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YOU'VE COME A LONG WAY, BABY: The Art of pumpkin carving

10/25/2019

YOU’VE COME A LONG WAY, BABY
Halloween is Thursday, October 31. This is my last chance to write something about Halloween. But what is left to write about Halloween that isn’t redundant?

Not much, but I like to recognize the holidays in my blog … so I’m thinking. Pumpkins? Jack’o lanterns? Naw. No one wants to read about pumpkins being one of the most popular crops in the US or that it is a cultivar of a squash plant. I don't think so.

IN THE BEGINNING
Pumpkins, native to North America, are one of the oldest domesticated plants. I don’t know what they looked like 7,500 BC, but they were here. When Europeans came to the new world, they brought the tradition of carving vegetables – turnips, primarily – into lanterns at Samhain for the purpose of keeping away the evil spirits. Because turnips were scarce in those area, the settlers substituted with lanterns carved out of the plentiful pumpkins.

The turnip carvings in the photos are typical of the kind of lantern carved by the early settlers.

In the 1940s, when I first met the carved Halloween pumpkin as a child, they had taken on more personality but were still relatively simple in looks with triangles for nose and eyes. ▼

IT’S A NEW AGE, EVEN FOR PUMPKINS
By the 21st Century, the superstitious carving vegetables had become the sophisticated fine art of pumpkin carving. Pumpkin carving contests abound, and innovation and imagination displayed is amazing. The activity seems to fall into three categories.

Just For Fun - The More Traditional Front Porch Style
Just for Fun pumpkin carving is the home carved type that are fun to make. Many are just as innovative and well crafted as competition pumpkins.

syracusecountrydancers.org/pumpkin 2016 jiernaair.com/pumpkin-carving-contest/ pinterest.com/660973682788134247
▼ ▼ ▼ ▼

Competition Pumpkins
All sorts of organizations have pumpkin carving contests. Many sell the pumpkins to raise funds for charities and other good causes.

These pumpkins are as much about the innovative and imaginative idea as the carving skill, but the skill level is high. There are tons of website about carving ideas, so the judges are looking for something new. Pumpkins eating things, like the squirrel and cannibalistic pumpkins below, seem to be popular but maybe overdone.

▼sep.yimg.com/bloody-eyeball pinterest.com/222928250277002249 ▼ pinterest.com/99571841739011579/ ▼

▲pinterest.com/539657967822747214 ▲motobilt.com/1st-motobilt-pumpkin-carving

Some of the competition pumpkin fall into what I would call the fine arts category. These require excellent carving skills and artistic ability.

Carving: Ray Villafane youtube.com/LTcuXLqVuKA Carving: Ray Villafane PhotoCredit: Anthony Souffle lifeasahuman.com/2010/arts-culture pinterest.com/461548661785643629 startribune.com/pumpkin-carving
▼ ▼ ▼ ▼Carving: Jodi Engel

   ▲ ▲    ▲Nasa Jet Propulsion Lab ▲Carving: Kelly Finke geeksraisinggeeks.com/ZQuinto ▲
honestlywtf.com/pumpkins/ honestlywtf.com/rarebirds    space.com/nasa-pumpkin    Swarthmore.edu/pumpkin-carving

Decorating Ideas
Finally, Halloween pumpkins serve as home and party decorations, as well as decorations for commercial business.
Have fun carving your pumpkin.

Sources
http://www.history.com/topics/halloween/jack-olantern-history
http://www.pumpkincarving101.com/pumpkin_carving_history.html
http://www.motherearthliving.com/natural-health/history-of-carving-pumpkins
http://www.pumpkinnook.com/facts.htm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSvb2o5wyEI
https://topsfieldfair.org/giantpumpkins.php
http://romae.org/blog/2008/10/22/the-roman-origins-of-halloween/
https://alphamom.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/CreeperPumpkins21.jpg
https://www.instructables.com/id/Spooky-Edible-Eyeballs/
https://www.pinterest.com/1inspiredwoman/fruit-vegetable-carvings/?lp=true
http://www.globeslcc.com/2014/10/30/halloween-facts-origins/
https://www.urbanorganicgardener.com/2015/10/the-halloween-turnip-an-american-history/
https://munchies.vice.com/en_us/article/pgx58g/evil-irish-turnips-were-the-original-jack-o-lanterns
https://www.annieandre.com/carve-scary-turnip-jack-olantern-halloween-not-pumpkin/
https://www.geeksraisinggeeks.com/geeky-pumpkin-carving-ideas/

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Online Dating

10/18/2019

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THE JURY STILL OUT?
In 1954 Darrell Huff wrote a book entitled How To Lie With Statistics. It’s been revised a few times, but it is still in print. I’m convinced every survey, no matter how correctly designed, uses some of the principles from this work. Otherwise, how can so many studies be so contradictory?

Take the topic of Online Dating, for example. Recent headlines range from “Online Dating Marriage Success Statistics” and “Meeting Online Leads To Happier, More-Enduring-Marriages” to the other end of the spectrum which claim new studies suggest that “Couples Who Meet Online Far More Likely to Have Marriages End in Divorce.”

