Writing Process Wednesdays, and, Plot vs. Character

Well, now I know where I stand on that famous debate, even though I was trying hard not to take sides while I plotted out my novel as I thought I was also getting to know my characters at the same time.  Wrong.  I find, personally, that it takes writing some scenes and bits of dialogue over and over again for me to understand how each individual character feels, behaves, speaks, and changes over time.   

This makes planning out such a complex novel as Who By Fire much less simple than I had imagined, and I find that it seems to be, currently, beyond my writing skills.   I continue to work on honing my craft, of course, and to work on plotting out this novel, while remembering that it         

comes based on all of my prior work.  Also, having the very positive experience of writing and getting surprisingly strong feedback both for this novel project idea that I developed from my family history research, and especially for my short short series (which I wrote completely off-the-cuff, and found both easy and pleasurable to write) more so but perhaps also with the help of the novel journaling process, in a different way than I had expected.  The series: (Ann and Anna) was so easy, and even fun(!), to write that it now makes me wonder how on earth I can keep slogging my way through Who By Fire, which is proving to be so difficult for me at the moment.  Every time I think I know my protagonist, Isaias (whose name will later change…), he changes!  He still looks mostly the same, sort of, but his way of thinking keeps changing on me, and I am having a very difficult time nailing down how he interacts with his two best friends (who were initially meant to be a mentor or advisor type, and a ‘particular friend’ as they used to say back then, or a best friend, who was also a rival for a love interest that has now turned into a cautionary tale subplot protagonist.  All of this with old scenes written that now need to be either altered or simply thrown away and rewritten altogether, which is hard to do, given that I am a person who values productivity and hates to see time and effort go to waste (yes, I know that that effort did not go to waste, but it feels like the time I spend writing initial scenes, voice journals, and novel journals, indeed are a waste of time since they do not end up directly in a publishable novel that I can immediately begin querying!!).   I think I am starting to realize that Who By Fire is currently biting off just a bit more than my writing skills to this point can chew, and I am itching to go back to Ann & Anna, make that series of posts into a prequel for a novel (especially since several people have called the series “#NovelWorthy” (which I had never heard of, many thanks, ladies) and just take off from there, if a novel based on an already blog-posted (and thus published, which I also did not realize back then serial can be shopped for publication?

 

Thoughts, Writing-Knowledgeable  Readers?

Shira

Action Items:

1.) Share your thoughts, please.

2.) Write a story, post or comment that uses those thoughts.

*****************

Click here to read, if you like:

B5, Hakan: Muhafiz/The Protector, Sihirli Annem,  Lupin, or La Casa de Papel/Money Heist Reviews

Holistic College Algebra & GED/High School Lesson Plans,

           or Long Range Nonfiction, or Historical Fiction Writing (with link to Ann & Anna serial…)

Thoughtful Readers, please consider reading about #ProjectDoBetter.  This novel is my personal way (as opposed to founding the Project, overall) of contributing to building tools that can help increase empathy and compassion in our world.  Story, as part of how we see our world, helps us make sense of and define our actions in this world.  And remember how important story is also as part of this project. Let’s Do Better.

Shira Destinie A. Jones, MPhil, MAT, BSCS

 

 

ShiraDest

Shira Destinie Jones’ work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Writing Process Wednesdays, Novel Journals, and Project Do Better

  So my novel journaling has been very topsy turvy.  That turned out to become a serious problem for me, once I began writing the scenes for the rough draft, and  remembered that I had left notes in a spreadsheet, and on paper, in different locations at random.  All of the writing advice insists on keeping a novel journal as you go through the writing process, but personally, at this point (and it has now been 2019-2022, three years, since I began jotting down ideas, excerpts, timelines, and research notes), for me, the novel journal is getting to be more of a hassle than a help, it seems.

Maybe I will find out, later on in the process of writing this novel, that it is helpful.  I hope, at any rate.       

Also, having already tried to put too many subplot and scene notes in too many spreadsheets and online reminders, as well as on paper, I am drowning in paper and in online notes, and even in bookmarks stuck in my research books for this novel project that I paused to write a nonfiction book, and restarted!  I found that a short series that I wrote completely off-the-cuff actually helped me thinking about this novel, more so but perhaps also with the help of the novel journaling process, in a different way than I had expected.  The series: (Ann and Anna, linked below…) was so easy to write that I found myself wondering what was so difficult about this project, and then I realized that I already knew everything about the series, because I was using a historical personage with a known itinerary, and adding a second protagonist with a history that I already knew intimately, since she was drawn from my own family history.  Not as a person that I found, but a person that I have been trying to find for many years.  But looking at the known history and tracking backward, it is clear that such a person, or persons, certainly existed in my family, sadly.

