Comments on: More on the History of Darkness

By: Kerry

Kerry — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 15:09:49 +0000

So I am going to tell you about nighttime in Africa (as I have experienced it, and in Kenya, because Africa is not a country, HA HA CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?) We scurry inside our double-walled barbed-wire-and-electric-fenced compound as soon as the sun sets, guiltily edging our way past the night watchman (yes!) who looks about 70 years old, has rheumy eyes, grips your hand and won’t let go while asking “what you brought [him] tonight”. (Me: “I bring you…friendship!” He: “I can’t eat friendship.” Me: [dies inside]) Pass through the broken glass-topped inner gate, unlock fifteen thousand padlocks, relock fifteen thousand padlocks. Stay inside until dawn hearing the following: howling dogs, crying babies, seriously sick-sounding dance parties from the nearby slum (a Luo-language version of “One More Night”? Yes please.) Roosters from roughly two a.m. to six a.m. Get up in the morning, go to work, and hear about how your school’s chancellor got the shit beaten out of him in his own home the night before and his watchman machete’d. (Guess he should have been able to afford that electric fence, OH HO HO!) Feel guilty for being white, rush home before dark, repeat ad nauseum.
NIGHTTIME!!!!!! SCARY EVEN TODAY.

By: oops my bad

oops my bad — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 06:47:53 +0000

“At Day’s Close: Night in Times Past,” and it is by A. Roger Ekirch.

By: sam

sam — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 06:45:15 +0000

hi, what is the title of the book??

By: h heckler

h heckler — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 03:14:03 +0000

What is the name of this book, please?

By: Kim

Kim — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 19:43:57 +0000

Yeah, this reminds me of Oakland, and how I refused to leave my apartment after dark because a number of my neighbors got mugged. It’s weird how quickly we revert to old ways and habits. Remember all those “Take back the night” marches in the 90’s? I remember attending one of those and just being so angry that it was even necessary, and then swearing to myself that I was gonna walk by myself at night to prove to myself and others that I wasn’t afraid.
I also remember my Russian history teacher describing Moscow in the time of Peter the Great. Apparently some men would just stand on a street corner and swing their cudgels until they hit someone. Then they would steal their money and dump the body in the river. The End. Harsh times. Makes me happy we don’t live that way anymore.