ALAS, ALL WE HAVE TO GO ON ARE CONFLICTING STUDIES
One thing all researchers seem to be clear about is that online dating is affecting how couples meet in the US, and how long all couples stay together. This is accompanied by an implied impression that this is having a more profound effect on society that anyone expected.

How I Met Your Mother
It wasn’t until the 1990s that anyone met online. By the end of the first decade of the 21st century, about one third of all people who dated met online and slightly less than one quarter of people over 50.

Photo Source: https://static.eharmony.com/blog/how-you-meet-your-spouse-matters/

General public opinion about online dating has changed also. In 2005 only 44% of US adults believed online dating was a good way to meet people. In 2015, 59% believed online dating was a good way to meet potential dates.

Before the 21st century the primary way to meet potential mates was through social networking: friends, family, work, church, special interests. As a result, most people fell in love with, and married, people who had certain life aspects in common. One fifth of the way into the 21st century, we have opened up the meeting/dating pool to far greater diversity in race, religion, sexual orientation, nationality, and so on.

Some psychologists believe bringing together more people from various cultures and ethnicities would result with more interracial couples and, hopefully, help alleviate prejudices and racism. While I believe that couples do need some things in common to be happy, I also see greater diversity as a way to enrich our lives, increase our understanding, and eat away at the prejudices that separate us by creating new links within society that didn’t exist before.

One point in favor of online dating.

Marriage
Unlike the days of arranged marriages and marriages of necessity, in 2019 meeting a potential mate is the first step. And if the older methods of meeting people caused us to marry people more or less like ourselves, online dating should, and has, resulted in more diversity in marriages as well. According to the statistics of the Brain Research Institute, 1 in 5 relationships and a little more than 1 in 6 marriages begin online. www.datingadvice.com/online-dating

Experts agree those numbers are only going to grow, as more than 49 million people have tried online dating, and nearly 8,000 dating sites exist in the world. Nearly ten percent of the US population visit these sites daily, and participation isn’t cheap. Although there are free services available, from an economic standpoint online dating is a $3 billion-a-year business.

However, when it comes to studies about the success and duration of marriage that begin with online dating, the jury is still out. The results seem to point in all directions.

Photo Credit: The Social Firm
Photo Source: pinterest.com/pin/292452569522774655/

GIVE ME THE BAD NEWS FIRST
Because experiences with online dating vary, some people are satisfied and others not. Everyone claims there are Pros and Cons to meeting potential dates and/or mates in this manner. I have some good news and some bad news.

The Bad News First – The Negatives

● If you’ve never done anything like this before, it may create feelings of discomfort and take time to get used to.

● It’s a crowded digital space, and it can be exhausting having to weed out the good from the bad.

● The choice of partners can become confusing and overwhelming, or disappointing.
Online daters can get stuck endlessly "shopping" for the perfect partner, rather than actually starting a satisfying relationship. Having choices is great, but keep them manageable.
   If you want an actual face-to-face dating interaction, don't get stuck endlessly "browsing" online hoping for someone better to come along. Narrow your search to a small location, or a certain set of "make-or-break" features, characteristics, interests, -- whatever is most important to you. After your narrow it down, rather than just "shopping", talk to those who make the list.
   For men, on average, only about half of your initial emails will get a response. From there some women will drop off and only a smaller percentage will meet up for a date. For attractive women in their 20’s, so many emails may come in that it is overwhelming.

● Many men online are not seeking a meaningful relationship.
“One of the big problems with online dating for women is that, although there are genuine relationship-seeking men on the sites, there are also plenty of guys on there simply looking for sex. While most people would agree that on average men are more eager for sex than women, it seems that many men make the assumption that if a woman has an online dating presence, she’s interested in sleeping with relative strangers.”
psychologytoday.com//the-mating-game

● It can be difficult to stick to one site, making the experience stressful.

● Sitting on a computer and interacting via email can get boring and disappointing, particularly if you are just waiting for responses.
If you go out to a bar to meet women (even if you get shot down 1,000 times) you can still feel productive. At least there you’re developing your social skills.

● Evaluating a match is hard without any physical interaction.
Psychologists warn computer-mediated communication may have an artificial and unemotional quality since it can be harder to evaluate a potential match online where you cannot pick up on cues and features that build attraction, like touching and body language. We pick up a lot of information with our physical senses.
Cartoon by Bill Whitehead
   Cartoon Source: https://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/o/online_dating.asp

● Matching is a difficult process and testing may not be accurate for everyone.
I assume “computer matching” is likely to identify clearly incompatible matches, but could possibly overlook potentially good partners in the process.

“I said I’m looking for a date who is soft, sweet,
and a little bit nutty. They matched me with a
loaf of banana bread.”
Cartoon Credit: Randy Glasbergen
Photo Sourse chinalovematch.net/magazinearticle

● People lie on their profiles.
Why are you not surprised? Online dating sites will admit many users lie on their online dating profiles. Men users most commonly lie about age, height and income, whereas female users lie about weight, physical build and age. Women pick the most flattering picture possible which may not represent the current reality.