     Thoughtful Readers, please consider reading about #ProjectDoBetter.  This novel is my personal way (as opposed to founding the Project, overall) of contributing to building tools, through story, which is one of humanity’s most powerful tools,  that can help increase empathy and compassion in our world.  Story, as part of how we see our world, helps us make sense of and define our actions in this world.  And remember how important story is also as part of this project. Let’s Do Better.

Shira

Action Items:

1.) Share your thoughts, please.

2.) Write a story, post or comment that uses those thoughts.

*****************

Click here to read, if you like:

B5, Hakan: Muhafiz/The Protector, Sihirli Annem,  Lupin, or La Casa de Papel/Money Heist Reviews

Holistic College Algebra & GED/High School Lesson Plans,

           or Long Range Nonfiction, or Historical Fiction Writing (including Ann and Anna)

Shira Destinie A. Jones, MPhil, MAT, BSCS

ShiraDest

Shira Destinie Jones’ work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Writing Process Wednesdays, and, Character Bibles and Subplots

  So my hero’s wife, Lucy  is trapped elsewhere, and thus has her own subplot, which I began to plan out before doing very much (if any) of her character bible or voice journal work.   

That turned out to become a serious problem for me, once I began writing the main plot scenes, and came along to her first subplot scene in       

Also, having already tried to put too many subplot and scene notes in too many spreadsheets and online reminders, as well as on paper, I was sure that I had notes on her voice, and the reason I wanted to use first person present tense rather than my usual either first person third or third person third (aka storyteller ) for her voice! 

 

 

Shira

Action Items:

1.) Share your thoughts, please.

2.) Write a story, post or comment that uses those thoughts.

*****************

Click here to read, if you like:

B5, Hakan: Muhafiz/The Protector, Sihirli Annem,  Lupin, or La Casa de Papel/Money Heist Reviews

Holistic College Algebra & GED/High School Lesson Plans,

           or Long Range Nonfiction, or Historical Fiction Writing

Thoughtful Readers, please consider reading about #ProjectDoBetter.  This novel is my personal way (as opposed to founding the Project, overall) of contributing to building tools that can help increase empathy and compassion in our world.  Story, as part of how we see our world, helps us make sense of and define our actions in this world.  And remember how important story is also as part of this project. Let’s Do Better.

Shira Destinie A. Jones, MPhil, MAT, BSCS

 

 

ShiraDest

Shira Destinie Jones’ work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Review: The Woman King

   This film is excellent.  Gut-wrenching, and difficult to watch on many levels (#metoo, slavery, complicity, violence), but it tells a truth that has long needed telling.  Going into the film knowing about the role of this kingdom in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, I wondered how they would deal with the topic, and they in fact dealt with it head-on, intelligently, and also very well emotionally. They also made excellent use of the topography -they even used the termite mounds!  So, the film, for me as a Black woman, even as a light-skinned Black woman, was extraordinarily satisfying. From the barbarity of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, to the terrors right at home of sexual abuse (or collusion with it) or physical abuse by family members or guardians, this film hits the mark on every level, not shying away from taking on the truth of the most difficult topics, acknowledging the complicity of Africans in the slave trade, while also telling the side of those who tried to stop the trade, and the difficulties in which African rulers found themselves at this time period. Interestingly, the acceptance of any women who could pass the rigorous entry requirements reminded me of Southern Iroquoian tribes, like the Tsalagi/Cherokee, and the northern tribes of the Iroquois Federation, who accepted, or adopted, people from other races and tribes, under the right circumstances.  Here comes my review in detail, but to avoid spoilers, I’ve kept some giveaway lines in Spanish, (I watched it the second and third times in Spanish, but again in English the 4th and 5th times) if that helps.

     In the start of this film I see women, beautiful Black Wonder Women, but as usual, larger to much larger than I am, able to fight men and win, but for the petite women like myself? 5′ 2″ , 115 llbs?

