Becoming The Muse

If you were having coffee with me, I would be happy to have you visit. I would invite you to grab a chair and make yourself comfy.

The weather has given us  brief respite from the current hot spell, it rained a few nights back, wasnt much, but its made a difference. The sky no longer looks like curdled milk and the jacaranda trees are now in bloom… hello summer… or more accurately, hot dry season soon to be hot wet season.

Looking at the sky makes me think of the vastness of space. Recent research suggests there is still vast gaps in our understanding of the universe. Early astronomers operated on the general assumption that space was a blank canvas: flat, Euclidian, and devoid of structure.

Then along came Albert Einstein and his theory of general relativity. Space was no longer a blank canvas. It could bend and stretch, twist and deform, based upon the position and motion of mass in the universe. General relativity meant the universe could have one of three shapes: flat, closed, or open.

And this is all before we factor in that the universe is constantly expanding outwards at a rate so fast that we can never travel to its edge or conclusively know if there is an edge or it curls back into itself like a ball.

If you were having coffee with me, I would tell you that speaking on the vastness of space and the possibilities of lifeform on other galaxies, has anyone else ever found it odd, that since its inception, all of the winners of the Miss Universe beauty pageant have been from planet Earth. The contestant are all native to this third rock from the sun, misleading title much?

Be that as it may, after a 22 year hiatus, a Zimbabwean model will grace the Miss Universe stage. Zimbabwe recently held a Miss Universe Zimbabwe whose main focus was to crown the Zimbabwean representative  appear on the Miss Universe stage this December 2023 in El Salvador, Central America.

21-year-old Brooke Bruk-Jackson was crowned Miss Universe Zimbabwe on the 16th of September 2023.

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A post shared by Brooke Bruk-Jackson (@brooke_brukjackson)

Her victory has been subject to a social media storm and think pieces on equality, diversity, ethnicity, entitlement and racism. The controversy around her crowning moment has almost overshadowed the victory and celebration in a country that last had representation in Miss Universe back in 2001.

Why the controversy you might ask, well, basically the ethnicity of Miss Bruk-Jackson has been called into question. Some expressed the sentiment that she won because of her racial heritage or despite of it, that she cannot represent a country that freed itself from the shackles put by her ancestors, other have argued that there were more deserving candidates but we put western standards of beauty on a pedestal.

On the other hand, one could also argue that there is prejudice displayed by those who say that she is undeserving simply because of her ancestry. What happened to ubuntu and embracing the diversity of everyone born and bred in this teapot shaped country? I heard from someone who watched the event that she totally ate up the QnA segment.

Life would be so much easier if the judges availed their score sheets and we knew exactly how the other contentants faired. Personally, until we have representation from other planets other than Earth in the Miss Universe I wont consider them inclusive or representative. ✌

If you were having coffee with me I would tell you that you may or may not know that Zimbabwe is no stranger to aliens, back in 1994 school kids from Ariel school in Ruwa are reported to have had an encounter of an Extra Terrestrial kind.

Netflix recently premiered a four part documentary called Encounters which explores alien sightings and includes the 1994 Alien Encounter story from Zimbabwe. I haven’t watched the documentary yet but its on my watchlist, obviously, I find the universe an interesting place. Are we alone in the universe?

What do you think about the universe, beauty pageants and aliens? Whats been happening in your neck of the woods?

~B