● Your best chance is still meeting through a friend.
Despite everything, eHarmony states that statistics currently show you are more likely to meet “the one” by being introduced through a mutual friend. In fact, that’s how 63% of Photo Source: married couples met their spouse.
www.fittitude2freedom.com/the-dating-game/

Now The Good News – The Positives
The primary rationale of online dating is meeting potential partners [for just hooking up, dating to have fun, dating with the intent of getting into a relationship, dating with the intent of finding a longer term partner, spouse, companion, mate] for subsequent person-to-person contact. In that respect, online dating serves its purpose in the 21st century. In my opinion, the positives are fewer in number but compelling in quality. They include:

● There is no longer as much social stigma to meeting online.

● Meeting online is easy and convenient.
To quote one site: “You can connect with women without having to bother with things like putting on pants.” [Clearly written by a man]

● Meeting online saves time.
Dating takes time, and in today’s world some people who want a relationship don’t have the time for endless dating to find a companion. Why waste time on relationships that eventually will not work.
Cartoon by Out There By George;' Photo source: www.toonpool.com/cartoons

● Dating sites match based on compatibility and personality.
Such matching can help guide individuals toward dating partners who may be more compatible. Gone are the days of sitting through awkward blind dates–most dating sites use personality tests to guide users toward their best match.

● Dating online gives access to people you might not have ever crossed paths with.
Online dating allows people to connect with a much larger dating pool which is no longer limited to the people you went to school with or live near, or friends of friends. It dating allows you to meet and connect with people you probably never would have met without the Internet. If you’re interested in a particular type, orientation, and lifestyle or live in a rather isolated area, online dating gives you access to more potential partners.

● Meeting online allows screening and reduces risk before investing effort, money, and time.
As crass as that sounds, it’s true. Face-to-face dating takes a certain level of commitment you may or may not want to invest in. And if you are shy or not socially inclined, the risks of dating may seem overpowering.

● The odds are pretty good.
One out of five relationships start online [the percentage may be debatable, but it’s close]. Such computer-mediated communication allows for safe and convenient interaction, without much risk or time commitment. For the busy professional, or the safety-conscious, such communication is an excellent way to "test" potential partners.

Now The Really Bad News - A Word of Warning
Be careful! Don’t let infatuation or anything else cloud your thinking. There are a lot of nuts and predators out there. The dating sites and surveys don’t address this – quite the opposite: they run from it -- but dating online can be dangerous and requires the application of good sense, which is often in short supply, young or old.

According to Tony Neate, CEO of Get Safe Online, a UK-based non-profit, “actual physical attacks are only part of the picture. Online dating is also the source for financial and other scams [such as obtaining your financial data] that cause emotional trauma … I honestly believe there is a lot more that the online dating companies can do” to protect users … No dating company has ever approached this organization for a conversation about safety.” Instead, he claims, when he tried to talk to them they are “very defensive” on the issue. https://qz.com/dangerous-online-dating

Recent data from opinionmatters shows 53% of people lie on their profiles. Most of them – such as lying about age or using younger pictures -- fall into the category of “white lies” which won’t hurt anyone else, although they may jinks the dating. However, predators who lie can be very convincing. Things are not always as they seem, even after a surprising number of dates.
Cartoon by: SHIERS Jr. Creativet; Photo source: www.courierherald.com/safe-online-dating

Most of the reported crimes include robbery, financial scams [confidence fraud / romance schemes], and sexual assault. No doubt many crimes are not reported to anyone – the dating service or the police.

Retired Toronto Police sex crimes detective, Suzanne Kernohan says online dating provides a new hunting ground for sexual predators. “Don’t be afraid to sit down at the table and say, ‘Okay, this might sound silly but I don’t know who you are. Can I have a look at your driver’s license?’”
globalnews.ca/news/1875533/sexual-predators

FINISH

Sources:
https://www.apa.org/topics/divorce/
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/what-online-dating-could-do-to-divorce-rates-2017-10-16
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/609091/first-evidence-that-online-dating-is-changing-the-nature-of-society/
https://www.datingadvice.com/online-dating/online-dating-marriage-success
https://www.businessinsider.com/happy-marriage-online-dating-2017-10
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/11124140/Couples-who-met-online-three-times-more-likely-to-divorce.html
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/dating-in-the-digital-age/201712/is-meeting-online-good-marriages
https://www.datingnews.com/industry-trends/online-dating-statistics-what-they-mean-for-future/
https://www.cnsnews.com/mrctv-blog/dan-joseph/couples-meet-online-far-more-likely-have-marriages-end-divorce
https://www.bustle.com/articles/41802-couples-who-meet-through-online-dating-are-more-likely-to-divorce-new-study-says
https://www.zoosk.com/date-mix/online-dating-advice/online-dating-statistics-dating-stats-2017/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/03/23/the-truth-about-online-dating-according-to-someone-who-has-been-studying-it-for-years/
https://www.50more.com/blog/2017/10/19/how-effective-is-online-dating
https://www.apa.org/topics/divorce/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_dating_service
https://harlequinblog.com/2011/04/online-dating-and-romance-novels/
https://www.bustle.com/articles/170836-9-ways-reading-romance-novels-will-help-your-online-dating-game
https://www.glamour.com/story/romance-novelists-online-harassment-social-media
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/10/divorce-united-states-dropping-because-millennials/
https://www.wf-lawyers.com/divorce-statistics-and-facts/
https://news.uchicago.edu/story/meeting-online-leads-happier-more-enduring-marriages
https://www.infoplease.com/us/marital-status/marriages-and-divorces-1900-2012
https://qz.com/890320/nobody-know-how-dangerous-online-dating-really-is-and-dating-sites-wont-talk-about-it/
https://globalnews.ca/news/1875533/sexual-predators-increasingly-find-victims-on-dating-sites-police-warn/
https://whnt.com/2019/04/25/online-dating-popularity-continues-to-rise-so-do-associated-dangers/
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-mating-game/201609/the-ugly-truth-about-online-dating
https://static.eharmony.com/blog/how-you-meet-your-spouse-matters/
http://www.ootem.com/uncategorized/if-youre-single-and-you-like-to-mingle-head-to-the-nearest-laptop/