“Aquí la cazadora voy a ser yo, no la presa.”

Exactly.   23:16 -It is always better to be the hunter than the prey, when you have sisters, or even without sisters.

“Ya tienes una nueva familia.” 26:30,

     People seem to forget that women in general tend to have better pain control than men, because we have to! If men had to give birth no babies would ever be born from what I’ve been told. 28:50, and this is an unexpected example of Chekhov’s rule, with two payoffs, one near the tragic end of a popular character, and the other with a final payoff, close to the very end.

Excellent Plebe prank!! 29:50, which of course is almost literally Chekhov’s gun…

and especially this:

“Si si llegas al final eres una de nosotras.” 32:27

Yes, Nawi!! She’s as petite as I am and far more brave with jumps! And defeats men twice our size!!? 1 Hour into the film, nearly halfway through.

What a hell of a jump! Third time watching this film and I still can’t understand how Nawi knew that the tower wasn’t too high. And courage !!

“Speak my language in my palace.”

     The lack of respect on the part of Europeans, even for kings, toward African people is evident in both the way they are treated, and increasingly clearly to him, even how the mulatto Malik is treated, and no, I do not see him as a “tragic Mulatto” figure, but rather as an important portrayal of the point of view of those of us born of the fruit of this trade, as he is.  Especially those of us light enough skinned to experience rejection by our own community, yet never to be accepted by the white or Mediterranean communities, even when we look exactly like them.  The sense of belonging that he longs for, and that the women who pass the rigorous test to become Agojie find, is expressed many times, starting with the loyalty ceremony, which took me back to many a Sunday in church with my Grandma Marie (musically speaking, and in the swaying that we also do, still, so many years later, in the same way):

“My sisters, You live for me and I for you!!”

     Malik never dreamed that there were kings or warriors in Africa. Of course not. Exactly what we in the diaspora are not wanted/intended/allowed to dream of, is to be taken seriously, let alone of Black women warriors or kings.  Even today, especially for Black women.   History matters.

     Like the Greek (Cyprus?) Pentozali, like many people’s war dances, and pre-battle rituals. But more beautiful, the real Black Amazons. Like the Scottish (?) sword dances, and the Zeibek(iko), and …

     Wow, this is taking our strength into account in battle, using our lightweight to jump over the male gunners and straight over the front line of the enemy. We are smaller, we are faster (in body movements, ducking, etc), we are more flexible, but we are never taught to use our advantages against men, because we’re not allowed to fight to defend ourselves.

“¡Considérate afortunado de no estar entre ellas !  / Consider yourself lucky not to be up there with them!”

So, the one drop rule had started already. Forgot to tell poor Malik, I guess. 1:40 of film

Jogging behind her whether they will be expelled or not. Beautiful loyalty.

Excellent job, Little Fly! My size: duck under, femoral artery slice, defend your General! Outstanding! Bravo Zulu, Nawi!

Feel bad for poor Malik, who finally realizes that he belongs no where, has no real home. 1:57:45

Exactly: the child is “not the one who needs killing,” in the words of some other film… 2:02

I have a feeling of dread as I watch those ships sail away at the very end of this film, because you know they’re going to come back, and there will be more of them.

I really love that final tribute to the women fallen in battle, by the religious lady part way after the credits begin.   And, beautifully, the last name, as the screen blanks out, is Breonna…

“You have enemies gathering.

-You must Do Better than that.”

I love the interplay between the general and her ‘seer’ as she begins to read the general’s dream interpretation.

     As I mentioned in the start of this review, the film explicitly deals with some impossible choices, and the attempts by some rulers to push back on the trade. The kingdom of Dahomey used these women warriors for two hundred years, but only one or two rulers tried to put a halt to the vicious cycle caused by the trade. This is, I imagine, likely why  @GPBmadeit chose this precise king. I checked out a BBC article and the Smithsonian magazine article (from which this public domain image comes) about the movie and a couple of other sources that I wasn’t sure about, before I watched it. So yes the kingdom traded, under duress, but at least one ruler did try to put a stop to it.

     Thanks again, to Gina Prince-Bythewood, for fighting to make this thoughtful, nuanced, complex, and powerful film, and for showing the conflicting choices, the pain, and the hope “that the dark past has taught us” to work toward. The Woman King is both heartbreaking and inspiring. A needed, but not yet sufficient corrective to the historical record.  Speaking of which, here is the Smithsonian Magazine article I mentioned earlier.  Thank you, ladies, for your work. Watch #TheWomanKing

Wu suu !

