SALEM MEKURIA is Associate Professor of Art at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, and an independent film producer, writer, director, originally from Ethiopia.

For a number of years, she worked with NOVA, Public Television's premier science documentary series, a production of WGBH-TV, and with numerous international film productions focusing on issues of African women and development.

Salem Mekuria is the recipient of numerous awards, production grants and fellowships. Her films have been broadcast internationally and have screened at venues all over the world.

Source: http://www.salemmekuria.com

I am Unforgivingly Strong

The heart asks pleasure first

The heart asks pleasure first,
And then, excuse from pain;
And then, those little anodynes
That deaden suffering,
And then, to go to sleep;
And then, if it should be
The will of its Inquisitor,
The liberty to die.

* * *

If I Can Stop
IF I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.


* * *


Because I Could Not Stop for Death


Popular Poems of Emily Dickinson


Because I Could Not Stop For Death
Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality.

We slowly drove, he knew no haste,
And I had put away
My labor, and my leisure too,
For his civility.

We passed the school where children played,
Their lessons scarcely done;
We passed the fields of gazing grain,
We passed the setting sun.

We paused before a house that seemed
A swelling of the ground;
The roof was scarcely visible.
The cornice but a mound.

Since then 'tis centuries but each
Feels shorter than the day
I first surmised the horses' heads
Were toward eternity.

Tell all the Truth but tell it slant?

Tell all the Truth but tell it slant

Emily Dickinson

Tell all the Truth but tell it slant---
Success in Cirrcuit lies
Too bright for our infirm Delight
The Truth's superb surprise
As Lightening to the Children eased
With explanation kind
The Truth must dazzle gradually
Or every man be blind---

Obama Victory Celebration: Washington DC

Video by Markos Tadesse

Mama Africa

Thank you dear Miriam Makeba.

Your angelic and unforgettable voice transcended all kind of boundaries.

Grammy award-winning South African singer Miriam Makeba passed away. She was known around the world as "Mama Africa." She was 76.

Rest in peace.

Watch her performance with Paul Simon.

From Slavery to Victory

By Tegist Dagnew & Bekalu Yegzaw

It was incredible to see Washington DC residents in collective happiness. The unplanned and peacful celebration on November 4th, 2005, started around 10:00pm lasted until 3:00pm, which was caused by Obama's victory.

After a long time of living in fear and insecurity, it seemed on November 4, 2008, African Americans, Whites, and Hispanics, Ethiopians, and people from all walks of life walked, talked, shouted in instant cheerfulness and sense of unity.

The last time that I observed such unity was in 9-11. Only on that day, like on November 4th, I observed perfect strangers embracing each other and comforting each other.

We hope this excitement lasts long and people do not wait for extreme happiness or sadness to comfort and support each other.

Picture: Selam Xavier celebrating the victory on 14 & U - source: washingtonpost.com

The Road Not Taken

by Robert Frost

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth; 5

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same, 10

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back. 15

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference. 20

Picture Source: www.jamescoxgallery.com/

Haile Gerima's film "TeZa" wins yet another award!!!

Ethiopian film "Teza" scooped four main awards at Africa's Carthage Film Festival Saturday, including the coveted Golden Tanit for its "modesty and genius."

The film by Haile Gerima bagged the top prize on the last day of the festival in Tunisia, beating the Palestinian film "Leila's Birthday" and Tunisia's entry "Khamsa" to second and third place respectively.

"Teza" tells the story of an Ethiopian doctor at the height of the Cold War who comes back to his country from the West under the Marxist regime of Mengistu Haile Mariam in the 1970s.

The film also picked up awards for best scenario, best music and best supporting actor.

Other festival winners included "Yellow House" by Algerian director Amor Hakkar, while the Tanit of Honour went to Burkina Faso actor Sotigui Kouyate.

However, controversy struck the 22nd festival when the Syrian government intervened to ban the entry of a short film, "Zabad", by director Reem Ali about two of the country's former political prisoners.

The Carthage Film Festival, which showcases Arab and African films, is held every two years in the Tunisian capital. Tanit is a Phoenician lunar goddess, worshipped as the patron goddess at Carthage.

Source: www.france24.com