“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was
the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief,
it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season
of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair…” Charles
Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
This blog was severely neglected through much of 2014. The
year was a medical nightmare for me, beginning with a tough-to-vanquish
pneumonia and, as I recovered, segueing into a life-threatening struggle with
breast cancer. I’m thankful to face 2015 as a survivor and really don’t intend
to revisit here all the grim, tedious details of the medical aspects of the
year.
For the country and the world, this year was troublesome, as
well. Iraq and Syria imploding with ISIS violence and atrocities. Russia
invading the Ukraine with the most laughable attempts at stealth. Three African
countries ravaged by ebola, the 21st-century version of the Black
Death. A jumbo jet disappearing off the face of the earth. The gap between the
ultra-wealthy elite and the rest of the United States widening drastically. The
corporations buying a full U.S. Congress to go with their Supreme Court. An
Iditarod that almost couldn’t be run because of the melting of permafrost and
tundra. More Native and First Nations women than ever disappearing and found
murdered with little or no media attention to it. Finally, lots of media
attention to the nightmare of police violence toward people of color, in
particular, young black males. And more of the same news of violence, misogyny,
racism, environmental destruction, and perpetual war. It becomes too depressing
to list it all, and that depression and cynical despair can stifle real work
for change. If we let it.
But there were brightnesses in this year, as well, and
movements in the right direction and beginnings of change. Thousands of people
showed up all over the country for demonstrations against that racist police
brutality, and many of them were not African American. People of all backgrounds
and skin colors joined together to send a powerful message that we in the
United States want full human rights for all of our citizens and oppose the
militarization of the police. Gay marriage was approved, or laws against it
struck down, all across the country. Violent crime in the United States
continued its years-long plummet, in spite of the media hype that makes it seem
more violent here than ever. Grass roots movements began to make some real
impact, such as the Occupy group in Wisconsin that built a community of tiny
houses for the homeless. The struggle against the Keystone pipeline won an
important, if temporary, victory.
Also, I have become engrossed in a new—for me—kind of novel
project. I am excited by its possibilities and eager to work each day. If you’d
like to see the journal entry that was the seed for it, check out this post on
The Stiletto Gang blog.
As I face this new year as a cancer survivor, I look forward
to this new project, to more Skeet Bannion novels, to a new book of poetry, to
a collection of short stories, to teaching a varied schedule of workshops in
person and online, and to resuming my favorite series of blog posts, Books of
Interest by Writers of Color. I had planned an intensive series of such posts
to highlight #WeNeedDiverseBooks and #diverselit. Then, the cancer battle
sidelined me. Now, I’m back, so let the spotlighting of diverse books and
authors begin.
It’s a new year. Let’s seize it and take it for our own.
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