海角大神

African literature

Regarding 鈥淩ewriting the historical epic: African women writers go big鈥� in the Oct. 28 Monitor Weekly: I found the article particularly interesting as soon as I started to read about Petina Gappah and her research on David Livingstone.聽

Two other authors from Africa could be added to the great list of women you covered. They are Tsitsi Dangarembga, the Zimbabwean author of 鈥淣ervous Conditions,鈥� and Namwali Serpell, the Zambian author of 鈥淭he Old Drift.鈥� The latter book is very much an epic in many ways.

In her research I wonder if Ms. Gappah went to the Zambian town of Livingstone near Victoria Falls (or Mosi oa Tunya, 鈥淭he Smoke that Thunders鈥�) and checked out its modest museum full of 鈥淟ivingstonia.鈥� I can believe she might have.

Rosalind Hoover
Palm Springs, California

Plastics factory

When I receive the Monitor Weekly, I flip to the 鈥淧oints of Progress鈥� to give me some hope. The item in the Nov. 25 issue on a reopened plastics factory in Libya did just the opposite.

Plastic products are choking our waterways and devastating our health. The suffering in the developing world is especially acute. The plastics factory in Libya will create 88,000 extra tons each year of a material that only rarely can be recycled and creates huge issues for the communities inundated by the waste. This does not get us to the world we need and deserve.聽

We need to do what we can to help countries like Libya create good jobs that work toward a sustainable future for all.

Carol Smith
Bellingham, Washington

Calendar calculations

The political cartoon by Joe Heller in the Nov. 18 Monitor Weekly lamenting the length of campaign season, though clever, got it wrong and understates its message. Because 2020 is a leap year, the calculations are off. His countdown should add one day (that鈥檚 24 hours, 1,440 minutes, or 86,400 seconds). I take no position on the cost of political ads.

Michael G. Brautigam
Cincinnati

Scriptural interpretation

It is a shame that more people do not share Karen Armstrong鈥檚 understanding of the origin and purpose of scripture, as she expressed in the 鈥淨&A with Karen Armstrong鈥� in the Dec. 2 Monitor Weekly. It is frightening that people treat scripture as a history book, science book, and statute book. Prophets and evangelists would not recognize our use of their words.

Mark Deaton
Oak Park, Illinois