South Asian author challenge

Details for the South Asian Author Challenge can be found at S. Krishna’s Books. I thought this would be a fun one to join, and I hope you will consider participating. If you need ideas, there is a wonderful author list on S. Krishna’s blog. Some of my favorites include:
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
A Golden Age by Tahmima Anam
Brick Lane by Monica Ali
Madras on Rainy Days by Samina Ali
The Mango Season by Amulya Malladi

I soon will post my reviews for the challenge. First, I will be choosing between The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga and The Space between Us by Thrity Umrigar.

Go Tell It on the Mountain

i have just finished Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin (1924-1987), my first book for the African diaspora reading challenge hosted by BrownGirl Speaks.
i encourage you to sign up for the challenge, and to read this powerful novel.

i can’t believe i did not read this book sooner. it has been on my “to read” list for a long while, but kept getting displaced by newer works. with this novel, his first, James Baldwin demonstrates tremendous skill with language and imagery.

this semi-autobiographical, coming of age story, uses emotional intensity and verbal precision to evoke the experiences of 14-year-old John, whose father is a preacher at a storefront church in Harlem. with this context, the novel is rich in Biblical references. John does not want to be anything like his father, a very harsh man, and this contributes to John’s spiritual crisis. Baldwin gives the reader background on John’s parents and his paternal aunt, each of whom has intense internal struggles and challenges to overcome. their stories, while unique in their particulars, contain elements common to other stories of African Americans leaving homes in the southern United States in the hopes of better opportunities in the northern cities—the story of migration that led to the Harlem Renaissance during the 1920s and 30s.

this novel is full of moments of beauty and tender love, but still it does not shirk from describing the ugliness that each of us has within. some of the universal experiences these characters had have remained with me: the aching love of parent for child; the fear that love comes but once and is too easily lost; the errors in judgment that have unbearable repercussions; the challenge of guiding headstrong youth who must learn from experience; the confusion of wanting to know God and yet feeling angry at the pain it appears God has allowed to happen. i write this review with a lump in my throat and sleepy eyes, because it was very hard to close this book.

the edition i read was part of James Baldwin: Early Novels and Stories, a 1998 Library of America volume edited by Toni Morrison.

next up should be Sassafrass, Cypress, & Indigo by Ntozake Shange.

African diaspora reading challenge

I’ve gotten hooked on book blogs, and my reading list is growing longer and longer. Though it is a virtual community, book blogs can be a great space to connect with others who are passionate about reading. In this spirit, I have decided to join in a couple of the many reading challenges I have seen posted. The first is the African diaspora book challenge, which I read about at BrownGirl Speaks. This is a motivator to read books that have been in the back of my mind for a long while, and also, hopefully, to bring some attention to excellent literature. I’m signing on for the versed level, but hoping to make scholar. There are, happily, at least a half dozen on the list which I have already read (e.g. Zadie Smith, Edwidge Danticat, Zora Neale Hurston—who rocks, Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, perhaps due for a re-read). I may start with Sugar by Bernice McFadden, or Go Tell it on the Mountain by James Baldwin. Reviews soon to come. Please join the challenge. I welcome suggestions of favorite books by writers of the African diaspora.

muslim women reformers: book review

My review of Muslim Women Reformers by Ida Lichter was originally published by Feminist Review. On December 15, it was posted by Muslimah Media Watch, an excellent resource for following issues of interest to Muslim women worldwide.

how to leave Hialeah

My review of How to Leave Hialeah, by Miami-born writer Jennine Capó Crucet, is posted at the Feminist Review. I highly recommend this debut story collection.

handmade jewelry

Coco’s Greenhouse sells handmade jewelry inspired by nature. This month the Feminist Review is hosting a giveaway for a self-selected piece of jewelry. My favorites include pieces with dragonflies and swallows. For earrings, I am torn between dainty dragonflies and boho birds.
Enter by 25 November.

autumn eats

I enjoy reading food blogs and always aspire to try more recipes.  In my lazy version, sadly, there are no colorful, mouth-watering photos—at least not today.  Here is what I have been eating for the past week, since my spouse pulled the potatoes from our soil.

Potato Soup

A yellow-fleshed potato such as a yukon gold works very well here.  Use what you have as long as it is not a baking potato.  Forgive the lack of measurements.  I’m assuming you’ll use a lot of onion if you like a lot, and base the proportions on the amount of vegetables you have on hand.

onion, celery, garlic.  sauté these in olive oil.  subtract celery if you must.

stir in herbes de provence blend.  this is a mixture of marjoram, thyme, savory, basil, rosemary, sage, lavender, fennel.  (fennel-haters, don’t be scared.  you barely notice the fennel in the blend.  really.)  if you don’t have this blend on hand, add the herbs you like.  rosemary with potatoes is especially tasty.   or an Italian seasoning blend is nice.

add carrots, diced potatoes, broth.  (I only use vegetable broth).  bring to a boil.  if you are making a big batch, feel free to use half broth and half water, as the herbs and vegetables will give it plenty of flavor.  when potatoes are just tender, turn heat low to let the flavors develop.  if you have a bay leaf, drop it in the pot.

when you serve, stir in your favorite greens if you have any on hand.  kale and chard hold up very well, but spinach works, too.

the soup is very flexible.  I have added Italian seasoning, some garbanzos, and pintos (in lieu of kidney beans) for a minestrone variation.  Another day I added curry powder in place of herbs and sweet potatoes instead of carrots.

