Books for the New Year

When you think no one is watching you, chances are that someone is. I ultimately realized this on New Year's Eve when a stranger empowered me with a gift of knowledge. Before heading to Washington, DC to welcome in 2010, Shamira and I made a stop in Maryland.

After the publication of a newspaper article back in August outlining my Fulbright plans in Jamaica, my mother was contacted by a woman who was interested in my research and wanted to pass on some books she thought might be beneficial. A relative nearby held some of the books for me until my return this winter. On New Year's Eve we picked up the books from my cousin's house and continued onward to meet and thank Mrs. Washington in person.

What we thought would be a short hello-thank you-goodbye, turned out to be something all together different. Immediately she welcomed Shamira and I into her home and demanded that we take whatever books we wanted off of her shelf. There was a sense of hesitation, but after she reiterated the fact that she had no one to bequeath them too, we got to work. One by one books started coming off the shelf. It began with popular titles, like "How Europe Underdeveloped Africa" and continued to get more and more intricate. In the process we uncovered several books signed by Dr. John Henrik Clarke, Sterling Stuckey, Ivan Van Sertima and Jacob Carruthers. However, the crown jewel had to be the a 1903 edition of Booker T. Washington's "Up from Slavery." I would have gladly taken all the books and left the shelves bare but knowing that I could neither carry nor read all of them, we took what we could manage and decided it might be best to have her donate the rest of her collection to a public library (of course we suggested Howard University). I must say, in all, I think Shamira and I must have increased our personal collections by about 30 books each. The above photo is just a fraction of the books I brought back to Jamaica.

Now the real work begins. I know that I now have an obligation to be productive because someone has taken the time and effort to invest in my education. With 30 more books to read, on top of everything else, I guess I had better get crackin'. More reading, thinking, and producing; thats my New Years' Resolution.

Recipe #4: Jerk Chicken

So i don't usually eat meat here in Jamaica (except for fish) but I wanted to try cooking some Jerk Chicken before I head home for the holidays. I didn't get a chance to try all of the different brands of Jerk seasoning but the one I did try out was pretty good. Perhaps later I will attempt to make some Jerk from scratch. There are many different recipes out there with a variety of secret ingredients ranging from Soy Sauce to Orange Juice. However this one came from a bottle of Sunrite. The key to cooking Jerk Chicken is to cook it on a low heat. If you cook it too high the chicken will get tough. It is best to cook it over an open flame but the oven works good for those cooking inside. Also the chicken should marinate at least for 4 hours, and at best overnight. Some also recommend poking holes into the chicken beforehand to let the seasoning seep in. You can really jerk anything from fish to tofu, I even threw a little into my rice to spice it up a bit. I also hear the Jerk Pork is amazing but I won't be trying it anytime soon.

Quote of the Week #4

This quote comes directly from a short piece I recently completed by Kongolese philosopher Kimbwandende Kia Benseki Fu-Kiau. Thanks to the University of West Indies library, I was able to borrow a copy of his book, "Tying the Spiritual Knot: African Cosmology of the Bantu-Kongo: Principles of Life & Living." It covers a number of topics relating generally to the Bantu worldview and more specifically to Kongolese cosmology. Replete with proverbs, it seems only fitting that I should share one with you. I encourage everyone to investigate the philosophies of the Kongolese.

"Kanda i (mbundani a) bafwa ye bamoyo."

-- The community is the union of the ancestors and of the living. -- (p.105)

The above image is a picture of the Kikongo cosmogram imprinted on the floor of the Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, New York. The rivers divide the the circle into the four stages of life: all beginnings, birth, maturation and death. Underneath the center of this particular cosmogram are the ashes of the late poet Langston Hughes.

Quote of the Week #3

This week's quote isn't a quote at all but is something that I think many of you would find very enlightening and has been keeping me entertained out here in Jamaica. For those of you in Washington, DC, you can tune into Dr. Jared Ball's radio show "Jazz and Justice" on WPFW every Monday from 1:00 -3:00 pm. But for those of the us who are out of town, you can go to VoxUnion and stream the past episodes free online. Dr. Ball covers a lot of issues from Chris Rock's movie, "Good Hair" to Robin Kelley's new biography on Thelonious Monk. For this week's show he had the newly appointed Chair of the Afr0-American Studies Department at Howard University, Dr. Gregory Carr discussing everything from DuBois to Obama. Hope you enjoy. The music is good too.

Recipe #3: Stuffed Fish

Alright so i kinda cheated for this week's recipe. I have been backed up writing papers, applying for graduate school and various other things so this meal comes straight from the grocery store. I went in and bought stuffed fish already prepared so there was barely any effort required -- the packaging even included a chunk of butter so all you have to do is literally put it in the oven. For J$322 (about $4) I got two properly seasoned red snappers already stuffed with, callaloo, onion, okra and green peppers. The food was amazing and although it required little effort, it wasn't all easy. This was my first time using the gas oven and it took a couple of tries to get the pilot light lit. Once the light was lit, I preheated the oven with the glass bowl inside and then added the fish, rotating it every 5 minutes for so for about 15-20 minutes total. The fish came out smoking . . . along with my finger. I realized I didn't have any pot holders so resorted to using a rag which was not thick enough. But in the end it came down to burning my finger or saving the fish and of course food always comes first. So while I thoroughly enjoyed the meal, my finger will take couple days to recover.

Rais wa Tanzania

The president of Tanzania came to visit Jamaica last week. Staying for several days, I'm not exactly sure what the purpose of his visit was but I got a chance to see him speak at the University of West Indies. The event opened with the University Choir singing the Tanzanian national Anthem in Swahili and a few other performances by student groups. Aside from all of the formalities of a visiting dignitary, he gave a speech on "Africa and the Caribbean in the Age of Globalization." President Kikwete began by referencing Walter Rodney, both a UWI graduate and former professor. For Kikwete, Rodney was a source of inspiration, having served as his professor at the University of Dar Es Salaam after being banned from Jamaica. After thanking the Jamaica authorities for banning Rodney and ultimately bringing him back to Tanzania, Kikwete continued on with the rest of his speech. He didn't really say anything new, mostly reiterating the negative effects of globalization on developing countries. He also stressed the need for governments to support education and highlighted the unfair practices of western countries subsidizing crops and other exports.

It was interesting to see how his speech related to the current political climate in Jamaica. He spoke of the ills of IMF policies at a time when the Jamaican government is trying to encourage the people to accept more IMF loans. During the question and answer section, I asked about the possibility of the Tanzanian government establishing a professor of Kiswahili at UWI -- seeing as the university doesn't formerly offer any African language courses. He said they were definitely interested but we will see if the two work together to form some type of collaborative effort.

In the end, he was generally we received. The overall event was rushed. The President arrived late and the facilitators were forced to condense much of the program. It would have also been better if the event were announced and open to the public. After his visit in Jamaica the president was off to Trinidad and Tobago to attend the 2009 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. It would be interesting to know where the rest of his tour took him.

Quote of the Week #2

The quote this week comes from someone who was instrumental in organizing and theorizing the Civil Rights Movement. She largely worked behind-the-scenes training and mentoring many of those whom would become famous in the movement.

In the words of Ella Baker: "You didn't see me on television, you didn't see news stories about me. The kind of role that I tried to play was to pick up pieces or put together pieces out of which I hoped organization might come. My theory is, strong people don't need strong leaders." (Participatory Democracy)