Working it Out: From Emancipation to Economic Independence

After centuries of receiving no or minuscule compensation (by being hired out) for their labor, formerly enslaved people, at the stroke of a pen, were responsible for their own livelihood.

Seamstresses, servants, cooks, carpenters, blacksmiths, wheelwrights and masons could ply their trade. Most, however, of this country’s enslaved workforce had been deployed to cultivate monocrops. No matter their occupation, they were responsible for negotiating wages, securing housing, paying rent, purchasing supplies, buying and/or growing their own food, clothing themselves and their families.  After centuries of laws that denied them literacy, property and ownership of their own bodies and those of their children, thousands of people were thrust into a world that did not welcome their newly acquired status.

Write On!: Get Graphic! Go Comic!

Are you drawn to drawing your own world? Do you picture rows of frames, imagine scenes, come up with your own cast of characters and play those scenes out in your mind? Is there, somewhere near, a messy pile of graphic novels or comic books that you have poured over a hundred times or more? Have you, ever, imagined that your work could, one day, be found in one of those piles?

KRAK! WHOOSH!! SPLAT!!!! There is an art to Making Comics. Get graphic! Go comic!! Try your hand at Cartooning and Creating Comics from Start to Finish. See what Stan Lee’s How to Draw Comics is all about. Learn The Art of Urban Sketching. Pour over Manga for the Beginner. Then, get busy composing Words for Pictures and splash each page with speech bubbles that balloon and go pop! A Glossary of Comics Terminology and the Letterform Archive are essential tools to put in your power pack.

The Art of Protest: Artists Art Protest

Between The Dead Eye and the Deep Blue Sea, there are artists who step back, survey the temperature of the times, put their fingers on the pulse and paint, write, compose, all the while Regarding the Pain of Others.

There are artists who take to the streets, join the ranks of The Resisters. They can be seen Disturbing the Peace as they Rage Against the Machine.

This a Report from Planet Midnight. It contains the Tales of Two Americas, whose cities, suburbs and towns are populated with Little Gods, Ninth Street Women and a Barefoot Artist.

Artists are everywhere, working, honing their visions in times of peace and discord. We depend upon the visions of artists to help us gain further clarity about the world in which we live. Artists art protest in many different forms, genres, disciplines and modes of communication. Art is about communication and connection to ideas, schools of thought, graphic representations and the way folks move through life.

Write On!: Writers Writing Life

You’ve read their work, admire their writing and anticipate reading their next book. Have you ever wondered, from whence did those words spring forth? Some readers are curious about the forces that give shape to a writer’s identity. They are intrigued about the circumstances that were foundational to the development of an author’s work.

Write On!: Publish Your Writing

Check! You did it, you’ve done the hardest part. You’ve taken an idea, a slither of an idea and honed it into a strong piece of writing. Now, you’re ready to send it out into the world.

This brings you to another beginning. This beginning is just as crucial and just as important as completing that piece of writing. Now comes the process of finding the journal, magazine, publisher or website that will accept your work.

You have to start somewhere! There are more options available today, than ever, for getting your writing read, accepted and published in print, online, by others or by publishing it yourself.

Publishing moves a work into the world; thoughts travel on paper, across screens where ideas can be talked about, contemplated by friends, family, colleagues and strangers.

So, where to start? It might be prudent to consult the Poets & Writers Complete Guide to Becoming a Writer and follow that with The Forest for the Trees: An Editor’s Advice to Writers.