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Steve_s
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Steve_s
Post Number: 189
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, November 28, 2005 - 03:25 pm: | 
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Steve: Have you also read "Of Beetles & Angels" Mawi Asgedom..? It is a true story of a young boy's remarkable journey from civil war in east Africa to a refugee camp in Sudan, to a childhood on welfare in an affluent American subrub, and eventually to a full tuition scholarship at Harvard.
LiLi, I read it over the weekend. It's a memoir of growing up in Wheaton, Illinois, where the author arrived with his Ethiopian family in 1983 at the age of 7. It's a moving tribute to his father, who's both the "angel" of the title -- someone who cares for the less fortunate -- and who, as an immigrant often felt like he had metamorphosed into a beetle, as in the Franz Kafka short story, The Metamorphosis.
I liked some of the father's folk wisdom. When the boys steal the entire basket of Halloween candy from the old woman, they think of what they had been taught, which is that the heartfelt curses of the elderly and the weak are heard by God and they always come true -- if not in this world, then in the next. The other piece of wisdom was that angels mingle among the people, but people always mistreat angels because they're always disguised as beggars, homeless people, and misfits. "The Death of Vishnu" by Manil Suri, a novel I recently read, is based upon a similar idea.
I enjoyed it, it's a slim volume. How did you like it?
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Libralind2
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Libralind2
Post Number: 289
Registered: 09-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, November 28, 2005 - 06:49 pm: |
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I thought it was a wonderful story and its a great read for young adults. I am the Project Director of an after school/literacy program for children and I am having them read and write about it. Check out our site. Thanks
LiLi
www.readcolumbusread.com |
Steve_s
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Steve_s
Post Number: 191
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, November 29, 2005 - 05:30 pm: |
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That's a really nice thing you're involved with LiLi. Of Beetles and Angels seems like a perfect book for that purpose -- it's inspiring because it doesn't sugarcoat the family's hardships, and yet it's not as horrible as what the Lost Boys had to experience, a book which might be inappropriate for young people.
I've noticed that the author has a Web site, "Mawi speaks," which describes his presentations in fromt of school assemblies. It's not cheap, but there are suggestions about how to fund it. That would probably be very motivating. How many students do you have reading the book and I'm curious about what some of their impressions might be. |
Libralind2
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Libralind2
Post Number: 295
Registered: 09-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, November 29, 2005 - 08:36 pm: |
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I have about 15 teens between the three centers. Im trying to get them to read it at our main center first but it is very hard to get them in to read. They will do homeowrk and "act" like they have other activites. I have 1 young man who has started it but hasnt read enough for comments and Im trying to use it as a group read. I will keep you posted.
LiLi |
Steve_s
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Steve_s
Post Number: 194
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, November 29, 2005 - 11:37 pm: |
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Thanks, LiLi. |
Steve_s
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Steve_s
Post Number: 195
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, November 29, 2005 - 11:44 pm: |
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Oh, Btw, I have a friend from HS who was 2nd in the nation in the discus, 3rd in the shot put, graduated from Harvard, had his own medically-related radio show and is now serving 3 years for income tax evasion! |
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