Alex Jones: Web Technologist, Barbecue Acolyte, Information Junkie, Austinite

A Long Way Gone

Growing up in the safe confines of the middle-class womb here in the U.S., it is easy to lose sight of the larger world around me. While I count myself a student of history and a constant consumer of information, I tend to focus on specific periods of the past (World War II, the Crusades, the founding of the United States etc.) or on specific realms of the present (the intricacies of the war in Iraq or the convoluted meanderings of those seeking the Presidency). So, having heard an amazing interview on NPR, I was excited to pick up the copy of A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, by Ishmael Beah that Sarah had read for her book club.

Reading the book feels like you are sitting across from a friend in a coffee shop, or over a pint, learning about a past that is both intriguing and scary. The informality of the telling pulled me in quickly and made the environment that much more real, as it remained very personal throughout. He didn’t pull back to the 50,000 foot view to tell you the maneuvers of each side, or the political gambits played by the government and the rebel forces. Instead, he told you how he ran from the rebels and soldiers alike, how he eventually became a soldier at the age of thirteen, how he returned to what was left of his childhood a few years later, only to be forced to escape to a new life far different than he could have ever expected.

It is hard to reconcile the giant grin on Ishmael’s face adorning the back cover, with the stories he tells. I grew fond of the boy who listend to early rap cassettes, practicing his dances for a talent show, and I could never quite come to terms with the thought that the same child became a killer many times over. His story cuts to the core of what it is to be human, dissecting the constant struggle to do what is “right” versus what needs to be done to survive. It’s also important to note how “right” can be defined in many different ways for the same situation. It may mean leniency and generosity, but it can just as easily mean vengeance against those who killed your family and took everything you had, including your sense of security and childhood.

I cannot recall any news reports or history books that could deliver this sense of day-to-day, on the ground reality, and I truly hope that school systems across the U.S. add Ishmael’s work to their reading list. It is important for us to look beyond our borders and the confines of our regular reality, keeping our eyes open to the fact that there are problems much larger than ours around the globe. What we do about them is another question - one which I am turning over in my head.

I highly recommend you pick up a copy of A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier (Amazon), or if you have read it, please leave a comment as I would love to hear your thoughts.

Posted in Bookshelf, History & Tagged: africa, books, History, Reading

Cosquer Cave

Cosquer Cave “is the only painted cave in the world with an entrance below present-day sea level where [prehistoric] cave art has been preserved”.

Posted in History & Tagged: art, History

Stalin’s Super-Warriors

Apparently, back in the mid 1920s, Josef Stalin “ordered the creation of Planet of the Apes-style warriors by crossing humans with apes”.

History kicks ass…

Posted in Featured, History

Revelation of Oldest Known Maya Mural

Xeni Jardin, over at BoingBoing posted an interesting note about a National Geographic article: Oldest Known Maya Mural, Tomb Reveal Story of Ancient King. The article explains that the mural, depicting a “stunning story of creation”, dates to 100 B.C., which utterly changes archaeologists’ understanding of the Maya, “proving that these stories of creation and kings—and the use of elaborate art and writing to tell them—were well established more than 2,000 years ago ago, centuries earlier than previously believed.”

I won’t rewrite the article here, but take a few minutes to check it out - it is a fascinating read, especially the description of the story told by the mural, which “traces the maize god’s birth, death, and resurrection, which brings sustenance to the world.”

Additional information and photos are available from the Peabody Museum.

Posted in History