I haven't made it all the way through this yet. What I've read so far is great. Dad, you might want to pass it along to Mom (and Leah, since she doesn't appear to spend much time here anymore) (both of whom are also returning to Liberia after a long time away).

Quoted: I was going back, finally doing something I should have done a thousand different times since that night, May 16, 1980, when my mother, my younger sister, Marlene, and I got on a Pan Am flight at Robertsfield and fled the place that my great-great-great-great-grandfather helped found.

Quoted: Because of him, I would not grow up, 150 years later, as an American black girl, burdened by racial stereotypes about welfare queens. Nor would I have to deal with the weights of a sub-Saharan African girl, with a life expectancy of about 40 years, yanked out of school at 11 to fetch water and cook over a coal pot and rear children barely younger than herself.

Pymy hippos are my fave.

Quoted: Just three days after setting up hidden cameras in the Liberian forest, the team of zoologists were amazed to capture the pygmy hippos on film.

"The Iron Ladies" has been widely celebrated since its release at the Denver Film Fest in November. It's showing at the UICA on Tuesday at 7pm. Here's a clip.

Quoted: Iron Ladies focuses on the new president of Liberia, Ellen Sirleaf Johnson, and the group of women she appointed to key positions as the country transitions from civil war to democratic government.

Quoted: The war crimes trial of ex-Liberian President Charles Taylor is to resume in The Hague after a six-month gap.

Really cool story. I'll try to dot the Sportscenter feature soon - it didn't mention the hostility part, which the city disputes. The movie rights to the Fugees story sold a few days after this story ran.

Quoted: A boys soccer team for refugees with miserable pasts brings out the best and worst in Americans.

Prince Johnson is now the Senator from Nimba County, and he has lots of vaguely threatening things to say.

Quoted: The BBC's Bill Law meets Prince Johnson of Liberia - the man held responsible for the mutilation and death of Samuel Doe.

Weah is the only Liberian on the short list, but he makes in two different eras.

Quoted: As part of activities marking its fiftieth anniversary, the Confederation of African Football is organizing a voting system through its website inviting internet users to choose African best player in the last 50 years.

Quoted: Liberia's Truth and Reconciliation Commission begins work probing crimes committed over 24 years.