'If you can make people laugh, you can tell them anything...comedy cuts deeper', says Rushdie.
Here is Salman Rushdie talking with Mitchell Kaplan about his new book Quichotte. Towards the end of his fascinating, meandering chat where he reveals some of his inspiration for his novel and the multiple threads that intertwine in it, he comes up with the term an 'everything book'. Sounds like a just blog title! I like the wittiness and all the depth it encompasses. He confesses that that's the book he has been trying to write all his life.
In fact, an everything book, in my mind, reflects and tries to showcase or speak to as much of reality as possible. Maybe instead of diversity books, we can have the 'everyone book' ;)!
Saturday 16 November 2019
Sunday 10 November 2019
Sycamore Wings
Shake me empty
the bowels overflow
a river of tears,
rage pushed in a vortex.
I long to be free.
Shake me still,
then let me be,
blinding words infested wounds,
navigate my head
piercing blue light
inhale exhale a smile
rage swimming forth
breathing hard
out of breath
echoing void
Jekyll hydes waiting for the kill
looking through the glass pane
nobody knows he is there
just an angel with a spear
open arms smiling clear
but the see-through rage cannot cover up
the smears
of the authorities
the ondulating fence
of barbed wire,
of splintered wood,
of mossy insignificance
longing for respite
pierce the fear,
it's empty, you see
Perch on that perfect sycamore seed,
grip the fragile blades,
ignore the greed
tumble dizzily
safe landing mission completed
wait for new buds to sprout,
bring out the talking cricket
and the rhino
the roots hold down and push
OUT
this magical being
levitating
and the air still stinks
the bowels overflow
a river of tears,
rage pushed in a vortex.
I long to be free.
Shake me still,
then let me be,
blinding words infested wounds,
navigate my head
piercing blue light
inhale exhale a smile
rage swimming forth
breathing hard
out of breath
echoing void
Jekyll hydes waiting for the kill
looking through the glass pane
nobody knows he is there
just an angel with a spear
open arms smiling clear
but the see-through rage cannot cover up
the smears
of the authorities
the ondulating fence
of barbed wire,
of splintered wood,
of mossy insignificance
longing for respite
pierce the fear,
it's empty, you see
Perch on that perfect sycamore seed,
grip the fragile blades,
ignore the greed
tumble dizzily
safe landing mission completed
wait for new buds to sprout,
bring out the talking cricket
and the rhino
the roots hold down and push
OUT
this magical being
levitating
and the air still stinks
Thursday 7 November 2019
'All of us look alike to white people', Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
'I think we need to become more comfortable with being uncomfortable', says Adichie
An extract from the novel Americanah, which offers a pointed analysis of race and being Black in America:
'At the checkout, the blonde cashier asked- 'Did anybody help you?'
Yes, Ginika said
Chelcy or Jennifer?
'I'm sorry. I don't remember her name'-
'Was it the one with long hair?', the cashier asked
'Well, both of them had long hair'
'the one with dark hair?'
Both of them had dark hair.
... Ifemelu said, 'I was waiting for her to ask, 'Was it the one with two eyes or the one with two legs?'
'Why didn't she just ask - was it the Black girl or the White girl?'
...'Because this is America. You're supposed to pretend that you don't notice certain things' (Extract from pg. 126-7, Americanah by Chimamanda N. Adichie)
We are caught up and preoccupied and tied up with words. Words hurt or twist or veil reality, descriptions define and encase, reinforce or subvert; words bring people closer or create a chasm between them. This is the danger of being politically correct - our mentalities do not change, prejudices aren't adequately addressed, discriminations are swept under the carpet and we try to hide the obvious because we don't want to or are not ready or cannot face lived and living history.
'Identity is something one always negotiates, but it's also often something external', notes Adichie.
'To read literature is to become alive in a body that is not your own', she adds in her chat with The Economist's Sacha Nauta.
'In talking about diversity, we have to make room for discomfort', she underlines in the same chat.
Americanah caught my attention for several reasons:
Its refreshing insight into slices of Nigeria, USA and to a lesser degree, England; the young, educated mobile characters trying to pave a path for themselves in the midst of uncertainty, capitalist wrecklessness and oscillating fortunes
The desolating hypocrisies of race in the US and all the nuances of being Black there; the identity crisis of non-American Blacks and how they fare in their adopted society.
