All About Ms. World's World

HELP! I'VE LOST MY SARAH LAWRENCE COLLEGE YEARBOOK circa 1991, 1992, 1994 and I'D LIKE THEM BACK!

If the postman or post-woman recently delivered you a box that included a Sarah Lawrence College yearbook from 1991, 1992, or 1994 and you don't know who or what Sarah Lawrence College is (just the best and wildest liberal arts college in the U.S.), please contact me via e-mail at chilande2001@yahoo.com.

The post office lost my Sarah Lawrence College yearbooks and other items and delivered onto me a series of books about diplomacy, foreign affairs, and Islam which seem to be related to course(s) taught by
Dr. Mohammed Ayoob of Michigan State University. If this sounds familiar, please contact me at chilande2001@yahoo.com since I don't need any books that don't belong to me (I have enough books!).

Please note that I want my yearbooks back but I won't pay anyone a ton of money for them.

The summer of the memoir

      

 

I'm supposed to be writing a book but sometimes I can be found reading.

Here are some good reads I've enjoyed so far this summer.

Accidental Diva         by Tia Williams.
This is an African-American chick-lit book. I picked it up because I wanted to prove to myself that badly written books get published all the time. But I picked up the wrong book because it was well-written for the genre. It was also a very enjoyable read.

Project Girl  by Janet McDonald
I've been picking up lots of memoirs because of my own writing project. I have a special interest in memoirs written by African-American women. This book was richer and more moving than I expected. I thought it would be a story about a girl getting out of the ghetto because she was intelligent. It is so much more than that. The plot had more ups and downs than I anticipated. I loved it!

The works of Marjane Satrapi
Marjane Satrapi is an Iranian born graphic novelist now living in France. She has published at least 3 books in the U.S. about her experiences in Iran. I have a great interest in Iran (I tried to go there last year doing my BLACK GIRLS RULE WORLD TOUR but couldn't get a tourist visa. I also desperately wanted to go to Beirut, Lebanon too.) Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood is about her life in Iran during the Iranian Revolution.   Persepolis: The Story of the Return is about a period of her life spent in Austria where her parents sent her to get educated and enjoy life in a free society. It isn't a very happy tale and Satrapi ends up returning to Iran.  I liked these two books the best. I also read Embroideries which was interesting but not as powerful as the Persepolis series.

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomedy by Alison Bechdel
This has complex and very original graphic novel has to be one of the best reads of the summer. Bechdel is a well-regarded creator of the comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For. This graphic novel is about her childhood and her relationship with her decorative arts-loving father. It was so good that I re-read it.

Naked: Black Women Bare All about Their Skin, Hair, Lips, and Other Parts edited by Ayana Byrd and Akiba Solomon
I actually purchased this book! (The rest of the books were checked out of the local library.) This book is a great collection of personal essays by a diverse group of African-American women. I highly recommend it.

 Cafe Trinity by Wendy Lo
This is a book of beautifully written poetry book with Japanese drawings by a new talent on the American poetry scene. You can't find this book in a bookstore or library so if your interested, please click on the title and pick it up.

 

There are more books that I read but I'll stop here. I'm in the midst of reading Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes (I'm stunned by how poor his family was!), Mary Karr's The Liars' Club , and Alexandra Fuller's Don't Lets Go to The Dogs Tonight. I think you can tell that I'm studying the memoir. 

What I Want & His Heart is Awesome!

 

What I really want is to complete my "shitty first draft" of my book project and formulate a near term plan for my life but that hasn't happened yet! So, what I want right now is the book above!

I've returned to the travel section of the bookstore and it isn't a good thing. I'm getting nostalgic. I'm getting worked up about places such as Tunisia, Kolkatta, and Ghana.

In television news, I'll admit that I watched Dateline's interview with pop star Britney Spears. As I watched the interview, I realized that the U.S.A. education system (K-12) has failed many people in our society. Why can't Britney talk intelligently? Matt Lauer, co-host of the morning talk show Today, asked Ms. Spears about the qualities that she values in her husband wanna-be rapper Kevin Federline, she said, "His heart is awesome." Yeah, ok!

