Encounters with "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Jo Hunter Adams

(My recommendation of an amazing book, and one that gives the reader infinite opportunities for thought, and new ways to think about Nigeria in the 1960s)

"There are some things that are so unforgivable that they make other things easily forgivable"

Half of a Yellow Sun describes the lives of three people in the midst of the Biafran war of the 1960s.

Adichie readily acknowledges that this is firstly a novel, and only second a snapshot of an actual historical period, one of the most painful and poorly understood wars in African history.

Historians often ask: "what is the best way to teach history?" It's clear that history books that are only read by a few people have an important place, particularly if the process and multiplicity of voices leads to truth and spirit that filters down into our daily life (our response to our histories) and literature (and vice versa). But what if these accurate books never gain traction? If an imaginary history is lived as reality and passed down for decades, does that history get power despite not representing truth? Absolutely! Lies and truth are quickly mixed together, and are used to empower those who control it.

I mention this because there is a tension between representing history in depth for a few people, and representing history in the form of a story, for the masses. In a way, the second relies on a deep level of comfort with the first (the ways that people are juggling different sets of facts).

Adichie uses her talents powerfully to make one dimension of the Biafran war accessible to those far removed. I am not sure whether the history in Half of a Yellow Sun is fully accurate, but what if the history that we need to understand most is the history of relationships in the context of the war? If so-- and I believe it is-- then that is the most potent part of this story.

I recommend the book for a specific reason, also. It's very difficult to understand what changes when someone is displaced (or what doesn't change). I have spent a lot of time with refugees (with the qualification that a "lot of time" is very relative to my age), but I have never known someone before they were forced to move, during and afterwards. A fictional character can never be completely animated, but Adichie's words allowed a longitudinal view of individuals, in a way that is incredibly challenging to do in real life.

Perhaps this was most powerful because the three main characters, and their relationships with one another, did not seem too far removed-- history that makes us understand one another might always be better than history that makes us alien and exotic to one another.

A Beginner's Guide to Vermicomposting (with photos)

Jo Hunter Adams

Living in a small apartment, I've wished that there was a way to create compost and avoid throwing away peels, scraps, and other easily degradable trash. As a result of a bad (smelly) composting experience in our house in UWC (Morgannwyg, you guys remember what I'm talking about), I didn't think there was a way to do this indoors unless I was really, really uh... alternative.

I discovered that this process was a lot easier than I thought. Essentially, you need good aeration, some worms, a non-extreme temperature, and you'll have compost in as little as a couple of weeks! I decided to have two containers that I expect will full up about every 4 weeks. Ideally, while one fills up, the other will sit, so that I might have a continuous supply. It may be too late for this to be a great benefit to our garden for this year, but I heard that there are people who go around the neighborhood with a little compost, "guerilla composting" if they have too much for themselves. So it won't go to waste!

What can you put in your compost?
You can put almost all non-animal related scraps in the compost. This includes clean eggshells but you should never put in scraps of meat or dairy, because they'll smell really badly. You can put in paper towels, or if you find yourself with a paper coffee cup at the end of the day, you can also tear that up and put it in (the worms will eat everything except the wax, drastically reducing the size of the trash ending up in a landfill). And the things you would expect-- vegetable peels and ends, bread crumbs, old greens, etc.

Remember that the smaller things are, the more quickly they can be digested down. If something is larger, the worms may wait longer for it to rot before starting to work on it. So if possible, do some of the work for the worms.

Although you can put almost anything in the composting bin, there should be a variety in the bin at any time. For example, the worms will happily digest orange peels, but if there are too many orange peels in the compost bin, this may make the bin very acidic.

What tools do I need for this process?
You need four main tools for this process:

1) A container with a lid. I used a 16qt container, which cost me US$2.99. The container doesn't need to be very big, but you want it to be wider than it is high, as the worms don't like to travel vertically as much as they like to travel horizontally.



2) Worms. You specifically want red wiggler worms. These worms are really great for working through soil. I got these from the local bait shop, where they cost $2.50 for 24. I bought two containers-- I'll have to see if this seems enough or not. These worms don't sleep, they eat all day and all night.



3) Paper I used some newspaper-like junk mail.



4) A drill to make holes in the container. I want the worms to have plenty of air, so I made holes about every square inch, with about my fifth smallest drill bit (1/8). I wanted to make the holes so that they were only slightly too small for the worms to get out.



Next steps: Making sure the worms are not too warm, have enough air, moisture, and food.

1) Shred the paper Remember it's easier to go with the grain to make long thin strips.



2) Set about half of the paper aside.



3) Wet the remaining paper
Dip the paper in water, and then wring it out. You don't want it to be so wet that it's dripping everywhere.



4) Add whatever scraps you have onhand
This doesn't need to be much, you can add scraps as you go along.



5) Add your worms



6) Add the remaining dry paper, to give the worms added air.



7) Snap on the lid and put the compost bin away!




Total Cost: US$8 (or about the cost of one fairly cheap restaurant meal in Boston)

Justice Part 3

There seems to be every indication that wealth is a awesome gift before it is anything else. This is the first theme in the Lazarus at the Gate Curriculum.

Faithfulness with wealth doesn't mean feeling guilty about wealth. It seems to me that living really abundantly may mean figuring out where abundance and generosity meet. In every person it's likely to be a different place because God calls us to different things at different stages-- and perhaps different lifestyles make us into growing, strong people. It seems to be essential that when we give (financially or personally) that our giving is not about sacrifice, it's a response to abundance. That guards against looking back with a sense of regret or self-righteousness.

Having a sense of God's blessing on us may be a really good way of enjoying what we have in the moment.

Here are are a few verses from the Bible about abundance:

Every good and perfect gift is from above—James 12:1

Genesis 1
God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” Then God said, “I will give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so. God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.

Deut 28, excerpts
If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth... The Lord will send a blessing on your barns and everything you put your hand to. The Lord your God will bless you in the land he is giving you..


Coming up/Not Forgotten
Health care in the United States
Plant updates-- tips on growing food in a/n (small) apartment