• Children and Reading

    School Vacation Tips

    They call me the TV police. I struggle each school vacation to prevent a semester’s worth of learning, stimulation and independent thinking from being sucked into the television. Read on to find a few ideas on stimulating your child’s imagination over the summer.

  • Short Stories

    A Happy Ending

    He came into the world meekly. He kept his eyes closed for a long time, listening to the voices around him. Then in the midst of the activity, he heard a voice he had heard many times before in the nine months he had developed in her womb.

  • Notes From Ghana

    Driving in Accra

    Whenever I complain about driving in Accra, someone tells me how much worse it is in other African countries. I cannot imagine how much worse it could be. The first rule of driving in Accra is that you must start with the premise that everyone else on the road is crazy. That way you won’t be surprised at whatever happens…

  • Notes From Ghana

    Shopping!

    I pride myself as someone who is difficult to surprise, but two things came as a shock to me as I began to learn the art of shopping in Ghana. The first was that most of the brands in the grocery were unfamiliar. I know, this was pretty naive of me, but in our part of the world it is…

  • Notes From Ghana

    Ghana

    Each time I told someone I was moving to Ghana, the response would be the same. “You’re moving where?” “I’m going to Ghana.” “Guyana?” “No, Ghana …. in Africa.” “How do you feel about THAT?”

  • Short Stories

    Slave Ship

    I noticed them as soon as I walked up the stairs to the second deck of the ship. She sat on the stairs that led to the third deck. A black woman with vacant eyes, set in a very ordinary, unsmiling face.

  • Novel Spaces

    Becoming a Grammarian

    I’ve always prided myself on having good grammar. I give the credit to a solid British based education based on the three R’s, Reading, wRiting and aRithmatic. I recently had this belief shattered to its core when I started a course in Grammar.