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history rewritten: the Columbus Day Controversy

10/11/2019

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IT IS WHAT IT IS
Throughout the history of the world, human beings have committed acts of war and perpetrated atrocities on other human beings for all manner of reasons. Political and military leaders and their armies have been responsible, over the millennia, for torturing, killing, and enslaving of millions.

The fact that many famous figures in history are deemed responsible for such acts of mayhem does not change history nor lessen the historical importance of other things these people may have accomplished or change their roles in the development of world history. Many of the acts are deemed atrocities by 21st century standards, but they happened. Right or wrong, good or evil, it is what it is.

Over the centuries human beings have become more civilized, educated, and empathetic to the rights and dignity of others. Standards of behavior and values have changed over time – for the better, I believe, although we still have a long way to go.

ORIGINS OF COLUMBUS DAY
Stories have it that Christopher Columbus died broke and in jail, but for the most part, the history books still give Christopher Columbus the credit for “discovering” the new world and opening up the Americas to European colonization.

October 12 is supposedly the day Columbus landed on what is now part of the Bahamas. [He never actually set foot on the North American mainland.] The day is celebrated in many countries in the Western hemisphere as well as Spain and Italy under various names, including "Día de la Raza" [Day of the Race], “Día de la Hispanidad” [Day of the Hispanic], Day of the Americas and Discovery Day. It was first celebrated in the US in 1792, the 300th anniversary of the discovery, by the Tammany Society.

Subsequently, there were celebrations of the day in various locations all over the US. In 1866, Italian Americans in New York began celebrating Columbus Day as recognition of their Italian heritage, with which this holiday has been connected ever since. As a result of lobbying by the Knights of Columbus and New York City Italian leader Generoso Pope, October 12 was proclaimed by Congress as a federal holiday in April 1937. [Note: several references said 1934]. In 1971, the US Congress officially designated the date of the annual federal holiday as the second Monday in October.

According to a Senate report to Congress from the year Columbus Day was proclaimed [not clear this means 1934, 1937, or 1971], it is an "annual reaffirmation by the American people of their faith in the future, a declaration of willingness to face with confidence the imponderables of unknown tomorrows.” www.latimes.com/columbus-day

Based on that statement, it appears Congress intended to celebrate the event of the discovery and the introduction of the Western Hemisphere to the Eastern Hemisphere, not specifically Columbus himself.

THE COLUMBUS DAY CONTROVERSY
The earliest opposition to celebrating Columbus Day dates back to the 19th century, before the holiday had any kind of legal status, when anti-immigrant activists attempted to eliminate it because of its association with immigrants from the Catholic countries of Ireland and Italy. Notably, the holiday was opposed by the Ku-Klux-Klan because they believed it increased Catholic influence in the United States.

Photo Source: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/columbus-confusion-about-the-new-world-140132422/
By Edmund S. Morgan - The Gallery Collection / Corbis

More recently, there is a growing movement in the US to replace “Columbus Day” with “Indigenous Peoples Day” because the proponents consider Columbus’ “discovery” of the new world a tragedy. According to Nadra Kareen Nittle’s article in www.thoughtco.com, March, 2017, “Native American groups argue that the Italian explorer’s arrival in the New World ushered in genocide against indigenous peoples as well as the transatlantic slave trade. Much like Thanksgiving, it highlights Western imperialism and the conquest of people of color.”

They argue that Columbus Day and other memorializations of Columbus “whitewash the brutal history of of native enslavement and genocide that represent his true legacy … Millions of indigenous people were displaced by Columbus, and between his arrival and the Pilgrims’ arrival in 1620, 90% of the native population died, mostly from diseases brought over from Europe. The remaining natives saw their land and culture destroyed by the violence of white Western colonization.” www.theyucatantimes.com/2018/columbus-day/

It is true that as Governor of the Indies, subsequent to his voyages, Columbus enslaved and mistreated the native populace and even colonists who objected to his policies and methods.

Was he a racist and a rotten, brutal person? Evidence indicates he was. Although his beliefs were not much different than anyone else at the time, he was held accountable for his atrocities by his peers, the Spanish.

Did he introduce slavery and other European injustices to the Americas? No. Slavery and human sacrifice had existed among some of the indigenous peoples of the Americas for hundreds of years before the Europeans got there.
He did come uninvited, invade their territory and conquer the inhabitants? Yes, but isn’t that the pattern of history throughout the world?

Should Columbus bear the responsibility for the European beliefs of the time, including slavery, and for what happened centuries afterward? I supposed that’s what the debate is about.

