Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Heebiejeebies

I bought these two cool African masks at the market and I was very keen to know their significance. I dubbed them Heebie and Jeebie. Of course, none of the tribes in South Africa use or make masks, so I went to the only Angolan man I know and asked them what the masks are for and he looked amused and said, "To make money off off white people."

But I'm cool with that.
The man I asked is the car guard behind this grocery store right now, but he used to be a maths professor before the war and people came and burnt down his home and killed his sister and he had to leave the high walls of the university behind. Angola, he says, is the most beautiful land in the world. The whole earth hums with magic and the air smells like spells. Sometimes he draws complicated equations on the concrete wall behind the store that advertises half-off green peppers and talks to high school kids about the beauty of Pythagoras when they walk by.
It makes me sad that they never listen because when he speaks he makes Math sound like the most beautiful thing in the world. Next to Angola, of course.

4 comments:

  1. I hate when I hear about people like that who are super educated and working in dead end jobs. It seems ridiculously unfair.

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  2. a squared plus b squared equals the key to my heart

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  3. Sweet. Those masks totally look like aliens.

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  4. Sweet masks.

    And I always feel bad about the educated people being in run of the mill jobs.

    Then again, I kinda fall into that category too. It sucks.

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