The Diary Game | 11-01-2025 | Saturdays: A Day for Studying, Relaxation and Social Interaction

Looks like I have caught the Caribbean literature bug.

I have been reading Edward Kamau Braithwaite's books for two weeks now. I began with his most popular work "The Arrivants: A New World Trilogy" published in 1973 which contains Rights of Passage, Islands and Masks. Then moved on to his other poetry collection "Middle Passages".

These books explore how black people were forced to leave their homeland, as well as the effect of slavery's middle passage on the popularly known New World.

Today, my itchy fingers found a book lying carelessly in my cousin's traveling bag.

While going through its table of contents, I discovered a critique of the trickster motif in the Carribean literature, God the Stonebreaker. Again I got hooked.

Fans of the English literature will agree that the trickster motif is most prevalent in Akan-Ghanaian stories.

This is where we learn about Anansi, the spider and tortoise, the trickster.

Well...well...I was surprised to see "Anansi" as a Jamaican/Carribean folktale hero in God the Stonebreaker as well. This is a clear reminder that so many cultural elements migrate with us when we move from our roots to new regions.

Like my mom would say, I spent the entire morning nestled in my chair, devouring the content of the book one page at a time.

Around lunchtime, my stomach began rumbling loudly.

I had the urge to eat and sleep all at once.

Because I could only do one before the other, I had to prepare some banana slices first before going to bed

My neighbour was outside talking to my cousin and one of my parents when I woke up.

She invited me to join her to play Scrabble which I agreed.

I enjoy playing board games a lot. As usual, I intended to prove my word prowess, but it appeared that the tiles were in her favour.

At the start of the game, she was able to play two bingos successfully - ELUSION and CABINETS. Leading by 95 points as a result.

My tiles on the rack were so bad that I thought of giving up at this point. The game ended after 37 minutes.

Someone won and that person wasn't me. Lol.

I treasure every moment spent doing the things I love. Particularly when I read and engage with people in person.

This is because social interaction keeps me engaged and content, while reading helps broaden my mind.

I appreciate every minute you spend reading this diary as well.

_{Written by @ukpono on 12 January 2025}