Alice Walker has taken me to Africa on a number of occasions, most recently to South Africa, in her memoir The Same River Twice about making the movie based on her Pulitzer Prize winning novel The Color Purple.

Her chapter called, “Crossing Perseverance,” includes a journal entry and letters surrounding her need to respect the cultural boycott and keep the movie from being released in South Africa under Apartheid. After the release of Nelson Mandela, the end of Apartheid and the lifting of the cultural boycott, the letters take a different turn, exuberantly preparing for the release of this movie to the kindred spirits of South Africa.

Although I am generally apolitical myself, I respect Alice Walker’s “perseverance.” I sometimes get exasperated with her novels because of her long-winded preaching, but because of the beauty of her words and ideas, along with her human imperfections, I love her.

It’s something that people say about movie stars and authors all the time — Oh, I just love her. But it’s more than that. No, I don’t really know her. But I love her anyway. Somewhere deep in my heart. Bless you, Alice.

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 12th, 2007 at 12:19 pm and is filed under Africa. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.