The first time I knew you had changed shone from your response to the teacher’s question: Why is the reproductive system the most interesting topic in Biology? Why are both Intelligence and Stupidity hereditary? You hadn’t questioned a question in class.
You, although, were mildly famous at the junior level when you said, on the assembly that you found football interesting because of the swinging limp cocoon and phallic prints of the players.
You participated in the end-of-the-year debate competition at the senior level on the topic, Gentle Act or Fierce Fling: Parenting in the current Twenty-first Century. Your conclusion occluded the panel’s larynx to comment. You nagged on PUSHING BACK. The Principal was befuddled. The head boy thought you read more than enough and your neck could no longer hold your head.
“A lot is infuriating to me,” you rashed, emotionally. “We need to push back for transformation. Enough of the dismissiveness. I am tired of reciting the National Pledge of this bloody country.”
Read – Swing Set – A Flash Fiction by Steve Otieno, Kenya
After graduation, although our external examination results were not out. Yet, your brother said that from grade three, people refused your hand. A Muslim classmate at the computer institute you trained, said you would attract a demon as wife if you dine with it. He said the stigma vandalized your penmanship. If not for Mrs. Olorunleke, the Physics teacher, I wouldn’t know that you had to write a personal note on the vertical DO NOT WRITE margin of the answer booklet on every subject.
‘Please consider my handwriting,’ you wrote. ‘My father and some teachers destroyed my handwriting. I was never this. Thank you.’ But if you didn’t write that, would you have failed? I guess not; you were rational.
Since his childhood in Lagos, Nigeria, Celestine Seyon Reuben, also known as Celeyon, has been spellbound by the world around him. Every animate and inanimate object became significant for his imagination; an indication, a trickle, a trigger for his artistic creativity.
Celeyon’s artistry is an invitation and a light to gaze upon. Readers don’t just see the art – they experience it. It connects, provokes thought, evokes emotions, invokes spirits, and passively turns readers into engaged participants. Celeyon writes. But more than that, he is a teller of stories, and a teacher of transformative and informative education.
With his three years of experience in Creative Writing and Teaching, Celeyon was the first Nigerian to be featured on the United Kingdom-based e-learning platform Futurelearn after taking more than a hundred (100) courses. He has taught in schools, conferences, and workshops. His signature style – a blend of realism and idealism – has earned him quite a few accolades, including the Mr. Congeniality Award in 2022 from the Association of Malaysian Universities.
Experience the world through Celeyon’s eyes in Education by January 2024 on the YouTube channels: Celeyon Academy and Humane Letters from Celeyon. Read his works on Readsypage, IYNA Journal and Social Media Handles. He is currently working on a short story Skin To Skin, a Novel Afrikalangus, and a Mathematical project.
It’s hard not to see the beautiful and intriguing mind of the writer. It shines through the text. Good one.
Thank you so much Bisade. God bless you so much.