Heading up the coast to Delray to visit childhood chum, Maryann and her new husband Jeff. They up and moved back to Florida (for Maryann, first time living here for Jeff) about 8 months ago. Sold most all their worldly goods and houses etc. and upshipped from California. Wanna see what they're doing? Go here.
Next week I'm off to Toronto to attend a seminar and see my homegrrls, Tasha, Nikita and SuSu. I cannot wait. I miss T.O. so much sometimes that it makes me ache. Of course you know I'm going to Amy and Lettuce Knit's party on the 5th. I will take pictures, you can bet on it. And maybe Stephanie will let me stand her for a round of Screech. Any T.O. knitters that may drop in here, give a shout. I'd love to meet you in 3D and maybe even go on a yarn crawl. Tim Horton's is optional. heh.
In other news, partly in preparation for the August trip into the wilderness, I just finished reading Melissa Walker's Wilderness Time (see left sidebar). Thank you, Edge, for posting it on your sidebar where I found it. It's the story of a woman who spends 200 days or so in the outback wilderness all over the U.S. She's a neophyte at the beginning, having never camped in off the track wilderness much less having done it alone. I learned a lot of practical things from the narrative but more than anything, Walker's personal journey spoke to me so clearly and beautifully. If you've never read this and either enjoy or care about the wilderness in this country (or anywhere) run and find it. She's a person I'd enjoy hiking a trail with, for sure.
There was one goosebump part in it for me amongst all the other pleasures of the book. Early in the book Walker writes of planning to have a close friend who is fighting breast cancer fly out to meet her for one leg of the trips. She only mentions her first name, Marjorie. I instantly knew that Marjorie was the woman who had written one of my most favorite ever cultural anthropology fieldwork narratives, Nisa: The Life and Works of a Kung Woman, (reissued by Harvard Univ. Press) about an unforgettable Kung (Bushman) tribe woman living in the Kalahari desert in Botswana. (I was trained as anthropologist in college.) I thought, no, that can't be. Number one, I didn't even remember the name of the author since I read that book well over 20 years ago. Secondly, Melissa Walker isn't an anthropologist, there's no connection at all to that. I dismissed the thought entirely. Several pages later, there it was in print. Marjorie was that anthropologist (Marjorie Shostak) and had written the book. Eerie. I was saddened to learn that she did die of breast cancer, but heartened to learn that before she died she did fulfill one of her dreams which was to go back to Africa, find and speak with Nisa.
I just checked and yup, in addition to re-issuing Marjorie's first book about Nisa, Harvard published her second book, Return to Nisa, which was compiled by her husband and friends after her death. Marjorie's book about Nisa was then and still is remarkable because they were both able to break through the divides of culture and language and the stilted role of anthropologist and 'subject' to the point where Nisa the woman comes through with all her quirky and unique spirit. It's a testament to Marjorie's persistence and humanity not to mention her skill as a writer, to convey that most powerful cross-cultureal message of all, we really are all humans in this together.
Comments