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MEET THE MAN BEHIND ‘LETS GO DEEPER’
By Ronke Adeyemi
Monday, April 11, 2011.
If there is a topical issue then you can bet that Uche Chukwu has an opinion on it. Lets Go Deeper
is an outlet for the views, opinions and passions of Uche whether it be
on relationships, politics, race, education or sport - it is all there
on Lets Go Deeper.
He started blogging in 2008 and since then has amassed an array of
followers. An IT specialist when he is not blogging, Uche is working on
various projects that involve writing as well as IT. He took five
minutes out to tell me where he writes his blog.
Describe the concept of your blog.
I'm
still trying to work that out. I keep shifting it and moulding it in
different directions, trying to find the right fit. It started out as
my travel blog. I lived in Rio de Janeiro for a while and friends kept
asking me to blog my life there but I just kept sending epic emails.
When I moved to live in New York, I finally got around to it and that's
where it all came from. The reaction back home was very encouraging.
After the world economic meltdown in 2008 grounded me in London, I
found myself back here needing some way to express myself. This is -
it's not about any one specific topic and it has no defined agenda. I
know this is a problem because sometimes I look at the homepage and
think "what are you about?" But my readers seem to like it because it
gets a lot of site visits, has a high re-visit rate and my new visitors
average about 60% monthly. I'm ready to open it up to guest bloggers
now and will shortly start to look for writers who would like to
contribute a regular "column" I know what I want to achieve with it but
still unclear as to exactly how to do it. I want it to be a news and
opinion blog carrying alternative news, or alternative comment on
mainstream news. I want to start posting more irreverent observational
pieces like Gawker and deliver a humorous spin on the news agenda. I liked Not The Nine O'clock News, Drop The Dead Donkey and the stuff Charlie Brooker does. I guess that's the spin I want to get to, eventually. Will it work? I can but try.
Where do you scribe?
Mainly
in my flat now that it's winter with short days and cold evenings. In
the summer I take my laptop everywhere and I am very much a coffee shop
groupie, sort of going from here to there. As long as they have free
Wi-Fi, great coffee and good apple crumble, it's worth considering.
When in my flat, I usually write in my spare room which is set up as my
office, but if there's good stuff on the TV I'll go and camp in there
with my laptop instead.
Why that place?
I
need to work at a desk with an office-like feel. I've always been this
way. When I was at school the most important thing in my room was
always my desk, I didn't have or want a TV in there. When I moved out
of home, the first thing I bought was a desk. Always white, always
facing the wall and away from the door. I have no idea what that says
about me psychologically, but that's how I work best when at home. But
in a work environment, Feng Shui kicks in and I have to be facing the
door. If somebody can explain that, I'd be very much obliged. In terms
of the coffee shop place, well I love the transient nature of coffee
shops and the hum of the machines. Along with the aroma of ground
arabica beans and my penchant for people voyeurism, coffee shops give
me the best combination of social isolation I need to get work done.
What is on your desk at the moment?
My
leather-bound journal which I got as a Christmas present from my
girlfriend. That's my favourite possession in the world right now.
There's also an electronic recorder and digital camera which I carry
around everywhere on the off chance of an interview and picture (I
always use them too), a pair of Chinese iron balls I've had for about
15 years. They help me relax. Ever since I saw Laurence Fishburne using
them to manage his tension in that scene from Boyz n the Hood when Trey goes out with the boys to avenge on Ricky's murderer I wanted a pair. Mine have been around the world with me. I also have a copy of Arise magazine on my desk. I'm not a magazine person, I lost interest in magazines somewhere in my early twenties. I used to read Touch, Source, Vibe, GQ
and then I just stopped. I don't think there is any magazine I can
really relate to, and as I'm a technology specialist by trade I have
been getting my news through aggregated RSS feeds for over 10 years.
Until I discovered Arise
on New Years Eve in Shoreditch. Then the day after New Year's day I
hunted for it all over South London until I found it. I love this
magazine. This is how a magazine should be. Oh, and there's an unread
copy of The Observer
from about 3 weeks ago. I have no idea why I still occasionally buy
Sunday papers when I end up reading all the articles on my smartphone.
Force of habit I suppose.
What form of inspiration do you have on the wall?
I
have a noticeboard in front of me which I've had for over five years
with photo cuttings, concert tickets and other memorabilia. I change
the items rarely but when I do it's usually quite a sweeping change. It
contains photos of some of the best memories in my life and some of the
most important people in my life. It really should have more, it used
to in fact, but I take bits off to use elsewhere and never replace
them. So it has more gaps than it should. I'm now inspired to revisit
it and work on getting it back to full content. I'll schedule that for
May, or something. Yeah.
Do you keep a tidy office or are you a messy worker?
Usually
tidy. I'm a fastidiously tidy person. However, when I'm exceptionally
stressed or have just come back from a trip my workspace can suffer and
become messy for weeks. I used to be an organised chaotic work space
type and my old manager used to try to force me to tidy my desk. She
used to invent these "tidy our desks Fridays" which the whole office
had to abide by just so I would have to tow the line. I never did, she
always ended up tidying it for me. I miss her. But I've improved and
now keep a tidy ship. I'm not one for that sinking feeling.
Check out Uche's blog.
You can follow him on Twitter.
Ronke Adeyemi is a fashion writer with a background in journalism, marketing and PR. She blogs at The Musings of Ondo Lady.
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