{"id":2650,"date":"2026-10-10T10:22:38","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T15:22:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.josephclan.com\/tjblog\/?p=2650"},"modified":"2026-10-10T10:22:38","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T15:22:38","slug":"a-new-home-for-my-stories-the-global-mzee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.josephclan.com\/tjblog\/?p=2650","title":{"rendered":"A New Home for My Stories: The Global Mzee"},"content":{"rendered":"

For many years now, this blog has been a place where I share whatever happens to catch my attention, from the serious to the frivolous. I\u2019m grateful to everyone who has read along and, from time to time, left a comment.<\/p>\n

I have now started something new: a Substack publication called The Global Mzee<\/strong>. Over the years, several people have suggested that I find another outlet for my writing, one that might reach a wider circle of readers. Substack, which is designed for exactly that kind of writing and makes it easy for readers to follow along, seemed like a good place to do it.<\/p>\n

Mzee<\/em> is the Swahili word for an elder, a term of respect I first heard as a boy at a petrol station in Mombasa, when the attendant used it to address my father. Having turned eighty this year, I suspect it might now fairly apply to me.<\/p>\n

The Global Mzee will be home to longer essays about my life across India, Kenya, England and America: growing up in colonial Kenya, arriving alone in England at sixteen, my working years, and the family stories I wish I had asked my own parents about while I still could. Part of my purpose is to set these things down for my children and grandchildren. But I hope they will interest anyone curious about a life lived across several countries and eight decades of change.<\/p>\n

Two essays are already up:<\/p>\n