Next Scheduled Update: Thursday, 20 July, 2006
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Jos, NIGERIA - "I'm fed up with this country! I'm leaving!" That was Ike's decision... to leave. He decided on a country... Australia. He decided on a job... anything. He decided on us... MBT (Marriage by Telephone). "You will both join me as soon as I settle down in Australia," he said. He sounded so emphatic I didn't dare ask him when that would be. I recognized then that even he who had chosen a country and a "job" over there couldn't give me an answer to that. He didn't have a crystal ball but I didn't need one to know that the statistics were grim for families torn apart for economic reasons. Only few were ever reunited. If the truth be known, I didn't want Ike to go to Australia. Even then I had a strong presentiment that we might never be reunited again. In any case, as chances would have it, I became pregnant again for the second time just before he was due to leave. I viewed the pregnancy as a good omen and I tried again to persuade him into abandoning his plans for Australia. Ike stared at me in horror when I told him about the pregnancy. "It... it's all planned. I'm leaving in two weeks!" I swallowed nervously. "I know, but... but this changes everything." ... READ MORE
New York, NY, USA - What's it like to be proclaimed the most beautiful woman in a country of nearly a billion? Ask actress Lisa Ray who was considered the symbol of beauty for India in recent years. But as Ray will tell you, that was really inconsequential when it comes to her real goals as an actress and personality - one who has pursued serious ideas and education and is interested in making films with such artistic and serious directors as Deepa Mehta. As the doomed lead in "Water," Mehta's latest film, Ray gets to play a troubled and nuanced character - and make the kind of film that she has always wanted to make. So despite a start in a few Bollywood productions, Ray now has emerged as a new face and promising actress, on the path she has always sought after, having straddled the multi-cultural paths that her mixed ancestry of Canadian, Polish and Indian has suggested. G21: Were you surprised that you were cast for this film? LR: Totally [laughs]. G21: You had worked with [Water director] Deepa Mehta previously on a very different project. LR: I should say that I was surprised, right? [laughs] No, but nonetheless, it was a surprise that she was reviving "Water." I had no foreknowledge of that. So it was a pleasant surprise. I still remember that because I was in London and in drama school at the time when she sent me the script. ... READ MORE |
G21 FICTION: The second of three installments of MacMillan Prize winner NGOZI RAZAK-SOYEBI's latest work debuts in our new section. "Book Me a Seat on the Next Plane Out - Part 2 of 3".
ON FILM: BRAD BALFOUR talks with Bollywood-famed Lisa Ray about her involvement in the new film "Water". "G21: Interviews: Lisa Ray".
G21 AFRICA: MPHUTHUMI NTABENI reports on the reaction to the new Native Club in South Africa "Fear of the Native"
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AND JOHN R. DIENER provides a "Middle-Class American" roadmap for immigration reform in the United States. "Immigration: My 2 Cents"
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THE PREVIOUS ISSUE: WESTWARD HO!
BRAD BALFOUR interviews reknowned actor KEVIN BACON in ON FILM; X.N. IRAKI analyses the implications of the rise of China in G21 ASIA; and much more!
FEED THE HUNGRY. You can help someone else in this world and IT WON'T COST YOU A DIME. If you simply remember to drop by The Hunger Site every day that you surf and click a simple button ONE LESS PERSON WILL GO HUNGRY. The food is distributed by the United Nations World Food Programme and paid for through the sponsorship of companies that care. Do your part.
This magazine is an on-going production of the Ghost Who Walks.
Book Me a Seat on the Next Plane Out by NGOZI RAZAK-SOYEBI
G21 Interviews: Lisa Ray by BRAD BALFOUR
