TAN – The Afro News

Dionne Brand’s The Puzzle of Humanity: What We All Long For

Dionne Brand’s What We All Long For

By Djami Diallo The Afro Vancouver

It is essentially the same question we ask ourselves as the clock strikes midnight to announce a new year. What do we wish for? Each year we make resolutions to get fit, be better friends, have more fun, work harder, get better job satisfaction, make more time for the things and the people we love. And each year, well, somehow we come up short despite our best efforts and vow to try again next year. Dionne Brand’s latest novel, What We All Long For gets right at the heart of this very question. She creates a colorful cast of characters in Quy, Tuyen, Carla, Jackie and Oku, whose stories she tells in a cyclical turn. The book opens with a description of the city taken with the passing of the seasons: winter, spring and weekday mornings on a subway train. Mundane scenes abound in this novel, but it is Brand’s eye for the detail of the everyday which we often miss that makes these scenes so real. We first find Tuyen, Oku and Carla in the ever familiar setting of the subway on a quiet weekday morning. The spotlight is on them in this city, the noisy, laughing, defiant, random trio at the back of the subway. Read the full story

By Robert Waldman The Afro News Vancouver

Versatility can take you far in this world. Especially if you’re career wanders into the world of show business. Quick study Roger J. Timber makes his move in the public eye in various fashion. Talents include comedy, doubling for other actors, voice overs, improvisation and a keen take on dialects. Whether casting someone from Jamaica, the south or the British Isles casting agents, directors and producers can rely on Roger Timber to get the job done.

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By Douglas Clement The Afro News

Akeem Haynes

Akeem Haynes of Calgary wins the 17 years and under section with his Canada Summer Games victory in the 100m with his 10.47 (1.3). This high school student at Crescent Heights is ranked 10th in the world in the Youth division. He has a pending Canadian Youth record of 21.48 in the 200m. This was his first year of full sprint training after playing football.

Katie Reid

Katie Reid of Surrey, BC won the gold at the Canadian Youth Championships in the 400m and has a pb of 54.90. This grade 10 student at Earl Marriot Secondary took the bronze at the Canada Summer Games. This 16 year old Ocean Athletics speed star was edged by another runner of the same age, Carly Paracholski of Manitoba in Charlottetown but defeated her in Sherbrooke

Julie Labonté

Julie Labonté of Ste-Justine, QC won the Canada summer Games with her16.23m. She had set the Canadian Junior record as she won the 2009 Canadian Junior Championships with 16.39m. She also took the silver Medal at the Pan American Junior Championships in Trinidad. Last fall she was the winner of Eric E. Coy Memorial Trophy – Outstanding Junior Athlete of the Year as she won the gold medal in shot put at the Commonwealth Youth Games by throwing 15.02m.

Travelers heading to Philadelphia this spring or summer will have a chance to immerse themselves in the region’s rich African-American history and culture thanks to an assortment of special events and exhibitions taking place in the city and beyond. During the course of both seasons, they can check out The African American Museum in Philadelphia’s brand-new permanent exhibition to learn about the experiences of African-Americans living in 18th-century Philadelphia; Read the full story