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Showing posts from July, 2014

The ever changing Harlem, NYC

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Today I went to Harlem, to the Harlem Book Fair, to see Atim Oton at the Calabar Imports booth. Atim and her friend Cassandra in Harlem For those decrying the "whitification" of Harlem, I didn't see much of it. Maybe they stayed home. On the other hand, there were many Africans, in all kinds of traditional dress, speaking different languages, including French. I saw no books at the Book Fair, but there were booths selling clothing, jewelry, hair products, African art... There seems to be no need to travel to the African continent anymore to buy anything: I saw Ghanaian-made dresses, bags and clutches, necklaces made of fabric at Calabar; traditional glass and amber bead necklaces; children's clothes; statues and masks, fabric and more (but no books). Maybe the books were elsewhere. Adana Collins (above) creates hand-painted earrings and braid ornaments for very reasonable prices. Her company's name is Lovable Treasures , and she also sells at Calabar