Architecture, Animals, and the Black Swallow of Death #FridayRecommends

Friday Recommends

You know how pretty much the only architecture you see celebrated on social media comes either from Europe, North America, or Dubai? Well, Igbo Excellence got tired of that shit and posted a thread about African architecture from the various regions/countries/ethnicities that have enriched that continent over the centuries. I’ve been impoverished, never having seen these pictures or pictures like them.

Swiped from Wikipedia

From the Department of Creepy but Beautiful, there’s a lake in Tanzania that’s all evaporatey, so it’s full of salt and natron. And hot. Birds crash into it and die, and kinda/sorta dissolved and kinda/sorta preserve. Photographer Nick Brandt collected some, left them in the poses they died in, but placed them as if alive, and photographed them. Creepy but Beautiful, I tell ya.

I had never heard of the Black Swallow of Death until the other day on Facebook. Now that I’m not getting into political/religious arguments on there, I love Facebook again. I just post my opinion and delete anybody who doesn’t disagree respectfully. ANYWAY, the Black Swallow of Death is what the French called Eugene James Bullard, the first African American combat aviator. He flew for France during World War I and spied for the French Resistance during World War II. He’s a national hero in France, but the Americans had him grounded because he wasn’t white. Yes, you read that correctly.

I’m still running my poll on what days to post and what to drop or change. Tomorrow will be the last day of it, and then I’ll figger out the results.

[yop_poll id=”8″]

A WRITING PROMPT FROM ME TO YOU: Someone is disrespected for something that shouldn’t matter.

MA

About

I was born in Louisville, Kentucky, but now live in the woods in southern Indiana. Though I only write fiction, I love to read non-fiction. The more I learn about this world, the more fantastic I see it is.

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One thought on “Architecture, Animals, and the Black Swallow of Death #FridayRecommends

  1. greenglobaltrek

    September 15, 2019 at 3:29am

    Well that was interesting to read about. I was born in South Africa and look forward to going back one day to visit and experience other parts of Africa.

    Peta

    Permalink  ⋅ Reply
    • Author

      Marian Allen

      September 15, 2019 at 8:32am

      Africa is a big, big continent, with more cultures than Americans dream. There’s a brilliant comedian who’s doing The Daily Show now, Trevor Noah, who’s from South Africa, and he sometimes goes on a riff with accents from various African countries. It’s very enlightening to someone who was raised on the implication that “Africa” was a homogeneous country.

      Permalink  ⋅ Reply

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