Shira

 

*****************

Click here for:

Learning via Shows -B5, Hakan: Muhafiz/The Protector, Sihirli Annem,  Lupin, or La Casa de Papel/Money Heist, & El Ministerio del Tiempo Reviews

Adult Literacy or College Level Learning Holistic College Algebra & GED/High School Lesson Plan Sets,

           or Learning via Long Range Nonfiction, or Historical Fiction Writing (including Ann & Anna…)

Thoughtful Readers, please consider reading about #ProjectDoBetter.  This review is part of my personal contribution to helping to increase empathy and compassion in our world.  Story, as part of how we see our world, helps us make sense of and define our actions in this world.  And remember how important story is also as part of this project. Let’s Do Better.

Shira Destinie A. Jones, MPhil, MAT, BSCS

ShiraDest

Shira Destinie Jones’ work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Review: John Brown, by W. E. Du Bois

    “The cost of liberty is less than the price of repression.”

     This was the refrain that Du Bois repeated,  particularly in the last chapter of this surprising biography. I listened to it, and upon finishing, immediately had the urge to read much of it over again at once, in print, especially the beautiful citations of poetry from the Hebrew scriptures, and the last sections in which Du Bois points up the legacy left by Brown which continued into his day, and indeed, even into our own day. Du Bois shows how the collusion of industrial interests and the racial interpretation of social relations, applied to Darwin’s work as a means of using the power developed during Brown’s time, the same power that drove him, a good and principled man, out of business, to prevent the existing hegemony from being changed, actually works to the detriment of all humanity. He ties up the implications of John Brown’s life’s work versus that interpretation of Darwin as a negation of the eugenics programs and all that led to those programs. Brown, much to my surprise, was described as a thoughtful man, initially stern, but eventually becoming a kind man, one who abhorred the shedding of blood, and believed deeply in the mutual obligations and respect due to every human being. Du Bois shows how the beginnings of Brown’s plan were intended to be as non-violent as possible, and only reluctantly evolved into the raid on the federal arsenal, while remaining a project of killing only when absolutely necessary. Witnesses describe a community with by-laws drawn up to run much as the first century Christians are described as living in the book of Acts, and of Brown’s insistence upon gentlemanly and respectful conduct, even to captured prisoners. This made him, it seems, a man well ahead of his times. But, also a bit of a dreamer. Du Bois describes Brown as attempting to convince other leaders, but finding them more skeptical of his plans. I was very impressed with Du Bois delving into military science to show that, had every member of Brown’s group acted in strict accordance with his plan, the raid on the Armory would very likely have succeeded. Yet, a plan that depends on each man acting selflessly is, it seems, the plan of a dreamer. By the time I had finished Du Bois’ devastating final chapter, I felt not only moved for the dream and strongly felt duty of Brown, but also for the life of honest and courageous integrity that was laid down as a willing martyr for the cause of Abolition. He used his trial as a means of putting the very South herself, and her Peculiar Institution in particular, on trial, quite successfully. Why are we not taught about the details of this trial, and his words at that trial, in school? This biography should be required reading in every High School history classroom in the United States.

Please, please, please, read this book, perhaps starting with the final chapter.

But read it.  Twice!!

My reading updates follow:
listening via https://librivox.org/john-brown-by-w-… …

British wool tariffs nearly brought the US to consider invading, around 1830?? Wow. I’ve never heard of that, nor of the fact that Oberlin college was given land in Virginia.

John Brown as a bank director? Who would have thought of this? Ruined, like many, by the Panic of 1837

“Organized economic aggression” by business highwaymen literally forced a good man, John Brown, out of business because he refused to abandon his good principles!

and incredible, of all the poetic language Du Bois uses: “…a great Black phalanx” of escaped slaves and Free People of Color welcoming them into the “cities of refuge” up north and organizing Colored resistance. And John Brown’s family sheltering …

The reverend Lovejoy, from The Simpsons, is named for the murdered Abolitionist preacher Rev. Lovejoy? Who knew!

This murder, and being kicked out of their church for giving their nice seats to the Negro family attending the meeting, catalyzed Brown’s 1839 knowledge and support of the Abolitionist movement. In fact, white brutality even against white people planted the seeds.

