The welcome in Sumbuya began at Salima, at the eastern section of the village. Singing school children, drums, dancers. Everyone paraded through the village to the official welcome at the school hall. The highlight was the G’boi, a raffia covered bush devil. He danced in the street and on the hall stage, at one point […]
My Heart is Not My Own
When life imitates art….Part 1
This is the first of a three part post on my recent trip to Sierra Leone. This story, about a car breakdown, is eerily similar to a scene in My Heart is Not My Own. I’ve returned to Sierra Leone. Cartons of solar lights for girls and their teachers. Reading kits for primary to middle […]
Salone 2014: on returning to Sierra Leone
The novel is out, the reviews are wonderful and I’m moving on to other projects, writing and otherwise. I’ve been meaning to write about the notes I’ve been receiving from readers of My Heart is Not My Own. And I will–next time. The comments, from book club participants and readers from across the country, are […]
On, debt to life….
I’m not overly superstitious—I walk under ladders, step on cracks in the sidewalk. I know a Russian neurologist, well published in scientific journals, who doesn’t like to acknowledge when “things are going well” as we do in North America—what if, in the telling, you make it not so? In My Heart is Not My Own […]
Launched…
Well that was something! People lining up, outside the doors. Fire regulations put the limit at 96. I can’t say how many attended…. some were turned away and many had to stand. Music by the fabulous The Eerie Green. A table with copies of My Heart is Not My Own—lots of copies. Friends I haven’t […]
Five endurances–the sweat lodge ceremony
In North American native culture, being of ‘two-spirits’ refers more to a cross gender orientation to the world than sexual preference. Most people self-identify as either male or female—a two-spirit often identifies as both. Recently, Shelley and I had the pleasure of attending a sweat lodge for two-spirit persons and allies on the Tsleil-waututh First […]