New York to Nashville

New York City 

On Tuesday I went to New York to promote my book. Janifer Wilson, owner of Sisters Uptown Bookstore in Harlem, will host me in late February for a talk and book signing. She holds many events and has a following. I’m looking forward to it.

I had lunch in a Spanish restaurant next to Sisters Uptown – plantain, rice and beans! I sent a picture to my daughter Beth to make her jealous!

I also met Kurt Thometz, compiler and editor of Life Turns Man Up and Down, High Life, Useful Advice, and Mad English.

Its focus is the Onitsha market literature of the late 1940’s to 1960’s. These were pamphlets or small books, written in often non-standard and pidgin English, for an audience of mostly men who had recently learned to read. They were meant to instruct and entertain.

Until a few months ago, Kurt ran the Jumel Terrace Bookstore. My friend Luvon, who introduced me to both him and Janifer, didn’t know he had closed it. She thought he might hold an event as well.

So even though there will be no event, it was a fascinating visit. Every room is lined with hundreds of books. Whole shelves are devoted to a variety of African writers and subjects. Igbo market writing has its own section.

Luvon took a video of Kurt and me in conversation about Igboland, Onitsha, and the Biafran War. I’ll share it when I have the link.

When we left, we walked through Sylvan Terrace (do I have the name right, Luvon?) Here’s Luvon, showing her joy in New York’s fabulous places!

Unitarian Minister Installed

On Sunday afternoon, during a gorgeous sunset which the sopranos and altos in the Chamber Choir could watch, we installed our fifth seior minister at The Unitarian Church in Westport. I hardly stopped smiling from the beginning of the service to the end!

The Chamber Choir opened with “Simple Gifts,” a Shaker song. Do you know it?

The processional hymn was “Rank by Rank” which almost always makes me tear up. Doing that while smiling is not easy to pull off!

Our former minister Rev. Barbara Fast led the procession. Minister Emeritus Frank Hall gave the prayer, using poetry as he does so well.

I’d love to tell you more, but you can watch and listen yourself.

6th and 5th Wealthiest Nigerians

I haven’t forgotten to tell you about the last four among the ten wealthiest Nigerians. If you are celebrating Thanksgiving, you can read about two of them as part of your Thanksgiving  entertainment.

Abdul Samad Rabiu‘s father “was one of Nigeria’s foremost industrialists in the 1970’s and 1980’s,” according to T.I.N. Magazine. So the son, now the 6th wealthiest Nigerian, had a head start.

Today he has an estimated wealth of $1 billion. His many enterprises include the biggest vegetable oil processing company in West Africa, and the second largest sugar refinery. Others are pasta, flour, and cement manufacturing, and ports and terminal management.

In response to the Nigerian government policy of encouraging “backward integration,” he acquired a sugar company that is supplied with gas from Gaslink, also owned by him.

And the fifth wealthiest is Femi Otedola, chairman of Forte Oil Plc, with a net worth of $1.06 billion. He shares the honor of being one of only two Nigerians (the other was Dangote) to make the “2009 Forbes list of 793 dollar-denominated billionaires in the world.”

Zenon, a major part of Forte Oil, is the dominant force in the diesel business. Since the Nigerian electricty industry cannot meet demand, Wikipedia says, “[Zenon] thus supplies all the important fuel used to power generating sets of most Nigerian industries and manufacturing firms. These include Dangote Group, Cadbury, Coca Cola, Nigerian Breweries, MTN, Unilever, Nestle, and Guinness, among others.^[3]“

Otedola’s name has been mentioned among thus who are said to owe significant amounts to Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON). According to Wikipedia, his friendship with former President Goodluck Jonathan precluded his being pursued for the debt.

Wikipedia also says, “He was part of a tiny group of Nigerian businessmen and women favored by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in a series of shady deals, often involving questionable transfers of public assets.”

Race in America

I received a request from Color of Change, an organization I follow, asking me to sign a petition to the media to ask them to drop the frequent use of “thug” to describe young black men.

The message said that the continued use of the word ‘thug’ feeds into stereotype of young black men as dangerous.

I don’t think most young black men are dangerous. But I believe that many of our law enforcement people have internalized this stereotype and act on it. The policemen who shoot unarmed or non-life-threatening black men are not evil people. They are obeying what our society tells them. So I signed the petition.

Why? I signed because I believe that people of color in American have been faced with difficulties I can only imagine. I didn’t cause these difficulties. But since I’ve become aware, I want to chip away at the inequities where I find them.

That’s why I’m considering “The Talk” for white parents to give to their children. I don’t yet have more, but will. You can help!

Thankful

I am grateful to you, dear readers. I wish you a happy and healthy Thanksgiving. My husband and I will join our daughter’s family. Her husband’s mother lives in Nashville. We fly there tomorrow.

Where will you be? With whom will you celebrate?