Numbers 200, 201, 202. My dear mentor and friend Sana Musasama was here last week and we worked side by side under the apple tree in the morning shade. Talking and breathing in the fragrance, sharing stories of families and art. Slowly I have reached 200 girls. Friends visit the studio here and I share the girls, my story, and now reading Isha Sesay’s account of their kidnapping on April 14, 2014 in her new book, Beneath The Tamarind Tree, I include new details of the girls’ story. The book is compelling and I recommend it. Isha is a CNN journalist and has had unique access to the story and the girls. I would love to talk with her. Toni Morrison died this week. I keep thinking about her impact on art, thought, race, culture. Making the girls with eyes wide open now.