INDIGENOUS PEOPLES DAY
In my opinion, it is futile to try to assign “blame” for the consequences of any historic event. Understand the motivations and consequences, yes, but not blame. Columbus Day does not have to commemorate the person nor does it celebrate the ultimate outcome of the voyages. It does mark an important event in world history.

Highlighting an event that changed the world, or much of it, is neither a positive or negative comment on the value of the event or what happened subsequently. Remember, nearly all events commemorated by any culture, have their positive and negative impacts.

While the United Nations declared August 9 as International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples in late 1994, Berkeley, Calif., had already become the first city in the U.S. to replace Columbus Day itself.

It would take an act of Congress to do away with Columbus Day at the national level, but at least 6 states and 130 cities have officially renamed the holiday as Indigenous Peoples Day, and more are proposing legislation to do the same. Many cities, including Columbus, Ohio, have cancelled the traditional Columbus Day parade. These movement to rebrand Columbus Day and/or eliminate the parades are typically resisted by cities’ Italian-American communities, the original promoters of the holiday.

Italian flags Columbus Day parade Fifth Avenue NY Columbus Day Parade on 5th Avenue
Photo Credit: Shannon Stapleton/Reuters Photo Credit: (Andrew Burton / Getty Images)
Photo Source: cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/no-apologies Photo Sourcewww.latimes.com/nation/columbus-day

It would take an act of Congress to do away with Columbus Day at the national level, but at least 6 states and 130 cities have officially renamed the holiday as Indigenous Peoples Day, and more are proposing legislation to do the same. Many cities, including Columbus, Ohio, have cancelled the traditional Columbus Day parade. These movement to rebrand Columbus Day and/or eliminate the parades are typically resisted by cities’ Italian-American communities, the original promoters of the holiday.

Idigenous Peoples' Day celebration in Berkeley, California in 2012 Idigenous Peoples' Day celebration in Berkeley, California in 2017
Photo source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_Peoples%27_Day Photo source: berkeleyside.com/2017/dump-columbus-day

Perhaps we could should rename the holiday for October 12 as Italian-American Heritage Day, since that’s what it has become to many in the US, and add another holiday on August 9 to celebrate Indigenous Peoples.
I can’t imagine most Americans opposing another national holiday with a day off work.

Sources:
https://www.berkeleyside.com/2017/10/09/berkeley-became-1st-city-dump-columbus-day-indigenous-peoples-day
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbus_Day
https://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-columbus-day-why-do-we-still-celebrate-20151012-htmlstory.html
https://www.freetheslaves.net/about-slavery/slavery-in-history/
http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ac41
https://owlcation.com/humanities/Christopher-Columbus-Trivia
https://badgerherald.com/opinion/2017/10/11/if-you-apply-a-21st-century-standard-to-columbus-then-you-should-to-the-natives-as-well/
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/why-i-proudly-celebrate-columbus-day
https://www.thoughtco.com/columbus-day-104712
https://www.history.com/topics/exploration/columbus-day
https://www.thoughtco.com/case-against-celebrating-columbus-day-2834598
https://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/13/at-parade-no-apologies-for-columbus/
https://www.theyucatantimes.com/2018/10/why-are-people-celebrating-indigenous-peoples-day-instead-of-columbus-day/
https://sokokisojourn.wordpress.com/2017/02/24/vermont-senate-house-bills-introduced-for-statewide-indigenous-peoples-day/
https://www.citylab.com/life/2018/10/why-cities-turned-against-columbus-day/572338/
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/28/us/columbus-day-indigenous-peoples.html
https://www.thoughtco.com/case-against-celebrating-columbus-day-2834598

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NO, YOU REALLY DON’T UNDERSTAND: Writing Characters With Backgrounds Other Than Your Own

10/4/2019

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All writers have their own methods of creating characters and generating ideas for novels. I use my foreign travels for plot ideas, and enjoy creating stories that take place all over the world. I also draw ideas from things I experience, read, see in movies or on TV, and from life itself. Yada-yada-yada.

My story idea and setting usually come before the main characters, who are then developed to fit the location and have the characteristics and personalities to move the plot forward. From there, I populate the novel with a lot of secondary and minor characters as the need for them comes along.

In real life, there are tens or maybe hundreds of people who move through our lives each day, but have no importance for us. Don’t take that the wrong way. I’m not saying some people are more worthy of our attention than others. Neither am I implying we should ignore or not see those people: quite the opposite. We should be kind, civil, respectful, sympathetic, caring, and interested in them. We should listen to what they have to say. That doesn’t mean they are integral part of our lives physically or emotionally.

I’m always nice to the cashiers at the grocery store [even the rude ones], and for the most part they are pleasant with me. Sometimes we talk briefly about what’s going on around us, in the news, or in our lives. We exchange a few sentences. I attempt to learn and remember their names … always a challenge for me. After five or ten minutes we part, and if we never see each other again, neither of us will be left with big holes in our lives.