I feel sorry for Britney because the U.S. tabloids have been very mean to her in the past few months. I check out Us weekly from the library and read Star as I stand in line for groceries, so I know these things. Of course, she couldn't have known that marrying someone who seems very loser-ish would bring on the contempt of American tabloids. I do think Britney needs some a little more media training so she doesn't chew gum and sound so dumb in TV interviews.

Lingering Wanderlust

I had a bookstore rule when I first returned to the U.S.- I wasn't allowed to browse the travel section. Why? I knew spending a few hours paging through travel guides would get my wanderlust fired up again. I had been blessed to have a unique opportunity to travel around the globe for over 7 months after spending two years in Japan having a grand adventure and making money. And I still ain't satisfied? Honestly, no.

I have been eyeing this book every time I walked into Barnes & Nobles or Borders. Every time I opened the pages, I was transported into another world. I finally gave in and brought it today. I guess I'm coming to terms with my never-ending wanderlust.

DIGGING

Today I went digging and mistakenly unearthed my past. My past loves and collectables, all in the form of books. It wasn’t my intention to excavate my literary past. In fact, it was all an innocent game of “I need to find that book.” The book in question is Anne Lamont’s creative writing classic "Bird by Bird." A book I brought in 1998 with hopes that it would help me break a creative gridlock I was experiencing as I worked on numerous essays for graduate school applications. The book was recommended to my by a friend, Aaron, a Californian intellectual, who I adored and worked with at the Guggenheim Museum. It is so ironic because I still have the book but I lost touch with Aaron after entering graduate school in Indiana.

So, after putting out the garbage for tomorrow’s collection, I went book diving in my mother’s basement. It was harder than I expected work. I had forgotten about the boxes because newer white boxes had supplanted them with Japanese characters printed all over them. The boxes from Japan had been placed on top of the older boxes and held fresher, more recent memories for me to comb through at my leisure.

Picking up boxes which hadn’t been moved in over 2 years was a little exhausting but worth the price. I had found lost treasures such as my small but priceless Toni Morrison collection, playwright Adrienne Kennedy’s “People Who Led to My Plays,” and a copy of Ntozake Shange’s “Sassafras, Cypress, & Indigo” which seemed to save my life one dark night in San Francisco during the late nineties.

There were books that represented previous aspirations like a copy of "Teach Yourself Hindi.” I can’t believe I own that book! The idea of teaching myself Hindi actually sounds pretty ridiculous now but in 2002 I was a convert. (I even took a Hindi class at CUNY). I uncovered college yearbooks (I have every year except my junior year which I spent in Italy). which reminded me of my glory days in the ivory tower at Sarah Lawrence. I found remnants of three semesters spent in journalism school in the Midwest when I picked up a large textbook on First Amendment Law.

Finding forgotten books was also like remembering pieces of me that have fallen away or died hard deaths. I have a collection of books on soul mates. This idea makes me smile and laugh now. I have nothing against the idea of soul mates but I’m so happy that I’m no longer looking for one. I also have a small collection of sassy, feminist, and sexy books by Seal Press. I won’t divulge the titles because family members may read this.

But the biggest surprise in my literary excavation was the discovering of 3 books, “Let’s Go Australia,” “Let's Go India & Nepal,” and “Let’s Go Southeast Asia. All of these books were dated 2001. Two copies of these out of date travel guides have covers ripped off of them, which tells me that I picked them up during a stint working at a bookstore, probably Barnes & Noble (I did enjoy their employee discount on books and in the café!).

I can understand me picking up travel guides that were on the verge of being dumped on the street. But I can’t fathom why I have a fully intact copy of Let’s Go Southeast Asia. Did I have any hopes or desires of going to Southeast Asia at that time in my life? I don’t remember so, I decided to rescue the three Let’s Go travel guides from the forgotten-land of my basement.

These three books represented my past and presented. In 2002, I desperately wanted to travel to India. Australia & Southeast Asia would have been places on my mythical long “Places I Want To See Before I Die” List but that is the past.

