tata jesus is bangala!

For those not in the know, that is a line from Poisonwood Bible. The father/missionary character shouts it repeatedly to his skeptical congregation in the (former) Belgian Congo, and it either means that Jesus is precious (which is what he thinks it means), or Jesus is the poisonwood tree (not a good thing to be). I have been thinking of this line approximately once every minute in the current incarnation of my job. I am going through some donated materials, most of which come from Nigeria, and most of which were published by mid-20th century missionaries. You want the whole Bible in an indigenous African language? Got it! Just want the Gospel of Mark? Got that too. Or maybe you want a concordance of the New Testament. You're in luck! It's pretty amazing to me that these people went to the trouble of learning all of these languages just so they could publish a Bible. And I don't mean amazing in a good way.

Moving on from that, not only am I depressed about proselytizing in Africa, I am also depressed about the state of the environment. I am reading yet another Barbara Kingsolver book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, and it is making me feel like I would never want to bring children into our terrible world. I don't think it is supposed to make me feel this depressed. I think it's supposed to make me want to do more gardening and more shopping at the farmer's market. And I really do like it and agree with it, but I just feel despair. This is why I can't bring myself to watch An Inconvenient Truth. I know I would just want to throw myself in front of a car (in an ironic twist).

And for even more depressing news, undergrads are back at UCLA. I was very much enjoying the peace and quiet of the summer. Now I have someone moving into an apartment across the street with a moving truck. Seriously, is your mom's Explorer in the shop?