Docs 1B99 Green Hunt antiqued metallic textured & 1B60 silver+black

Two pairs of boots that I would love to design science fiction costumes around! "Green Hunt" are a dark green metallic with a sort of snakeskin texture, which is incredibly awesome. The other pair are a rub-off black and silver, for a nifty antique effect with depth.

Book Review: Zahrah the Windseeker by Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu (& why I won't be seeing District 9)

I found this book by accident. Someone on my dreamwidth rlist had linked to the author's blog, where she gave a scathing review of the newish film District 9 on race lines. Okorafor-Mbachu is a Nigerian living in the US, and the race representation issues she detailed, and especially the portrayal of Nigerians in the film, so thoroughly disgusted me that I decided then and there not to see it. I should have disseminated the link, because I've since been bothered by a number of people talking excitedly about the film and several brushing aside my concerns when I brought them up ("She probably didn't really understand... that he was doing that on purpose and using the aliens as an allegory", someone told me. Yes, I'm sure this African professor of literature and published SF author was underqualified to understand an SF film set in Africa! To my issues with representation I was told by someone else that "there are white people in South Africa too". Oh! Nevermind! No biggie, then!) So, before you move on to my review of her book, READ THIS POST.

Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu: My response to District 419…I mean District 9. ;-)

Now, on to the happier issue. While reading this review at her blog, I saw the gorgeous cover art of her newest YA novel in the sidebar, and immediately clicked through to the description. I liked what I saw, and I need more sf by authors of color to read, so I ordered it. I ended up reading the book on the plane to America and finishing it while on vacation.



Here is the summary at the author's website, which is rather better than the one on the back of the book (shocker, right?):

In the northern Ooni Kingdom fear of the unknown runs deep, and children born dada are rumored to have special powers. Thirteen year old Zahrah Tsami feels like a normal kid - she grows her own flora computer; has mirrors sewn onto her cloths; and stays clear of the Forbidden Greeny Jungle.

But unlike other kids in the village of Kirki , Zahrah was born with the telling dadalocks. Only her best friend, Dari, isn't afraid of her - even when something unusual begins happening to her - something that definitely makes her different.

The two friends determine to investigate, edging closer and closer to danger. When Dari's life is endangered, Zahrah must face her worst fears all by herself, including the very thing that makes her different.

( Read more... )

Original cover illustration by Amanda Hall, found at http://nnedi.com

In fact, I've just discovered the author has several other books out, and I'm definitely going to be buying them as well.

ethnic shop is ethnic (with that adorable patterned blouse)

On vacay my cousin Amanda took us to a favorite gift shop, the Kansas City Area ten thousand villages, a non-profit volunteer-staffed store selling fair trade objets d'art from third world countries. A lot of it was much like what you'd find at the Riverkids Shop (they even had the same recycled Vietnamese fishfood bags, of which I already own one), but the store's bigger - a wall of scarves and bags, two color-grouped walls of jewelry, and a big showroom full of everything from musical instruments and umbrellas of recycled aluminum cans to big carved wood and steel drum sculptures. I'd quite like to have one nearby.

The staff was of middle-aged church fete ladies in stiff halos of hair straight out of one of those space-helmet salons, dowdy matchy-match pantsuits and fair trade accessories, as if the Women's Group of an aging Unitarian Universalist congregation were meeting behind the counter (not unlikely, in fact). The whole time we were shopping, the gentle hum of their debate over sparkly third-world Christmas ornaments for display burbled along behind us.

One lady in particular, however, kept breaking in with the others to ask them, "Is this ethnic?" "So do you think this one is ethnic?" "Is it ethnic, do you think?"

I'm not sure precisely what it was that gave me such a strong feeling of revulsion - some variant of Nice White Lady syndrome perhaps? - aside from the build-up of lip-biting that nearly resulted in my telling her, "EVERYTHING IS ETHNIC IN YOUR EXOTICISING, 'ETHNIC' SHOP, YOU PRETENTIOUS YUPPIE." Because, I mean, I'm glad the Nice White Ladies are volunteering there and would happily shop the fuck out of that store. But still. Can't they have a consciousness-raising or something?