It is now the summer of 2006 and I have a little intimate knowledge of the places listed in each of the books. I know what dosas taste like and I know to avoid masala dosas because I can’t take inferno they form in my mouth. I learned this lesson in Pune, then in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. I know that Melbourne, Victoria, is a place that you definitely want to take the time to visit because it is a lovely European city in the place called OZ. And I know that winters in Eastern Australia feel like autumn on the East Coast of the U.S. I also know that if you want great beaches for cheap without stepping over a thousand other tourists, leave Thailand behind for the spectacular beaches of Malaysia or if you are very adventurous hit the beach in Cambodia.

After paging through the books, I’ve decided they can be trashed. I don’t need them anymore. I have seen some of those places described between the pages of each book. And honestly, I can’t believe it. Sometimes I can’t believe how far I’ve come.

Mumbai Here I Come!

It only took me 2 months and 3 weeks to get my houses (mentally, emotionally, & spiritually) and visa in order to finally get on an airplane bound for the place that I think is my third homeland. Sunday, October 23rd is the day that I set foot on India soil. I'm so excited that I was beaming in the mirror as I got ready this morning. I'm finally more excited than scared which is a good sign. I have a tentative plan and low expectations which is another good sign. I expect not to be physically harmed in anyway during my tenure in Bharat. However, everything else is up in the air or in the hands of God, Allah, Buddha, Jah, and Ganesh.

I thank God & Malaysia for my current mental state. I finally got over my fear of actually going to India in paradise which is better known as the Perhentian Islands in northeast Malaysia. The ocean seems to always bring me back to my center. A few weeks ago I spent 4 days laying on a white-sand beach reading a good book called Bliss by hip-hop journalist extraordinaire Ms. Danyel Smith.

Bliss is the story of a Black American woman, Eva Glenn, who is knee-deep in music and the treacherous  business of music. The tale begins with Eva finding herself at a crossroads in her life at the worst possible time in terms of her career. Bliss is the story of how Eva deals with one of the hardest decisions a woman has to face in her life and the experiences and reasons which lead her to the ultimate conclusion. Along the way, Ms. Smith tells the tale of Black American music business which is filled with colorful and complex characters such as the sweet and bi-poplar Dart who is also the brother and manager of Eva's best selling artist and a former lover, Sunny the musical artist of the moment (who seems to resemble Erykah Badu in my mind), and Ron, a white man in the hip-hop who Eva has a complex relationship with, plus a host of other interesting and weary players in the mix. Bliss also allows Ms. Smith to display her wide-array of American music knowledge which is breath-taking to us novice music lovers.The novel has hints of Madam Toni Morrison's novel Tar baby.

Bliss is a great read for those interesting in hearing the tale of Black American women in the notoriously rough music business or someone who wants to read a good story.

After I finished Bliss, I went back to the foundation, the Black American literary canon. I was led to Ms. Maya Angelou in Chiang Mai, Thailand. I had been writing a lot but feeling lost like I desperately needed some writing template to guide my own work. I decided that Ms. Angelou would be good reading for an adventurous and wanderlust Black girl like myself. I felt a strong connection to Ms. Angelou because she was traveling Europe and Africa in the 1960s. I also like the fact that Ms. Angelou was leading a life that was strongly shaped by her own thoughts and initiative.

I'm me so I decided to read Ms. Angelou's classics backwards. The first book I read was Heart of a Woman, followed by All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes. I recently brought I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings for my Indian reading pleasure. Ms. Angelou leaves me breathless. She has done a lot, seen a lot, and written about it beautifully. How the hell can I compete with that? And I don't want to get started about Zadie Smith and her latest novel, On Beauty, which I plan to read during my Maharashtra journey.

The Perhentian Islands (I stayed on the backpackers favorite, Long Beach.) were amazing. It had the clearest, bluest, saltiest water I have ever seen and tasted. I went snorkeling and it was just as good as what I experienced on Australia's Great Barrier Reef. I finally got my snorkeling groove on by getting comfortable enough to simply breath in the tube while keeping my head underwater (usually I breathe and panic). I met up with an old Hanoi Backpackers' Hostel mate, Louise and her friend Maura, so I had someone to enjoy meals and have a good chat with. I also chatted and hung out with lots of other cool folks. Life is good mates, when there is nothing for you to do but lie on a lovely beach.

