When she got home she found her inbox stuffed with new messages, many of which were junk mail. One message was titled “BBC World service proposal,” but Onwueme said she just skipped over it. | The BBC sent a second e-mail, which she also did not take the time to read because it had the same vague title. —Susan MacLaughlin —Professor lands international radio deal (UWEC Spectator)
Tess Onwueme, a playwright from Nigeria, is a former colleague of mine from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. The Beeb was trying to ask her if they could broadcast a radio performance of her play, Shakara, The Dancehall Queen.
I always taught one or two of her plays whenever I had a drama class. I would tell the students that we would have a guest lecturer who “is an expert in the plays of Tess Onwueme.” When Tess walked in the door, often wearing a bright purple or red turban, I’d tell them who she was. The students always got a kick out of her visits.
She also makes a great plantain dish, the recipe for which my wife has bugged me a few times to request from her.
The choreographer daughter is doing a thing.
No interior yet. Getting there. Gotta start somewhere. Low-poly background detail for a medieval theater…
This is manageable. Far better than some semesters.
Creating textures for background buildings in a medieval theater simulation project. I can always improve…
Nothing in this stack is pressing, but they do include rough drafts of final papers,…
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Wonderful. If I were still at UWEC, I wouldn't be able to "pull the exotic Nigerian author out of a hat" trick anymore, but Tess would be getting more of the recognition she deserves. Great!
Dennis, you'll be happy to know that my staff on English Festival at Eau Claire has booked Tess as a guest-speaker this year, in light of her recent success with the BBC.