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Charette in Nantes | Teranga and Sun

http://teranga-and-sun.blogspot.com/2015/08/charette-in-nantes.html

Saturday, August 8, 2015. In my late teens, I reproduced this scene from an illustration that I had found while devouring a French historical encyclopedia. Back then, I was studying engineering, not history, and had only a faint notion of the Vendée wars. I ignored who he was - the man on the horse. I only remember that I wanted to be him. Whoever he was. Many years passed and I lost these old French volumes. Yet it is bittersweet, at least for the leaders of the counter-revolutionaries. General Charette...

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December 2014 | Teranga and Sun

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Tuesday, December 23, 2014. Tommaso Mocenigo (1343 - 1423). Tommaso Mocenigo was Doge of Venice from 1414 right up to his death from a long illness in 1423. Mocenigo was an admiral and merchant by profession. He traded in pepper with Syria. Prior to being Doge, he was Duke of Candia (the Venetian name for the island of Crete) and in 1405 was named Procurator of San Marco. In his younger years he was also elected to the Council of Ten, Venice's highly secretive security body. As the door opened, I saw tha...

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August 2015 | Teranga and Sun

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Monday, August 17, 2015. The Ankou and the Legend of Death. I often say, employing a nationalistic shortcut, that I am one-quarter French, from my grandfather. He, on the other hand, would have me say that it is not so, that I am in fact, one quarter Breton. Brittany in popular culture. There are four things the world takes for granted from the Bretons. Show is anything to go by, Brittany's rich black velvets and magnificent gold embroidery may future impact our closets. Traditional costume of Brittany.

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The Man in the Turkish Costume | Teranga and Sun

http://teranga-and-sun.blogspot.com/2015/03/persuasion-and-prejudice.html

Tuesday, March 24, 2015. The Man in the Turkish Costume. Whenever I have felt disrespected or not listened to, despite my abilities and experience, I always think back to the wise Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and his anecdote from my favorite little book, The Little Prince. Astronomer in a Turkish costume. To begin, there is the appearance of the speaker. We tend to be more persuaded by those whose appearance match the culturally accepted image of their role. Here, let's play a game. Needless to say, I can't...

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July 2014 | Teranga and Sun

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Saturday, July 26, 2014. The Old Woman in a Basket. Southern Italy is quite the hotbed for pagan practices. Even today after hundreds of years, there still remains a shroud of secrecy around the witches of Benevento, a town not far from Naples. While I delved on the witches of Benevento in my novel, The Mascherari. Today I want to explore another mysterious place in Southern Italy, the village of Cuma. Apollo granted her wish. She acquired a thousand years of life, along with her divine wisdom. But the y...

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The Enigma of The Mascherari | Teranga and Sun

http://teranga-and-sun.blogspot.com/2015/07/the-enigma-of-mascherari.html

Friday, July 10, 2015. The Enigma of The Mascherari. Call me indulgent and self-absorbed but I have longed for this post - a reflection on a mystery, or rather, a mystery within a mystery. You see, I wrote The Mascherari. With a single puzzle in mind, but over time, as I became absorbed into the main character and sensed the response that his journey evoked within him, an enigma of another kind was born. I felt that there had to be more to Antonio da Parma. What is The Mascherari *really* about? Antonio ...

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January 2015 | Teranga and Sun

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Tuesday, January 6, 2015. La Befana - The Witches Come! La Befana vien di notte. Con le scarpe tutte rotte. Con un sacco pien di doni. Da portare ai bimbi buoni. 8220;La Befana comes by night,. With her shoes all tattered and torn,. And a bag full of presents. To deliver to good children.”. Happy La Befana to all! So what did you get? Sweets or a lump of coal? Santa should be very worried, because we love her! The Mascherari: A Novel of Venice,. Available next month from The Book Depository, Barnes and N...

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Marie-Hélène Sambou | Teranga and Sun

http://teranga-and-sun.blogspot.com/2015/07/marie-helene-sambou.html

Saturday, July 18, 2015. I have been under the weather all week, feeling rotten and physically broken, and trying my best to keep it all together under a polished veneer. It worked out splendidly, well.aside from the weeping on Monday night, and then again on Wednesday night. Do you have friends or acquaintances, people you have known and who have either brought sunshine or drastic change in your life, people that you often wonder about after many years of not having seen them? In common parlance, Marie-...

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November 2014 | Teranga and Sun

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Saturday, November 22, 2014. The Year I Tie the Knot. I haven't written much on life for a while and it leaves one to wonder whether I may have gotten lost somewhere in 15th century Venice, while scribing The Mascherari. Fear not, the twenty-first century is well and truly my reality. Since the end of 2014 is looming fast, I thought it might be a good idea to express my gratitude for the wonderful things that are coming my way next year. Because 2015 sure promises to be a freaking ride! Is one of the dar...

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Minotaur Fantasies | Teranga and Sun

http://teranga-and-sun.blogspot.com/2014/08/minotaur-fantasies.html

Sunday, August 10, 2014. When I was a young girl, I was a huge fan of the French-Japanese animated production, Ulysses 31. Two of my favorite Ulysses 31. Episodes were, Ulysses and the Sirens. And Ulysses and the Minotaur. All the episodes drew me into Greek mythology but these two stood out. Read about Ulysses 31 and the Minotaur (or skip to the next section). Ulysses and Ariadne finally find Theseus and.come face to face with the trident-bearing blue-skinned Minotaur who looks very much like some I...