Category: Memoir
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E. Glimpses of Predeparture (con’d)
In the staffroom at teatime this morning, Sister Chua told an anecdote that corroborated the rumours about how rampant crime is becoming of late. She said a thief recently broke into a convent in Tabora making off with a set of nuns’ habits… Unlike most criminals who flout the law with impunity–– the mwezi [thief]…
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E. Glimpses of Predeparture (intro.)
Introduction: Numerous excerpts from old journals kept in Tanzania and Zimbabwe where I once sojourned have already been posted on this site. These include pieces in ‘Scraps from Tanzania Notebooks’, ‘Scraps from Zimbabwe Notebooks’ and in ‘Scraps of Memoir from Afar’. In taking a second look at the transcripts of journals from those years, I…
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L. Snippets of Striving (con’d)
Although not the least interested in home renovation, I paid close attention to last night’s episode of “This old house” on PBS. It featured remedies for upgrading the energy efficacy of heritage homes. In the American can-do spirit, craftsmen breezily showed options for converting drafty old places into modern homes, cozy through the most bitter…
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L. Snippets of Striving (intro.)
Introduction: In ‘The Happy Isles of Oceania’, Paul Theroux comments on the published diaries of the cultural anthropologist, Bronislaw Malinowski: “…They were harmless enough–– just trivia, ranting, loneliness, insecurity and self-pity…” That comment is surely cautionary advice for anyone who keeps a diary. Even if the only potential reader of one’s words is some great-grandchild…
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N. A Few Snapshots (con’d)
Bringing these old negatives to light in such an utterly different time and place felt a bit like recovering bodies from centuries embedded in ice… In some photos, the girls of Weru-Weru (circa 1980) are shown in the classroom or posed in extracurricular duties. Other photos show the girls in their day of rest from…
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N. A Few Snapshots (intro.)
Introduction: I have not abandoned the hope of organizing a legacy package of family photos and videos. Such a project will involve much photoshopping and video-editing–– work which grows more daunting as time dwindles… In the meantime, I have several more themes to explore.’ Perhaps the editing of raw journal excerpts is rather like ‘photoshopping’.…
Coprolites in Amber (etc.) 