Being Observed

As darkness settled in last night I heard a scraping of chair legs on my porch. I pulled back the curtain and saw a young man dressed in fatigues carrying the chair to the walkway leading to my chalet. I recognized him as one of the private campus security guards who all wear green military fatigues. I knew he was not carrying a gun because I had read in the Ghana Daily Graphic this past week that it was illegal for private security officers to carry weapons. Only military and police were authorized to be armed. This was a bit of a relief since the automatic weapons with large banana cartridge cases that the police carry are pretty alarming.

As I watched from the window, the guard flipped open his cell phone and began speaking loudly in Fanti. After a few moments, I went outside and introduced myself. His name was Matthew. As we discussed the night, I got around to asking him why he was sitting in front of my chalet. He said he was told to. He didn’t know why, but he was ordered to sit at my chalet for the night. When I returned to my room, I realized that probably someone noticed the woman and her children coming to my door the night before at 11pm. Security was somehow informed and assigned a guard to my chalet.

For all of my watching, this instance made me incredibly aware of just how much I am being watched as well. Even when I think I am not being observed, I am. There is always someone interested in me as a point of interest. I knew that when I went into town people were talking about me. Almost everyone greets me on the street. I did not understand until now just how pervasive it was. As a white foreigner, I have no anonymity.

Selected Works

1. Nonfiction

DJ Kool Herc
The first picturebook biography of the founder of rap and hip hop, DJ Kool Herc!

America Dreaming: How Youth Changed America in the 60s
"Phenomenal."–Howard Zinn "Excellent."–New York Times Book Review

Harlem Stomp! A Cultural History of the Harlem Renaissance
“Harlem Stomp! is a wonderous new book: it celebrates a time, a place, an energy, and a people who refused to be held back and so they created a culture the entire world is still reeling from.”

--George C. Wolfe, writer, director, and producer of the Public Theater, NYC

3. Poetry

Dave the Potter
A picturebook poem describing the life of the slave potter Dave. Illustrated by Bryan Collier.

Contemporary Poetry of New England
“Contemporary Poetry of New England offers a vivid portrait of a region, its colors and smells, its physical and emotional textures, and the people…. It presents a range of poets, few of whom would call themselves a “region poet,” although each has taken to heart in a private way Frost’s haunting dictum: ‘Locality gives art.’”

--from the Introduction

2. Fiction

A Brush with Napoleon
A seventeen-year-old is plucked out of the Grande Armee to sit in place of Napoleon for a portrait of the Emperor by the artist David.

Casa Azul
"I felt like a kid reading every word on the page! I liked the strains of "magic realism" coming through in Frida's house! Children will relate to this very much! The story is charming and reads like a thriller." –Margarita Aguilar, Assisant Curator, El Museo del Barrio

4. Middle Grade Series

Xtreme Mysteries
These kids love extreme sports--snowboarding, skateboarding, rock climbing, wake boarding--and are ready to fight when the right to do their sport is threatened.