Books - One Book, One New Orleans Opening Event

On a nice August day (the weather has been crazy lately; I've never experienced a cool August 26th), One Book, One New Orleans had its kickoff event at the Latter Library on St. Charles Ave. This year's book is Gumbo Tales: Finding My Place at the New Orleans Table by Sara Roahen, which I nominated.

The library was a former residence. The last owners gave the building to the city to honor their son, who died in WWII.



There were a lot of people attending.

I met interesting people there. A lady who has joined a literacy program wants to finish this book. I suggested to her that she take it one chapter at a time and to start with her favorite food. The chapters are independent of each other, so you can start reading the book at any point.

I also talked to an AmeriCorp volunteer whose goal for the year is to see one of the students that he is tutoring pass the GED (a high school equivalency test.)














The best part for me was the food available. I was able to eat one gumbo and then a yummy cake. It was made by Sucre Bakery. Tariq Hanna, Executive Pastry Chef, recently won for TLC's Ultimate Cake-off Shark Summer Celebration at the Aquarium of the Pacific.

The gumbo pot looked realistic.

If you are coming to town, here are a list of upcoming events. Shoot me an email, and I will meet you there.

Chapter 2: Garden District Cookbook ClubOctober 12th, 6:00 pmGarden District Book Shop, 2727 Prytania St., New Orleans

A potluck community discussion group with Sara Roahen at the Garden District Book Shop’s monthly cookbook club. One Book is bringing the snoballs, courtesy of Plum St. Snoballs!

Chapter 3: Dinner at Leah’sOctober 14th, 6:00 pmDooky Chase Restaurant, 2301 Orleans Ave., New OrleansRegistration was required for this event; this event has reached capacity and is CLOSED.

A panel discussion celebrating neighborhood cooking and eating, with speakers Leah Chase, the “Queen of Creole Cuisine”; Elsa Hahne, author of the cookbook You Are Where You Eat: Stories and Recipes From the Neighborhoods of New Orleans, which features stories and recipes of home cooks throughout Greater New Orleans; Poppy Tooker, author of Crescent City Farmers Market Cookbook, which tells the story of the Crescent City Farmer’s Market and features recipes from famous New Orleans chefs, market vendors, and shoppers; and Times-Picayune Food Editor Judy Walker, co-author of Cooking Up a Storm: Recipes Lost and Found from The Times-Picayune of New Orleans, the cookbook that resulted from the Times-Picayune’s amazing project after Hurricane Katrina to restore New Orleans recipes lost in the flood. This event includes dinner at Dooky Chase; space is limited. Registration for this event has reached capacity and is CLOSED.

Chapter 4: Red Beans & WriteOctober 19th, 6:30 pmJefferson Parish East Bank Regional Library, 4747 W. Napoleon Ave, Metairie

An introductory-level workshop on writing about food memories. Hear Sara Roahen speak about food-writing, then take part in a writing exercise led by the Neighborhood Story Project; served with red beans & rice.

Chapter 5: Tuesday, Oct. 20th at 6:30 pm at the Community Center of St. Bernard, 1107 LeBeau St.; Arabi

A panel discussion on St. Bernard food traditions, including St. Bernard’s distinctive Isleños traditions, which were passed down from Spanish-speaking settlers from the Canary Islands in the late 1700s. The speakers will be Sara Roahen and the Los Isleños Heritage and Cultural Society; served with Isleños cuisine

Chapter 6: Community GardeningOctober 24th, 11:00 am to 3:00 pm Community Center of St. Bernard, 1107 LeBeau St.; Arabi

Volunteer in this community service event by helping to plant an edible garden at the Community Center of St. Bernard, in support of its food distribution services; lunch with Sara Roahen

Chapter 7: Dessert with the AuthorNovember 5th, 7:00 pm
Lawless Memorial Chapel, Dillard University, 2601 Gentilly Blvd.

Sara Roahen closes our program by reading and signing Gumbo Tales; served with desserts from around the city

Books - Book Review - Graceland - Chris Abani

This book was hard to start reading, but on the third try, I was able to keep reading and putting off everything else.

Set in 1970s and 1980s Nigeria, it relates the story of Elvis, a young boy who grows up too quickly when he moves to Lagos with his father.

Elvis' mother was very well read and when she named her son after the singer, Elvis was still in top form. And, the name fitted the son, since he did enjoy singing and dancing a lot.

When he was young, he had a nicer life. All the women in the family protected him, and he went to school. His father had a great job and provided well for the family.

