ktravula – a travelogue!

Two Movies

Gone With the Wind and Glory are two sides of the same coin in the civil war history of the United States. Well, not really. One of them is a story that glorified slavery in some way, or at best treated it like just another part of life. The other was a feature on a real life event of an attempt to resolve the institution of slavery among other political differences in the country.

Gone with the Wind is a beautiful story of love, gallantry, bravery and honour. Bella loved Rhett, but Rhett loved Scarlett. Scarlett however loved Ashley, and Ashley loved his wife. Scarlett never got over her love until it was too late. A very moving ending to a story that spanned the period of the American civil war.

Glory is a moving story of honour, bravery, pride and a tragic military campaign of the first “coloured” regiment of the Union army in an attempt to take over the confederate Fort Wagner. Brilliantly told, the true life story never failed to rouse emotion at very memorable intervals. And Denzel Washington won his Academy Award as a supporting actor.

I can’t explain why I have been watching movies about the American Civil War in the past days, but I can say that it’s been worth it. It is filling a few gaps in my history lesson. And it raises a few questions too, why it was important to black men to enlist in the Union army to fight the confederates when all they would get was death, or at best a chance to kill. And how those capable of keeping slaves in servitude and fighting to entrench the evil system could be capable of gallantry, honour and love. Gone With The Wind manages to elicit my empathy for the Old South, and Glory managed to arouse my anger at slavery, war, and inequality. And all I learnt at the end of watching them both is the power of stories.

Two Movies was published on June 29th, 2010, with the tags , , , , , under the Art, Observations, Opinion, Soliloquy category. There are currently 5 comments on this article so far.

June Roundup

“We real cool…/we jazz June” – Gwendolyn Brooks

The month is over, almost so. “Thirty days have September, April, June and November…” Now we’re about to enter the second half of the year. Wasn’t it just yesterday when the new year sneaked in without warning? Before we know it, the year’s over again. How did you enjoy the month? Is the World Cup living up to its expectation of excitement?

June here was full of rains and humid heat. July will be more of that. You know that kind of rain that just never stops? Drizzles and little showers from morning till evening? Yes, that’s the kind July is known for here. Urban legends have it that the rain is due to the Osun Osogbo celebrations in Osogbo during the month. How true is that?

Here’s a thought: how would you like a book made out of this blog? Do you like it enough to want to gift out a book made out of a collection of some of the favourite past posts/poems/thoughts on the blog? Is it worth it or is it a waste of time. Do people still read? Can you at the moment think of people you’d like to amuse with some of the thoughts that have made you smile here in a book? There is a new poll to your right. I’d like to know what you think.

July promises to be a fun month for many reasons. And the beat of life goes on. Regards everyone.

June Roundup was published on June 29th, 2010, with the tags , , , , under the Opinion, Soliloquy category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.

The LAWMA Sweeper

I’d been getting sneak shots of these Lagos State Waste Management Authority cleaners throughout my stay in Lagos, but sometimes earlier in the month as I walked past the pedestrian bridge at Oshodi and spoke to a few of them.

It was a Sunday and everyone else was either going to church or heading to their daily duty posts. I was heading to Badagry. A few minutes stop was not going to kill me, so I waited. I approached her, half wondering if I could be considered a nuisance by any of the policemen on patrol on the other side of the road.

“Good morning ma. Do you mind if I take your picture while you’re working now?”

“No, I don’t,” she said, but she looked at me as if to ascertain my motive. “No problem.”

“Thank you very much,” I said, “I’m writing something for publication and I’d like to capture you while doing your work.”

“No problem.”

I went away from her as she stood by the concrete demarcation in the middle of the road sweeping dirt. All around were activities. Some people were crossing the road towards us, and some away from us. I made a few snapshots from different angles while keeping an eye on the policemen who – if they’d seen me could have been tempted to ask a few questions of their own. After a while, I was satisfied. I returned to her.

“What’s your name, ma’am?”

“Patricia Okoro.”

“Do you live around here?”

“Yes. I live at Abeni Bakare. Mafoluku.”

“How do you enjoy the job you do here? Do you like it?”

“Yes, I do,” she said. I believed her. “It is not much, but it allows me to take care of the things I have to.”

“I hope you don’t mind me asking. How much do you earn per month?”

“Ten thousand naira.”

That is $60. Per month.

“Really? For the whole day?”

“No, only for half a day. I stop work at two pm every day. It is from six am to two pm  only.”

“Oh, so you’ve been here since 6am today?”

“Yes.”

I asked her if there were those who worked for the whole day.

“Yes,” she said. “They earn twenty thousand.”

She won’t work the whole day because she needed to rest.

I asked what she was doing before she became a street sweeper and she said she didn’t have a job. She had been a porter and a trader, but none of them gave her as much pay, satisfaction, and free time that working with LAWMA did.

A few minutes later, she took the broom, picked up the trash bin and moved to the other side of the road. She didn’t say goodbye and I didn’t stop her. She had been stoic for the most part of the conversation perhaps because she was on the job, and busy, but she did convey a striking appearance of dignity. She may not have been the most cheerful person working on that Sunday morning when everyone else was relaxing in the way they knew best, but she had presence, and a hardworking spirit that remained with me long after I went my way.

I met a few more of them later although some of them refused to be photographed, but they all talked to me. I went away from the area with a certain respect for them, mostly women, working hard every day around the state for such stipend just to make ends meet. And they are the ones who keep the city clean.

The LAWMA Sweeper was published on June 28th, 2010, with the tags , , , under the adventures, Observations category. There are currently 2 comments on this article so far.

Walking on Water

It’s the second resurection of Christ. Before the world ends he wants to take in some fishing. So he gets his friend Moses and they head up to the Cougar Lake to fish. They are about to rent a canoe when Moses says:
“Jesus, can’t you still walk on water? Why not just walk out there?” So Jesus takes his reel and tackle and steps onto the lake….and falls knee deep in water.

Moses says, “Well….maybe you need a head start or something, why not go to the end of the dock and try.”

So Jesus takes his reel and tackle and steps off the end of the dock and falls up to his waist.

Moses says, ” Well why not rent the boat, go out to the center of the lake and try there.”

So they rent the boat and go to the middle of the lake, Jesus is about to step off and try again when…

Moses says, “Wait. Just to be safe, why not get yourself into the state of mind you were in the first time you did it.”

So Jesus sets down, meditates for a few minutes, and finally he’s all psyched up, and steps out of the canoe…. ..and precedes to drown. So Moses does the water parting thing, and pulls Jesus up into the boat.
Jesus is just beating himself up over this. He just doesn’t see what’s going wrong here. Moses just stares down at the bottom of the boat.

Suddenly, Moses says, “I got it! I know what’s wrong! Did you have those holes in your feet last time?!?!”
__________
Culled

Walking on Water was published on June 27th, 2010, with the tags , , , under the Fun category. There are currently 4 comments on this article so far.

Is it still a travelogue?

Anwuli Ojogwu has asked me if this blog will remain a travelogue “now that you’re back.”

It is a question the answer to which I’ve resolved since a few weeks before I got on the plane heading back home. Yes, the blog is tagged “a travelogue”, and yes, so it will remain, and the contents will remain what they’ve always been: my observations on the world around me wherever I go. It has never really been strictly about travelling anyway, but about my interests, views, observations, progress, ups and downs, friends, and the way my life seems mixed up in the American (and world) experience warts and all. It will remain so.

In this spirit of the beautiful game, check out this World Cup of Fiction.

Is it still a travelogue? was published on June 27th, 2010, with the tags , , , , , under the Observations, Opinion, Soliloquy category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.