"The subscriber you are trying to reach is either switched off, or out of coverage area"

Very exciting news: I am heading back to beloved Monrovia, and plan to be there for at least the rest of 2011. As can be imagined, I am extremely thrilled to be returning after some time out of the country. This re-expatriation and the professional demands that coinciding with it, will however be very pressing for the next few weeks. Thus I will have to take a leave of absence from this blog, probably until at least mid-August.

Not that I have run out of things to say on matters concerning Liberia or the rest of the continent, so I may have be back sooner rather than later. I have even been writing a bit about the transition and preparation back to Monrovia, which I will hopefully publish here after the fact if I think its worth reading.

This also seems like a semi-appropriate opportunity to thank everyone for the continued attention and support. I have been surprised and thrilled to see the daily page hits for M2M soar into the mid-triple digits in the last few months. I can hardly express how humbled I have been to gain such a readership and hope that the majority feel the time spent here is worth it.

In the meantime, may I gently remind North American M2M readers that it is the height of summer, and perhaps the time not reading this blog might be better spent away from the computer screen, perhaps even in the glorious outdoors?

Please check back in a few weeks, and otherwise I beg you: don't stop reading, visiting, posting comments, RSS feeding, or following me on Twitter. Because that would really, really hurt my feelings.

More soon, Matt

Monrovia 1976

I cannot believe that I didn't see this on YouTube before. Oh my goooodness.

The film begins with a title board, Monrovia, Mars '76-- the European spelling of March suggesting a Swedish production.

In less than a minute and a half, this super 8 clip spins around the rooftop loggia of the Executive Mansion (which was apparently having some sort of open house that day), showing some fashionably-dressed European-looking folks admiring the view through the metallic screens. Next, the reel is down to the main entry porch, where two toe-headed pikins squint into the dry season sun.

Cut to Ashmun Street. Sly & The Family Stone starts up. Here come the adorable toe-heads and their parents, sauntering down the block past Aminata House, in the direction of Chase Manhattan Plaza, with LBDI clearly visible in the background.

Who are these people? LAMCO employees? Scandinavian diplomats?

Where is the rest of this film??

This 1:28 of totally unbelievable vintage footage appeared on YouTube, posted by one jensiator. The user's other clips from Yekepa make it more likely that this was a LAMCO family.

I love jensiator's the caption:

Monrovia in 1976. It shows the presidential palace and some streets. Everyone looked so coooool.