Remember Andrew Young?
If you are close to my age, you probably recall Andrew Young as Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s partner in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. If not, here’s an intro.
He was critical in legislative work in the mid ’60s. “Young went on to serve in Congress as the first African American to represent Georgia since Reconstruction. He was named United States Ambassador to the United Nations in 1977 and was elected Mayor of Atlanta in 1981,” I read on the website of Temple Israel in Westport.
Fifty-five years ago Dr. King came to the Temple. Now Andrew Young is coming to celebrate the anniversary of that event.
“On May 22, 1964, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King was welcomed to Temple Israel in Westport. That night he delivered a historic Shabbat sermon entitled Remaining Awake Through a Revolution. This was a key moment in the history of Temple Israel and of Westport. Dr. King’s partner in leading the Civil Right Movement, during this event and also throughout the Civil Rights Campaigns in Birmingham, St. Augustine, Selma, and Atlanta, was his top strategist & trusted friend, Andrew Young.
“Temple Israel is proud to welcome Ambassador Young, an icon of the Civil Rights movement, to its bima on October 15 at 7:00pm, in celebration of the 55th anniversary of Dr. King’s address here at TI.” Here’s their announcement:
Michelle Obama and Chimamanda Adichie
Our older son Chinaku is here for a couple of days. Of course he wanted to see us! But he also wanted to renew his US passport. It used to be fairly easy in Nigeria, he says. “You just went to the Consulate, turned in your passport, and got the new one in three weeks or so.”
But this time, he found that he had to make an appointment, and the first appointment available was weeks away. My guess is that funding cuts at the State Department and the current aversion to people coming to the US from Africa, have combined to cause the difficulty even for an American citizen.
So that coupled with his desire to catch up on us, brought him here, to our good fortune! He has an appointment in nearby Stamford for tomorrow morning where he can do an expedited renewal while he waits.
This afternoon he reminded me of the conversation between Michelle Obama and Chimamanda Adichie in December last year. What fun to watch two such talented women together!
Here is a brief excerpt. You can read more about their conversation here.
Jollof Rice Throughout West Africa
You could know jollof rice because you are from West Africa. Or you were a Peace Corps volunteer in the region, as I was. Maybe you have lived there. Perhaps you’ve read my memoir Nigeria Revisited: My Life and Loves Abroad, or my second book, Breaking Kola: An Inside View of African Customs.
Any of these would make you familiar with jollof rice, a beloved dish in Nigeria and beyond. This clever and amusing article debates the claims of the different countries for the best jollof rice!
Nigerian jollof rice – the best!
Haleluya Hadero wrote the article for Quartz Africa, an online publication, in late August 2019. As I typed her first name, I said it aloud – try it!
She is an intern at Quartz. I decided to follow her on Twitter, where she wrote about the jollof rice article: “This was the most fun project I worked on, so far.”
She included historic notes on the dish. “The most adopted theory explains Jollof Rice as having its origins in the Senegambia region of West Africa, in the ancient Wolof or Jolof Empire, during the 14th-16th century. . . With rice farming being prominent across the Senegal river, this region became known as the grain coast. In 1448, the Portuguese developed trading posts by the river, and introduced goods, including tomatoes, which would become essential to the development of the dish.”
In her section about the “Jollof Wars” she describes Twitter and other online battles between proponents of the different countries’ versions. She also details a possible mistep by a Nigerian politician who seemed to say Senegal’s jollof rice was superior to his own!
Do you have a jollof rice story to share? I’ll include a recipe in the next blog post.
Dedication of New Organ
I love organ music. And I love our Unitarian Church’s Music Director and Minister of Music Ed Thompson. On Sunday next week, October 13, he will be part of the service of dedication for the new organ at the Saugatuck Congregational Church. The church burned several years ago and has been rebuilt. The organ is the finishing touch of the reconstruction.
When he told us in choir practice about the dedication, he said he and others will speak briefly about the pieces they are playing, and I assume, about the organ too!
The event is at 2 pm. I hope you will join me if you are in the area and would like to hear the new organ. You can read about the event in Dan Woog’s blog.
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