bright eyes + blue eyes

Oliver Twist

The place where we live in England is chock full of landmarks of the Industrial Revolution era. Everywhere you look, there are hulks of former factories and mills looming. Especially on grey and blustery days (which is most of the days, by the way), it’s easy to imagine life back in that time. Ever since we’ve lived here, I’ve wanted to read a Dickens book in this setting. I’ve had Oliver Twist sitting around for months, but the fanfare surrounding Dickens’ bicentennial finally got me into gear with reading it.

Two main points struck me as I read Oliver Twist.

First of all, the church used to be at the center of official poverty alleviation in England. The state really didn’t get involved until much later. Oliver Twist really illustrates how un-Christian so many of the church’s policies on poverty were. The church sanctioned the abominable conditions in the workhouses and showed so little respect for poor people’s humanity.

Secondly, there really is nothing like reading a story to make an issue like poverty come alive. All the facts and figures and context swim around abstractly until you can see life through a character’s eyes. This makes me really glad that people write about topics like poverty. Because people write novels that are full of social meaning, I can relate to those issues so much better because I’ve connected with convincing characters and followed a compelling storyline.

Little Bee

My sister-in-law gave me a great novel for Christmas this year, and I just have to add to the "buzz" about the book, called Little Bee. It the sort of book that is intelligent and thought-provoking, while at the same time telling an engaging story. I thought it was interesting that the cover blurb didn’t say anything about the actual storyline, just how wonderful and well-acclaimed the book is. The narrator’s voice alternates between a young Nigerian girl, named Little Bee, and a 30 something Englishwoman, a magazine editor. These two women’s lives intersected one day on a beach in Nigeria. The encounter lasted a short time, but it changed both of their lives, as well as the lives of those they loved most dearly. In a dramatic turn of events, Little Bee’s and the Londoner’s life paths converge again. The novel goes back and forth between the present day and the events that led up to the day on the beach.

  

Maybe this is why they didn’t attempt to write a book jacket blurb – that description above doesn’t do the story justice. It’s a novel that you want to read straight through without stopping. The story is creative and imaginative, but it seems plausible at the same time. It’s both serious and funny, like a lot of real life is. I was completely entertained,  felt like I learned something about Nigeria and refugees in the UK. Little Bee was a great present to receive, and I recommend you give yourself the gift of reading it.

 

P.S. Thank you for your happiness and congratulations about our little baby on the way! We’re so excited!!

Library Love

So Abbie has her new baby as an excuse for stepping away from blogging for a little while. A very good reason, indeed. My excuse is that I was writing a thesis/dissertation and transitioning between places. Those excuses are less-good than a baby, but they were compelling to me. Writing deadlines and moving are two things I find particularly demanding of my energy and my time. Now I’ve finished my big paper, and I’m comfortable in our current place. So I figure now I have the emotional and temporal resources to re-engage with blog posting. (It might take me a minute to shake off my academic prose style. Please pardon my syntax and vocabulary in the meantime.) In other words, I’m back.

And I’m here to tell you about where I’ve been burrowing away for most of the last six weeks: The Library. Don’t worry. I don’t actually have that much to say.

The more “experienced” (older) I’ve become, the more I really like working at a desk. Not a cleared off kitchen table, but a proper working desk. Of course, it’s totally okay to work at a table or on my lap for a few days, but I just find that I am much more productive when I am at a desk. That means that working from home is often not my preference, especially if my residence du jour does not have a desk. And where can you go when you need a desk, but you don’t have an office? The library! I love libraries. For their desks and carrels. For their concentrated atmosphere. For their inspiration – on many occasions during the dissertation writing, I thought, ‘If all these other people could finish their book/manuscript/article, then surely I can, too’. I have to say, though, that one of my all time favorite things about libraries is being surrounded by beautiful books. I write well with this kind of scenery.

Sometimes I think that I would have liked to study library science. But also, sometimes I think I would have liked to go to massage therapy school. In actuality, I think I really just like being in libraries and getting massages. If anything, writing my dissertation made me more committed to my field. There are so many ways to use social science to improve the situation of vulnerable families, and I love being a part of that.

