To my alarm clock

To the digital alarm clock that sits, facing me, on my desk:

when i moved back into my renovated house,

with too much dark space in the crevices

one night, out of the shadows

i made a new friend.

now that sounds threatening, but i promise,

our relationship was always innocuous.

you brightened my nights

with your face

a moon of glowing electronic light

when it was too quiet

you counted for me just like counting sheep

to break the stillness

with your murmured breaths

till finally

after hours of wishing for your face to fade

i would drift into sleep.

that was how i realized why we so aligned

we were both bound by the same master that defined

you through your every breath,

and i for losing mine

when our master forces us together

we’re quarreling lovers matched in a duel to the death

fighting to survive and there’s not enough breath

you, the bearer of cold reality

and in the a.m.’s my best friend

till the lifting of the blinds of the sky brings your duties home

jerking me into the known

you pull me through the mud of these moments,

strangled and dark

but when the dawn breaks i can’t tell you and your master apart.

How Soraya Brings Out Amir's True Feelings

This image represents Amir's open relationship with Soraya and who it has helped shape him.  The one small protruding plant represents Amir with Soraya because he is finally able to "grow" and reveal himself by telling her his secrets.  The "Love Yourself" sign represents how Soraya allows Amir to grow to accept himself for who he truly is and loves him no matter what.  The tree represents Soraya because the plant is leaning on her like Amir leans on her for support. As Amir and Soraya develop their relationship, they begin to trust each other, and Amir emerges from his environment to become a newer, reborn person.

Africa: Still the “White Man’s Burden” of the World?

Africa: Still the “White Man’s Burden” of the World?

In 1899, at the cusp of a new age, British writer Rudyard Kipling published the poem “White Man’s Burden”, reflecting upon the “necessity” of imperialism for the development of other, less developed countries.  More than a century later, there remain similarities between colonialism and modern foreign influence in Africa.

Western conquest has left an indelible mark on Africa.  Max Fisher, a renowned journalist, explains that Africa’s struggles today are yet “another indication of the many ways that colonialism's complicated legacy is still with us, still shaping today's world” (Fisher).  In the same manner, modern Africa has been shaped by its foreign influencers.  African countries currently rely on foreign corporations for more than 14% of their total budgets (Sharma).  Just how much benefit these foreign institutions have actually created for Africa, though, remains as controversial as the topic of imperialism.

Part of the reason why foreign powers continue to receive respect in Africa is because Africa’s very borders were written by many of those powers.  In the 19th century, imperialist European powers conquered Africa for the land, labor and resources they offered, dividing up the “great African cake” without regard for the ethnic groups living there.  As a result, more than 177 major ethnic groups are separated along those arbitrary borders, frequently leading to devastating civil wars (Mungai).  Unable to suppress nationalist rebellions, many African countries remain embroiled in conflict to this day.

Lack of access to basic resources as a result of frequent, relapsing conflicts throughout the late 20th century have necessitated and eventually popularized foreign aid.  In fact, non-governmental organizations (NGO’s), as well as various foreign governments, use such resources to help maintain the basic needs of large populations of Africa.  However, some fear that Africa has become too dependent on foreign aid and would only be left unable to self-sustain (Sharma).  Charles Abugre, a director at the UN Millennium Campaign, an international program aimed at reducing poverty, offers a solution for this issue in more carefully constructed and monitored aid attempts.  Abugre emphasizes the use of international aid that can successfully stimulate the economy and create more business, as has been done effectively in Indonesia, Rwanda and Ethiopia (Abugre).

Foreign interference in African governments also has an impact.  For example, Western countries pushed the A.U. (an African diplomatic group) to overthrow the Burundian president in 2013 motives and denigrated the organization when they refused to comply (Garrison).  Therefore, colonization not only remains a physical presence, as seen through the arbitrary borders, but a psychological presence that causes much of African policy to remain in the hands of Westerners.  Other countries also come for resources and economic growth, many with similar agendas of power.  China, for example, invests in and builds infrastructure for many African countries, but at the price of the indigenous people’s self-determination (Anonymous).  

