Our Native Daughters

Left-handed US Presidents

At the meeting of our capital campaign planning team on Monday, Julia Wyant of the Wyant Simboli Group joined us to assist with design and production of capital campaign documents. She is a member of our congregation and graciously agreed to help the design-challenged campaign team.

We discovered that she is left-handed. That led us to a discussion of other lefties, including several presidents. We were all curious – how many presidents were left-handed?

After the meeting Julia sent us a link that describes the first known leftie president who was also multilingual. It’s an interesting story. How many do you think were left-handed? Make a guess before you read!

Our Native Daughters

I had the wonderful opportunity to hear Our Native Daughters in their first performance together! It was at the Levitt Pavillion, our town’s open-air concert space, in mid-July. TEAM Westport, the town’s multi-cultural, anti-racism committee that I’m part of, was a co-sponsor, so we had seats up front.

I wasn’t sure what to expect but from the first number, with one lead singer and the others on back-up, and all with instruments, I was hooked. One woman played the cello, another a violin, and the third on guitar. The singer strummed a banjo.

All four women rotated among a variety of instruments, with banjos holding pride of place. Three white men accompanied them on drums, keyboard and bass guitar.

The music was sad, then lively. It became contemplative. But it always beautifully harmonized and sung with power and conviction. Each woman did at least one solo, each voice distinctive and charming.

There were a few sprinkles of rain early on, just as the sun was setting, and then we were treated to a spectacular rainbow! That added to the music made for made a lovely event.

Chimamanda Speaks Out

Chimamanda Adichie spoke about the inequities faced by the Igbo people after the end of the civil war in 1970. Gowon, the military head of government of the victorious Nigeria which defeated the breakaway Biafra, said, “No victor, no vanquished.”

Yet many Igbo people had lost everything. At the war’s end they were given a pittance to live on. She mentions the houses that were declared abandoned and seized. She spoke about the Asaba massacre that has never been fully acknowledged.

She said: “I think we should have a sort of truth and reconciliation committee in this country . . . because it is impossible to understand Nigeria without understanding her history from around 1965 to 1970.”

In Nigerian schools today the Biafran War is hardly mentioned. The country as a whole has certainly not dealt with all the issues that led to the secession or its aftermath.

“Acknowledging our history does not mean we will have to divide Nigeria and dissent does not mean treason,” she added.

A Surprise Name and Connection

In addition to being impressed by Adichie’s comments, I was surprised to see the name at the end of this sentence: “It was gathered that she spoke shortly after planting a tree at the Nelson Mandela gardens in Asaba, the capital of Delta state, where Nigeria’s environmentalist and conqueror of the Sahara desert, Newton Jibunoh, received her.”

Newton Jibunoh owned the duplex where we lived from 1976 until a few years ago. For at least the first years, he and his wife lived in the other half of the duplex. It was the home I left to come to the US to attend Yale in 1986.

I knew that he had started an art museum. But I had no idea he was the “Desert Warrior,” the “conqueror of the Sahara desert” and an environmental activist!

His autobiography, Hunger for Power, was published last year. It’s fascinating to learn this about him. I wish I had known him better when he was our landlord!

Reading Challenge

I’m taking up The New York Times challenge to be a better reader in 7 days. I would link you to it, but I can’t find it in my online edition on the computer, only on my iPad! Who knows why! I did sign up for their daily emails to help me on my journey.

The first day’s challenge is to choose the book. I’m torn between Ibram X. Kendi’s Stamped from the Beginning and Toni Morrison’s Paradise. Or I could take up the request from a small indie publisher to review one of their books – that would be easier.

I have Kendi’s book, a signed copy, no less, which I bought when he spoke in Westport at the MLK event in 2018. I started reading it over a year ago. Then I got side-tracked re-reading The Underground Railroad for my book group. This time I’ll finish!

But the book is long – will I be able to complete it in a week? I guess I don’t have to finish in seven days, but I would like to finish before Kendi speaks again in Westport, on August 27th, when he’ll speak about his new book, How to be an Anti-Racist!

So I’ve decided – it’s Stamped from the Beginning! I’ll start tonight and see how much I remember from what I read before!