ulitave

I bought a couch today. It's a beautiful, gently used white leather couch from Rooms-to-Go. I paid next-to-nothing for it thanks to a Tuscaloosa tradition: departing students bequeath their belongings to continuing students. We do our best to make living here as comfortable as possible. One problem: I can't get it through the door.

Some friends and I tried every couch-moving trick we could think of. We took the feet off the couch and the door off the hinge. We twisted and turned. We corkscrewed. We slid and stood. Nothing worked. The couch was too big, or the door too short. Professional movers are coming by to consult later. Meanwhile, I have a couch in the hallway.

If they can't move it in, I'll consider rigging up a block and tackle and taking it through the kitchen window. Did I mention I live on the second floor? I have good friends. I'd love to offer them a place to sit someday.

I've been invited to speak at The 39th Annual Faulkner & Yoknapatawpha Conference. Anyone in the Oxford, MS or Memphis area should come see me on Friday, July 14, 6:30 pm, at Off-Square Books on Oxford Square. This conference is something of a big deal. I may even wear a tie. I'll read from the short story collection that's coming out after my novel is done - a collection of strange, mystical stories set in a fictional Southern town. At least one of those premiered on this blog, so long time readers - you saw it first. 

I used to post here all the time. Then I got busy, and I got out of the habit, and I moved, and I moved overseas, and, and, and...

I suppose it's too much to ask everyone to tell me what they've done for the past several years. 

Why am I posting here again? That's a good question. I ask my students this questions all the time. Why did Faulkner write As I Lay Dying the way he did, in that particular moment? Why did Morrison dig into the past when she wrote Beloved? Why will ulitave change his name? What doesulitave mean anyway, and how is it pronounced? I don't ask my students the last two questions. I'm not explaining myself well. I'm not sure I can answer the question why now except in allegory.



Nut, the Egyptian Goddess of the Sky, symbolically swallowed the sun at night and gave birth to it again each morning. She also symbolized the mythic  journey through the underworld. The mythic hero traveled into the underworld on a journey of discovery but like the sun, eventually returned to the waking world with his newly found knowledge. 

Now.

You know how they say you should never Google yourself? They're wrong. While double-checking my CV, I discovered someone may have misappropriated something of mine. This is concerning, even annoying. I hope this doesn't turn into a deal, with lawyers and all, but it almost has to. 

And yes, I'm blogging again. Now seemed like a good time. What have I been doing since I last posted? I was cursed by an African witch doctor and cured by a elderly priestess in a little beach town. I shook hands with war criminals and swam with the barracuda. I found an orphanage for exceptional children that had neither orphans nor children, but several exceptions. I learned to use metaphors, but I'm not using them now. I passed the 200 sit-up challenge and kept on going. I waited for an answer (and I'm still waiting). I made diabolical plans which should bear fell fruits. 

I feel better than I have in years. Smarter. Faster. Energized. Awake.

I got interviewed the other day. That was cool.

My interviewer turned out to be kinda famous. That was even cooler.

Ok, back to writing.

[from a few months ago, while I was still in Liberia.]

ulitave: I caught some local bug.
dad: what's it's called?
ulitave: Puffy leg or puffy foot. The foot and lower leg tend to swell up, the skin turns colors and falls off, it's pretty gruesome.
dad: How do you get it?
ulitave: According to the traditional healer, someone put roots on my doorstep. I stepped across them and got puffy leg.
dad: Who would do that?
ulitave: Someone who doesn't like me.
dad: That's funny. Everyone who doesn't like you is in the States.

Du is a concept by the Dan (Gio) people, but most of the 16 tribes of Liberia have a similar concept. Du (similar to chi) is the spirit behind everything - every person, every animal, every song, everything. Du belongs to the spiritual realm. Du is inherently original and authentic; whatever we see in the physical world is only a manifestation of du, inherently unauthentic. This is a wonderful concept (developed quite independently of Plato) except when it comes to plagiarism. Sorry kids, "the du made me do it" still gets you an F.

I heard from a friend that the audio posts are unintelligible. That's par for the course in Liberia - nothing works as expected. I've just found that some of the audio posts never actually posted. Whether that was user error or the cell phone network, I don't know. So in brief, this is what I've been up to for the past 7 months: Teaching, writing, grading. Teacher training. Making plans for next year. Getting cured from some mystery disease by a local herbalist. Rescuing an abandoned child. Starting academic support services at Cuttington. Jogging. Sweating. Sleeping. Fresh orange juice from the tree in the backyard. Bitterballs, giant snails, goat, and palava sauce for dinner. Okay, I really don't eat snails. Often. Buyin art and artifacts. Filing reports. Coming home. 

I'll be back in the States from next week until mid-August. Plenty to do - mostly writing and fundraising. I may also hit the gym. I'd love to see all my Austin peeps while I'm there.

I imagine a couple I’ve never met. The father left 5^th grade when the principal ordered him to fight for the local warlord or leave. He grows vegetables on a muddy, rented plot.  He abandoned his baby. The mother survived relocation camps and returned home to Bong County. She voted for the first female President in Africa. She looks like Oprah Winfrey. She abandoned her baby. They have both lost family to malaria and childbirth. They respect traditional religion but attend Christian services. They have children, parents, aunts, uncles, and friends. They abandoned their baby.

 

The baby – Grace Phebe – has hydrocephalus, a.k.a. water on the brain. Cerebrospinal fluid floods the soft newborn skull, distorting her features and causing brain damage, seizures, and death if left untreated. In the United States, a neurosurgeon would drain the excess fluid with a brain shunt. Liberia cannot afford shunts, neurosurgeons, or the life-long management of this disease.

 

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