4/19/2023 0 Comments Omnipresence oremOn October 13, 1915, during the Battle of Loos, Captain Charles Hamilton Sorley was shot through the head by a sniper. Class is a lens through which we view one another it fosters preconceived notions and shame. American society has never been free of a class system and it is dangerous for us to disillusion ourselves into believing differently. It is the undercurrent for almost every surface ripple we see. Class: I still can’t get folks comfortable enough to talk about Class. Sexual Orientation: LGBTQ Representation Ability: I am currently interested in the ways with which we deal with ability and how it translates into our reception of literature. ![]() Race/Ethnicity: I want to present all the various, glorious, and sometimes terrifying ways in which our respective races and ethnicities guide us through this life. Gender: I wanted to speak with folks who identify throughout the gender spectrum. While I am entirely open to all aspects of difference, what I hear from our community and what is omnipresent for me right now are: Geography: I wanted to represent writers from all around the United States and then eventually international. We writers hold the key to future generations’ understanding of this place and time. My hope is that if we let literature do its job of making human connections, fostering empathy, and illuminating the macro by using the micro, we can forever alter the flow of information and art. Especially when their experiences mean that we may have had an easier go at things, that the equitable “meritocracy” has some gaps and cracks, and that we’ve been duped by a hierarchy of difference that simply does not exist outside of our social construct. It seems that our knee-jerk response is to explain to them how they are wrong about their own experiences. Unfortunately, we are stuck in the present a bit because we are denying the realities of our own realities! To obtain a complete understanding of our current situation, maybe we shouldn’t argue with folks who feel they’ve been left out of the literary world (or any social sphere). But this is the lot we’ve been left with so let’s do what all great problem solvers do: start from the present and move backwards as far as we can until consistent patterns emerge. I know, this isn’t easy stuff to digest or to create a tangible problem/solution dynamic that we could just march toward. By which I mean, if you differ in one way from the “ideal” white, straight, Christian male, you differ in all ways within our historical system of divisions. What other elements of people’s lives would you like to see noted in the larger literary conversation? JF: There are no varying degrees to which I am not a grapefruit. ![]() ![]() LM: Would you talk about diversity: it seems to go beyond gender and race for you. Poet and activist Jen Fitzgerald in part two of an interview about what motivates her to work on behalf of others.
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