Ghana Journal: African U.S. President

In my office here in Cape Coast, Ghana, I can barely sit still. Everyone is buzzing with the news of Obama’s victory. For Ghanaians, it is clear that they believe that Africa has finally been recognized and affirmed in a way that is hard to describe adequately. If an African, not just an African American, can be elected president of the United States, then perhaps Africa will no longer be simply an afterthought to Western powers. In many ways this is perhaps an unrealistic hope, but it is a hope that is worth having at least for today. In a region of the world where many feel invisible to have now the most powerful country in the world cast its gaze at least partially toward them is a feeling of such deliverance. It must be honored and celebrated. I’m grilling fresh redfish, caught this morning in the sea of a new era. I am certain this fish will have a much sweeter taste than yesterday’s catch.

I find myself reluctant to leave this moment of triumph and transformation, and have chastised myself when my thoughts turn to the devastation of every level of American society that Obama faces. Instead, I will linger here and drink from the elixir of hope and possibility. In the middle of the afternoon I taught a poetry writing to 130 students in an open air classroom. A deluge pounded the corrugated metal roof, drowning out anything I had to say. Still, my students heard me above the din say Obama’s name out loud and erupted in cheers.

After this class, the university closed in honor of a lecture being given in the auditorium by His Excellency, Mr. Benjamin William Mkapa, former president of the United Republic of Tanzania. He spoke on “Post Independence: Skewed Relationship with Erstwhile Colonial Alliance.” In this particularly brilliant lecture Mkapa delineated how post-colonial politics, economies and social fabrics were constructed from a paradigm instituted by colonialism. In his introductory remarks he made reference to what Obama has asked of Americans and turned this question on his continent: “Can Africa change?”

It is this question of change that has been an undercurrent of my day. The marvelous poet Stephen Cramer sent me these lines that seem to capture this moment most appropriately:

Oceans

I have a feeling that my boat
has struck, down there in the depths,
against a great thing.
And nothing
happens! Nothing. . . Silence. . . Waves. . .

--Nothing happens? Or has everything happened, and are we standing now, quietly, in the new life?

--Juan Ramón Jiménez

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.