The humorous yet revealing layers of changing accents and situating oneself - the fluid, flowing, fragile identities and the awakening of a grounded, confident self after much self contemplation
The trials of an immigrant, both legal and undocumented; the slow dehumanising process, the steady ascent, the travails of everyday life, the small pleasures and the lucky/unlucky outcomes.
An extract from the novel Americanah, which offers a pointed analysis of race and being Black in America:
'At the checkout, the blonde cashier asked- 'Did anybody help you?'
Yes, Ginika said
Chelcy or Jennifer?
'I'm sorry. I don't remember her name'-
'Was it the one with long hair?', the cashier asked
'Well, both of them had long hair'
'the one with dark hair?'
Both of them had dark hair.
... Ifemelu said, 'I was waiting for her to ask, 'Was it the one with two eyes or the one with two legs?'
'Why didn't she just ask - was it the Black girl or the White girl?'
...'Because this is America. You're supposed to pretend that you don't notice certain things' (Extract from pg. 126-7, Americanah by Chimamanda N. Adichie)
We are caught up and preoccupied and tied up with words. Words hurt or twist or veil reality, descriptions define and encase, reinforce or subvert; words bring people closer or create a chasm between them. This is the danger of being politically correct - our mentalities do not change, prejudices aren't adequately addressed, discriminations are swept under the carpet and we try to hide the obvious because we don't want to or are not ready or cannot face lived and living history.
'Identity is something one always negotiates, but it's also often something external', notes Adichie.
'To read literature is to become alive in a body that is not your own', she adds in her chat with The Economist's Sacha Nauta.
'In talking about diversity, we have to make room for discomfort', she underlines in the same chat.
Americanah caught my attention for several reasons:
Its refreshing insight into slices of Nigeria, USA and to a lesser degree, England; the young, educated mobile characters trying to pave a path for themselves in the midst of uncertainty, capitalist wrecklessness and oscillating fortunes
The desolating hypocrisies of race in the US and all the nuances of being Black there; the identity crisis of non-American Blacks and how they fare in their adopted society.
The humorous yet revealing layers of changing accents and situating oneself - the fluid, flowing, fragile identities and the awakening of a grounded, confident self after much self contemplation
The trials of an immigrant, both legal and undocumented; the slow dehumanising process, the steady ascent, the travails of everyday life, the small pleasures and the lucky/unlucky outcomes.
All the different female profiles it provides - of women both defeated and triumphant, subservient and empowered, fighting to stay human, to stay beautiful, to become independent.
***
And in the spirit of this blog, which focuses so much on (the lack of) positive figures for non-White children in (mostly) German picture books, it is worth quoting Adichie's non-fiction book, Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions. It's a response to how you can make your daughter a feminist, asked by one of her friends. Some of her answers extend beyond creating a 'feminist' child. They are 'suggestions' for creating a whole individual, confident in her skin, unafraid to stand out because she may have a different opinion, taste and yes, skin colour -
Be a full person; motherhood should not define you as a person, as important and precious as it is; Rejecting likability, your job is not to make yourself liked but to be your FULL SELF, 'a self that is honest and aware of the equal humanity of other people';
Teaching difference and making it ordinary and normal, teaching without attaching value to difference.
These 'suggestions' are not only for our kids of course. If we keep them in mind, the glasses we wear and through which we see the world, will suddenly make us see, not only ourselves, but others with a different clarity and light.
The Paper Dolls - Creativity at its Best!
Julia Donaldson's imaginative story in The Paper Dolls (illustration Rebecca Cobb) reaches out to the young and old.
You Tube Reading by Little Loves Library
'They were Ticky and Tacky and Jackie the Backie and Jim with two noses and Jo with the bow'.
'You can't catch us. Oh no no no!
We're holding hands and we won't let go.'
A beautiful tale of a little girl who makes five paper dolls with her mum and takes them on many adventures until they are snipped by a little boy. The paper dolls do not disappear, however, and the girl turns into a woman and a mother, who passes on the gift of play and creativity to her own daughter,
The illustrations are immediate, fantastical and flow wonderfully with the simplicity and magic of the text.
