See you in 2010!
Do not expect to find new and exciting ideas in this collection of short stories; each tale will be as familiar as a childhood memory. These are not accounts of epic battles and famous heroes, but the struggles are just as profound, the conquests no less heroic. There are no progressive, forward-thinking concepts. On the contrary, you'll need to take more than a few steps back to fully appreciate the rare gem that is Father Uwem Akpan's first international bestseller.
Amidst unspeakable acts of slavery, rape, and genocide in Africa, the stories revolve around one central theme - in the eyes of a child, evil does not exist. By narrating in the point-of-view of the main characters - all children - the author magically transports his readers back to a time when they lived in complete and utter confidence in the ability of grown-ups to run the world. This faith in the world of adults was the foundation of innocence, the very same structure that crumbled at the first hour of betrayal, when we began to realize that adults were not doing such a great job after all.
My favorite story is a ten-page account of friendship in the background of the Christian-Muslim dispute in Nigeria. Two little girls, best friends, wake up one morning to discover a gap separating their lives that is much wider than the unpaved street between their homes. In an effort to maintain contact, the children make up their own sign language to communicate silently through their bedroom windows. I was humbled at how much more inventive little children can be at working through their differences and overcoming real adversity, when those supposedly in charge could not even look past something as useless and ephemeral as a religious conflict.
The story may be set in famine-stricken, war-torn Africa, but something very similar is probably happening in your own neighborhood - in your own homes - at this very moment. I hear people say that kids are growing up too fast nowadays. To quote the lyrics of a 90s Bon Jovi song, "..even innocence has caught the midnight train". We blame the media, the schools, the Internet. Some groups even point to alien abductions. Reading these stories, however, may help us realize that we need not look very far to find out who is responsible. What can we do to preserve our children's faith that we can run the world the right way? The author has no suggestions. But the kids in his stories do.
**
I always need to remind myself that I make my own dreams come true. And it starts with the energy to make things happen.
Do I really know the difference between my birthday and Christmas?
First, we're happy to announce that the team has identified and fixed the issue with the YouTube conduit; you can now find and add videos from YouTube to your library and posts. As always, thanks for your patience!
The other news we have today is about a new addition to the Six Apart family: TypePad Micro, a new free level of TypePad that is streamlined for microblogging. We see a new form of blogging emerging that lives between the quick status updates of Twitter and Facebook and the long-form posts of "classic" blogging; TypePad Micro is designed to meet that need. You can read more about TypePad Micro in Chris Alden's post on the Everything TypePad blog.
A lot of the new capabilities we've added to TypePad this year were actually inspired by some of the best things about Vox: favoriting, member profiles, a dashboard to follow other bloggers, and easy ways to post content from other social media sites. But the things that make Vox different from TypePad are still there: Vox has always been -- and still is -- the best place for "friends and family" blogging, where you're in control over who sees what. TypePad, on the other hand, is built for the blogger who wants, no, craves, attention.
Do you have a passion or interest you want to share with people beyond your Vox neighborhood? If so, we'd love it if you tried out TypePad Micro. Maybe you've always wanted to start that obsessive blog that's just about waffle restaurants. Or want a place to share videos of your favorite band (Jonas Brothers, anyone? Anyone? ...). TypePad Micro's great for those topic-specific blogs. Take it for a spin and let us know what you think.
On the Vox front, our designers are working on some cool new themes (coming soon!). We'd also love to hear your thoughts about where we should take Vox in the coming year. What are the key things you'd like to see for Vox? If you've had a chance to use TypePad this year, what are the features there that we should bring over to Vox? And, if you're thinking big thoughts, how could we connect the Vox and TypePad communities in order to bring together bloggers and their shared passions? Your feedback is really important to us, so please leave a comment here, or shoot me a message.
And again, thanks for your patience as we found and fixed the YouTube bug!
~ daisy
As many of you have noticed, the YouTube Conduit is not working. I am so sorry about this; I know how frustrating it is.
The team is looking into how to get this fixed and I will update you as soon as I hear something. In the meantime, not all is lost... There is a work-around for posting videos.
When you're in the Compose Screen, just click on "embed." Ignore the fact that it says "Widget" before everything because you can definitely use this to embed videos as well. You'll just need to input the embed code from the video, enter a title (if you want) and hit OK.
It might not show up perfectly in your compose screen, but when you hit "Save," your video should appear just the way you wanted it to.
Hopefully this will allow you to keep posting videos while we figure out what's happening on our end.
As always, thanks for your patience.
Go forth and fill your libraries with media.
Seriously, thanks to everyone for being so amazing and patient. You are the reason I love Vox.
I put this book on a Christmas wish list a couple of years ago, seriously doubting that someone would actually find, much less give it to me. Although not my first Russian novel, "Dead Souls" is my real initiation to the uniquely colorful and morbidly humorous brand of Russian fiction.
While far lesser-known than literary giants Dostoevsky and Tolstoy,
Nikolai Gogol holds the distinction of being the father of Russian realism, all
because of this short, barely finished, almost unpublished, and relatively
obscure work of creative genius.
Set in the throes of Imperialist Russia, the story is more
than the social satire of the period by which it is often labeled. The theme is
timeless and universal: the antihero, Chichikov, is a "gentleman of the
middling sort", who ventures to elevate himself from the status in which
he was born by exploiting the very foundations of 19th century Russian society,
serfdom. The first part of the novel unveils his plans to purchase from Russian
landowners, "dead souls”, deceased slaves who have not been removed from
the latest census, ergo, taxable, list. No one dares to ask questions at first,
lest they lose the opportunity of getting respite from paying taxes for
unproductive servants. However, as Chichikov continues on his mysterious quest,
greed takes over the landowners, and they begin to demand for more compensation
for the dead souls, although they had absolutely no use for them, and they
still had no idea what our protagonist was up to. One by one the landowners
reveal their individual nature, each one a caricature of the traits of ailing
Russian society the author ascribes to his time.
This series of sadly familiar, yet often comical display of human nature is presented through the first-person narrative of an undisclosed observer, who tells the story in a matter-of-fact, almost Camusian manner. There is no great love story or epic act of heroism in "Dead Souls"; in this world, nothing is wrong with a group of educated Russian gentry members discussing human slaves as if they were chattel. Corruption is a way of life, and apathy, the way to deal with it. Yet amidst the criticism of society apparent in every paragraph, the background of Russia, its landscape, ideologies, and passions, reveal the author's devotion for his people and country. This is pure and unadulterated Russia in the eyes of a frustrated patriot and critical realist, making it the perfect Christmas gift to fans of Russian fiction who would like to be re-initiated into the genre.
**
I was just told that the Amazon Conduit will be fixed by tomorrow. I will post here as soon as I get word that it's back up and running.
I know this has been frustrating and I am sorry there wasn't more I could do to make it less so. I really appreciate your patience though.
Cheers,
