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A WRITER'S WIT
Your problem is how you are going to spend this one odd and precious life you have been issued. Whether you're going to spend it trying to look good and creating the illusion that you have power over people and circumstances, or whether you are going to taste it, enjoy it and find out the truth about who you are.
Anne Lamott
Born April 10, 1954
Seeing Through Apollo
Edel Rodriguez April 13, 2015, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, “Apollo”: Okenwa tells the story of Raphael, once the family’s houseboy, who is now an armed robber in their Nigerian region. ¶ Okenwa reveals the friendship he had struck up, as a child, with Raphael: their mutual interest in Bruce Lee movies, how Raphael had fashioned a nunchaku out of wood and metal for Okenwa, how the child secretly treats Raphael's eyes when he contracts conjunctivitis because the houseboy is squeamish about putting drops in his own eyes. Okenwa confesses to his betrayal of Raphael when he later sees the young man flirting with a female servant of a neighbor. The adult Okenwa never says so, in so many words, but he must wonder if making up a story about Raphael, on the fly, to to get him fired, is what eventually contributes to Raphael’s current downfall as a common thief. Americanah is Adichie’s most recent novel.
Edel Rodriguez, Illustration.
NEXT TIME: My Book World
Edel Rodriguez, Illustration.
NEXT TIME: My Book World
BEHIND THE BOOK: My Long-Playing Records & Other Stories. In these posts I speak of the creative process I use to write each story. Buy a copy here!
Date of Original Post:
11/13/14 — Introduction to My Long-Playing Records
11/20/14 — "My Long-Playing Records" — The Story
11/27/14 — "A Certain Kind of Mischief"
12/04/14 — "Ghost Riders"
12/11/14 — "The Best Mud"
12/18/14 — "Handy to Some"
12/25/14 — "Blight"
01/01/15 — "A Gambler's Debt"
01/09/15 — "Tales of the Millerettes"
01/15/15 — "Men at Sea"
01/22/15 — "Basketball Is Not a Drug"
01/29/15 — "Engineer"
02/05/15 — "Snarked"
02/12/15 — "Killing Lorenzo"
02/19/15 — "The Age I Am Now"
02/26/15 — "Bathed in Pink"
Date of Original Post:
11/13/14 — Introduction to My Long-Playing Records
11/20/14 — "My Long-Playing Records" — The Story
11/27/14 — "A Certain Kind of Mischief"
12/04/14 — "Ghost Riders"
12/11/14 — "The Best Mud"
12/18/14 — "Handy to Some"
12/25/14 — "Blight"
01/01/15 — "A Gambler's Debt"
01/09/15 — "Tales of the Millerettes"
01/15/15 — "Men at Sea"
01/22/15 — "Basketball Is Not a Drug"
01/29/15 — "Engineer"
02/05/15 — "Snarked"
02/12/15 — "Killing Lorenzo"
02/19/15 — "The Age I Am Now"
02/26/15 — "Bathed in Pink"
My Long-Playing Records Podcasts:
03/12/15 — "A Certain Kind of Mischief"
03/26/15 — "The Best Mud"
04/02/15 — "Handy to Some"
04/07/15 — "Tales of the Millerettes"
03/12/15 — "A Certain Kind of Mischief"
03/26/15 — "The Best Mud"
04/02/15 — "Handy to Some"
04/07/15 — "Tales of the Millerettes"
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