I also made it to the mountains of Malaysia better known as Cameron Highlands. My time in Toyama, Japan has turned me into something of a mountain girl. The air is clean and cool in the highlands. The tea is good, the scones ok, meeting people is easy, and living is cheap. I was overdosing on tea, scones, and Indian food when I decided to check on my Indian tourist visa. The good times in Cameron Highlands ended after talking to the visa authorities at the High Commission of India in Kuala Lumpur (K.L.).

Basically, I needed to get myself to K.L. as soon as possible to finish processing my Indian tourist visa. I won't whine about the process for applying for an Indian tourist visa because I know the U.S. government makes the process 100 times difficult for Indian folks. I'll simply say that I really never understood the visa application process from the very beginning. I went to the High Commission early on a Friday morning and it was breaming with people. I was stunned. Since I was born in America, I have never had to deal with any immigration issues per se and because many countries allow U.S. citizens to enter without a visa or allow them to obtain visas at their border, I haven't been subject to the chaos of a visa/passport queue. I looked so lost there that a Chinese woman and a fellow American took pity on me and told me what to do and how to do it. The Indian representative was also very nice to me probably because I looked like a confused baby deer in the forest.

I left Cameron Highlands and returned to K.L. as soon as possible in order to wake up early and be present at the High Commission of India on the next day. I now have my precious Indian tourist visa which I've checked dozens of times to make sure my passport number wasn't written incorrectly and that I have a signature and stamp (The people at the High Commission told us to do this before we left the premises). 

The rest of my time in K.L. has been spent preparing for my Indian arrival by gathering a decent first aid kit, purchasing a padlock and chain for the many cheap hotels and long train journeys in my upcoming future, and buying a small backpack to where on the front of my chest to protect me from possible groping. Yesterday, I had a bout of dehydration and diarrhea but recovered and ate a nice Italian meal with my current hostel dorm mates, Australian Divas Nicole and Carmen. I've been hanging around K.L. long enough that it feels familiar to me. I also figured out its Monorail and train system (finally!). It isn't home but I know a little bit about its streets, so it is close enough. 

My current thoughts are filled with the things I should have done more of pre-India travels (writing). The things I need to do now (eat, pray, pack, go to bed early and try not to cry).

My new mantra is "If it don't fit, don't force it." This mantra is all about moving, living, being one with the flow of life. I pray there is someplace else in this world that "fits" me. My gut says it may be India but my insides could be wrong because three years ago that same gut of mine told me I would be awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to India and I ended up going to Japan instead. Of course in hindsight, Japan has been great preparations for my current traveling life. I've also realized that Vietnam was probably preparation for India. Wish Me Luck!

Writing Divas

      
   I'm happy to introduce to you all the Writing Circle Divas! These crazy, beautiful ladies are also known as  Miami Diva, Cousin Irish Jo, Diva Emo, Chinatown Spice, Diva Amber, and North Carolina Spice. They are my comrades in the writing life, Toyama style!

This Writing Circle was spearheaded by the Miami Diva who writes interesting tales based on her experiences. Cousin Irish Jo was down with the Writing Circle from the very beginning after our writing twosome which held grand publishing plans exploded and escaped into blogland. Chinatown Spice was also down being a "real" writer with a M.F.A. degree (We still love you!). Diva Amber and North Carolina Spice were also up for baring their souls in the mask of fiction. Therefore a magic six-some was born early in our meetings. Finally, the missing piece of the circle arrived when Diva Emo made it to a few meetings bringing home-baked bread.

These Writing Divas are a very eclectic and talented bunch. Here are my very public predictions for their future.

North Carolina Spice will rise into the Ivy League academic ranks, earn her a doctorate degree, get tenure at N.Y.U. and write fabulous fiction on the side.

The Miami Diva will self-publish her project. She will sell 5,000 copies through her own business and market accrue. The Miami Diva will come to the attention of a well-regarded literary agent who will sale her book to a Random House for a 6-figure advance.

Cousin Irish Jo will publish a novel every year for the next 4 years beginning in 2007. In 2011, she will be awarded the Booker Prize fiction. She will buy a second home on the continent living with her lover Jean-Luc.

