Of Simple Things

I’m now immersed in the No. One Ladies Detective Agency books. I really love this series. It’s very African in their style- or at least a [Southern African] style that I can relate to. They are gentle in tone, sweet and sad; not to be confused with being simple (as things African so often are). Yes, they are simple in construct and the lives depicted may be less “complicated” than the ones I see on a daily basis—but that isn’t to be confused with being simple.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that so often African lives are read as less complex than ours- primitive because they aren’t living in our modern world. Of course, that’s not true. Southern African is rife with such “modern” problems as unemployment, inflation, government corruption, war and of course AIDS. The lives of African people are not primitive (even the San groups depicted in The Gods Must Be Crazy have lives that are very different than those depicted in the film). The simplicity illustrated is more an approach to life.
One of the great moments in the series is the conversation about Freud in the Tears of the Giraffe which was a great example of this. On the surface, it appears that the author is mocking the two conversationalists by providing them with a deliberate misunderstanding of Freud. Instead, the conversation turns out to be a rather brilliant (if sly) mocking of Freud and much of the self absorption that goes along with psychology: of course boys should love their mothers: what is wrong with that? What’s the matter with people who take affront to such things? And the classic African line, “what is the matter with white people anyway?” I’m sure there are readers and reviewers that view these books as part of a colonial agenda, an attempt to portray Africans as simple minded and ignorant or, in that these books are, in the extreme, racist… (I did study social sciences—I can argue anything) but I think they are lovely books and have enjoyed reading them tremendously.

I also picked up a couple of Simon Winchester books at the library, so I have to get cracking on those. I have the new Ruth Riechl book on order and the latest Jonathon Kellerman “Rage”. I want to read more Karen Armstrong (or, you know, finish the book I’ve been reading for YEARS) and Andrew Meldrum and some other good books in the next month or so. Not too much time before I am a law student and unable to read anything other than law every again.

Well, my interest & excitement about studying law has come back. I got my registration package in the mail, must fax them in tomorrow. There’s no real course selection involved at this point: I have to take the same classes as everybody else. The only choice is do I want my small reading group to be torts or criminal law and procedure? I think, with my vast knowledge of criminal law (based solely on Law & Order and Legally Blonde) that perhaps torts is the best bet.

I believe I have a busy night tonight: running with Michael & Jan (really slow, more a warm up really); getting some laundry done (my running clothes may start a rebellion soon); finishing my registration papers; calling Anne to ask about this weekend; preparing lunches; cleaning and, of course, watching Average Joes. I’m bummed that I’ll be missing the finale tomorrow night. But I know Michael would never deign to tape it for me. It’s ok—not like I’ll be missing much.

Work’s ok. I am the master of the phones. Well, sometimes the phones drive me mental (they are messing around with voicemail today so no calls to the second floor are going to voice mail. I may have been a little short (polite, but short) with the edjit trying to “fix” this. So, maybe I’m not the master of this, but I’m enjoying it. Still managed to keep my sense of humor- whenever anyone asks to be on hold for awhile I feel like humming Girl from Ipanema something equally ridiculous. Now, I don’t love this enough to do this full time, mind you. And office politics will always drive me a bit mad. It’s fun though—I heard two sides of the same argument the other day and really? Didn’t phase me in the slightest.
It’s very much a man’s world here. It’s funny but it reminds me of my Dad in so many ways. I mean, the men here are all very earnest, problem solving types, all wearing the same ring! But it’s more than that—it’s like understanding the way my Dad works and the world in which he worked for so long. It’s a trip—this is such an impenetrable male environment. All makes sense. And I miss my Dad.

There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered. – Nelson Mandela