 

Wordsworth & Poetry

When Mom was here, we also spent a lovely couple of days in the Lake District. There is a lot of Wordsworth stuff in Grasmere, the village where we stayed. There’s a lot I could say about our time there, but I’ll start with poetry. I have two points to make about poetry.

1. Reading a few Wordsworth poems in gift shops made me think that I don’t have nearly enough poetry in my life. If you read poetry with any regularity, how do you select the anthologies/books? Do you read a volume all the way through, like a novel? Or do you just dip in from time to time?

2. Just read the poem below, even if you usually skim over copied texts in blog posts. I love the sentiment expressed in this famous Wordsworth poem, about having a beautiful experience, then loving the memory of the experience every bit as much as having had the experience itself.

I WANDERED lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

 

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,

 

They stretched in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:     

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

 

The waves beside them danced; but they

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay,

In such a jocund company:

 

I gazed--and gazed--but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood, 

 

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.

 

-- William Wordsworth 1804.

restoreth my soul

You want to know one of the ways that my soul gets restoreth? When a day gets hijacked by a novel.

January was a beast of a month. Nothing bad, just busy. We both had a ton of work and hardly any free time. Some months are just like that.

The other day, I had just met my final deadline for the month. I woke up early and had a full day ahead of me of getting life back in order. Grocery shopping, kitchen cleaning, menu planning, inbox thinning, papers sorting, piles unstacking, lecture attending, gym working-outing. But I had woken up early, and it seemed like I should just relax for a little while before I got to task #1 of the day: cooking breakfast. I picked up a book that I had checked out from the library by Ann Patchett called Taft. I’d never heard of Taft, but I know I like Ann Patchett. It is so easy to slip right in to her words. I love the way she tells stories.

I cuddled up in bed and planned to read until it was time to cook breakfast. Then after breakfast, I thought I might just read to the end of the chapter. Then just one more. When it was 1:30 pm, I realized I was halfway through the book. That’s when I finally admitted to myself that what I wanted to do that day was read a good book. The chores would get done (and have gotten done since then). So I just gave myself over to the story and enjoyed my day in all its luxurious un-productivity and solitude.

When I read the last page, I had such a buzzy, refreshed feeling. Having such a day is something you can’t plan at all. You have to have the right mood, the right weather, the right book, and just few enough real responsibilities. I love it when a day gets hijacked by a book.

Light Read

I recently read the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. I’ve heard people talking about it for a long time, and I can see why it became such a popular book. It was so sweet! The book was exactly the type of easy, pleasant read I was looking for – especially after such heavy reading about statistics, poverty, and stillbirth for work and school. What are some other light reads that anyone has to recommend?

I’ve never been to the Channel Islands. I wonder if they look anything like the Orkney Islands. I was there in 2004, when I saw this double rainbow. :-)

Berlin / Brandenburg

I took a 24 hour trip Berlin in June. We were staying near Hamburg at the time, so it’s not as jet-set as it sounds.

I went because I needed to apply in person for a work visa for the UK. [A side note: On the visa application I answered the question, “Have you engaged in any other activities that might indicate that you may not be considered a person of good character?" I know they’re looking to root out terrorists and crooks, but I found that to be a very theologically loaded question!] So the visa was the reason for the quick trip to Berlin, but I had a great time while I was there.

I had such a good time visiting with a dear friend, walking around in our old neighborhood, and treating myself to some of my favorite things in Berlin. In fact, I was having so much fun that I lost track of time and had to run full-out in order to catch the last bus back to Hamburg.

Berlin has so much to offer, especially for a cheapskate, adventurous eater, like me. There’s a surprisingly wide selection of Vienamese restaurants [One of which I love but can’t remember the name]. Coledampf’s, one of the best kitchen stores, I’ve ever visited. A fresh, modern take on German food at Lebensmittel in Mitte. Do I need to mention again the superb ice cream to be had in Germany?

Then there are the sights, like the compelling Holocaust Memorial, the Reichstag and the Fehrnsehturm at Alexanderplatz.

I love how you can see the Fehrnsehturm from all sorts of vantage points, depending on where you are in the city.