Section 7: So, Brooks caned Sumner over Missouri’s lie about Kansas Territory, and the Civil War actually began in Lawrence, KA.

Shameless forcing of a faux election by Missourians of Kansas lawmakers, and the US Army helping the Southerners with guns and Bowie knives, and canon!? But despite the free-state majority, KA, nearly became a slave-state.

Ch. 7, The Swamp of the Swan, end of Section 8:

This militia formed by Captain John Brown is like David, as he says, but not a band of thugs, as that of David was: no profanity, no corporal punishment, no unkind or ungentlemanly behavior. Wow. Feeling themselves like a family, said his men. These were the Anla’Shok. “All great reforms…based on generous…”

Incredible.
How his image has been distorted.

… and why not admit women?

He wrote and had adopted an actual Constitution for his followers down South.

Preamble here: https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/td…

Postponement of action, weeping to Schubert…

An indictment on the system of slavery, Brown’s speech on the stand ends with
“Farewell. Farewell.”

Du Bois calls his trial “the mightiest Abolition document that America has known” is right, and a beautiful one, by his last words to his family.

“The cost of liberty is less than the price of repression.” Clearly, Du Bois wanted this phrase to stay with the reader, and he uses it to devastating effect, particularly in the last section, “The Legacy of John Brown.”

Absolutely stunning look at both a deliberately misrepresented man, and a legacy that remains with us, to this very sad day.

Incredible.
Simply incredible.

Shira

Action Items:

1.) Share your thoughts, please.

2.) Write a story, post or comment that uses those thoughts.

*****************

Click here to read, if you like:

B5, Hakan: Muhafiz/The Protector, Sihirli Annem,  Lupin, or La Casa de Papel/Money Heist Reviews

Holistic College Algebra & GED/High School Lesson Plans,

           or Long Range Nonfiction, or Historical Fiction Writing (including Ann & Anna…)

Thoughtful Readers, please consider reading about #ProjectDoBetter.  This work is my personal way (as opposed to founding the Project, overall) of contributing to building tools that can help increase empathy and compassion in our world.  Story, as part of how we see our world, helps us make sense of and define our actions in this world.  And remember how important story is also as part of this project. Let’s Do Better.

Shira Destinie A. Jones, MPhil, MAT, BSCS

ShiraDest

Shira Destinie Jones’ work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Review: The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family, by Annette Gordon-Reed

     I was certain that I had reviewed this book around 2010, but that may have been on some other platform from before I was on Goodreads. I remember losing quite a few book reviews on some reading platform that predated it,  almost 20 years ago I think back around then. In any case this is an excellent book. Worth buying if you have any interest in the families of Virginia even free families of color from Virginia because so many of Sally’s children apparently passed into the white community and disappeared, like some of my own family members. The abuse from the press that poor Sally was subjected to at the time by Jefferson’s enemies is terrible to read about, but the empathy and the sympathy the author uses in reconstructing Thomas Jefferson’s life, and his inevitable dilemma around this relationship, really moved me. Coming from a family that revered the possible connection with Sally Hemings, I’ve always been skeptical about the relationship between Sally and Jefferson, because she was a slave and I would always have to tell my mother that ‘Mom this was no romance: Sally was a slave, remember?’  But after reading  Gordon Reed’s book, I have to wonder whether Sally indeed felt more than an obligation in this relationship. Because she had a choice, as the author shows, while she lived in France, even if it did mean leaving her family at the mercy of people across the ocean, she still had an impossible, gut-wrenching choice.  The Hemings family was treated very well at Monticello, but that could have changed, had Sally decided to stay in France, no?

     This image from 1804, apparently the only surviving image from her lifetime, does not show her remarkable beauty.  It also seems not to reflect her son’s description of her as an “Octoroon,” nearly able to pass for white.   My mother has always insisted that we are descended from  Sally Hemings, although with no actual proof, that I have been able to find.  She has also always found the old story of Sally to be a romantic one, while I have always contested her point of view, reminding her that Sally was a slave, and therefore had no choice in the matter of whether to submit to such a relationship.  What I did not realize was that Sally was also both a young and impressionable girl who may indeed have fallen in love with the sensitive and kindly Jefferson, and also a vulnerable girl whose family was at the mercy not only of the master, her master, but also of every overseer and White person, man or woman, at Monticello.  So, yes, it could have been a romance, as mom insisted, but also, still, it would have been one that was born of coercion and backed by the threat of violence to her loved ones, as I reminded her (in not so many words).  This is the tragedy of The Old Dominion’s ‘Peculiar Institution’ which led, in no small part, to my writing both Ann & Anna, and my ongoing historical fantasy WiP Who By Fire, as well as my nonfiction works.

