June 6, Then and Now

I don't do a lot of significant day posts, because frankly, I usually forget the day is significant until it's over. But today, as I read the news, I was struck with a correspondence I couldn't ignore. Today is the sixth of June, the anniversary of D-Day, the launch of Operation Overlord whose purpose was to retake western Europe from the racist, fascistic dictators and their minions who had devastated the world.

Last night people all over the US assembled in remembrance of those we have lost, especially those black lives we have lost, to injustice and systematic racism. In DC along #BlackLivesMatterWay, houses of worship rang their bells for 8 minutes 46 seconds in memory of George Floyd. In the same way, chaplains of all faiths--not just Christian, I say this as someone who knew people who were there--prepared the soldiers, sailors and marines about to land on the beaches of Normandy.

Today unknown thousands will assemble across the country to march toward a better tomorrow. Significantly, the Department of Defense has unilaterally ordered home the active duty forces ordered to DC and disarmed the National Guard in the area. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has reminded all military personnel in writing that the military's oath is to support and defend the Constitution and all Americans exercising their Constitutional rights.

Whatever happens today, it won't be the end. D-Day wasn't the end of World War II. Evil clutches its power with the desperation born of fear. Racists and tyrants are cowards at their core, terrified of being held accountable for their deeds. What's worse, evil never stays defeated. There's always a bully or would-be dictator awaiting their opportunity to strike. And tragically, the very forces we fought in Europe and elsewhere so many decades ago are still at work today. But I can't help looking at the parallels between that June 6, 76 years ago today, and hoping.

Hoping with all my heart.

My 2020 Balticon Schedule

Memorial Day weekend is coming up fast, and so is Balticon. This year we won’t be traveling to Baltimore for our annual dose of Memorial Day weekend joy. But never fear. Balticon is coming to you. Check out the website for the details. There will be panels, filking, gaming and a fabulous virtual Masquerade. The best part is it’s all free—though nobody will complain if you decide to support the con and its literacy efforts through the donate button. In fact, we’ll cheer.

Meanwhile, take a look at the panels where you’ll find me:

Friday, May 22, 6PM

Writing for Themed Anthologies

Michael Ventrella (Moderator), Keith R.A. DeCandido, John L. French, Monica Louzon, Jean Marie Ward

Anthologies offer an excellent opportunity for writers to get their work to new readers. Writers and editors discuss where to look for submission opportunities, how to write to a theme, and tips on catching an editor's eye (for the right reasons).

Friday, May 22, 8PM

Write What You Know! Wait, What Do I Know?

Jean Marie Ward (Moderator), Catherine Asaro, Stephanie Burke, Larry Hodges, Scott Roche

Regardless of how literally you take the old adage, you're going to be writing some degree of what you know and have experienced. What are some different ways you can incorporate this knowledge into your story? How much detail should you convey to an audience, and how do you know what's going to be interesting to other people?

Saturday, May 23, 9PM

Getting the Most from a Writers’ Association

Jean Marie Ward (Moderator), Bud Sparhawk, Jamaila Brinkley, Sarah Pinsker, Lee Murray

Genre association groups such as the Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA) and the Romance Writers Association (RWA), as well as more local groups like the Maryland Writers Association (MWA), can offer benefits and perks. Panelists talk about what different groups have to offer and how to get the most out of your membership.

Sunday, May 24, 6PM

Bad Transportation Math vs the Speed of Plot

Jean Marie Ward (Moderator), Julayne Hughes, Mark Van Name, Ken Schrader, Catherine Asaro

The logistics of travel and travel times don't always need to be ironclad, but can make for an easily noticed and unpleasant plot-hole, whether in a fantasy setting (with travel on horseback or sailing ships) or in a science fiction setting (with various FTL devices). What are tricks to avoid these holes, and how can apparent errors be reconciled if only caught late in the process?

Hope to see you there!

Someone's in the kitchen with Arturo

Like a lot of folks in these locked down times, I think about food. A lot--what I can find, what I can persuade people to deliver, and what I can cook. There is a school of culinary thought that says all US cuisine derives from African-American cuisine, and African-American cuisine is the United States' only original, homegrown cuisine. Sure, we eat food and dishes from all over, but our national bedrock, our unique contribution to the culinary world is the product of centuries of black cooks and black celebrity chefs. (Yes, our first homegrown celebrity chefs, dating to the early 19th century, were all African-American. Look it up.

Arturo Schomburg--writer, thinker and historian of the Harlem Renaissance--wanted to celebrate that legacy in a mammoth collection of 400 recipes. It was never published, but still became a seminal work of modern culinary history. What strikes me, however, is what a totally American tale the story of his never-finished cookbook is, from his book proposal's stated pan-American goals to its much more limited, US-centric focus to the one recipe it contained: a recipe for gumbo from a cookbook by Lafcadio Hearn.

Hearn, for those of you who aren't obsessed with Japanese movies (Greg Uchrin, I'm looking at you), was an Irish-Greek American newspaper man, who after years of covering stories around the US and the Caribbean, moved to Japan, took a Japanese name (Koizumi Yakumo), and wrote a number of seminal collections of Japanese ghost stories and legends, including KWAIDAN: STORIES AND STUDIES OF STRANGE THINGS. The United States is and always has been a melting pot, a great big glorious stew of people and ideas. Celebrate it!

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/arturo-schomburg-cookbook


#ArturoSchomburg #LafcadioHearn #AmericanCooking #recipes