Achebe’s death at the age of 82 was announced Friday by his publisher. His works inspired countless writers around the world, though the literary style of “Things Fall Apart,” first published in 1958, particularly transformed the way novelists wrote about Africa.
Adewale Maja-Pearce, a literary critic who succeeded Achebe as the editor of Heinemann’s African Writers Series, called him a pioneer whose “contribution is immeasurable.”
In breaking with the Eurocentric lens of viewing the continent through the eyes of outsiders, Achebe took readers to a place full of complex characters who told their stories in their own words and style.
Achebe once wrote that a major goal “was to challenge stereotypes, myths, and the image of ourselves and our continent.”
Saint Patrick’s Day or the Feast of Saint Patrick (Irish: Lá Fhéile Pádraig, “the Day of the Festival of Patrick”) is a cultural and religious holiday celebrated on 17 March. It is named after Saint Patrick (c. AD 385–461), the most commonly recognised of the patron saints of Ireland.
Saint Patrick’s Day was made an official Christian feast day in the early seventeenth century and is observed by the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion (especially the Church of Ireland),the Eastern Orthodox Church and Lutheran Church. The day commemorates Saint Patrick and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland as well as celebrating the heritage and culture of the Irish in general. Celebrations generally involve public parades and festivals, céilithe, and the wearing of green attire or shamrocks. Christians also attend church services and the Lenten restrictions on eating and drinking alcohol are lifted for the day, which has encouraged and propagated the holiday’s tradition of alcohol consumption.
Makeba, known around the world as Mama Africa, died on November 9, 2008 after a performance in Italy. She had a very successful musical career that included stints with the Manhattan Brothers, a female group called the Skylarks, and roles in South African theater — all before she launched a solo career that included performances with Harry Belafonte and Paul Simon.
She was also an outspoken opponent of apartheid in her native country of South Africa. The government there cancelled her passport in 1960; and, after she testified against apartheid before the United Nations in 1963, it revoked her citizenship. She didn’t return until 1990, after Nelson Mandela’s release from prison.
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Road to Statehood 1846-1912 - By Robert J. Torrez
Almost as soon as General Kearny and the Army of the West occupied Santa Fe in 1846, New Mexicans began taking steps towards becoming a state. This journey, however, took more than half a century to complete. Read more…