    The story demands to be told not only of the families who were forced to make choices, but also of the Fancies who had no choice.  And of the fathers who lived in anguish because of it, not to mention the mothers, sisters, aunts and grandmothers, both of blood and of adoption, who tried to care for children wounded by an inhuman system.

Shira

Action Items:

1.) Share your thoughts, please.

2.) Write a story, post or comment that uses those thoughts.

*****************

Click here to read, if you like:

B5, Hakan: Muhafiz/The Protector, Sihirli Annem,  Lupin, or La Casa de Papel/Money Heist Reviews

Holistic College Algebra & GED/High School Lesson Plans,

Thoughtful Readers, please consider reading about #ProjectDoBetter.  This work is my personal way (as opposed to founding the Project, overall) of contributing to building tools that can help increase empathy and compassion in our world.  Story, as part of how we see our world, helps us make sense of and define our actions in this world.  And remember how important story is also as part of this project. Let’s Do Better.

Shira Destinie A. Jones, MPhil, MAT, BSCS

ShiraDest

Shira Destinie Jones’ work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

When Frederick Bailey became Frederick Douglass, & Lesson Day 48/67

If today (September 3rd, 1838) is a lesson in history, let it honor our formerly enslaved ancestors, on Day 48 of 67 GED Lesson Plan Sets...

—

So, now my novel is back in planning mode.

And, it turns out that I can work him into my novel, as he is still in Baltimore at the same time that my protagonist is there.

Yassas,   γεια σας!    Salût !  Nos vemos!  Görüşürüz!     ! שָׁלוֹם

Action Items in support of literacy and hope that you can take right now:

1.) Share two different resources in your local public library on the life of any escaped slave.

2.) Write something that uses those thoughts.  Once published, donate one or more copies to your local public library, as I intend to do.

Dear Readers, ideas on learning, especially multiple #LanguageLearning, on-going education and empathy-building, to #EndPoverty, #EndHomelessness,  #EndMoneyBail & achieve freedom for All HumanKind?

*****************

Click here to read, if you like:

B5, Hakan:Muhafiz/The Protector,  Lupin, or La Casa de Papel (Money Heist) or El Ministerio del Tiempo reviews

Holistic High School Lessons,

           or Long Range Nonfiction, or Historical Fiction

Thoughtful Readers, please consider looking up #ProjectDoBetter.

Shira

Shira Destinie Jones’ work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Writing Process Wednesdays, and An Over Planned Scene

This is the scene for which I had too many notes about possibilities and risks of escape, written down on paper and in my spreadsheet, and then again duplicated in an app that I no longer use, which is taking a third year, now, to get written.   

Also, trying to put too many scene notes in too many spreadsheets and online reminders, as well as on paper, is not helpful!  But writing this scene excerpt was helpful, once I decided which scene to put it in, three or four times over:

Shira

Action Items:

1.) Share your thoughts, please.

2.) Write a story, post or comment that uses those thoughts.

*****************

Click here to read, if you like:

B5, Hakan: Muhafiz/The Protector, Sihirli Annem,  Lupin, or La Casa de Papel/Money Heist Reviews

Holistic College Algebra & GED/High School Lesson Plans,

           or Long Range Nonfiction, or Historical Fiction Writing

Thoughtful Readers, please consider reading about #ProjectDoBetter.  This novel is my personal way (as opposed to founding the Project, overall) of contributing to building tools that can help increase empathy and compassion in our world.  Story, as part of how we see our world, helps us make sense of and define our actions in this world.  Let’s Do Better.

