more of what I'm reading

My copious reading continues.
First, Trevor Noah's 2016 memoir, Born a Crime. He's a talented writer, incisive and funny. I didn't know much about his childhood or the history of racial oppression in South Africa. He blends them well and I enjoyed everything but the sort of shoulder-shrug regarding the physical violence he endured from his parents. "Hidings," he calls it. Or as a former shrink said to me, "child abuse."

"Center, Center" by James Whiteside, was also engaging and also glossed over the painful bits. I'm not one for wallowing and I laughed aloud at some of the funniest bits. This talented ballet dancer is truly witty and self-deprecating in a mimosas at brunch kind of way. The story felt stretched out though. I wondered what else he might have to say.

I also tuned in the other night to Northwest African American Museum's "Conversation with the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution's Lonnie Bunch." NAAM's own Dr. Quintard Taylor interviewed Bunch about his work establishing the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture which is visited by more international DC tourists than any other institution. It was a reminder that Black history is American history, and that the world views the civil rights struggles here with a far keener eye than we Americans do. The US never had the reconciliation commissions that South Africa held. We're so far behind and falling ever farther, it seems. The interview is a must-watch, charming and inspirational.