Writing Off the Deep End Episode 26
Special Coronavirus Episode
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Hosts Mary Thaler and Geoffrey Edwards talk about how the worldwide pandemic, as well as being in “lockdown”, that is, confined to our homes, has affected our activities as writers. Maybe our experience will help you deal with your own!
Interesting discussion. As this dialogue occurred over three months ago, much has happened. In the US we see statues pulled down off their pedestals, symbols of oppressive forces dragged through the streets. Black Lives Matter has forced many to re-imagine a new living arrangement, a painful purging of a toxic history that embraced slavery and vast inequities. These stories of struggle arouse mixed feelings, as some persons in power, are caught off guard, and react with predictable fear based initiatives. What this brings up for me as a writer and an activist is-what are the stories that we use to write our stories?
Mary and Geoffrey both seem to be aware of this dynamic as recent events create conditions for a new kind of story telling. And what happens next?
Arm chair critics tend to deny a great deal of the past harms that they have benefited from. I have known persons, with advantages and enormous inherited wealth, who had ancestors that were slave owners. That history has not been addressed, and those persons are very disconcerted, as the overtones of that cruel past, are still being amplified in a dissonant period of backlash and financial collapse. Cries for justice, but there is no justice. So, as writers, we have a lot of work to do. Thanks, again, for stimulating conversations.