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IN HONOR OF AARON FALLAH BROWN
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Volume 4 • Issue 2 • November 2007
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"Tie-bey"
Copyright © Aaron Fallah Brown | |
"Soniwehn"
Copyright © Aaron Fallah Brown
His Heart, His Art, His Poetry
It is said that when a griot dies, a whole library dies; but Aaron Fallah Brown was also a Manjah; he was also a Monrovia Boy of the Rock. Born in luxuriant Rivercess, raised in the Monrovia Soniewehn slum and ghetto, he walked this earth like a Jegna of old, leaving behind a significant body of work, though his deepest beauty lay in the magnificence of his spirit. Whether or not he achieved his greatest dreams, he is one of our "Beautyful Ones" for the major work he did accomplish. He made history, not headlines or the spotlight, as the saying goes. Blessed be him. And we take this time to remember world scholar, historian, and educational psychologist Dr. Asa Grant Hilliard III, Nana Baffour Amankwatia II (August 22, 1933 USA – August 12, 2007 KMT AFRICA), architect of the Monrovia Consolidated School System, through which Aaron passed. Ancestral blessings, Nana Baffour, without end forever, for you who lived out the principles of Maat many a time: Truth.
Justice.
Harmony.
Balance.
Order.
Reciprocity.
Propriety. Creator is satisfied.
Stephanie Horton
Word from the Editor
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ART
© A. F. Brown |
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Aaron Fallah Brown
Gallery 3
Gallery 4
Gallery 5
Charcoal Drawings, Oil Paintings, Pen and Ink, Pencil Sketches, Watercolor Paintings, Wood Burned Portraiture (Pyrography), Wood Sculpture
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CREATIVE NON-FICTION
Henry Mamadi Mamulu
Speedy
A BOOK EXCERPT
Robtel Neajai Pailey
This, too, is Liberia!
NOTES FROM THE MOTHERGROUND
Althea Romeo-Mark
A Home with Endless Space
A daughter of the African Diaspora meditates on language, home, exile, loss, belonging, community, and self-constituted identity.
Korto Williams
A Cultural Autobiography:
‘The Love of Liberty Brought Us Here’?
Williams dissects identity construction; shedding those layers that are only skin deep, she strikes out to name her "personal impression of self."
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DRAMA
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Gerald K. Barclay
Liberia: The Love of Liberty Brought Us Here!!!!
DOCUMENTARY DIALOGUE TRANSCRIPT
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In interview with filmmaker Gerald Barclay one year ago, he discussed the making of his award-winning Love of Liberty documentary, also mentioning the film project he was working on at that time. He's since won the prestigious 2007 Hip-Hop Odyssey (H2O) International Film Festival best documentary award for that film: Wu: The Story of the Wu-Tang Clan. High on that success, Gee-Bee sent us the Love of Liberty dialogue transcript to show aspiring screenwriters a basic layout.
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ESSAYS
Eva Acqui
On Liberian Literature: “The Name of the Sound, and the Sound of the Name”
Rachel Gbenyon Diggs
The Before and the After:
A Cry and Call for Our Children
Abdoulaye W. Dukulé
Art in Liberia
Carrza DuBose
“See what they are doing with this woman”: Voicing Sexual and Physical Abuse in Gayl Jones’s Eva’s Man
Asa G. Hilliard III
To Be an African Teacher
Stephanie Horton
Heretical Language (or) Language of Identity: Pidgin, Creole and Vernacular [Prose of Identity] in Post-Colonial Fiction
Anthony Morgan, Jr.
Kru Wars: Southeastern Revolt in 19th to Early 20th Century Liberia
Wilton Sankawulo, Sr.
Liberian-American Relations: Past, Present, and Future
The eminent writer offers a diagnosis for our cultural malaise and a path to renewal at a Symposium on Liberia-US Relations, on the occasion of the 160th Independence Celebrations, Library of Congress, Washington, DC, July 26, 2007.
FICTION
Doeba Bropleh
Cleansing
A SHORT STORY
Omari Jackson
Living With the Dead
A SHORT STORY
Dave Toh Jah & Dennis Chewlae Jah
The Greedy Rabbit
A FOLK TALE
From their forthcoming folklore collection, the brothers Jah retell a Grebo folktale drawn from the trickster and morality tale storytelling tradition.