Walking past the Brandenburger Tor reminded me of a good book that I read a few months ago. The Brandenburg Gate is structure in the above picture, and it’s also the name of a book by Henry Porter. The novel is an engrossing story about the last days of East Germany, before the Berlin Wall fell. The book dramatizes a series of events that is so important in modern history. Berlin is a dynamic and exciting city, and you should definitely visit if you have the chance. But if distant travel isn’t in your budget, try picking up Brandenburg Gate for a wonderful read and an effortless way to learn a little bit about what made Berlin the city it is today.

Another Thing I Learned: How to Cook Everything

Just kidding, I didn’t learn how to cook everything… only breads, vegetables, and beans. .

I carefully selected two new cookbooks to bring with me to Tanzania, and I was overwhelmingly happy with one.

After careful consideration, I selected Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone and Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything. I spent a lot of time browsing through the Deborah Madison book, and there’s a lot that I am looking forward to making but there were only a few recipes in that gigantic book that I could use in Tanzania. For a number of reasons, Deborah Madison’s book just wasn’t very practical for life in Africa.

Mark Bittman, on the other hand, taught me how to take whatever was at hand and make a meal I could be happy with. I was limited by access to and variety of ingredients. Plus, meat and poultry were very poor quality, and it wasn’t a very good idea to eat raw foods (uncooked veg for example). That meant that there several sections of the cookbook that I wasn’t able to try out, but I hope I’ll be able to fill those gaps in the coming years. The cookbook has so many good recipes. Almost everything I’ve made from How to Cook Everything has exceeded my expectations, taste wise.

I really do think I learned to cook while I was in Tanzania, even though I had followed a lot of recipes before moving to rural Africa. For one thing, I had to cook. With no takeout and practically no prepared foods available, I really had to commit to making a lot of meals from scratch. That meant looking after three meals a day – making granola or omelets for breakfast; baking bread and making spreads to eat at lunch; and some combination of beans and/or vegetables for dinner.

I also had to find a way to make good meals out of the things that were available to me. I couldn’t rely on inspiration from magazine spreads or thinking back to what dishes my mother combined for our meals growing up. I couldn't get ahead of myself and make a fancier meal than was actually necessary, because I didn't have access to pine nuts or goat cheese or fresh cilantro. I've got my whole home-cooking career ahead of me and can certainly gussy up a meal anytime I so choose. Yet there's something to be said for being able to cook a pot of perfectly-tender beans, or make a good tomato sauce out of just oil, onions, & tomatoes, or to make a simple but delicious batch of roasted vegetables. Basically, I had to become more flexible, creative and fundamental in the kitchen, because I had to see what was at the market then figure out from there what I could make.

So thanks, Mark Bittman, for coming to Tanzania with me to teach me to cook!

Digital Photography: The Missing Manual

Abbie’s recent post about photographs got me started on a bit of a “teach myself photography” kick.  I enjoyed looking at the links she posted.  I found them to be interesting, but somewhat beyond my skill level and covering a smattering of topics.  I needed something comprehensive that would cover the basics.  I searched on Amazon and found a book by David Pogue, a technology columnist at the New York Times.  The book has been just what I needed!  It is a great resource for anyone who wants to boost their understanding of photography in just a few hours.

I don’t have a fancy camera, but my Canon PowerShot SX100 IS is a perfectly nice piece of equipment.  It has a lot of settings and controls, most of which I’d never used.  I figure that it makes sense to get a good handle on using my current camera before I start to daydream about having a SLR. Those buddies are expensive. And there are so many capabilities in my existing PowerShot that I hadn’t even begun to understand. A few months ago, I tried to teach myself to use my camera by reading the manual.  That didn’t really work very well.  I read about what buttons to push to change the ISO, use a different White Balance, and adjust the metering method to Evaluative.  But I didn’t really know what any of that stuff was, much less the effect it would have on a picture.

