There is an ongoing exhibition at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan about “Nigeria at 50″. The photos there show the different celebratory events of the independence year 1960, especially those by “ordinary” citizens. There was one with a woman in an ankara wrapper branded with the independence logo, and with two small flags on the bag she carried on her head. There are also several other images of political leaders in different positions all around the country.
Along with the exhibition is a conference organized by IFRA, the Institute of African Studies, and the University of Ibadan where papers are being presented by participants from all around the world, including Sola Olorunyomi, David Oshorenoya Esizimeor, Adoyi Onoja, and Regane Buck Barden among many others.
The event has brought up valid questions about the need for record keeping about moments in our history. The conference with the exhibition ends on July 7th.
VN:F [1.9.1_1087]
Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)
VN:F [1.9.1_1087]
This is my 200th blog post!
Now that I have spent the whole of Thursday holed up in the hotel attending one workshop to the other, I am beginning to think that these photos from my solo walk around the little town yesterday might be the only ones that I have of its interesting sites. Or not. Let me check. Yes, I’m right. This conference is all I have come here to do.
Meanwhile, the conference itself is very warm gathering of 409 Fulbrighters from 49 countries teaching hundreds of languages all over the country. I have met old friends who remember me, and those who don’t. I have also met new ones who had heard about me and those who hadn’t. There will be more conference sessions tomorrow, and more feeding sessions too, until Saturday when the conference officially ends. We have learnt about Social Networking for the Foreign Language Classroom, Writing for Publication in Foreign Language Journals, and Scenarios & Strageties: Addressing Individual Student Concerns. Tomorrow, there will be more… Before this conference ends, we will meet with some representatives from the State Department. No, I don’t think that there is a chance to see the Secretary of State, so that’s that, already crossed out.
But this was my lethargic Thursday put into good and productive use of my time, although now, the only thing that hasn’t changed is the tiredness I feel at the end of the day. I however learnt many things in the conference sessions today. One that stuck with me was a fact that forty Fulbrighters from eleven countries have been awarded the Nobel Prize since 1952. They include Jean-Marie Le Clézio (France, and Nobel Laureate for Literature in 2008), Henry Kissinger (USA, and Nobel Peace Prize 1973) and two time winner Linus Pauling (USA, and Nobel Laureate in Chemistry 1954).
VN:F [1.9.1_1087]
Rating: 10.0/10 (2 votes cast)
VN:F [1.9.1_1087]
The other thing that came with my ordered dinner of “fried rice”, soup and soda yesterday night was a pair of fortune cookies which I had not ordered for. They are chinese cookies “folded and baked around a piece of paper on which a saying or a prediction of somebody’s fortune is written.” (definition by Encarta) I’m not superstitious (all the time) but I take little fun in poking fun at the predictions of the cosmos. I never believed in zodiac signs, but I always read the predictions in the papers whenever I can. Don’t mind the fact that all the predictions for each zodiac sign are in one way or the other similar and could work for anyone with as much as a little dose of superstition. It’s the placebo effect, I guess. But I digress.
By now you already know that in about a few weeks, very very soon now, I will be heading to the East Coast of the country, again! Yea, I’m excited about it too. There are just so many things to see in Washington DC. I can’t wait to stand underneath the real Lincoln Monument. The small one we took pictures with at the Chicago Grant Park was an impostor. I’ve hoped to use the opportunity to do a little wandering around the neighbouring states as well: New York, maybe New Jersey, and Maryland. The last state, definitely, thanks to Ikhide Ikheloa who has promised me a ride from Washington DC to Maryland, warm beddings to lay my head on, plenty naija books to read and to steal, a new iPhone 3Gs and an unlimited supply of Ofe nsala, isi ewu and cow leg pepper soup! Ha, don’t even think of reneging on the promise, Baba!
Anyway, when I broke open the two blasted cookies yesterday, I was too much in a hurry to consume them that I ignored the “fortune” paper in them until after the cookies, the food and the “soup” were well digested. And when I was ready, I took a look and here was what I found: >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
“Travelling to the east will bring you great rewards.”
And suddenly, I’m a believer.
New York, DC, East Coast, here I come… at least after I finish devouring all the livestock of this Thanksgiving Week!
VN:F [1.9.1_1087]
Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)
VN:F [1.9.1_1087]
I have just received a very pleasant news, that I will be going to Washington DC in December for the annual Fulbr
ight FLTA Conference. It is not a totally unexpected news, but coming today, it is a pleasant beacon of warm hope waiting for me in the city of the Capitol.
Illinois is getting really cold, as we approach the last days of the fall season. Today in class my students kindly informed me that I should start doing my shopping for leather boots and hats as it might drop up to 30degrees totally unexpectedly anytime soon. I thank them. My nice leather gift shoes from Laurensonline in Lagos will now have to give way to really heavy stuff that reach up to the ankle and can withstand snow and ice rain.
Speaking of Washington DC and the East Coast, I made another interesting discovery today, that someone in the State Department has been reading my blog, or at least has discovered it. It was a pleasant surprise to get some commendation on content and design, and a mild admonition that I had forgotten to state clearly in my about page that this blog is NOT an official Fulbright FLTA site. Of course it’s not. It just one man’s head split open publicly. That man just happened to have been young, Yoruba and loquacious, grateful to have been chosen to go on a Fulbright FLTA programme in the United States. Let this be another disclaimer that the thoughts are solely mine. It is the random thoughts of a Nigerian soul in an America space. That said, let me look forward to meeting the Secretary of State in December, shaking her hands and taking pictures with her. Now what are the odds of that far-fetched eventuality? But if my dealings with serendipity is anything to go by, I won’t be surprised if this ever comes to pass.
I have seen the picture of the hotel in which I will be lodged in December along with the other Fulbright FLTA students. It is beautiful. And guess what, it is just a stone-throw from the Capitol. I will sleep well tonight, just thinking about it.
VN:F [1.9.1_1087]
Rating: 9.8/10 (4 votes cast)
VN:F [1.9.1_1087]
There is an ongoing exhibition at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan about “Nigeria at 50″. The photos there show the different celebratory events of the independence year 1960, especially those by “ordinary” citizens. There was one with a woman in an ankara wrapper branded with the independence logo, and with two small flags on the bag she carried on her head. There are also several other images of political leaders in different positions all around the country.
Alton, IL
