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“When will you learn to see. When will you learn to take sides.” – The final lines of Marat/Sade. |
29 October, 2011
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“Sweet are the uses of adversity, Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, Wears yet a precious jewel in his head.” – Shakespeare (As You Like It) as quoted by Don King in Kinshasa, Zaire 1974. |
Whose Blood Online
13 October, 2011
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“Attempt great things for God.” – Written in a pew at Westminster Abbey. |
25 September, 2011
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Ìyàwó àkófé kì í rá’hùn okó, òkèlè àkóbù kì í rá’hùn obè (A man’s first wife never complains of neglect from the penis, the first morsel never complains of insufficient sauce)
– a Yoruba saying |
Breakfast in Johannesbug
I’ve woken up each day this week to work on my world food film with my co-creator Jim. I’m at a fancy hotel in Johannesburg, South Africa, anId he’s some 9,000 miles away in Oakland raising a near one year old, so we connect before work, my time, and before bed, his.
I eat waffles, fresh fruit, and strong tea as we write through drought in Ethiopia, embattled corn harvest in Mexico, grain trading in the USA. These characters, whom I know better than most of my friends, and Jim’s voice threaded through the computer surround me alone, perched in my Johannesburg hotel room.
18 September, 2011
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“The devil you know is better than the angel you don’t.” – A common Liberian saying. |
Rubber in Liberia
I’ve spent the last couple weeks traveling around Liberia visiting rubber plantations and mine sites, talking with people about how these businesses can better benefit local citizens. I like the technical discussions the best: the cost of replanting a plantation slaughter tapped during the war, the tonnage of various trucks to transport, the process for cleaning and packing rubber. This plant is run by a lovely Congolese woman who when I break into speaking french with her, invites me to her party. Sometimes I marvel at home blessed I am to drop into all of these various worlds.
3 September, 2011
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“Monkey dey work, baboon dey chop.” – a common West African saying often meaning the poor they work, the rich they enjoy. |
27 August, 2011
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“I am the man, I suffered, I was there.” – Walt Whitman as quoted by James Baldwin. |