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Marcus Olang'

@marcusolang.substack.com
174 followers 102 following 76 posts

Multi-hyphenate. Writing: marcusolang.substack.com Photography: stillsbymarcus.com

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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 22/05/2026
Vibrant mid mornings, indeterminate late afternoons, glowing evening sunsets...The skies have been a divine canvas this week, and The Painter has really been showing off.
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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 19/05/2026
I may have, accidentally-on-purpose, stitched together a new term that may be worth exploring as we continue along these unprecedented-yet-somewhat-very-precedented times: "Victorious retroclaiming." marcusolang.substack.com/p/macron-pan...
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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 12/05/2026
Now up: “The Pan-Africanism of it all.” marcusolang.substack.com/p/macron-pan...
marcusolang.substack.com
The Pan-Africanism of it all.
Oh. The definition of panafrican must have changed recently.
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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 04/05/2026
Why did I have this as a note / header to follow up on in August of 2018?
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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 21/04/2026
While poring over some of the interviews that the team gave, there was this small yet monumental detail: Nyashinski's team turned sponsors away for not meeting the production’s standard. Me, personally, I love it.
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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 19/04/2026
Yes, it’s true: The Showman Residency was just that damn good. marcusolang.substack.com/p/the-showma...
marcusolang.substack.com
The Showman's Proof.
“Unaishi aje vi-basic ni ka’a kesho iko promised…”
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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 10/04/2026
I've been working on this one for a while. We're all grieving. All the time. We're just not calling it that. marcusolang.substack.com/p/adulthood-...
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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 10/04/2026
Adulthood is a constant state of learning and discovery. Such as learning that a core untaught (and unrecognised) skill is constantly managing grief in all its different forms. This one may need pacing on your part. Definitely needed it on mine. marcusolang.substack.com/p/adulthood-...
marcusolang.substack.com
I just realised that adulthood is a never-ending exercise in grief management.
And nobody put that in the brochure. False advertising everywhere.
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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 02/04/2026
Once upon a LinkedIn post, I made a comment - in jest - around how someone mentioned that I need to learn to speak "the language of the platform".
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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 10/02/2026
Having a conversation with Johnstone Oltetia gives you the distinct impression of a person whose every waking moment revolves around solving one very specific puzzle - and no intention of letting it go.
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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 10/02/2026
Having a conversation with Johnstone Oltetia gives you the distinct impression of a person whose every waking moment revolves around solving one very specific puzzle - and no intention of letting it go.
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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 09/02/2026
I don't know who needs to hear this, but don't lie to your nurses and doctors. Even on that one thing you're embarrassed about. Your continued heartbeat may literally hinge upon that one thing you're withholding from them. DON'T LIE TO YOUR MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS.
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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 27/01/2026
Grief has no manners. Whenever you start to think you're OK, at the very moment you close your eyes to take in a deep breath, it seizes the opportunity: appears out of nowhere, licks its right hand, pauses a bit, then lands the sloppiest slap to your left cheek. So mannerless.
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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 05/01/2026
"Ghost."
A passenger aircraft cuts diagonally across the sky above Nairobi (Kenya), leaving behind it a condensation trail. January 2026.

Photograph by Marcus Olang’ (stillsbymarcus.com).
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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 31/12/2025
Last day of 2025. With a photoshoot to wrap it up. And a quiet, firm, just-in-time affirmation with it. May the new calendar be kind to all that live in kindness.
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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 04/12/2025
Hi. Hello. Shikamoo. Have you taken a moment to yourself this week? How about today - have you had a moment to breathe today? How about now? Take it. Take a moment. Just... be. Here's a picture of flowers. Flowers are always nice.
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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 24/11/2025
Let me tell you a fun little thing about my latest video post on IG. Tried captioning it through the Edits app. Started well. Until. Until about halfway through. When I mention "Palestine". Then all of a sudden, the Edits app issues a notice. "No speech detected."
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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 18/10/2025
The nature of writing: Draft after draft after draft. Some drafts feel like gold when you finish them. Then you take a short walk, cast your eye upon them one more time, and what you thought was gold turns into a turd. Then that turd becomes fertiliser for a fresh draft. Next one feels better.
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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 17/10/2025
Off my latest, “On Raila Odinga: This will be… complex.” open.substack.com/pub/marcusol... "He contained multitudes. And we, as a nation, projected our own multitudes onto him. Our hopes, fears, resentments, dreams... a screen onto which we projected the complex, fractured nature of our identity."
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Anand @calmerfuture.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
I found this nuanced analysis by Marcus Olang' (@marcusolang.substack.com) helpful and insightful, on the complex, convoluted, painful and contradictory legacy of the late Raila Odinga in Kenya open.substack.com/pub/marcusol...
He contained multitudes. And we, as a nation, projected our own multitudes onto him. Our hopes, our fears, our resentments, our dreams. He became a screen onto which we projected the complex, fractured nature of our own identity. Our love for him was fierce. Our hatred for him was just as passionate. There was no middle ground with Raila. Indifference was not an option.
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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 16/10/2025
My new piece, “On Raila Odinga: This will be… complex.” Yet it still didn't leave me enough room to delve into the complexities as much as I had in mind. In a Part 2, perhaps. Still, given life's nuances, I make what I believe is a fair attempt at balance. marcusolang.substack.com/p/on-raila-o...
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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 11/09/2025
“In his last seconds of public discourse, his instinct was not to engage, not to reflect, but to casually insinuate and divide... No grand statement. No compelling closing argument. Just... deflection. Seconds later, the sound of a pop. Screams. Chaos.” marcusolang.substack.com/p/charlie-kirk
marcusolang.substack.com
Charlie Kirk said many things. So many things.
Let me tell you a story. It’s a story about a man. And the world he tried to build with his words.
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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 11/09/2025
Been nagging me what it is about the iPhone 17 Pro that feels so familiar yet so out of place. It just hit me: It reminds me of a suitcase.
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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 10/09/2025
I watched the latest Apple Event. I had... thoughts. marcusolang.substack.com/p/church-of-...
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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 08/09/2025
I fell asleep editing this, phone in hand. Happy blood moon. May your beloveds find joy at the sound of your voice, and may your enemies shudder at the mention of your name.
Blood moon, night of Sunday 7th September 2025. (Nairobi, Kenya.)