But I digress. As far as my fictional characters go, when the need for a minor character comes up -- a baggage handler, a member of a tour group, a waitress, etc. – I usually don’t know what role the person will play. They may ends up:
Kicked out of the novel Murdered off in the novel Be given a role in the novel
▼ ▼ ▼

WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW
Those words of wisdom are some of the first “rules” beginning authors learn. While the guidance is, without question, useful at the start of a writing career, after a while most writers amend the advice to “write about what you know about” and realize it doesn’t necessarily mean should only write about yourself, your family, the town or country you grew up in, or anything specific in your background. It does means, “Do your homework first.”

There are many ways of accumulating knowledge besides “living it.” Granted, personal experience is vivid -- even mundane incidents or incidental knowledge can remain with us for a lifetime -- but human beings can, and do, learn through other means.

Nevertheless, writing about the experiences, events and feelings of others and understanding them are not the same.
That’s when an author, even one who has done their homework, can stray off the path when creating characters who do not resemble the writer’s own background and experiences -- including experiences in and with other backgrounds.
Hold that thought!

LONG TERM MEMORY IS WHO WE ARE
Our collection of memories provide humans [and fictional characters] with a sense of past, present, and future. The long term memories garnered from just being alive makes a humans who they are.

The process of memory involves the way human brains encode sensory perceptions -- everything around that the human body can perceive in one way or another – as well as storing these conscious and subconscious memories and recalling information. The brain absorbs innumerable bits of information every second, but it can only register a limited number taken in by our senses of sight, touch, sound, smell, feel (tangible and intangible such as mood).

Then, quickly this data is moved to parts of the frontal cortex responsible for analyzing the various sensory inputs and deciding if they're worth remembering. If they are, they're shipped off to the various parts of long term memory. Much of it returns to the sensory cortex areas where the brain originally received it.

Thus, if our long term memories are essentially who we are, our values, and what we believe in, then everything we see and do is filtered through that lens.

Hold that thought also.

WRITE WHAT YOU UNDERSTAND?
Understanding is a psychological process related to an abstract or physical object -- such as a person, situation, place, message, idea -- whereby one is able to think about it, use concepts to deal adequately with that object or thought, and make inferences. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Understanding

Intellectual vs. Emotional Understanding
I spent a lot of effort trying to get my mind around the difference between intellectual and emotional understanding, although I’ve used those words myself on many occasions. The best articulation I found is from an article written by Elinor Greenbers, Faculty New York Institute for Gestalt Therapy, describing the “practical differences between intellectual and emotional empathy”, which is not quite the same thing. Her example, slightly reworded, is below.
   "If we see someone fall down and spill their groceries on the ground, persons with emotional and intellectual empathy are almost equally likely to help.
   The intellectual will consider how the other person will react to the help, if other people are moving to help, and if helping the other person will inconvenience them. The intellectual might actively decide not to help at all, though they are also likely to ask the other person, “Are you all right?” or “Would you like a hand?”
   So, while the mechanics of the two kinds of empathy differ, they have few practical differences."

To me this means, intellectual understanding is listening to the words and what they mean, really hearing the story, realizing the kinds of impacts the incident had on the particular person telling the story, and being sympathetic to how the person is saying they felt about the situation.

Emotional understanding is all of the above plus the visceral feeling in your gut. Therein lies the rub. Even though being familiar with the details of experiences and feelings of others, understanding them are not the same. Is it possible to feel exactly as another person feels, both emotionally and physically?

The answer is, “No, you can’t completely understand.” No two people have exactly the same lens and process the information the same way. But people who have shared the same experiences or many of the same experiences can come very close to it, and having shared similar backgrounds and experiences gives a much better sense of what the other person thinks and feels.

Writer Eliza Andrews, in her article, quotes a friend of color who told her, “You can’t tell white people a story about white people and expect them to understand.”

She writes that no one can take their own experiences and then paste them over the top of race … or another person. I am white. I grew up at a certain time in a certain place and I’ve lived the life I have lived. I will never understand what it means to grown up being a person of color. I can only empathize and relate at some level.

We all “think” we understand, because anyone who is interested and/or even a little empathetic relates the topic of discussion to something that they are familiar with or have experienced personally which seems to replicate the other person’s point of view, but that isn’t necessarily the case. Everything we see, feel, learn, experience in any way, comes into our brains through unique filters.

That is a hell of a lot of words to say respect the fact that everyone is different.

SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITING CHARACTERS WITH BACKGROUND DIFFERENT THAN YOUR OWN
This blog was intended to list a few simple guidelines for writing characters who have different backgrounds [ethnic, cultural, national, sexual orientation, linguistic, interests – whatever the author didn’t experience directly]. Instead, my To-Do list morphed into a complicated research project. Apparently, I have no lens for pithy.

I believe that most writers want their works to be read, enjoyed, appreciated, and respected. I doubt most authors – at least not any that I know -- sit down at the computer to create characters and a story line for the purpose of spreading discriminatory practices and hate, or the intention of purposefully hurting, offending, disparaging, or damaging other people.

But authors are human. Not only do we see things through our own lens, we flat out make mistakes sometimes. We can be insensitive to something and be totally unaware of the results. What authors can do is be conscious of the problem and make an effort to lessen or eliminate those unintended offences from our writing. [If an author intends to be hurtful or offensive, there’s probably nothing anyone can say or do to make a difference.]

