Wednesday, October 8, 2003

by Christine Shin
Gazette Reporter

Renowned author Maxine Hong Kingston spoke at Bryn Mawr on Tuesday night, reading
from her latest novel, “The Fifth Book of Peace.” Her talk focused
on her affinity for peace and love, the act of writing, and stressing the importance
of community.

Kingston began by recounting the forest fire that burned down her home and
her novel-in-progress in 1991. She had been disturbed by the Gulf War at that
time, and had been writing about issues of war and destruction in the novel.
Believing that God gave her a vision through the fire to help her understand
war through experiencing loss, Kingston said as much in an interview at the
scene, which led people to write letters describing her as a lunatic and unpatriotic.
Kingston said, “Never tell anyone your vision before writing it down because
you lose confidence in the visions and the writing,” citing this event
as shaking her confidence in her ability to write.

Prior to the fire Kingston had written in what she referred to as “a real
writer’s garret” where she “lived in the tradition of a solitary artist.”
After the fire, a notion struck her that she “should gather a community
of writers around [her], especially if writing about writing.” In particular,
she asked veterans of wars and their families to come write with her on the
theory that people draw stories from each other and that veterans understand
the importance of peace. She recounted former veterans from the two sides of
the Vietnam War coming together and sharing their stories and emotions. She
also held this community responsible for the return of her writing ability.

Her latest novel, “The Fifth Book of Peace,” is about Chinese American
Wittman Ah Sing and his Caucasian wife, both artists who move to Hawaii in order
to dodge the draft during the Vietnam War. In the narrative, Kingston explores
the questions of whether it was possible for artists to be married to each other
and whether people can have a family and continue to be artists. “[It
is] so sad when life and true life’s work don’t go together,” Kingston
said. “An artist has all kinds of duties and callings…and also the
duty to tell the soul…writing is a constant process of discovery.”

Kingston also spoke of her struggles in retelling the story of Fa Mulan that
appeared in her canonized “The Woman Warrior” through poetry. Her
attempts to “see the world as a poet and not as a prose writer” included
tap lessons in order to learn rhythm. She also stressed Fa Mulan’s role as a
weaver.

In her many mentions of the importance of peace and community, Kingston talked
of her experience demonstrating for peace in front of the White House with 5000
other woman as the “most beautiful day” of her life. Her editor initially
worried about her book seeming irrelevant in these times of war but stated that
“ideas of peace are not affected by temporary events.” She closed
the talk by reading from the end of her book, urging people that “in time
of war create society…or peace for the moment.”

* The known death toll from a new massacre in northeastern Congo has risen
to 65 people, United Nations officials said on Tuesday. “Sixty-five people
were counted dead by U.N. personnel. We can confirm that 40 of them were children,”
a U.N. spokesman said, adding that the dead were all victims of an attack on
Monday in the remote village of Katshelli. Other hamlets had also been attacked
and more people could have been killed. The dead had either been shot or hacked
to death by machetes. Katshelli and the surrounding area are predominantly inhabited
by the Hema tribe, which has been embroiled in a bloody feud with the rival
Lendu ethnic group for control of the mineral-rich Ituri region over the past
four years. The latest violence is certain to reignite tensions between the
two tribes despite apparent recent progress in U.N. efforts to broker peace
in the troubled province after a series of similar atrocities. The deployment
of the U.N. force, which under its mandate is allowed to open fire to stop attacks
on civilians, outside Bunia has been delayed largely because of insecurity in
the town, where peacekeepers have been conducting operations to clear it of
illegal weapons.

* Turkey’s parliament voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to give the government
permission to send peacekeepers to Iraq, but members of Iraq’s interim council
opposed the move, a sign of the difficulties Washington faces as it tries to
put together a peacekeeping force. Washington has been pressing Turkey for months
to send what would be the first major Muslim contingent of peacekeepers, a deployment
that would enhance the credibility of the US-led force in Iraq by demonstrating
Muslim support. The motion gives the government the power to send troops, but
gives no details as to when, where or how many troops would be deployed. Those
details are expected to be worked out in future talks with Washington. Washington
has asked Turkey to contribute some 10,000 soldiers and officials have said
any soldiers are most likely to be deployed in the Sunni areas of central Iraq
where hostility toward the US forces is the highest.

* Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian has issued one of his strongest condemnations
of China and ruled out any talks as long as China imposes conditions. In an
interview in the presidential palace, the former lawyer accused China of “hostile
intent” towards Taiwan. Mr. Chen, 52, who faces a tight race when he seeks
a second four-year term next year, declared that Taiwan would “walk our
own road, our own Taiwan road”. “Taiwan is not a province of one country
nor is it a state of another,” Mr. Chen said, referring to China and the
US. “Any kind of democratic reform is our own internal affair. I don’t
think any democratic country can oppose our democratic ideals.” Weakened
by a sluggish economy and record unemployment, Mr. Chen currently lags about
10 percentage points behind his challengers for the presidential election set
for March 20 next year. His calculation is that a strong reaction by Beijing
would help his chances for re-election, according to a broad variety of Taiwanese
analysts and senior government officials.

* A Dutch consumer watchdog yesterday demanded telecom company Nokia conduct
a major investigation after two Nokia mobile phones exploded, injuring their
owners, within a few months. Both incidents occurred in the Netherlands. On
Monday, Dutch media reported that a supermarket employee suffered leg burns
when a Nokia phone exploded in his trouser pocket. In August, a 33-year-old
woman suffered burns to her face when her Nokia phone exploded. At the time,
the Finnish company said the accident occurred because the woman had not used
an original Nokia battery in her phone. “Now they cannot say any longer
that these are just incidents. This is the second time in a short period that
a Nokia phone exploded,” said Ms. Juliette Oolders of the Consumentenbond.
According to the watchdog organisation, the latest incident involved a new Nokia
phone with the original battery. The Dutch division of Nokia said it was investigating
the latest incident. “In past cases in Europe of exploding phones, investigation
showed that no original batteries were used,” a Nokia spokesman said.

*****

Good Schools PA Study Break
Parrish Parlors, 6:30 p.m.

Harvard Graduate School of Education Info Session
Pearson 220, 7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

“Getting into Grad School” Talk by Don Asher
Kohlberg 115, 7:00 p.m.

WRC Open Hours
WRC, 7:00 p.m. – 11:00 p.m.

Why-War? Meeting
Science Center 102, 8:30 p.m.

*****

SPORTS UPDATE

Though Swat came back early to hold onto a lead until halftime, the Garnet
ultimately fell to Johns Hopkins 4-2 on Tuesday.

Hopkins got a goal early on, but Heidi Fieselmann ’06 quickly got one back
on them. Chelsea Ferrell ’05 slammed one in with 1:07 left in the first half
to give Swat the edge going into the second. However, even though Karen Lorang
made 15 saves throughout the game, the Blue Jays stole the final half, scoring
three more goals to win it.

*****

Today:
Women’s Soccer at Ursinus, 4:00 p.m.
Volleyball hosts Ursinus, 7:00 p.m.

Tomorrow:
There are no contests scheduled for tomorrow.

*****

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“There are two kinds of people, those who finish what they start and so
on.”
–Robert Byrne

*****

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