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the Nigerian Ghoul in an American Forest

Browsing the archives for the Observations category.

Two-Thirds Gone

By midnight today, the second third of this year will be gone for good and again we’ll wonder where all the time went. Just four months more and we’ll be in another year, making new resolutions and running after new goals. In some parts of the world, the harmattan season is beginning to gather and will gain force in a few weeks. In some other place like around my yard, trees will be crying their leaves into the river – to rephrase the line in Chris de Burg’s song.

In my case, I will be buried in books, research, (maybe) movies, and a series of other activities that may or may not take me away from this page. (I’ve always wanted to be able to take one month off this blog in order to do a few other things. I tried it in July but it didn’t quite work. Wonder if this might be a good time, especially at this beginning of serious classwork and other personal endeavours around the city. Hmm.

The Nokia competition is still on. The second question is already up where I promised it’d be. There will be another one tomorrow, and the last two on Thursday. The email address will be provided before noon on Thursday and you may send in your answers. You could be a lucky winner. The winner will be contacted via email on Thursday and announced on the blog either on the same day, or on Friday.

See ya around.

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Two-Thirds Gone was published on August 31st, 2010, with the tags , , , , , under the Observations category. There are currently 1 comment on this article so far.

Of Beliefs and Denials

Living in the America of today, it is unlikely that anyone is oblivious of the raging debate about a religious centre close to the former World Trade Centre buildings. Even those who didn’t believe in anything seem to have something to say about the project. It is like the issue of belief, tyranny and spirituality always manages to bring us together if only to disagree. Last week, I heard a news story of a New York cabbie getting stabbed by a passenger who said or thought he was Moslem, and nearly got him killed.

A few days ago, I heard that a friend of mine had told other people that I was moslem, maybe in jest, or maybe because she was confused after seeing me praise the architecture of the Abuja National Mosque on my blog. Eitherway, it was my response to this discovery that has made my question even my own liberal mindedness. I really won’t mind if anyone thought I was Hindu or Buddhist as long as I am sure that I am not. That’s what I thought, but I found myself vehemently denying the charge on the spot, and later asking a few others if they have harboured the same thought for a while or heard the same rumours. A few days later, after an amount of thinking, I’m wondering why there shouldn’t be a reason for me to have said “Oh, screw it. So what?” It should even have been possible to make stickers saying “I’m not moslem, but I could be if you wanted me to.” and put it all around my living space. The only problem with that would be the ignorant folks, like the New York stabber, who might consider me a good target practise for his bigoted rage.

So I’m thinking, if intolerance and fanaticism are vices, what about a kind of bigotry that might manifest as immediate and loud denials of claims as simple as a mismatching of religious belief? For – as I’ve found out – there is usually more to explain whenever someone in a conversation looks at the other in denial and screams, “Oh me? No never. I’m not a _________”.

Just thinking. It should make for interesting discussion.

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Of Beliefs and Denials was published on August 30th, 2010, with the tags , , , , under the Observations, Opinion, Soliloquy category. There are currently 1 comment on this article so far.

Summer People (II)

More.

Here we have, in alphabetical order,  Adunni, Ayo,  Bimbo, Bukkie, Damilola, Nikita, Olga, Olo, Peter, Rayo, Shaban, and Zainab.

Best of luck matching the names to the photos :) .

And what is it with the hands under the chin? There must be something on my face that elicits this kind of “wondering” reaction. Hmm.

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Summer People (II) was published on August 30th, 2010, with the tags , , , , , , under the Fun, Observations category. There are currently 3 comments on this article so far.

The Festival of Nations

The annual International Festival of Nations took place yesterday and today at the Tower Grove Park, St. Louis.

It featured pavilions from all over the world with food, drinks, artworks, fashion items and souvenirs from those places being available for purchase. There were also live performances by artists and dancers from all over the world.

The food booths were from Afghanistan, Argentina, India, Bosnia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burma, Canada, China, Eritrea, Ethiopia, the Philippines, Germany, Haiti, Isreal, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, Poland, Puerto Rico, Romania, Scotland, Selegal, Thailand, Turkey, Vietnam, among many others.

Here are a few pictures from the event. I had just discovered that most of the pictures I’d taken were those of the African stands. I don’t know how that happened.

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The Festival of Nations was published on August 29th, 2010, with the tags , , , , under the Fun, Observations, adventures category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.

Ah, Ah, I’m home.

This is nothing but freaky. I’ve living “under the bridge” for the past one and a half weeks for very good reason. The student accommodation on campus was already overwhelmed with requests when I decided to return here that there was no single spot for me or for anyone else for that matter. Don’t get me wrong. This “under the bridge” accommodation came with free breakfast, lunch and dinner, free laundry, free movie night and a ton of free goodies and pampering that I can’t quantify. It’s been a kind of overwhelming love that is not only rare, but genuine and delightful, and I can not thank the Schaefers enough for that. But trying to get back into the campus, rather than the spoilt student, mode of existence required a space among real students and it became quite an ordeal. By the time I put down my name to the list of waiting applicants, I was on number twenty or something.

What’s freaky then is the call I got from University Housing a few days ago that went like this:

“Hey, is that…”
“Yes,” I replied. “It’s me.”
“I got good news for you. I’ve found you a space on campus.”
“Really? That’s super. Where is it?”
“It’s at Cougar Village.”
“What?”
“At 431.”
“You’re kidding.”
“And at your old room. The same place you were earlier when you came here. You can move in from tomorrow.”

