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R. In a Darker Light (con’d)
Amputee avengers have also been portrayed as ‘freaks’ to be ogled as much as mutiles to be feared or pitied… While I have never watched a martial arts film in entirety, apparently there is a sub-genre of such films featuring martial arts-trained amputees. In the standard plot (insofar as kung fu movies have plots), amputee…
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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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P. Political Scraps (con’d)
As difficult as it is to be charitable to the vicious Christian right in America today––it is understandable that many white Christians long for a simpler past. Yet they seem willfully blind to any conflict of the mighty sword and the mightier dollar with old Protestant virtues. Nothing less reflects thrift and frugality than splendorous…
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Coprolites in Amber (etc.) 