Ishmael Beah

Ishmael Beah, the author of "A Long Way Gone: memoirs of a boy soldier" spoke here at Brockport Wednesday night. I didn't know what to expect, but he was so funny! He spoke about why he wanted to write the book, and some funny stories. For example, when he fist came to New York it was to speak at a UN meeting about child soldiers with other children who went through the same experience from all over the world. He flew over only in a t-shirt and shorts because that was all that he had, but it was winter. So when he got off the plane, he said he didn't want to go outside because he was so cold. He "knew" what winter was, but he had never really understood it because he's never experienced it because he's from Sierra Leone. But when he got to his hotel , the radiator was on high, and he was so hot! Ishmael said that he didn't know how New Yorkers did it, living in this constant change of temperature. Another story was how on the plane they served salad, and he wondered why Americans ate grass, but he ate in anyway because "When in Rome, eat as Romans." He was just a very likable person and talked to the audience like it was a conversation between friends, not like a script which was nice. Another funny moment was when he mentioned that he found Esther. Esther was a nurse at the rehabilitation center he stayed at for a time. He connected with her and said that she was the first person who looked at him with no fear in her eyes and no judgment and it was insinuated that he had some romantic feelings for her in the book. When he was doing another speech at a school, I think in Canada, he said someone came up to him afterward and gave him Esther's phone number. He told us that he called her, but was disappointed to learn she was married with children. We all laughed, and it was almost like an inside joke for those who had read the book.

I got my book signed and got to take a picture with him. In the picture is Ishmael Beah, me, Audra and our friend Teresa.