Improvise and enjoy!

Ursula Franklin review

Ursula Franklin is a Canadian feminist, physicist, educator, and Quaker.  My review of her essay collection, The Ursula Franklin Reader: Pacifism as a Map (with introductory essay by Michelle Swenarchuk) can be found at the Feminist Review.

art aplenty

My recent visit to NYC refreshed my need for creative stimulation.  On my farm, caring for my young daughter, I often remind myself that art can be in the details:  in my food preparation, in my efforts to put pen to paper, and, especially, in appreciation of my daughter’s prolific creative output.  We take walks in the neighboring town and peep in the windows of the glassblowing studio, and, with my love of street art, I glow by the murals.  However, I needed this walk through the East Village for the variety and the quality of surprise.

In Union Square we came across benches made of thick slabs of ice. Towels were available so you could sit on the ice without getting drenched.  After being in the subway, a seat on a block of ice is incredibly refreshing.  Someone with more entrepreneurial impulse than I could start a booming business selling blocks of ice like this.  (maybe someone already does so?) This installation, Burning ICE, was created by Taiwanese artist Chih Chih Yang.  Detailed coverage can be found here.

As we approached 9th Street I gave my daughter a little history lesson—”P.S. 122 is a very important place.  lots of fun art and performance happens here.”—and stopped abruptly when I saw a guerrilla knitting project along the fence.  As we continued around the corner, my daughter gleeful chirped, “There’s more!  There’s more!”, and ran her fingers over her favorites.  There are photos of the 9th Street fence at the P.S. 122 blog.

Friends of mine had the pleasure of encountering a bus covered in knitting in Mexico City.  These guerrilla knitting projects thrill me and warm my heart.  Maybe soon there will be such a project in my town?  hmm….

nostalgia

In the garden of gentle sanity, may you be bombarded by coconuts of wakefulness.—Chogyam Trungpa

Crossing Tompkins Square Park, I walked a tightrope between the beauty of the present moment and the pain of nostalgia. I watched my daughter play in the sprinklers, share a snack with the pigeons, and bark at the dogs in their park.  My daughter befriended strangers, smiled at babies, and negotiated for the right to cover her entire body in sand. (To my great relief, I won that argument.) Together we followed the music, and tapped our feet to the rhythm of the congas.

Even as I enjoyed our visit, my mind wandered into the land of craving: why couldn’t we live there, play in the park each week? Was our private family garden in PA a fair trade for a share in a community garden, where neighbors mingle and connect?

It hurt to be a visitor where I once was a resident, but on the heels of the hurt I had a reality check. Nostalgia is a funny thing, coming as it does with blindfolds and warping of the memory. After all, Loisaida is not all music and community gardens. I had lived in an oven-hot apartment where the only window was in my roommate’s bedroom. One memorable evening I had a conversation with the NYPD that went something like, “Well, if you don’t want to be burglarized, don’t live on the first floor.”

Why is this sense of longing such a big deal? Why is it worthwhile to write on this hunger for what is not there? Experiencing craving in this way gets in the way of enjoying the present moment. When I can be aware and see these feelings arise, I am grateful for the tools I have learned through meditation and yoga. These tools have to be used in regular practice, and I do not have as much discipline as I need. However, on the meditation cushion and on the mat I have experienced staying present with what arises, seeing it clearly and with gentleness.  This helps immensely, because joy and gratitude become the focus.  The mind feels more spacious when it is not clouded with hunger and confusion.

While in the park, mentally wandering away from the present, I was able to catch myself and to say, “Stay here now. Life is now, in this moment.” There still was an underlayer of craving, but I knew it was happening and it could not run away with me. I refused to get stuck and allow nostalgia to ruin my day.

Buddhist teacher Pema Chodron describes my experience concisely. She writes, “All of us derive security and comfort from the imaginary world of memories and fantasies and plans. We really don’t want to stay with the nakedness of our present experience. It goes against the grain to stay present. There are the times when only gentleness and a sense of humor can give us the strength to settle down.”

In the park, when I said to my companion, “I really miss this place,” her response was, “The smell of dog urine? Body odor on the subway? Do you miss those, too?” Sometimes, as Ani Pema alludes, it takes humor to wakes us up.