Diva Amber will return to the Midwest in summer 2006. She will write a screenplay about the adventures of a young woman working and living in East Asia. However, in this story the protagonist will get lots of sex. Diva Amber will go to Hollywood and sell her screenplay for six-figures. She will also get the right to direct her own film.

Chinatown Spice will finish two novels in the winter of 2006. She will publish an experimental novel about a crazy relationship with the best sex scenes ever written in modern American literature. The New York Times will praise her. Her first novel will be a acclaimed best-seller. She will get a teaching position at Columbia University's Writing program. And she'll leave Chinatown behind to become Upper West Side Spice.

Diva Emo will finally leave Japan in 2008 after attending Japanese-famous natural/organic architecture/design school in Toyama-ken.  She will leave Japan basking in the wealth of knowledge she has learned, fluent Japanese language skills, and a fiery love affair with Masahiro. Diva Emo will return to Colorado, USA to open her own organic architecture firm with her new lover Mr. Yoshi Stevenson.

As for me, I have no prediction for my prospects. I do plan to win a Pulitzer prize for fiction or non-fiction. I'm also going to get myself a European Union passport probably through marriage. I'm also having a child by the name of Grace, Daniel, or Sanjay.

Another Ms. World Rant

Lately, I`ve been doing travel research on East Africa and South Africa. It has come to my attention again that the most widely published and/or contributing research-writers for travel guides are caucasian.

Where are the Black, Asian, and Latino travel writers? Please don`t try to sell me that line about there being a lack of talented and able travel writers of color because that  is bullshit. I`m getting old now, so I know the truth- Black people can do and have been doing everything. There may be a lack of opportunities for talented travel writers of color but that doesn`t mean they don`t exist.

Thank God for Ms. Elaine Lee`s anthology Go Girl: The Black Woman`s Guide To Travel and Adventure. I discovered this engaging and eclectic collection of travel stories written by African-American women a few years ago. I had tears in my eyes when I found this book. It introduced me to a new world of wanderlust women who looked a lot like me.

I`m so sick of hearing that `Black don`t people travel.`  Black people travel. African-American upper and middle class people do travel. However, African-Americans from working class and poor backgrounds may not have the opportunities to travel unless they join the military. I`ve been very blessed because I have the opportunity to travel to places that fill my slumbering dreams. I guess I need to share the love. I guess I need to stop talking and do it. I guess I need to bring it. I suggest you stay tune in the near future.

Please note that I do have another month in Japan! The action will begin in August.

I Got Book Tagged!

I`m now joining some fine company because Diva Sibyl has book tagged me. I think this means I`m an official blogger or web writing professional since illustrious people like Amardeep Singh and Diva Deshigrrrl have posted entries regarding these questions. Here is my Ms. World take on this book tagging animal. 

Total Number of Books I Own

I own over 150 books, maybe more which my mother can attest to since my book collection is in her basement. I have tons of fiction; mostly female, colored people, and non-American writers. I historically don`t read a lot of writing by men. I don`t know why though. I also have a lot of museum catalogs from a previous phase of my life and a number of Let`s Go travel guides.

Last book I bought

Let`s Go- Southeast Asia travel guide. I`m a big fan of Let`s Go because I like their design and layout. (Please note I`m not an `only go where my travel guide tells me` traveler.) I`m really not feeling Lonely Planet`s layout. Rough Guides are geared towards the Brits. Fodor`s is for people who like to shop their way thru foreign places in my view. 

Last book I read

It is Vagabonding which I wrote about in April.

Five books that mean a lot to me

This is difficult. This is only a snapshot.

1. Sassafras, Cypress, and Indigo by Ms. Ntozake Shange

I`m a huge Shange fan because she writes about wild African-American women. The type of Black women that are sometimes called `man-ish` because they do whatever they want to do just like men. Billie Holiday was called this by other Black women.

This book is about three intelligent and adventurous sisters from South Carolina who come of age in the late 1960s and 1970s. They are very different people and end up traveling different paths. I feel like all three sisters represent aspects of myself. However, I think I most resemble the character of Cypress.

