Shush now!

Brighton Bloggers is a digital collective of local bloggers, writing about a diverse range of topics. One of my personal favourites is Naked Translations. A local translator blogs about the precise technicalities of word meanings and translations. It’s guaranteed to appeal to your inner nerd. Another little gem is Sex and the Seafront. Its blurb is pretty self explanatory, ‘It's a gay guy writing from a gay view point living in a gay town with gay friends, so perhaps you should expect a little err gayness’! Marvellous!

The bloggers seem active, opinionated and interesting: a local community of writers, commentators and thinkers. Ah, if we were in Paris during the renaissance, we'd be smoking our cigars and tapping away in cheap apartments on the Champs.... It feels good to be part of something local. Brighton has always held a special place in my heart; I'm born and bred here and, despite years of wandering, I always come home.

I’m also pleased that the writers of Brighton are making a little more noise. Usually the visual and performing arts dominate the creative scene. Notable events include the bi-annual Open Houses and the Brighton Festival. Sometimes words need to shout louder than actions.

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