Copy Editor Leads to Google Maps Correction
For my second book, Breaking Kola: An Inside View of African Customs, I hired Anna to be my copy editor.
There are many spellings for masquerades. Anna pointed out the need to be consistent!
A few of her valuable edits:
- Correcting hundreds of punctuation and capitalization errors
- Using italics for words in Igbo as I did, but if I use those words frequently, stop using italics and stop translating
- Be consistent in spelling of Igbo words like mmuo for masquerade (there are a variety of spellings in Igbo)
- Be correct with places. She looked up several towns to find the directions and distances between them. I had given rough estimates.
St. James Anglican Church Nanka
She said she couldn’t verify the location of St. James Anglican Church in Nanka, an important landmark in our town. But I knew it was where I said, opposite the market.!
I often attended services there during the Biafran War. We drive by it all the time when we’re in the village.
No wonder Anna thought I was wrong. Google Maps has the church marked incorrectly as a petrol station! The church is on the map but in the wrong location. There is a petrol station nearby, but at least 500 meters farther down the road toward Ekwulobia!
I submitted the correction as Google Maps instructed. Do you think they will make the change?
Discrepancies in Ages
Clem’s mother, perhaps 1950’s, after completing her family
She also found several discrepancies. I had said my mother-in-law was born in 1914. I made her year of birth the same as the unification of Nigeria. There were no birth records and that year seemed about right.
If I remember correctly, my thinking was that I might tie other events in her life or in her family after marriage, to political milestones in Nigeria during the course of the book.
1929 seemed like the right year for the marriage based on my father-in-law’s experiences. I wrote about their marriage and gave her age as 15. But later, when I was editing that chapter, I changed her age to 16, forgetting that didn’t tie up with her birth year. You’ll see how I fixed it when the book is done!
I want more pictures. I’m going to the Yale library tomorrow to look at a couple of collections in their archives that have photos. I had to submit my request a few days ahead. I’ll also meet with the person in charge of the Yale Divinity School resources where there are more.
My “deadline” to finish keeps slipping. Soon . . . it has to be soon.
Two Deaths of Note
The last week saw the passing of two major world figures, Aretha Franklin and Kofi Annan.
Aretha Franklin “Queen of Soul”
The New York Times piece in the Music Section says, “. . . Aretha Franklin Took Us All to Church.” Wesley Morris is writing about the album Amazing Grace.
He says, “This arrangement doesn’t tell you amazement has taken place. It becomes the amazement. Franklin’s Jesus wails for Lazarus to hear him, her voice a whip in one syllable and a caress in the next — religion itself!”
The obituary in the same paper called her, “one of America’s greatest singers in any styleI” I asked Alexa (my friendly virtual assistant) to play a selection of her songs. I’m listening to “You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman.”
I wish I had seen Aretha in person, but I never did. Did you?
Kofi Annan
“Kofi Annan was the epitome of international diplomacy—which is why he was both an inspiration and a disappointment,” said James Traub in Foreign Policy.
Grandkids were here this weekend. Kenechi and his girlfriend Mary helped with cooking
Many of the comments about Kofi Annan were similar. His tenure as Secretary General of the United Nations was remarkable in his dedication to making the body relevant, but marred by difficulties in peace-keeping missions.
Traub said about Annan as a negotiator, “Annan came from a line of Ashanti tribal chiefs. He understood, in the chiefly way, that one could win by allowing the other man to feel that he had won, a strategic act of ego suppression . . .”
Peace Corps Reunion
On Wednesday Clem and I are going to another reunion, this one for Friends of Nigeria and the Peace Corps.
Beth’s sons Kenechi and Ikem, seventeen years apart!
Many years ago, maybe twenty-five, Peter Hansen and I were at a Peace Corps reunion in Shawnee Pennsylvania. Friends of Liberia and other country groups had their own organizations, but we did not.
There had been a brief attempt at a Friends of Nigeria organization years earlier, but it hadn’t lasted. Peter and I agreed it was time for us to get it together and we did! He has remained an active FON board member and database manager, tracking down volunteers relentlessly!
This year we’re going back to Shawnee. FON will meet on Thursday and Peace Corps Connect, the larger Peace Corps reunion, will be on Friday and Saturday.
The Friends of Nigeria board has arranged speakers. They include Dr. Iyabo Obasanjo and Professor Gloria Chuku. Gloria organized the Biafra Conference in Baltimore a couple of months ago and Iyabo is on the board of the USNC for UN Women with me.
Nkiru drove her own car, coming with her friend Saturday late afternoon
The FON website also says, “We anticipate a showing of a Danish film in English on the Biafran Airlift called Jesus Christ Airlines.”
We usually have a Nigerian meal in the evening, but according to the website, “The local area does not have any Nigerian restaurants or Nigerian caterers, so we have arranged to dine at Mamasita’s House in East Stroudsburg, a Puerto Rican restaurant.”
I’ll miss the chance at pounded yam but I’m sure we’ll be able to get fried plantain!
It’s not too late! We’re driving to Shawnee from Connecticut on Wednesday afternoon and can give you a ride if you’re nearby or on the way!