But, when the mother got sick and later died, all started to go badly. The father decides to take Elvis to Lagos, thinking that life in the capitol city would be better. Elvis doesn't go to school, the father can't find a job, and Elvis works at various jobs to try to bring in some money.

One of his earlier jobs is to do Elvis' songs and dances. At a beach, when his life was not too sad, he notices a man sunbathing.

He sees "sprawled out on a deck chair was a heavyset man with a gargantuan stomach on which sat an open book. The sun was burning the skin around it and Elvis wondered if the resulting white patch would contain any of the text."

Elvis later makes friends with other men, like Redemption and King, who try to steer him to various jobs. He sees a more seedy side of Lagos. Elvis' friends realize that he won't be strong enough to make to age 25, and encourage him to
make a big decision so he can survive to that age and beyond.

However, not all was perfect in the village. There are instances of child abuse. Readers in the book group felt that they were back in the worlds of The Kite Runner or Slumdog Millionaire in those portions of the novel.

One survival mechanism that Elvis had was to read his mother's diary. She writes fabulous recipies and a cultural history of the koala nut. However, these sections of the novel didn't tie in as well as they should have with the rest of Elvis' life.

The novel also relates how life was changing in Nigeria. Slum life in Lagos was absolutely horrible. If a family had too many children, some were thrown out of the home to allow the others to survive. Many wild animals needed for ceremonies were no longer available, and more domesticated ones were substituted. Some people had no scruples to sell people or kill them, in order to make a profit.

Redemption calls Elvis "selfish" for thinking only about himself and not looking for his lost cousin, Efua. Efua and Elvis had been close as children, and there were sightings of her in Lagos. But, being "selfish" at age 15 is normal, and besides poor Elvis had to look out for himself, his father, and step-siblings. So, in reality, I don't believe he was being too selfish, considering the situation.

This novel is not an easy read, but when you are ready, you will learn a lot about what is happening in Africa, and the decisions that the young people have to make in order to survive.

Books - Junot Diaz Lecture

Sorry, I’ve been behind on my entries. The weather is slowly improving and I am going out more. Hibernation is almost at an end.

On August 31st, Junot Diaz, Pulitzer Prize winning author for The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, came to the Tulane University campus to give a lecture. This novel was selected for the Tulane Reading Project; all the freshman read one book before classes start, and there are many related activities related to the book.

Besides the freshman attending, there were faculty and staff and regular people, who enjoy reading books.

Diaz gave a reading of the part of the novel when the mother suspects that she has cancer and the daughter verifies it by feeling the lump on the breast. Then he read a short story that he is working on.

That portion of the novel about the cancer was hard to read silently, but in his voice, it sounded even sadder.

Afterwards, he answered questions. The first one was a convoluted question about the novel and its place in some theoretical structure, along with some implications to another theory. I got lost after the first sentence, and Diaz told the student that he doesn’t follow critical theory too much and answered the best that he could.

Then, I was next. I asked him about the racism in the Dominican Republic. The main characters had African blood and were made fun of by others who had more European blood. I was under the impression that the racial issues were not a problem there, since the island is so small, and so populous that interracial relations had more of a probability to happen.

Not so, replied Diaz. In his family, there is African blood, but the relatives refuse to acknowledge it, even though their hair is same texture as the African-Americans here. In fact, some of his relatives would tell him not to hang around the bad black people, and if he does marry a girl with African blood, to make sure that she has good hair. He also mentioned that these beliefs have also carried over to the US.

Diaz was asked about the mix of English and Spanish in the novel. He knew he was taking a risk with this method, but he felt that the views that he wanted to express was best done in both languages. He noted that “the more specific the audience of a novel, the more universal it is.” He gave examples of two classics, Moby Dick and all the Shakespeare plays. They didn’t write for the 21st century audience, but there works are still read today. He doesn’t know whether his work will stand the test of time, but he is hopeful that other people beside his intended audience (Dominicans who grew up in New Jersey) will relate to his works.

Here is an article about the event.

The only thing that I did not enjoy is his cursing. If one has been brought up in an environment where it’s common, later on you learn not to express yourself that way. A young relative was shocked he was still speaking like that, especially when I told her that he worked at MIT. Maybe in certain places, it’s considered cute or something, but it left a bad taste in my mouth. He has accomplished a lot, and all that cursing diminishes what’s he done.

Books - Book Review - The Locust and the Bird - Hanan al-Shaykh

I received my copy of The Locust and the Bird from J. Kals of Random House. Thank you!

Hanan al-Shaykh, a journalist from Beruit, writes this memoir of her mother. The voice of the work is not al-Shaykh's, but that of Kamila, her mother. al-Shaykh really gets into her mother's skin by using Kamila's voice while telling the story.