Digital Photography: The Missing Manual is an excellent overview of how a digital camera works and how to shoot better images.  Pogue has probably handled a zillion different cameras as a reviewer for the NYT, and he writes about digital cameras in general, but everything that he said made perfect sense.  It was easy to find out how the concept he was describing played out on my camera in particular. The book is very user-friendly and accessible.  Pogue’s style is a little goofy sometimes, but that’s kind of endearing.  The book is full of all sorts of little tricks that can make a big difference, such as using a 1 second timer to reduce shake when pressing the shutter button in low light and keeping the shutter button half pressed to get your focus ready so you can snap when the action is going on (I used that trick for the picture I posted yesterday with Rangers player kicking the ball from the sidelines).

For me, the chapters about managing and editing digital photos were an unexpected bonus.  That’s such a big part of maximizing one’s experience with digital photography.  Pogue gives very detailed, clear instructions on how to use both iPhoto and Picasa to organize and perfect digital images.  I was already a little bit familiar with Picasa, but I’ve learned so much more about it.  Again with the software section, there were so many things that were quick and easy to learn.  For example, I loved learning how to retouch photos, such as I’ve done to remove the ugly patch of asphalt in this picture I took from the window of my flat in Edinburgh. 

[This is one of my all-time favorite pictures.  It is such a beautiful scene in my memory.  I was in a melancholy mood, and my spirits lifted as I watched the moon rise straight through the spires crowning St. Giles Cathedral. You can’t really even see the moon very well in the picture, but it was magical.]

The book has given me lots to practice, and I hope to see my photography skills gradually improve.  If you’re a beginner, and you’re interested in learning about photography, I thoroughly recommend Digital Photography: The Missing Manual.

Mama Noel

Our housekeeper, Neema, had a baby boy in December.

Baby Noel is fat and healthy; his parents are proud and happy.

Here are a few things that stuck out to me about pregnancy and childbirth in Masasi as I observed Neema’s experience.

• There is a pre-natal clinic at the local government hospital.  Pregnant mothers and children under 5 are entitled to medical care.  I think Neema went to the clinic about every other month.  As far as I understood our discussions about the clinic, there is no pelvic exam at all, unless somehow indicated. However, at each visit to the pre-natal clinic, an HIV test is required,  which I presume is important in preventing mother-to-child transmission. Due dates are estimated, but they’re given as a range of about 10-14 days.
• There really isn’t much in the way of maternity clothes.  Pre-pregnancy, Neema wore a lot of two-piece outfits consisting of a tailored ankle length skirt and a fitted top. While she was pregnant, she mostly wore the same three caftans.
• It is common to give baby gifts.  A popular present to give is kangas.  The mother has to take her own kangas to the hospital for the delivery, where they are used as bed sheets, for the mother’s hospital gown, and to swaddle the newborn.  The nurses have a reputation for being a little harsh with mothers if they don’t bring new kangas.  So no matter how poor they are, people really place a lot of emphasis on acquiring a few new kangas before they deliver.
• Mothers go into the maternity ward by themselves for labor and delivery.  Their husband, mother or sister can’t come along for moral support.  Expectant fathers generally wait under a tree outside the hospital.  Once the baby is born, mothers can ask a nurse to go outside to tell the father.  Alternatively, if the mother has a cell phone, she can call the father herself to tell him the news.
• If a mother delivered vaginally, she goes home the next day.  If she had a C-section, then she and the baby stay in the hospital for 7 days.
• The father chooses the name of the child, and he chooses it after the baby is born.  So throughout the pregnancy there’s basically no daydreaming about baby names.

A bit less anecdotally, I am currently reading The White Man’s Burden by William Easterly, which is critical of grand plans in international development.  I noticed this paragraph:

“World Bank economists Deon Filmer and Lant Pritchett report on the results of a survey at government health centers in the Mutasa district of Tanzania. In the survey, new mothers reported what they least liked about their birthing experiences assisted by government nurses. The poor mothers-to-be were “ridiculed by nurses for not having baby clothes (22 percent)…and nurses hit mothers during delivery (13 percent).”

All of this gives me new perspectives on the American childbirth industry (and I think it, like the wedding industry, is growing in scale and influence).  American moms  spend nine months considering things like baby gift registries, support from a doula, bedroom-style delivery suites, laboring on exercise balls, and water births.  All of of that is cool - just pretty ritzy in the grand scheme of things.