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Tag: Media Monday

Media Monday: African mercenaries and child soldiers

The books:

The music:Fatima” and “Strugglin'” by K’naan

Last fall, I moved into a new house. It’s in the part of town single white women aren’t encouraged to live in, but I love it because of all the diversity. There are at least five languages spoken on my block, in part due to a recent influx of immigrants and refugees. Reports says there are 30 languages spoken at the nearby elementary school, from Karen to Kirundi.

I’ve worked with some of these immigrants. From a coworker who fled Sudan to Egypt, taught himself English, and found his way to the Midwest, to a young Ghanian woman who came over with her family and found herself homeless after deciding she wanted to forgo marriage in favor of college, some of their stories aren’t pretty. I’m really looking forward to my school social work internship this fall, so I can work with some of these immigrant kids.

My whole point is that I tend to see the human side to war. At the same time, I want to understand my neighbors’ and clients’ experiences, so I’ve been reading a lot about African conflicts, from multiple perspectives.

First there’s The Consequential Element by Dee Ann Waite, which I’d describe as a geopolitical romantic thriller. An archeologist in central Africa has found a rare element and sends his notes to his niece, á là Indiana Jones. The CIA and Chinese military are after her, as is a Congolese warlord. A handsome mercenary and some old Batswana friends help her out. It’s a well-written, well-researched story, but the reader’s sympathy is always directed towards the protagonist, and the story lacks the nuance needed to make the warlord and his child soldiers three-dimensional.

Only the Dead by M.W. Duncan is a novella about a mercenary in Africa. It lacks the romantic subplot and instead focuses solely on the protagonist’s struggle for survival in the jungles of Liberia. The author does a decent job of building empathy for the child soldiers, allowing the reader to see that they’re victims of circumstance as well. He includes a very touching scene about a boy left to die as the army evacuates its village headquarters that’ll leave the reader angry more isn’t being done about forced enlistment of children.

And if you want to get really angry and sad, pick up A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Child Soldier by Ishmael Beah. When Beah was twelve, civil war struck Sierra Leone. After witnessing the brutal murders of his family and friends, he was conscripted into the government army (yes, governments use child soldiers just as much as rebels; the Sudanese government is doing it as you’re reading this), hopped up on drugs, and made to commit atrocities kids that age shouldn’t even know about, let alone witness. Fortunately he made it out alive and was one of the lucky kids who was rehabilitated.

The music pick, Somalian rapper K’naan, has a similar story. He was on one of the last flights out of Mogadishu after the country descended into violence (20 years later and it’s still violent anarchy) and settled in Toronto. His songs mix his experiences as a troubled innercity black male with the violence he witnessed in Somalia.

Like the protagonists in this week’s books, K’naan is just looking for a path to healing, and like my neighbors, clients, and coworkers, it’s often easier said than done.

Media Monday: H.L. Burke

dragon's curseThe books: The Dragon and the Scholar series by H.L. Burke

The music: “Bring Me to Life” Evanescence

The Dragon and the Scholar series is comprised of four fantasy books about the adventures of a scholar who’s fallen in love with a dragon.

Book 1 starts out with scholar Shannon sent to the kingdom of Regone to heal a young king with a serious attitude problem. Turns out he was injured fighting dragons after one ate his brother. When a dragon shows up near the castle, Shannon takes it upon herself to convince him to leave without bloodshed, but instead she ends up enjoying his company.

Without any spoilers, the rest of the series is about her relationship with Gnaw, as the dragon calls himself. The two are obviously in love, but Gnaw is a pragmatist – how could Shannon possibly be happy with him – and keeps pushing her away. Shannon tries to hold out hope that they’ll get a happy ending, but Burke throws a nice mix of obstacles in their way, from other princes to vengeful wizards and even a power-bent Fey queen from the past.

Overall, The Dragon and the Scholar series is a quick read with likable characters and fun plots.

For the music, I think Evanescence’s “Bring Me to Life” is fitting for the whole series, as the overarching plot concerns how Shannon can save Gnaw – both from his dragon nature and his own thoughts.

Media Monday: Good ole rock and roll

Not My Thing coverThe book:Not My Thing” by E.D. Martin (yeah, I’m self-promoting this week)

The music: The Steepwater Band

Since moving back to my hometown a couple years ago, I’ve become my dad’s concert buddy. There’s a local venue in town that gets great regional rock/blues acts for decent ticket prices, so whenever an interesting show comes through my dad invites me along. The best part, however, isn’t the music – it’s the people watching.

I’ve gotten a lot of great stories out of stuff I’ve seen there: “The Best Day of Herb’s Life,” based on this accountant guy we saw at a Samantha Fish concert, and “Killing Johnny Garcia,” about the devil giving up a life of chaos to become a middle-aged, overweight guitar virtuoso. And, of course, “Not My Thing.”

Not My Thing” is about a regional band out on tour. I came up with the idea at a Steepwater Band/Royal Southern Brotherhood show when I noticed the guys from the opening band mingling in the crowd. What’s it like, I wondered, to be in a band, playing a small venue where a few people know your music but not enough know it to recognize you in the crowd? What’s it like to play for the love of music rather than fame or money, and what happens when the music runs out?

The Steepwater Band is rock, pure and simple.

Media Monday: The End of the World and Agnes Obel

Savage DawnThe books: Savage Dawn by Inge Moore and Anyone? by Angela Scott

The music: Agnes Obel

AnyoneImagine you’re off on a weekend camping trip, or maybe just asleep in your bed. Without any warning, there’s a natural disaster. You seek shelter – a secluded cave in the forest, the bomb shelter in your backyard – and wait for the disaster to end. Except it doesn’t end; it just keeps getting worse. You wait for someone to come rescue you, but months pass and you’re still alone. What do you do? How do you survive?

Such is the dilemma in today’s books. In Savage Dawn, a small group of families and strangers band together to try to survive after a series of volcanoes end civilization. In Anyone?, teenage Tess must try to find her dad and brother, aided by a guy who may not be what he seems, after meteors wipe out most of humanity. Both are post-apocalyptic stories that push their characters to the limits.

Agnes Obel‘s music reminds me of Rasputina, but more haunting.  Close your eyes while listening to “The Curse,” and imagine yourself standing on an empty street, strewn with ashes and litter and lined with empty, dilapidated buildings, not a soul around for hundreds of miles.

What’s your plan for surviving the apocalypse?

Media Monday: Weird British kids and Fabrice Mauss

submarine cover

The movie may be better than the book.

The books: Submarine by Joe Dunthorne and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night by Mark Haddon

The music: Fabrice Mauss

Submarine is the story of Oliver Tate, a Welsh teenager who just wants to bully kids to fit in and sleep with the girl who fell into being his girlfriend and save his parents’ marriage. His quirkiness is what makes him sympathetic (although movie Oliver is more endearing than book Oliver), and you can’t help but enjoy his own personal logic. A fun, if somewhat rambling, read.

The kid in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night, Christopher, is also quirky and British. And he too is trying to puzzle out his parents’ marriage. But Christopher is quirky because he’s on the spectrum. Haddon does a brilliant job of portraying the MC’s thoughts and logic, even when there isn’t any, and you can’t help but root for Christopher and where his logic takes him.

I know nothing about Fabrice Mauss‘s quirkiness. And he’s French, not British. I found him a few years ago while clicking on related videos on YouTube. But his sound and lyrics fit with the weird British kids.

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