I love this book because it was my first time ever meeting adventurous Black women like me who did things they weren`t suppose to do (like run off to San Francisco which I did in my early twenties.) in print. When I hit rock-bottom in San Francisco because my world felt like it had been torn asunder, I read portions of this book (the mother`s letter to Sassafras telling her to come home when she gets pregnant) to make me feel better and give me strength. 

2. Jazz by Ms. Toni Morrison

I learned a few real truths about life, love, and Black American people from this book. The most important truth I garnered from this novel was the idea that if you don`t actively work to shape your life into a mold that is pleasing to you, it can shape itself while you sit on the sidelines due to fear or your life can shaped by other people (This can be good or bad.). I view the main male character, Joe, as a man whose life was shaped by others, namely his wife, Violet. When Joe decided to take an active part in his life, he had an affair and it ended badly for all involved.

I think I`m obsessed with the idea of aggressively shaping my life to please me (hence leaving corporate America to do what makes me joyful) due to my ancestor`s legacy in the slave-owning South. They didn`t have a lot of power in shaping their lives as people who were kidnapped and taken to another part of the world. I can`t forget the hell they went through and I`m making up for it in my life.

3. Anything written by Ms. bell hooks. Thank God for the prolific Ms. hooks! I can testify that Ain`t I A Woman To?: Black Women and Feminism helped me carve out a space for myself as a university student. Sisters of the Yam: Black Women and Self Recovery helped me realize that my biggest problem in life wasn`t my weight issue but the way I felt and thought about myself.

4.  The Adrian Mole Diaries by Sue Townsend (This is actually a collection of works that compose the Adrian Mole Diaries.)

I love Adrian Mole! I discovered this book when I was a pre-teen in the Midwest longing for the lights and excitement of London. This book taped into all of my unrequited Anglophile lust. Adrian Mole is similar to me but I had/have more self-esteem and things usually work out for me. He is a British boy who is uncool, bookish, and naive. The diaries began when Adrian is 13 3/4 and continue into his thirties. The book made me feel like I wasn`t alone in the teenage wilderness of life.

5. Angry Women by Re/Search Publications

Angry Women is a collection of interviews with interesting and provocative women such as the writer Sapphire, poetess Wanda Coleman, sex activist Susie Bright and Annie Sprinkles, the intellectual powerhouse Ms. bell hooks, and more. I discovered Angry Women at a book shop on Broadway near N.Y.U. when I was in my second year at Sarah Lawrence. I had to buy the book. I read it and was amazed that there were women in the world who had so many different experiences. I was blown away by the stories and journeys being told in the interviews with the various subjects. Angry Women also helped me with my self-esteem issue.

I`m going to book tag my crazy gun-toting Cousin Ryumi, the lovely and inspiring Diva Sista K, the one and only Notorious C.H.I.N., and Diva Saffron (if you have the time).

Right Now

The second part of 15 Stages or The Story of My life, The Short Version is taking forever to write. Honestly, I was overwhelmed by the response that Part 1 received. I figured somebody may feel it but I got so much love that it was a bit of a shock. I`ve been a little nervous about writing the rest of the African-American Bollywood saga that is my life. However, I`m getting over it. I really feel a need to write about my life right now because I know I`m ending another phase of it.

In late July, I will be ending the fifteenth phase of my life. Lately, I ride my bike around Toyama City and sometimes marvel about the fact that I`m here. I can`t believe the underestimated, smart, bookish, cute, fat Black girl who grew up across the street from the projects has gotten so far. I know I could do it but sometimes I still can`t believe I actually did it.

I`m getting very excited about my new phase of life. Everything is finally becoming very real. Yesterday, I brought airline tickets which will ferry me out of Japan to Hong Kong. I`m staying in Hong Kong for a few days then it is off to Bangkok via an Air Asia flight from Macau. I finally sorted out various tourist visa matters and am in the process of working on my resume. However, I know I need to concentrate on my current reality. I need to live in the moment and savor all the texture and emotion of my Japanese life. Sometimes it is very difficult for me to stay in the present. I`m a dreamer by nature and a doer out of necessity and envy. I`m working very hard to be present right now.

I also feel like my future is so bright that I need to wear shades. And I love feeling that way.