Fireworks and Kindness

Fireworks and Fun

Westport’s 4th of July fireworks were on the 3rd. We allocate nights with surrounding towns so we don’t compete with each others’ fireworks shows. So ours are on July 4th only every 3rd or 4th year.

Clem and I went with our friend Eileen, leaving our house at 7 for the 9 o’clock show. Traffic was already piled up on the road to the beach, so we didn’t get there until 7:35. With our handicap pass we were able to park fairly close.

But it was still a bit of a walk for Clem. So I dropped him at the entrance to the parking lot and told him to wait while Eileen and I parked and lugged our stuff to meet him.

When we got to the spot where we’d left him, he was nowhere to be seen! Then a very kind gentleman from the parking crew called to us. “We’re over here,” he said. He had found a spot on a bench for Clem. Then he escorted us to the beach, giving Clem his arm for support. He even helped me get our cart over the sand to a place where we could spread out our chairs and table.

Food and Display

Eileen brought chips, a delicious pasta salmon dish, and grapes. I offered hummus, tamales, and fig newtons. We each brought our favorite wine. We laughed at the announcements for parents of lost children, imagining we could have been searching for Clem!

The fireworks were magnificent. For many years, I couldn’t watch fireworks without a frisson of fear or dismay, remembering bombing in Enugu during the Biafran War. But I seem to have put that past me, and I loved the display.

As we made our way back to the car, the same man spotted us and again helped Clem navigate over the sand and the walkway. “See you next year!” he said as we put Clem in the car and headed home.

What a lovely evening!

Honoring Olaudah Equaino

https://brittlepaper.com/2019/07/googles-new-undersea-internet-cable-in-the-atlantic-is-named-after-olaudah-equaino/

I had no idea that Google named their cables after historical figures!

Olaudah Equiano was born in 1745 in present-day Nigeria. He was Igbo, like my husband. Kidnapped, sold into slavery and shipped to England, he was given a new name when he was freed. He became an ardent abolitionist.

His memoir The Interesting Narrative of Olaudah Equino, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African, was published in 1789. Its depiction of the horrors of slavery “helped quicken the passing of the Slave Trade Act of 1807, which outlawed slavery in Britain and its territories.”

Last year his memoir was named to a list of The 100 Best Nonfiction Books of All Times compiled by Robert McCrum and published in The Guardian. You can read more about his reason for choosing it below.

Olaudah Equiano’s 1789 Memoir Named in This List of “The 100 Best Nonfiction Books of All Time”

Equiano died in 1797, too soon to see the abolition of the slave trade by Britain, though his work had propelled the movement forward.

Planning a Conversation About Race

My friend and fellow book-group member Sonja and I had lunch together yesterday in Westport. We were catching up on each others’ lives.

She co-leads a group at The Unitarian Church in Westport called “Eliminating Racism.” She hasn’t yet joined the church, but promises she will soon! I asked what happens in the meetings, and she explained it involves a lot of good sharing and listening.

Then I told her about something I’d like to do: hold a conversation about racism and its manifestations that answers the question a white person in our area may ask: “How would I know if no one told me?”

The issue came up in our book group a couple of weeks ago. I wrote about it then. After describing it to a few friends, I said, “I’ll lead a conversation or series of conversations on race and racism and our possible responses in the fall.”

Although Sonja is in the book group where the issue came up, she wasn’t present that night. I described the conversation to her. We talked through several possible scenarios for conversations at the church that would be different from Eliminating Racism.

The next morning she emailed me with a sketch of a 6-week sequence and how it could work! It’s brilliant. Now I’ll contact our Assistant Minister for Lifespan Faith Formation (I think that’s her title) to see if Sonja and I can lead something like this starting in September or October.

Invited Back to Y’s Men Meriden!

Last year I spoke to the Y’s Men in Meriden CT with a talk called “An Insider’s Look at Nigeria Past and Present.”

Peter Burch from the group called today to ask if I will give another talk this year. He suggested “The Colorful Clothing of African Women.” What a fun topic! There are certainly lots of pictures available for a bright and lively PowerPoint presentation.

If you have pictures of African women’s clothing to share, whether of you or others wearing something interesting, unusual, or just beautiful, let me know!