September 21, 2008

Ghana Journal: Head Shots

1.
Hats

As the weather begins to move from hot to hot hot hot, I’ve got to remember to wear my hat. The two times I’ve spent any significant time in the sun without it has left me worn out and spent for the next two days.

2.
Head Shots
One of the most remarkable sights for a Westerner is the way everyone carries a burden. Here are some head shots of vendors selling their wares on the street. I have asked nearly everyone I’ve met if they can carry stuff on their head. Everyone answers yes. Most men say that they did it as a child but not anymore.
Photo link: http://picasaweb.google.com/labanhill/HeadShots

3.
Mowing with Machetes
There are some things that I just don’t have the heart to photograph. The other day I saw a half dozen shirtless men leaning on sticks and swinging machetes with their free hand. It took a moment for me to realize that they were mowing the lawn. The university has acres and acres of weed-strewn grass that is neatly mowed. This is done, not by machine, but by hand. Labor is cheap and in abundance here so the need for more technologically sophisticated ways of getting jobs done is not necessary.

4.
God is Everywhere

The other day I bought a white business envelope to post a letter. The inside graphic of the envelope was the words “Praise Him” over and over again in blue ink. I thought about the person receiving this letter in the United States and wondered if they would notice the printed decoration on the interior of the envelope.

5.
Street Light

There is a street light in Kotokraba Market that is turned off. Actually, it has been gutted. Only the green metal shell remains. It is clear that the street light fell out of use more than a decade ago and it is was also installed through some kind of economic aid. These kinds of crumbling infrastructure and buildings are everywhere because aid organizations invested money to build such things, but did not provide funds to maintain them. When something breaks in Ghana, it cannot be fixed. I would not be surprised that this street light was turned off after the first bulb blew. There is also a pedestrian right of way light on the corner of this intersection. Three green hollow boxes are stacked one on top of the other. Two of these boxes I can decode: walk and don’t walk. I am at a loss as to what the third box did. Perhaps it is some third way that I will never understand.

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.