After running all this information through my own filter, I formulated these guidelines for writing about any characters and communities different from our own and those we are familiar with.
   ● Respect the people and their culture of the people you are writing about.
   ● Accept the fact that you may not “understand.”
You probably don’t, or at least not completely. Come to the task of writing your novel expecting to question and challenge your own filters on an ongoing basis to keep on course.

● Ask yourself why
If your major characters are of different background from your own, and you want to tell their story, ask yourself why. Why are you writing this book? Who is your audience? Why did you choose to this character whose background is different from yours?

● Do some serious research
Be ready to do as much research as your novel needs, which can consume much time and effort sometimes.

▪ Seek out one-on-one contacts, literature, research data, movies, etc. originated by the community you are writing about. Ask questions about things you don’t get.

▪ Listen! Pay attention! Set aside your own experience, beliefs, and filters. Try to suspend critical judgment in order to hear and understand, at least intellectually. How does this community see and represent itself? Be aware that in any community, the manner in which that community perceives and defines itself will vary from person to person, group to group, and may often seem contradictory. Don’t expect all members of any community to think alike or experience the same things. Don’t state or imply in your work that they do. Expect and represent a wide range of opinions.

▪ Research the speech characteristics and terminology used at the time and location of your novel. Language and dialogue are weak points in portraying accurately a community you are not familiar with, and certainly can be unintentionally incorrect or offensive. My research informed me, loud and clear, that black English is not English with bad grammar and slang. It is a dialect.

In dialogue, slang, pronunciation, and accents present potential pitfalls. More so if the setting is one which did or does not respect certain communities of people. The reality is that disparaging words are or were used to refer to others. Those words may be hurtful to readers.

Just sayin’. At times it is almost impossible to be true to history and at the same time be respectful of the feelings of the community in question. I don’t have the answer.

● Build and populate your world with sensitivity
Get your facts straight and keep them correct. This is not the time to “wing it.” Research your setting, history of the time, and language, and create, with sensitivity, the world your characters occupy or occupied. Numerous people of color pointed out that in many novels not one character, even a walk-on, is a person of color. Even though the main characters may not be a person of color, could the individual float through life without ever seeing one?
At the same time, be sensitive to stereotyping and dropping in "tokens."

● Avoid stereotyping
Stereotyping is making broad and often oversimplified assumptions about all members of a specific group or community.

Native American Stereotype John Herrington, Native American Astronaut African American Stereotype Serena Williams, Tennis Champ

▪ While some people within the group may embody the traits or characteristics of their stereotype, they are not necessarily representative of all people within that group.

▪ Although stereotypes are often seen as negative perceptions, they can also be positive. Either way, they can be harmful and hurtful.
▼ Spanish stereotype of American Tourist
www.countriesandcultures.com

▪ A characteristic associated with a group does not have to be inaccurate in order to be a stereotype.

There is always the chance that a character who seems well-rounded and deliberate to you might appear to someone else as a stereotype. To avoid stereotypes, you’ve have to know what they are from the perspective of the character you’re writing about. Time for more research.

Orson Scott Card writes, “The moment we see a stranger, we immediately start classifying her according to the groups we recognize she belongs to. We also, unconsciously, compare the stranger to ourselves. Is the stranger male or female? Old or young? Larger than me or smaller? My race or another? My nationality or another? Richer than me or poorer? Does he do the same kind of job as I do, or a job I respect, or a job I think little of? The moment we have identified the stranger with a certain group, we immediately assume that he has all the attributes we associate with that group. This is the process we call prejudice or stereotyping, and it can lead to embarrassing false assumptions, needless fears, even vicious unfairness.” writersdigest.com/characters-and-viewpoint-excerpt

● Take A Shot At Understanding What Being Privileged Means
Read White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack by Peggy McIntosh. There is a lot of food for thought, and it gave me a different perspective on the matter. https://www.racialequitytools.org/resourcefiles/mcintosh.pdf

● Base your character, closely or loosely, on a real person.
Author and illustrator Elisha Lim writes, “Consult with them as you write it. Let them edit it. Credit them generously. Repay them, at the very least with a copy of the book. If you can’t do this because you don’t have any friends of the particular background, then you probably don’t have the life experience to write that character convincingly. (Also a good moment to seriously reconsider your friend selection process.)” https://midnightbreakfast.com/writing-people-of-color

● Seek feedback from Sensitivity Beta readers
After completion of the first draft, you may want to ask certain members of the community in question to be Beta Readers for sensitivity. If you don’t know anyone, then you probably need to do more research. It’s good to have more than one. Listen carefully to what they tell you.

● Give your secondary and “minor” characters as much attention as your primaries
Secondary characters need to be fleshed out almost as much as primary characters. They deserve to be well-rounded individuals in their own right regardless of heritage or community. Minor characters and walk-ons get as much attention and description as warrants in the manuscript, but they should be accurate to the depth they are addressed.

● When in doubt, write from a place of shared understanding.
Authors must understand who they’re writing about, whether the character is a five-year-old child, a war hero with PTSD, or the worst antagonist ever.

● Remember Western culture has a predisposition to meaning of colors.
Do not always associate, in your writing, white with the definition of good and pure, and black with the definition of what is evil. We can’t escape the millennia of such references, but don’t put them in your writing. There are plenty of other words in the English language to make your meaning known.

