Gour

Gour

Feedback Piece

When I was a kid I wondered how many people might actually read my father’s Pieces of the Day buried in the classifieds Personal column of the Rhodesia Herald newspaper.

For 9 years or so he diligently researched and laboriously typed the pieces on his trusted Facit typewriter before hand delivering them to the Rhodesia Herald office in downtown Salisbury (Harare) for publication a few days later.

Aside from republishing his Pieces here and on other social media, I am also publishing them on biNu, a mobile internet app for emerging markets company I co-founded a few years ago that coincidentally has become quite a hit in Zimbabwe with 400,000 active users and growing.

The Lentell Soup feed on biNu is now getting 60,000 page views (hits) a day and continues to grow, to the point where most likely John is more widely read in Zimbabwe today than he could have imagined 45 years ago.

Here is an awesome biNu wall post and message I received today from biNu user Given Langton in Chitungwiza, just outside of Harare:

“…i know you have had so many posts on your wall but im quite sure non of them meant what mine means. First and foremost I would like to thank you for this awesome network. The main reason why I have write to you his blog is congratulate you on your Lantel blog. I read that blog everyday it will be a lie if I say it doesn’t help me, sometimes I even wonder what kind of a person your father was? these inspirations are old but yet relevent, your father was a hero sir! I am quite sure you would be proud of you too. I can see that you are appreciating his work Zimbabwe does too. i will always read it everyday.”

I know John would have been tickled pink.

Gour

Soup du jour

In his time, John’s piece for the day absolutely aroused a wide spectrum of opinions and occasional emotive reaction. See LD’s memory for some insights.

Just so you know, I decided early on in this publishing venture to post every single “piece” I have, in the chronological order they were published originally. I’m not applying any editorial selectivity (which inevitably would reflect my subjective opinion, whatever that may be in this day and age and personal circumstance).

I started out being selective but quickly found myself in a moral dilemma – who was I to decide which “piece” might be interesting or worthy. John absolutely would have disapproved. I wrote a post about it early on.

So, please accept and be happily provoked by whatever comes each day, just as it happened in print 40 odd years ago. If nothing else, John would have enjoyed being provocative, in the purest sense.

Gour

Gour

Lentell Soup

I’ve been in a dilemma from the first piece. I reluctantly excluded a number of pieces as they seemed to colloquial or personal or specific to Barum & Sarum and therefore less relevant as a modern ‘thought for the day’. A writer friend pointed out this blog should be called Lentell Soup and another close friend who knew my Dad well pointed out there’s no way he would endorse the selective exclusion of any piece. They’re both dead right. Read the updated ‘About’ page and you’ll understand. Every damn piece, and more, is going in from now on. I’ll try and back-fill the excluded ones as well.

Gour