Why I like this story:
The repetitive, catchy 'chorus' is musical and melodic
The story is an opener for creative, simple games with kids
The book pays hommage to a child's imagination
There is strength in togetherness, there is power in a child's imagination!
The story can also be used to accompany a child suffering from loss or trauma (nothing is lost forever; using your memory to store and keep precious things long after they have gone).
You Tube Reading by Little Loves Library
'They were Ticky and Tacky and Jackie the Backie and Jim with two noses and Jo with the bow'.
'You can't catch us. Oh no no no!
We're holding hands and we won't let go.'
A beautiful tale of a little girl who makes five paper dolls with her mum and takes them on many adventures until they are snipped by a little boy. The paper dolls do not disappear, however, and the girl turns into a woman and a mother, who passes on the gift of play and creativity to her own daughter,
The illustrations are immediate, fantastical and flow wonderfully with the simplicity and magic of the text.
Why I like this story:
The repetitive, catchy 'chorus' is musical and melodic
The story is an opener for creative, simple games with kids
The book pays hommage to a child's imagination
There is strength in togetherness, there is power in a child's imagination!
The story can also be used to accompany a child suffering from loss or trauma (nothing is lost forever; using your memory to store and keep precious things long after they have gone).
Afrocentric Nursery School in Brooklyn - Counteracting White Education and Fostering Self Representation
Afrocentric Nursery School - Starting with a Positive Self Representation
'It's because we are a suffering people', says Founder Fela Barclift
We are not afraid of using the word race, says Barclift
Her curriculum's focus is on empowering ethnic minorities
Children of all races can attend the school
The school has been criticised for creating separation over integration.
How does the founder respond? - If people agree that such schools are okay, she says, 'that means there has to be a conversation about why it is okay, why is it needed?, why do we have something like this..instead of being able to all be together?''
A bold initiative to give tools to young children to build their self esteem and look in the mirror and be able to see and love themselves. Here in Cologne, nursery school girls who are dark-skinned are already wishing they had blond hair and blue eyes and are being told they are ugly. Blond hair and pink skin are more beautiful, my 4 year old daughter tells me. Another dark-skinned mother was told her skin was the colour of shit by a preschooler. These are real examples to drive home the point - there is a problem with the education system when children are allowed to play games like 'who is afraid of the Black Man?`, and when children in nursery schools cannot find positive representations of themselves.
If we are to begin the debate on integration, then this is a good place to start - introducing interculturality at the youngest levels, having trained, mixed staff who are conscious of discrimination and having libraries and professionals who can guide the staff and children about living and loving their diversity. There are many manuals and single initiatives in the different states and they are all laudable but there has to be a collective effort that trickles down to the nursery and primary schools and reaches the children most in need of it.
Do we also need ethnic-empowering schools in Germany? I believe everyone stands to benefit from such initiatives until the standard curriculum changes to include real diversity.
'It's because we are a suffering people', says Founder Fela Barclift
We are not afraid of using the word race, says Barclift
Her curriculum's focus is on empowering ethnic minorities
Children of all races can attend the school
The school has been criticised for creating separation over integration.
How does the founder respond? - If people agree that such schools are okay, she says, 'that means there has to be a conversation about why it is okay, why is it needed?, why do we have something like this..instead of being able to all be together?''
A bold initiative to give tools to young children to build their self esteem and look in the mirror and be able to see and love themselves. Here in Cologne, nursery school girls who are dark-skinned are already wishing they had blond hair and blue eyes and are being told they are ugly. Blond hair and pink skin are more beautiful, my 4 year old daughter tells me. Another dark-skinned mother was told her skin was the colour of shit by a preschooler. These are real examples to drive home the point - there is a problem with the education system when children are allowed to play games like 'who is afraid of the Black Man?`, and when children in nursery schools cannot find positive representations of themselves.
If we are to begin the debate on integration, then this is a good place to start - introducing interculturality at the youngest levels, having trained, mixed staff who are conscious of discrimination and having libraries and professionals who can guide the staff and children about living and loving their diversity. There are many manuals and single initiatives in the different states and they are all laudable but there has to be a collective effort that trickles down to the nursery and primary schools and reaches the children most in need of it.
Do we also need ethnic-empowering schools in Germany? I believe everyone stands to benefit from such initiatives until the standard curriculum changes to include real diversity.
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