How it happened, I have no idea except that some mischievous spirit has put a hand in returning me to a spot of very many interesting memories. Sitting down here now on my old bed with a view of the surrounding trees, I write a post that has been dying to be written. Ah, ah, I’m home, and it feels good to be back. Now, you mischievous spirit, please show yourself now or forever remain silent. :o .

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Ah, Ah, I’m home. was published on August 28th, 2010, with the tags , , , under the Fun, Observations, Soliloquy, adventures category. There are currently 4 comments on this article so far.

Campus Random

I’m slowly warming up to this new yet familiar experience. School, with a once dry and slow atmosphere suddenly bursts into life without warning and everything finds its root from it. Just last week was the last days of the summer semester, and by this time tomorrow, the school would have burst into the full form of a busy, happening place. The geese are here, still not yet nesting. So are the deer. I saw one yesterday on my walk back to Cougar Village for the very first time in three months. It must have recognised me for having visited a place where its kind are “bush meat” because it immediately retreated from the road further into the woods.

Starbucks remains where it usually was, deep on the side of the students centre. On many sides of Peck Hall are water fountains that give the passageway a kind of home feel. On Friday, just for the kicks, I moved the knob on one of it and watch the water sprout up onto my face. The candy and cookie dispensers also remain, stationary as a public building. I won’t be using them this time. I think I have enough sugar in me to last a year. I won’t be patronizing Papa John’s either even if I get a 200% raise. Something about the exuberance of a bubbly Fulbright scholar has receded, and all that remains is a more relaxed mature student (but of course not without sufficient residue of needed mischief).

What remains is the famous bicycle, and/or the car. The latter is a luxury about which I am fighting myself very very seriously. Even with a bicycle, I remember the horror on my own face to discover how much weight I had gained after a mere ten month’s absence. Now imagine that spent in the comfort of a moving vehicle that requires even less physical exertion. I can also almost swear that I will forget where I’ve parked it on campus nine times out of ten. It doesn’t make sense that people who think of so many things should have to operate a moving vehicle. Isn’t there a law against that?

Today I attended a get-together for Turkish students on campus from various levels and different programmes. I was one of the third non-Turkish students there out of about fifty of us, and I made it a duty to tell whomever asked that my qualification for being there was that I had recently been a victim of Turkish Airline bag misplacement. What I didn’t say was that it was actually convenient that the bag had to be brought to me on campus two days later and I was saved the hassle of having to drag it all by myself all the way from Chicago.

I think pretty much everything is in their place now. Now let’s go enjoy the semester.

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Campus Random was published on August 22nd, 2010, under the Academic, Observations, Soliloquy category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.

An Old Book

I came across this in the shelves of my professor’s library a few hours ago. It is a special edition of Drumvoices Revue (Spring-Summer-Fall 2004) that featured a set of Nigeria’s Third Generation writers. Introduced by Nigerian poet Remi Raji who was then in the United States, the section in the publication was a result of earlier collaboration between this University and the one in Ibadan. Even the cover said as much, with Lola Shoneyin taking a choice spot in the corner. Other writers featured in it were Toni Kan, Tade Ipadeola, Francis Egbokhare, Toyin Adewale-Gabriel, Unoma Azuah, Obi Nwakanma and Angela Nwosu.

Drumvoices Revue is a publication of the Eugene Redmond Writer’s Club and edited by Eugene B. Redmond itself. I’m going to find out if they still publish works. Those were good times when Eugene came to Ibadan seeking new voices around Nigeria, and seeing the book brought back good memories.

One word: nostalgia.

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An Old Book was published on August 22nd, 2010, with the tags , , , under the Literature, News, Observations category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.

A Weekend Around Town

There is a place not far from St.Louis called Fairview Heights. Why they call it by that name is for now beyond me, but it has the same pulse as every other town in this area. We visited it yesterday. The eating spot we visited yesterday is called Hooters. Hooters has outlets in much of every state in the US but  I’d never been there before. And the accomplices were Chris, Abdiel and Mafoya.

Hooters is distinct for it’s scantily-dressed waitresses and nothing much else. The fries, chicken or drinks are much like everywhere else. The waiters would all be younger than 22, for sure, working to add some change to their tuition fees or saving for a holiday somewhere. They were cheerful and lively. One of them allowed us to take a picture with her. I’m hoping it didn’t have anything to do with the lie Chris had told that I was an African prince. ;) . The Nigerian outfit I was wearing might have helped too.

At a corner, one boy had turned 16 and was placed on the table with paper beaks in his mouth. All the waiters gathered around him and sang him a Hooters birthday song. I’m sure he enjoyed it. Pity my own birthday is still a month away. Who knows who gift I might have got from the Hooter girls. In any case, I’m doubtful that a perching on a table in the middle of a bar would have sufficed for a birthday for a quasi-adult like me. Who knows though, I might have enjoyed it too.

We have all now returned to our various hideouts to regroup as soon as the semester gets into full gear. America is up for exploration, and here we are as volunteers for the great cause. California, Texas, Connecticut, New York, Colorado, Minnesota, Seattle, and even Alaska, here we come, slowly.

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A Weekend Around Town was published on August 22nd, 2010, under the Fun, Observations category. There are currently 4 comments on this article so far.

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