Gladys Orisavbia
Slit Dream
A SHORT STORY
Althea Romeo-Mark
The Intruders
A SHORT STORY
Vamba Sherif
Bound to Secrecy
A NOVEL EXCERPT
African Writing Literary Journal cites Vamba Sherif as one of the 50 most important young African writers, a "New Inheritor" and "torch-bearer for African literature" carrying forward the tradition of the canon's "significant literary interpreters." This excerpt in translation from his latest novel, Bound to Secrecy (2007), again dealing with Liberia's historiography, again deepening our ways of understanding all the streams that make us who we are as a people, is why Sherif's authorial voice has earned the attention of literary giants such as Ngugi wa Thiong'o.
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INTERVIEW
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H. Wantue Major
Birds of the Same Plumage:
The Heart is What Gives Love
Painter H. Wantue Major on Art
BY STEPHANIE HORTON
Leaping across styles, H. Wantue Major is among Liberia's most influential and celebrated artists. In interview, he shares his passion and vision for the growth of Liberian arts; in his own words, he describes the mythic call the artist must obey to be a servant and a moral and ethical compass, despite the risks of oppositional dangers in times of chaos and crisis.
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POETRY
These eight featured poems were all written by Aaron Fallah Brown, presented as he composed and designed them for the Liberia Legacy Foundation, an organization he co-founded along with Doughba Carmo Caranda, George Dunbar Knuckles, Sr. and others to record and preserve the visual art, folk songs, written expression and cultural instrumentation of their generation and preceding generations.
TRIBUTES
THANKS & ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Appreciation and gratitude goes to the following for their generosity in sharing images from their private art collections:
Doughba Carmo Caranda
Ounzuba Kemeh-Gama
Foday F. Kenneh
Grace Kolliesuah
The Liberia Legacy Foundation
Nora Musu
Eugene and Louella Scott
For the beat "Horizon" by Banned Wagon Music, we thank the young healers, Kahnma, KNVRS, Bujara, Has de Ras, and Saga, and thanks to Gee-Bee Productions for the arrangement.
And to two Fine Souls, the "anonymous donors" whose valuable support made this issue fall so beautifully into place. Thank you.
Untitled
Copyright © Aaron Fallah Brown
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
Althea Romeo-Mark, Guest Editor for the May 2008 issue is a Virgin Islander who taught at the University of Liberia for fourteen years, a founding member of the Liberian Association of Writers, and a widely published poet, essayist, and short story writer in many scholarly and literary journals.
We are accepting submissions for personal family narratives, poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, critical essays and visual art under the umbrella theme, "The Caribbean Presence In Liberia", considering the African influence on Caribbean people and culture, as well as personal family histories and life stories of Liberians of Caribbean descent; Wilmot Blyden; Marcus Garvey; voodoo, obeah; language and linguistics: the influence of African languages on Caribbean Patois/Creole, or Caribbean influences on Liberian English; common stories of the oral tradition; the West African influence on Caribbean art; comparative studies of Liberian art and Caribbean art; Caribbean food in Liberia, the West African influence on Caribbean cooking; comparative studies of Liberian novels, short stories, poetry, with that of their Caribbean counterparts; and Liberian and Caribbean short stories and poetry which reflect a particular culture.
The deadline for submissions is January 15, 2008. Prospective contributors will be informed of editorial decisions within 40 days of making their submission. Please visit the submissions page for general guidelines.
Submit editorial inquiries and manuscripts to Althea Romeo-Mark:
guest-editor@liberiaseabreeze.com
DONATE
We are beating the drums! Hear us now! AHMWENU! (We will do it!) This journal is incorporated as a 501(c)(3). Donors in the USA can make a tax deductible contribution. Please visit our donations page and contact Finance Editor Doeba Bropleh.
CONTACT US
Wuh'u tinkin? Any thoughts? Reactions? Comments? Critique? Write us! Words do make a difference. We do listen.
Leave a Readers Comment
E-mail the Editors
Untitled
Copyright © Aaron Fallah Brown
"Liberian Lady"
Copyright © Aaron Fallah Brown
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