● When introducing characters, do not point out non-white races or differences.

● Do not describe people in terms of edibles.
Describing people using food is not good in general, but it is particularly offensive to people of color and done so often that it warrants constant alertness. People of color have had a history of being used for slave labor involving food, especially coffee, chocolate, and so on, and the words have a historical context. Be aware of them. It is only a matter of selecting our words with care and sensitivity. Break the habit.

Writing With Color is an excellent website which provides alternate words for describing colors and tones of skin and many other things. Writing with Color: Description Guide – Words for Skin Ton

● Think twice about a plotline involving the whiteman saving the natives.
It’s not only the characters but often the overall premise of your story. Consider this in your plotting as well as creation of characters.

SHOULD AUTHORS WRITE ONLY CHARACTERS LIKE THEMSELVES?

Photo source: https://writersrelief.com/2018/02/15/characters-different-ethnicities-writers-relief/

No brainer. Hell, no! We live in the 21st century, in a world that is as diverse as it’s ever been. Not writing about other cultures and characters of other communities is being untrue to reality. Most important, it can only make us better writers, broaden our audiences, and give us more interesting things to write about.

Kristin Nelson puts it this way. “Make your characters realistic and grounded, and avoid falling back on stereotypes. Instead of merely describing your characters’ skin color, build a realistic and complex backstory for each character: What past experiences related to their heritage have shaped their identities and worldviews, and how will those things affect the ways in which they think, behave, and interact with others during the course of your story. Research extensively. Engage sensitivity readers of the same background(s) as your character(s). Expect and listen to criticism.” nelsonagency.com/can-white-authors-write-characters-of-color
□
Sources and Resources:
https://indefeasible.wordpress.com/2008/03/23/writing-about-characters-of-a-different-race/
https://fromthemixedupfiles.com/2017/09/writing-white/
https://www.torforgeblog.com/2016/06/06/writing-poc-while-white/
https://sheerhubris.com/2016/09/18/writing-while-white-embracing-diversity-or-appropriating-culture/
https://erinbartels.com/tag/writing-while-white/
https://bookriot.com/2018/02/05/casually-racist-things-that-white-authors-do/
http://authorelizaandrews.com/on-writing-about-race-when-youre-white/
https://lithub.com/writing-while-black/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Understanding
http://www.journal.kfionline.org/issue-6/this-matter-of-intellectual-understanding
https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/discussion/why-do-we-read-and-write-novelshttps:/www.writersdigest.com/wd-books/characters-and-viewpoint-excerpt
https://nelsonagency.com/2017/01/can-white-authors-write-characters-of-color/
https://writingtheother.com/writing-characters-of-different-races/
https://intellectusspeculativus.wordpress.com/2015/07/16/guest-post-max-gladstone-on-bees-and-diversity/
https://fromthemixedupfiles.com/2017/09/writing-white/
https://www.racialequitytools.org/resourcefiles/mcintosh.pdf
https://writingwithcolor.tumblr.com/post/96830966357/writing-with-color-description-guide-words-for
https://writingwithcolor.tumblr.com/post/95955707903/skin-writing-with-color-has-received-several
https://www.vox.com/2015/8/19/9173457/hispanic-latino-comic [Good explanation of the difference between being Latino and Hispanic. They are not interchangeable.
https://writingwithcolor.tumblr.com/post/96830966357/writing-with-color-description-guide-words-for
https://thinkprogress.org/the-damaging-effects-of-the-model-minority-myth-5de48554c2d9/
https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2015/10/16/the-effects-of-seeing-asian-americans-as-a-model-minority/model-minority-seems-like-a-compliment-but-it-does-great-harm
https://www.colorlines.com/articles/latino-stereotypes-thrive-media-negative-attitudes-dominate
cynthialeitichsmith.blogspot.com/2014/02/writing-tonto-wise-cracking-minority.html
gypsyappropriations.blogspot.com/2010/04/problem-with-word-gypsy.html
https://www.essence.com/news/5-code-words-media-needs-stop-using-describe-black-people/
https://clairelight.typepad.com/seelight/2006/09/almond_eyes.html
https://litreactor.com/columns/representation-matters
https://bookriot.com/2018/02/05/casually-racist-things-that-white-authors-do/
uncannymagazine.com/writing-the-margins-from-the-centre-and-other-moral-geometries-by-amal-el-mohtar/
https://intellectusspeculativus.wordpress.com/2015/07/16/guest-post-max-gladstone-on-bees-and-diversity/
https://twitter.com/DavidOBowles/status/959132384624103424
https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2015/10/16/the-effects-of-seeing-asian-americans-as-a-model-minority/model-minority-seems-like-a-compliment-but-it-does-great-harm
https://justinelarbalestier.com/blog/2016/06/20/how-to-write-protagonists-of-colour-when-youre-white/
https://writersrelief.com/2018/02/15/characters-different-ethnicities-writers-relief/
https://midnightbreakfast.com/writing-people-of-color
http://www.fantasy-writers.org/forum/writing-character-different-race
https://wendyallott.com/2018/02/07/what-should-you-consider-when-writing-characters-who-are-have-a-different-race-religion-gender-or-sexual-preference-to-you/
Ten Tips On Writing Race in Novels – AuthorMitaliPerkins

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