ktravula – a travelogue!

Browsing the archives for the Uncategorized category.

Saturday Night, and Time

Sometimes before dawn between tonight and tomorrow, we’re going to lose one hour of sleep. Don’t ask me. It’s America’s way of reminding us of the vanity in predestination. Give me determinism. Heaven helps those who help themselves. Time waits for no man, except s/he that changes it at least twice a year. It’s common sense. It’s business. It’s the economy, stupid. Who cares for one more hour of sleep when we can add it to the productive part of the day and get more out of it. If you don’t like it, move to Canada, or Nigeria.

The spunk of America amazes, and delights. Nothing is, until human intervention makes it so. Spring break, for instance is what is it because of the attitude, general acceptance of its relevance, and the stories passed down from generations of the need to travel. In a few more weeks, it will be the break after school semester and another season will be gone. Culture. Acceptance. Season. Relaxation. My Italian colleague in the department has a different perception of time and enjoyment, of course, but having lived in the United States for many decades, I’m sure he has by now settled into the rote of American living.

Movies. Conversations. Fun, the usual. Monday will come and life will be back on the track of its brutish, interminable self. I will oil the wheels of my bicycle and plan for more days on the bike path to school rather than burn the gas whose price has skyrocketed since Gadaffi started slaughtering his citizens in Libya. But then there is Japan, now suffering from a horrible earthquake. It is easy to relax in the pattern of life that never seems to shake in turbulence. In other parts of the world are some of the most frightening indices of instability. Where is the safety, the peace of mind. The crises in Japan resulting in the explosion of one of their nuclear reactors yesterday night is a reminder of how precarious all existence as we know it is. This is to the little moments. Praying love and healing to Japan and the world. Libya too.

Saturday Night, and Time was published on March 13th, 2011, with the tags , , , , under the Observations, Soliloquy, Uncategorized category. There are currently 3 comments on this article so far.

The Coloured Museum

A play to commemorate the Black History Month was staged at the Dunham Hall Theatre at the weekend. I was there to see the last show on Sunday on recommendation from friends who had seen it days before and had been impressed. The play, a series of short skits and vignettes, explores the many dimensions of being black in America.

From the problem of identity to the challenge of belonging, from the choices of hairstyle to family life, homosexuality, single motherhood, movie portrayal/stereotypes among many others, the play takes on everything inviting the audience to laugh, and then ponder. I overhead one of the performers explaining that it’s called “The Coloured Museum” because each skit represents an exhibit in the imaginary museum of racial relics. This gives the performance some perspective.

My favourite, Git on Board, was a satirical take on the middle passage, where passengers were admonished by a chatty flight attendant to “fasten their shackles” at all times, and endeavour to keep their drums and different tongues silent during the flight in order to prevent a mutiny. At the end of their trip, there awaited them a very promising future but not after about 300 years of hardship. The reward included a star-studded cultural evolution that included Aretha Franklin, basketball, a complex culture, and hip-hop. The play is hard to describe to anyone who hasn’t seen it so I won’t even try. It’s even more difficult because taking pictures of any of the acting scenes was prohibited from the start. I can say this though: it was an amazing performance by a cast of students. It stirred up the playwright in me.

The Coloured Museum was written by George C. Wolfe and directed by Kathryn Bentley.

The Coloured Museum was published on March 1st, 2011, with the tags , , , , under the Art, Fun, Uncategorized category. There are currently 1 comment on this article so far.

On The Oscars

The King’s Speech – that great movie that explored the problem of speech impediments, the behind-the-scenes of British Royalty during a crucial time in world history, and a spectacular show of brilliant acting and grace – has been crowned by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. It won for the Best Director, Best Actor, Best Picture and for Original Screenplay.

Having seen the movie twice now, I can say that it is an honour well deserved, and more – not only because of the spectacular acting, but because of how it has brought into public conversation again, the debilitating problem of stuttering. I should also add that Colin Firth spent his first four years in Nigeria as a child – which should explain some of the brilliance he has shown in his career.

On The Oscars was published on February 28th, 2011, with the tags , , , , under the Uncategorized category. There are currently 1 comment on this article so far.

Next, Bahrain!

It cannot be emphasized enough how horrible it is that agents of state in places where citizens are peacefully protesting against misrule are opening fire on them. This is totally heartbreaking, and no words can condemn it enough. I have just seen a few Youtube videos in which totally harmless protesters walking on the streets of the country are shot at with live bullets. Are these soldiers mad? Have governments gone totally demented now? Whose interests are these shooters protecting? What are they trying to say? That protest is illegal and people should merely shut up and comply like goats? The underlying justification for citizen’s protests and revolt becomes even clearer when a simple thing as a peaceful march is met with merciless sadistic force. We should be outraged.

Since Egyptians toppled Mubarak through that sustained popular revolt, the world has once again directed its attention to the prospects of non-violent revolution. Unfortunately, not all governments got the memo. Bahrain is a small country on the Persian Gulf with a population of just over a million people, lying close to Saudi Arabia. It is ruled by a royal family that now seems threatened by a demand for a better way of life. These killings are unacceptable, and will only bring more pain and suffering, not to mention strengthen the citizens’ resolve. Here’s one more dictatorship to go, and as soon as possible. I call on the citizens and governments of the world to stand firmer on core values of human rights, more so now in the face of blatant disregard of the government for dissidence. Same for Libya, and Yemen. Compared to the ruling princes of Bahrain, Hosni Mubarak’s autocratic rule now looks like heaven in hindsight.

Next, Bahrain! was published on February 18th, 2011, with the tags , , under the Uncategorized category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.

Camera Shy

A bright day on a Midwestern campus. Brightness: erratic coming outs of a reclusive sun delights, and occasionally surprises. The campus yard fills up with half naked men and women doing the Naked Mile. The small Canon camera creaks now, almost packed up – a cat with seven lives. One often wonders about the resilience of the poor little thing.  A few months ago, it fell down and lost its digital viewfinder so one has to look through the old viewfinder to take pictures. A few weeks ago, it fell down again and the digital viewfinder came back to life. Then went off again after a few days.

Until it finally succumbs to the inevitable laws of nature, one hears the creaking trudging of a new tool of the modern age. Switch, view, click. One more day in the life of the Canon explorer.

Camera Shy was published on February 18th, 2011, with the tags , , , , under the Uncategorized category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.