Well, how bad was Kamila's life? When her own father left the family, Kamila, her mom, and her brother would go to a field. "The wheat had been cut and the field was empty. Mother bent over the red soil and picked up the leftover grain that was scattered on the ground, after the reapers had done their work afternoon...The wheat gleamed like tiny bits of gold. But I was scared of the snakes that lazed in the shade under the stalks." These grains of wheat feed Kamila and her family, because they couldn't afford to buy any food!

Kamila moved to Beruit, moves into her brother-in-law's home, where she does housework and never goes to school. She later marries this brother-in-law (at age 13!) when her sister dies, but very unwillingly. Many years after giving birth to Fatima and Hanan (our author), Kamila divorces her husband and marries her first love. She never learned to read and had to fight male authorities when the second husband dies. She escapes her misery through the movies, enjoying the company of women, and her love for her second husband.

Kamila's story is one of survival in a patriarchal society. However, her decision to leave her first husband does have consequences, that she doesn't realize until the years pass.

This memoir includes photos and a family tree, and a picture of Kamila's telephone book. Kamila drew a "picture of a person alongside their telephone number..then Hanan spotted the dove I'd drawn next to her name - because she was flying off somewhere."

al-Shaykh was gracious enough to answer some of my questions in an E-interview. Check out her replies in blue.

E-INTERVIEW

Did your grandmother ever explain why the marriage between your parents was so important for her financial survival and that of Ibrahaim or even admit this fact to themselves?
No, my grandmother used to weep whenever she saw me or saw my sister Fatima, but rumours in the family, especially from Uncle Ibrahim circulated that my grandmother married my mother off so that the motherless grandchildren - rather than a strange step mother - would benefit from the money






Did your father ever explain why Kamila left home? Or did he retreat more into his prayers? How did the other family members treat you? Did Kamila ever ask what happened after the divorce?
My father never wanted to discuss anything about my mother and the divorce, but he never stopped describing her as "tarred and feathered" whenever we mentioned her name. Other family members ignored the subject, but we could sense they were against the divorce and the blame was always on my mother. I do not recall that we were treated differently by them but we were made fun of by the children in our neighbourhood. Kamila would hear us talking our new stepmother from hell and she would threaten to take her revenge.



Personality-wise, Kamila seems to be a teenager (self-absorbed, leaving child rearing to others to go out, etc,). Did she ever realize that leaving you and Fatima would affect you at that moment and later on? Did she “grow up” in her later years?
She never thought that leaving us would affect us. She was too young to realise that, but as she matured she started blaming herself until she was consumed by guilt.


Were you encouraged to have a relationship with your half-siblings?
I just loved by half-siblings, though I felt a pang of jealousy from my younger sister, Ahlam, because on one of my visits to my mother, I saw her wearing pink pyjamas.



Did Kamila ever tell you stories of her youth when you were a child? Did she encourage your education?
No, she never encouraged my education. Whenever my sister Fatima and I visited her, she would be busy with her life and new family. She started showing interest in me when I became a journalist.



The voice that you wrote the memoir was excellent. I felt that it captured Kamila’s feelings.
Do you have hope that your work will help the Muslim leaders to examine how women are treated and the role of arranged marriages?
My mother was so keen that I write her lifestory also because she wanted every single father, brother, uncle and grandfather... all the patriarchal society to treat their females as equals, and not as sub-humans as she was treated. But of course when the Locust and the Bird was published in Arabic in Lebanon and people read it, I felt that it shocked many women, especially the independents and the professionals and it echoed also the life of mothers and grandmothers of many ho were pushed into an arranged marriage.

How I wish that Muslim leaders would read this!

Books - Support One Book, One New Orleans!

Help Support the One Book, One New Orleans Project.

If you live outside the New Orleans area and you purchase a book or select items at ANY Barnes and Noble store, please mention Code 10007169 when you are checking out.

One Book One New Orleans will use the money to buy books for next year's project and to fund activities.

(You can't use this voucher for on-line shopping nor B&N university bookstores. You can't buy gift cards or magazine subscriptions.)

If you are in the New Orleans area, you can also go to other bookstores. Check out this voucher.

Books - 5 Down Winner in 9 for '09 Winner

To celebrate 8/29 (the Katrina-versary), I wanted to do something positive.

So, I decided to have a drawing in my reading challenge, 9 for '09 - 5 Down - Almost There.

The winner is Sandra of Fresh Ink Books. Congratulations! One prize will be a book.