Coming tomorrow...

   ... A conversation with writer Leita Kaldi, Senegal, 93-96. Kaldi, author of "Roller Skating in the Desert" told me this story of where her title came from:

"I was getting ready to leave Senegal. I went to the Peace Corps headquarters in Dakar. And there, I saw a pair of high-top, white roller skates that looked just like the skates on this cover, and I was amazed. Somebody told me that a Marine had left them there. I tried them on, they were just my size, and I started roller skating up and down the corridors of Peace Corps. And I had this total revelation that after three years of floundering around, making so many mistakes, cultural mistakes especially, that were hilarious, that were great lessons, that everyone automatically forgave, at last I had this revelation that I knew what I was doing. After three years, I knew how to skate, and it was such a great feeling. This is something I know how to do."