September 16, 2008

Ghana Journal: Carnival Parade

On the last day of the festival the mood shifted, and the people were ready to celebrate. The carnival parade began in Kotokraba Market (In Fanti, “koto” means village and “kraba” means crab. Kotokraba is an ancient village that has been subsumed by Cape Coast.). It then snaked through Cape Coast with drummers, dancers, chiefs being carried in lounges, and floats. I’ve uploaded some video and images of the day. It lasted from 10am until well past midnight as celebrators danced into the darkness with the throbbing sound of HipLife music everywhere. The images speak for themselves. Imagine 12 hours of this and you get a picture of how I got badly sunburned and suffered from heat exhaustion.

Photos:
http://picasaweb.google.com/labanhill

Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80SQPK3Y4U0

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.