King of the Zombies

King of the Zombies [1941], dir. Jean Yarbrough



This deserves a watch.

Download the film for free at archive.org.

Then There Were None

  Then There Were None by Martha H. Noyes

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Then There Were None is a perfectly structured book; it knows what it wants to do, and executes it through a remarkable balance of photographs, quotes, poems, and historical information. This is a quick, concise, and substantial little book that packs one solid punch.

Elizabeth Kapu'uwailani Lindsey Buyers states in the book's forward that the book "is not a tale of blame or vicitmization." Well, it doesn't need to be. The devastation of the Hawaiian people and their culture hardly needs to be told through finger-pointing and victimization. Simply recounting the history and showing their culture is enough, as this book proves.

I also quite like the preface, which asks:

"Has any history text, however objective, quelled the troubles between [warring cultures]?

No, because history isn't what divides them. what fuels the division is emotion.

It is an emotional voice we wanted to offer. If the heart's wounds, the spirit's ache are laid bare, healing balm can reach the injury and ease the pain."

It makes a lot of sense to me. The book does elicit an emotional response, but through a controlled, leveled presentation that doesn't seem negatively manipulative or entrenched in hateful bitterness. Any anger I felt while reading this book is a product of my own rash behavior and not the wishes of the author.

The archival photos are effective both as visual documentation as well as additional narration. They aren't extraneous, but rather work in tandem with the text, using photography's strengths to enhance the narrative beyond what text can do. Since Martha H. Noyes first told this story through a documentary film of the same title, the skillful use of photos comes as no surprise.

What a lovely little book. The cover photo is excellent, the size is great, the length is just right, and the information is substantial throughout. A sad, but wonderful little book.

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The Danger of a Single Story

Allow me a moment of political soap-boxing:

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is an African writer who, it seems, is making quite an impact in the African literature community. I haven't read her books or articles, but I did just watch this speech and thought it was really great. I also liked how she briefly tied her discussion of Africa and the Western world into the U.S.-Mexico immigration debate. This speech is a reminder that we cannot rely on a single story - a single version - if we hope to really understand a people, a country, an issue, etc.

Too often it seems like reader's forum letters, comments following online news articles, like/dislike button, and similar quick-response techniques these days are simply ways for people to say something reductive, claiming a solution that stems from only looking at the issue from one angle rather than multiple. A letter to the Daily Universe is hardly going to resolve all the issues surrounding a debate, though such a letter can be helpful in presenting a single perspective and encouraging further discussion. Forums are meant to be places for discussion, where we learn things through collective civil discourse that ultimately helps the community better itself. But too often reader's forums just become arenas of contention and personal attacks, where writers and readers are more interested in reading the next smack down than they are the next insightful thought.

I think this form of literary bloodsport comes, at least in part, from our wish for things to be simple and easy, especially when it comes to things that make us uncomfortable. Issues like immigration, health care, abortion, globalization, and other such things cannot (or at least should not) be resolved over night. For me, I've felt like the best method requires me to take some time, study things out, then come to a conclusion that I'm also willing to modify or even completely change when new information presents itself. This isn't an easy method to follow, because I also wanna be finished with the discussion, believing that I've got it all figured out and that everyone in opposition to my view is wrong. But this isn't true. Sometimes they're wrong, sometimes we're both wrong, or we're both right while still on opposite sides of the fence. It's a tough juggling of personal and communal well-being, and a rather pluralist mentality. Often this method fails me and I just get rash and judgmental. So, it's good to see things like Chimamanda Adichie's speech to remind me to take a moment, think about things, and try looking at it all from a perspective outside my own.