Laurelhurst Park

Seeing this bit of graffiti led me to Wikipedia, to find out what has happened to my old friend Ngugi wa Thiong'o, who was the first, I believe, to coin this idea, by writing a book called Decolonising the Mind. He didn't ever say to kill anyone, even someone imaginary, but he spoke eloquently of the ways our minds can be colonized by those who want to exploit us.

I see that he is now 85, and since we lost track of each other, his four children have all become writers and academics. He has written eleven more books, including two volumes of autobiography and a book-long epic poem described as "decidedly feminist and pan-African." 

He is genuinely humble, one of the gentlest people I have ever known. When he teaches, he takes notes on what his students ask and say. He is always curious to know what others think, and he almost never expresses his own opinions about things. He once told me, "I'm not interested to talk about my own ideas. It's a waste of time because I know what I think. What I don't know is what you think, what our students think. That's what I want to learn."