Photographed by Marcus Olang' (stillsbymarcus.com)Blood moon, night of Sunday 7th September 2025. (Nairobi, Kenya.)

Photographed by Marcus Olang' (stillsbymarcus.com)Blood moon, night of Sunday 7th September 2025. (Nairobi, Kenya.)

Photographed by Marcus Olang' (stillsbymarcus.com)
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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 22/07/2025
If you know the proprietors of this place along Kiambu Road, please tell them to fix that sign. Those two missing letters are very important for clarity and context. Thanks for your attention to this matter.
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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 11/07/2025
"For the longest (deliberate Kenyanese is deliberate), I used language as outfits: English suit for the office, nice Swahili kanzu for my time in Diani, comfortable jeans & t-shirt of Sheng or Dholuo with family/friends, soupçon of French when feeling fancy…" marcusolang.substack.com/p/it-started...
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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 09/07/2025
"And right there is the punchline to this long, historical joke... The machine, in its quest to sound authoritative, ended up sounding like a KCPE graduate who scored an 'A' in English Composition. It replicated the linguistic ghost of the British Empire." marcusolang.substack.com/p/im-kenyan-...
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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 08/07/2025
"When you see our work, what are you really seeing? Are you seeing a robot's soulless prose? Or are you seeing the image of our Standard 8 English teacher, Mrs. Amollo, her voice reminding us to connect our paragraphs with a suitable linking phrase?" open.substack.com/pub/marcusol...
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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 03/07/2025
Nairobi, Kenya | July 2nd, 2025.
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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 18/06/2025
Calvins Omondi Onditi. Found dead in his cell Sunday morning. - arrested around midnight. - taken to Kipasi Police Post 3 hours after his arrest. - officers tell family he was transferred to Mbita. - family start going to Mbita, then called back to Kipasi. - "suicide". nation.africa/kenya/counti...
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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 18/06/2025
At a protest. About the killing. Of a Kenyan. In the police custody. A police officer. Shot an unarmed man. In the head. And casually walked away. An unarmed man. Selling masks. Minding his business. Shot in the head. Literally minding his business.
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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 03/06/2025
What happens when you take some fresh sloppy cow dung, spray air freshener on it, and put it back on the ground? That’s right: It’s still cow dung.
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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 03/06/2025
Earlier: The beauty goes beyond sun and sunshine.
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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 22/05/2025
Your MP/ MCA/ senator/ governor should be your paid activist. Your president should be your paid activist. You're PAYING them. Their literal job is to act IN YOUR INTEREST. But because they aren't doing the jobs they SWORE AN OATH to do, they have to be minded. Tunaelewana?
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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 28/04/2025
One of the things that stayed with me about this day was the genuine humanity amongst Kenyans. I saw street vendors, of their own volition, offering up bottle of drinking water.
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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 27/04/2025
I've been under a self-imposed expectation - an elective delusion - that whenever I share a picture, it must be accompanied by an elaborate essay with the backstory, or the thoughts it inspired. No more. Images shall henceforth be presented as the moment wills it. Starting now. #SliceOfLife
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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 07/03/2025
I have a deep love for stories. Always have. I credit my childhood and upbringing for that. So imagine what it feels like to have such a core part of who you are incapacitated at its very root. marcusolang.substack.com/p/my-brain-i...
marcusolang.substack.com
My brain is broken.
I've been trying to jumpstart my brain for 2 years. It’s not working.
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Kemigisa @kemigisa.bsky.social · 22/12/2024
Uncontacted by “who?” i am sure they contact each other. Y’all need to leave them alone!
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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 10/12/2024
Following today's #EndFemicideKE, seeing the violence shamefully meted out, we'll start to see paid actors ramping up divisive narratives around 3 specific themes: 1. "What about boychild" / "femicide is a myth". 2. Tribe. (Distraction) 3. "Funding". Their angles stay predictable.
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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 10/12/2024
Kenyan women are the absolute greatest.
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Barbara Hershey @barbarahershey.bsky.social · 03/12/2024
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Marcus Olang' @marcusolang.substack.com · 02/12/2024
“Use what you have.” It’s a mantra I turn to whenever that voice in my head starts those whispers. You know, the ones that try telling you how unprepared or ill-equiped you are. And yet.
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Jimmy @usedtobejimmy.bsky.social · 02/12/2024
My milkshakes Bring all the boys to the yard And they're like "This electric fence on a massive private farm next to a wildlife park is a symptom of so much that is wrong with this country"
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The Proverbial Kiki @proverbial.online · 28/11/2024
Added a filter for regions bsky.app/profile/asoy...
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The Proverbial Kiki @proverbial.online · 26/11/2024
Got tired of Kenya Power's annoying pdf for the scheduled interruptions, so i made Gizani gizani.vercel.app
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