Ay-leen the Peacemaker's Blog Posts Tagged 'personal essay' (5)

Story Excerpt:





Dorothy Winterman's "African Amazon" outfit



It is day 15 of our arduous journey through the veldts of Nigeria (or are we in Cameroon yet?). Our tracker Adeola has discovered new tracks and scraps of fibers from obviously foreign cloths. She can find a single iguana track amongst a bevy of crocodiles, this one can. We listen intently that these “men” are probably several hours, if not a day away. We find…

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Elsa's steampunk'd folding walking cane, made in accordance with walking canes for the visually-impaired. Designed and crafted by Michael Salerno.



Before I can begin telling you about eyepatches in the steampunk community, I should probably explain why I'm qualified to discuss the issue. I was born with cataracts. I was fortunate enough to maintain the sight in my left eye, but I can't see anything out of my right. I would wear an eyepatch, but unfortunately since I'm not… Continue

Note from Ay-leen: This essay is cross-posted from Eccentric Yoruba's Dreamwidth journal and describes the story of the international slave trade from a unique vantage point: where historical hardship becomes a tourist commodity at the Cape Coast Castle in Ghana.



Our next guided tour was to the Kakum National Park and Cape Coast, which is home to several colonial castles. Once more we woke up really early in the morning and got into a bus with other Nigerians and off we went… Continue

Note: Cross-posted with permission from Yakoub Islam from his website The Muslim Age of Steam on The Steampunk Shariah.





Middle Eastern Astrolobe. 1291.



In Summer 2009, I made the bold decision to write a full-length novel. It seemed like the perfect solution to a troubled and difficult decade, which had largely centred… Continue

Note from Ay-leen: I got in touch with Michael Redturtle—a steampunk enthusiast from the Southern US—a few months back and we've chatted about how steampunk can become integrated with someone's personal and cultural identity. He offered to pen a few thoughts about his Native ancestry, the journey he took to discover it, and what that has to do with how he steampunks.



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Michael RedTurtle dancing at a Pow Wow



Since you’re reading this, you’re… Continue