For all the hostility towards foreign influence, there remains a positive trend of general growth and rising prosperity in Africa (Fisher).  International aid has saved countless lives, and the infrastructure foreign powers help build in those country only spurs Africans towards success.  However, accompanying such change are the dangers of abusive power paralleling that seen under imperialist rule.  How Africa will develop from its century-old legacy of imperialism with either the help or harm of foreign powers remains to be seen.  

Works Cited:

Abugre, Charles. “Why foreign aid is important for Africa.” CNN, Cable News Network, 13 Aug. 2010, www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/08/13/aid.africa.abugre/. Accessed 5 Mar. 2017.

Anonymous. "China Latest Superpower To Mine African Treasures." Weekend Edition Saturday, 11 June 2011. Global Issues in Context, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A258615857/GIC?u=los42754&xid=899057e3. Accessed 10 Mar. 2017.

Fisher, Max. “The Dividing of a Continent: Africa's Separatist Problem.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company,10 Sept. 2012, www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/09/the-dividing-of-a-continent-africas-separatist-problem/262171/. Accessed 6 Mar. 2017.

Garrison, Ann. “Burundi: Western interests masked as African solutions.” San Francisco Bay View, San Francisco Bay View Newspaper, 14 Feb. 2016, sfbayview.com/2016/02/burundi-western-interests-masked-as-african-solutions/. Accessed 8 Mar. 2017.

Mungai, Christine. “Africa's borders split over 177 ethnic groups, and their 'Real' lines aren't where you think.” MG Africa, Mail & Guardian Africa, 13 Jan. 2015, mgafrica.com/article/2015-01-09-africas-real-borders-are-not-where-you-think. Accessed 6 Mar. 2017.

Sharma, Manasi. “Is Foreign Aid Helping Or Hurting Africa?” Is Foreign Aid Helping Or Hurting Africa? | Global Envision, MercyCorps, 20 Apr. 2009, www.globalenvision.org/2009/04/20/foreign-aid-helping-or-hurting-africa. Accessed 5 Mar. 2017.

"Movie"ing Towards Responsibility: A Coming of Age "Tail"

"Movie"ing Towards Responsibility: A Coming of Age "Tail"

Buffalo: coming of age

“... We spotted Four-Eyes crouching by the inert mass of the dead buffalo: he was collecting the blood pouring from the gash in a big upturned hat woven of bamboo leaves” (93).

“‘To gain courage, you must swallow it when it’s still lukewarm and frothy”’ (94).

Movies: coming of age

“The local girls were gorgeous, but we forced ourselves to concentrate on the screen, paying close attention to the dialogue, to the actors’ costumes and gestures, to the setting of every scene, even to the music” (19).

“The headman sat in the middle of the front row, holding his long bamboo pipe in one hand and our ‘phoenix of the earth’ in the other, to time the duration of our performance” (19).

Sijie uses the symbols of the buffalo and the movies to illustrate how the narrator and his peers experience adolescence and coming-of-age during their re-education. The buffalo that broke Four-Eyes’s glasses is slaughtered for his leaving ceremony. This ceremony is to celebrate the completion of Four-Eyes’s re-education, which is part of him growing up and fitting in with the rest of the new proletarian society. The headman of Four-Eyes’s village encourages him to drink the buffalo blood to symbolize him gaining courage, leaving behind his childish cowardice and bourgeois ways.  

At the movies, even though the narrator and Luo are distracted, they acknowledge that as they become older, their responsibilities hold more weight and. This causes them to be very attentive during the movie even though there are a lot of other distractions.This demonstrates the maturity that they have gained during their re-education.

Define Your Own Time

Whichever choice you make,

you rarely will achieve your goals,

for you are blinded by hard limits,

the single long-trod path through the grass,

which you will succumb to wearily plodding down

without something better to take its place.

Why must you wait for happiness?

Time is not waiting for you,

so why must you let it steal you away?

Actively seek happiness,

and with happiness you shall find peace and purpose.

Walk through the unshorn bushes;

Be the wind pushing your own sails.

In this way,

you shall make your life worthwhile;

for it is better to find meaning than remain useless;

you will take the reins of your fate

before your time can take you first.