Thursday, March 1, 2012

Michele Norris - The Grace of Silence


Wed. Feb. 29, 2012

Michele Norris NPR host of "All Things Considered" [homepage]

Valerie Jackson host, Between the Lines [homepage]
WABE's Valerie Jackson, host of Between the Lines, speaks with Michele Norris during the recording of her radio program. In the wake of talk of a “post-racial America” upon the ascendance of Barack Obama as president of the United States, Michele Norris, host of National Public Radio’s All Things Considered, set out, through original reporting, to write a book about “the hidden conversation on race” that is going on in this country. But along the way she unearthed painful family secrets—from her father’s shooting by the Birmingham police within weeks of his discharge from service in World War II to her grandmother’s peddling pancake mix as an itinerant Aunt Jemima.

In what became an intensely personal and bracing journey, Norris traveled from her childhood home in Minneapolis to her ancestral roots in the Deep South to explore “things left unsaid” by her family when she was growing up. Along the way she discovers how character is forged by both repression and revelation. She learns how silence became a form of self-protection and a means of survival for her parents—strivers determined to create a better life for their children at a time when America was beginning to experiment with racial equality—as it was for white Americans who grew up enforcing strict segregation (sometimes through violence) but who now live in a world where integration is the norm.

Series:




Memoirs of a Boy Soldier 2


Tue. Feb. 28, 2012

Lecture - Ishmael Beah - 3/12/09
Uploaded by IUPUIocm on Mar 20, 2009

Ishmael talks about his book "A Long Way Gone" at a event on the campus of IUPUI


Ideas: Ishmael Beah
Uploaded by WVIZPBS on Feb 11, 2008

You'd not think that a graduate of Oberlin College would actually be a battle hardened veteran who may have killed dozens of people, before being rescued and brought to the United States. But in the more than fifty conflicts going on worldwide, it is estimated that there are some 300,000 child soldiers. We'll share a conversation with a man who was a soldier in Sierra Leone, when he was still just a child.

Former child soldier Ishmael Beah recounts his past
Uploaded by AllanGregg on Nov 25, 2010

Allan Gregg in conversation with...Ishmael Beah, Born in Sierra Leone, Beah, now twenty-six 


years old, tells a powerfully gripping story: At the age of twelve, he fled attacking rebels and 


wandered a land rendered unrecognizable by violence. By thirteen, he'd been picked up by the 


government army, and Beah, at heart a gentle boy, found that he was capable of truly terrible 


acts. At sixteen, he was removed from fighting by UNICEF, and through the help of the staff at


 his rehabilitation center, he learned how to forgive himself, to regain his humanity, and, finally, to


 heal. His book is called "A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Child Soldier"




Michele Norris - The Grace of Silence


Wed. Feb. 29, 2012

Michele Norris NPR host of "All Things Considered" [homepage]

Valerie Jackson host, Between the Lines [homepage]
WABE's Valerie Jackson, host of Between the Lines, speaks with Michele Norris during the recording of her radio program. In the wake of talk of a “post-racial America” upon the ascendance of Barack Obama as president of the United States, Michele Norris, host of National Public Radio’s All Things Considered, set out, through original reporting, to write a book about “the hidden conversation on race” that is going on in this country. But along the way she unearthed painful family secrets—from her father’s shooting by the Birmingham police within weeks of his discharge from service in World War II to her grandmother’s peddling pancake mix as an itinerant Aunt Jemima.

In what became an intensely personal and bracing journey, Norris traveled from her childhood home in Minneapolis to her ancestral roots in the Deep South to explore “things left unsaid” by her family when she was growing up. Along the way she discovers how character is forged by both repression and revelation. She learns how silence became a form of self-protection and a means of survival for her parents—strivers determined to create a better life for their children at a time when America was beginning to experiment with racial equality—as it was for white Americans who grew up enforcing strict segregation (sometimes through violence) but who now live in a world where integration is the norm.

Series:




Memoirs of a Boy Soldier 2


Tue. Feb. 28, 2012

Lecture - Ishmael Beah - 3/12/09
Uploaded by IUPUIocm on Mar 20, 2009
Ishmael talks about his book "A Long Way Gone" at a event on the campus of IUPUI

Ideas: Ishmael Beah
Uploaded by WVIZPBS on Feb 11, 2008
You'd not think that a graduate of Oberlin College would actually be a battle hardened veteran who may have killed dozens of people, before being rescued and brought to the United States. But in the more than fifty conflicts going on worldwide, it is estimated that there are some 300,000 child soldiers. We'll share a conversation with a man who was a soldier in Sierra Leone, when he was still just a child.

Former child soldier Ishmael Beah recounts his past
Uploaded by AllanGregg on Nov 25, 2010
Allan Gregg in conversation with...Ishmael Beah, Born in Sierra Leone, Beah, now twenty-six 
 

years old, tells a powerfully gripping story: At the age of twelve, he fled attacking rebels and 


wandered a land rendered unrecognizable by violence. By thirteen, he'd been picked up by the 


government army, and Beah, at heart a gentle boy, found that he was capable of truly terrible 


acts. At sixteen, he was removed from fighting by UNICEF, and through the help of the staff at 


his rehabilitation center, he learned how to forgive himself, to regain his humanity, and, finally, to 


heal. His book is called "A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Child Soldier"






Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Memoirs of a Boy Soldier 1


Mon. Feb. 27, 2012

Ishmael Beah introduces A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a boy soldier.

You will never forget Ishmael Beah and his heart-breaking, gripping story of a child's journey through hell. There may be as many as 300,000 child soldiers, hopped up on drugs and wielding AK-47s, in more than fifty conflicts around the world. Beah used to be one of them. He is the first to tell his story in his own words. What is war like through the eyes of a child soldier? How does he become a killer? How does he stop? Child soldiers have been profiled by journalists, and novelists have imagined their lives. Until now, there hasn't been a first-person account from someone who came through this hell and survived to tell the tale. In A LONG WAY GONE, Beah relates fleeing attacking rebels, wandering a land rendered unrecognizable by violence, being picked up by the government army, and finding that he was capable of truly terrible acts. After three years as a soldier, a truck pulled into the army base and Ishmael and other young soldiers were released by their commander to UNICEF workers. Sent to a rehabilitation center, he struggled to regain his humanity and to convince the world of civilians who viewed him with fear and suspicion. It is, at last, a story of redemption. Beah, now 25, came to the US when he was seventeen, and graduated from Oberlin College in 2004. He is a member of Human Rights Watch Children's Division Advisory Committee and has spoken before the United Nations on several occasions. He lives in New York City
- Cody's Books

Partner: Cody's Books
Location: FCCB, Codys,Berkeley, CA
Event Date: 02.23.07
Speakers: Ishmael Beah, Patricia de Jong, Glen Galaich, Priscilla Hayner

The College at Brockport: Ishmael Beah Interview

Sept. 29, 2010

Author Ishmael Beah visited The College at Brockport on Sept. 29. His book "A Long Way Gone," a memoir of his experiences growing up as a child soldier in war-torn Sierra Leone was read by all incoming Brockport freshmen as part of the College's Summer Reading Program. He sat down with campus media to discuss the book and his life. This video is an edited account of that conversation.