Shira Destinie A. Jones, MPhil, MAT, BSCS

ShiraDest

Shira Destinie Jones’ work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Parashat Vaera 5783, Generational Reparation via Humility, and Public Health Care

        This week’s parashah is Vaera (“And Appeared”), the 14th parashah overall, and second portion of Shemot/Exodus.  The first of the plagues hits Egypt, and whether they originated from the explosion of Thira/Santorini, or from some other source, the ensuing catastrophe is the start of a crisis for Egypt and for the enslaved Hebrews.  Last year, we we had No Words for this disaster but words of rebuke for the rejoicing angels, while the year before, we asked about how Moshe/Moses, analogously to Holmes,  looked at Aaron as Watson, via Moshe’s humility (or act of humility, in accepting his brother to speak for him).

   Now, we wonder whether humility, and acknowledgment of one’s less strong spots, can help to build bridges, and pave the way to repair the wrongs done in the past.  Acknowledging the failings of our public health system in the United States would be a worthy start, a humble start, to repairing those gaps through which many people are allowed to fall, in this country.  That start needs to happen soon, to stop the waste of human potential for solving the urgent problems confronting our world now.

–

     Last week was the start of the book of Names/Exodus: Parashat Shemot 5783, Generational Trauma and Public Health Care .

     While there are many ways to help increasing empathy,  Language Learning as a Fourth Tool for Empathy Building is both fascinating and practical.

     Empathy building is a crucial task, particularly in our contentious society today.  The task is tiring, and cannot be done all at once, but with careful planning, education, and greater cooperation between the generations, it can be done.

     We can really Do Better, and Project Do Better proposes a long term plan.

–

*****************

Click here to read, if you like:

B5, Hakan:Muhafiz/The Protector, Sihirli Annem, Lupin, or La Casa De Papel/Money Heist Reviews,

Holistic College Algebra & GED/HiSET Night School Lesson Plans,

           or My Nonfiction  & Historical Fiction Serial Writing

Thoughtful Readers, please consider reading and sharing about #ProjectDoBetter.

Shira

Shira Destinie Jones’ work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Parashat Shemot 5783, Generational Trauma and Public Health Care

        This week’s parashah is Shemot (“Names”), the 13th parashah overall, and first portion of Shemot/Exodus.  This is the famous “and there arose a Pharaoh who knew not Joseph”  parashah.  Mosheh/Moses is born, rescued and adopted by a daughter of Pharaoh, runs away after killing an overseer, and reintroduced to the promise made to his forefathers.  After the names of all of those who went down to live in Egypt with Jacob/Israel are recorded.   Now we begin to see the long term effects of family relationships, and how trauma can travel down through generations.   Here is another reason that long term planning and access to basic survival and equal health care resources for everyone is essential to all of us, unconditionally.

   Last year we looked at this portion from a nation-building point of view Parashat Shemot, and Naming a Nation, while this year, we take a more family oriented approach.   Unlike slavery practiced in the United States, slaves in the ancient world were not entirely deprived of their identity and origins, as we see by the statements in the text of Moses going to Hebrew elders in the land of Goshen where their families lived together.  Nevertheless, the trauma of forced labor and harsh punishments was one that all age groups suffered, and became embedded in the generational mentalities, as with slaves here in the USA.  The requirement to at least appear to obey and to submit leaves scars.  These scars even affect generations who do not live through the direct trauma, as we will see later in the upcoming parshiot.

    The fact that trauma can be passed down through generations makes it all the more crucial for every person, from the earliest age, to have access to competent (for the specific type of trauma) and complete long term access to mental and physical health care.  This necessarily implies a need for a comprehensive set of public health care mental health systems that interface with social welfare and safety net systems.   In other words, universal health care, eventually. 

     Last week was the end of the book of beginnings: Parashat VaYechi 5783, Favoritism vs. Family Mental Health, and The Common Good .

     While there are many ways to help increasing empathy,  Language Learning as a Fourth Tool for Empathy Building is both fascinating and practical.

     Empathy building is a crucial task, particularly in our contentious society today.  The task is tiring, and cannot be done all at once, but with careful planning, education, and greater cooperation between the generations, it can be done.

     We can really Do Better, and Project Do Better proposes a long term plan.

–

*****************

Click here to read, if you like:

B5, Hakan:Muhafiz/The Protector, Sihirli Annem, Lupin, or La Casa De Papel/Money Heist Reviews,

Holistic College Algebra & GED/HiSET Night School Lesson Plans,

           or My Nonfiction  & Historical Fiction Serial Writing

Thoughtful Readers, please consider reading and sharing about #ProjectDoBetter.

Shira

Shira Destinie Jones’ work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.