Inspiration in strange places

A B-movie fantasy watched in 1980s.
A first and second title from an author that becomes one's favorite.
An early obsession with Greek myth.
An early obsession with Sword and Sorcery ephemera.
A fantasy novel read in junior high.
Another epic fantasy series that blew the mind in high school.
These are just what is remembered that served for inspiration to the series worked on now.

About being a writer. About being.

Speaking to a fellow writer online got this reply from me (this version you read is longer and elaborate) and also to think on another NEW post.

One of the questions, and this comes up in many media-related questions, is why we don't seem to know people of color and/or women in varying industries? My reply to this, both off and online, is by what I and others have experienced. I am a girl, therefore, I don't read comics, much less, the superhero variety. I was bullied by other girls for this and shunned by the boys, who thought I was a mutant! [Extra points to those that got the analogy and reference here]

There are also not enough diversity in the media, and before I go into one HUGE rant on this and waste my time and yours, the question followed that poets of color are not often acknowledged, or even known by the general populace (both majority and minorities).

I make it a point to write down people featured on documentaries: this is how I learned which books of theirs to get, what films they created, or what modern works they influenced. 

Do you know, or, have heard of Rita Dove and/or Natasha Trethewey? No?

I gave Ms. Trethewey's poetry collection to friends and family in the U.S. and Jamaica as Christmas gifts! My older sister was especially thrilled as she tries to keep up with the poet laureates.

I think that in my experience (did read Nikki Giovanni and Ruby Dee's poetry anthology "Glowchild" as a child, and in my preteens, the Harlem Ren men and women), I do love poetry, and, because of culture, was spoon-fed it. Yet, as years went by, I began to shy away from the genre in its modernity because it grew incensed, enraged, as well as contrary to my own experiences and those close to me.

I'm glad that poetry is becoming diverse in tone again, and not just in one shade, or by one emotional dial.

I am a writer and I happen to be Black (unfortunately, I don't agree with this one-size-fits-all race stuff, and especially not on registrations forms, but it's all we have for now, so I must use it), but I too have been asked why I write what I write (furry, spec fic, fables, myth).

My prose has been called into question. Especially in high school when an English teacher accused me of plagiarism (that was a single incident, other English teachers, to their credit, were aware of my writing skills before I was).
There was another teacher that asked why I knew so much (something I noticed she didn't say to 'lighter' classmates). This same teacher also made many racially-charged statements throughout the term.
So many, in fact, that I and a classmate went to the principal to report her! I won't get you started on the Math teacher. That is for another post.

Sad, sad indeed that we have come such a long way, yet not long enough.

I don't understand some people...

I don't remember if it was a writers' conference, a workshop, the Miami Book Fair, some random convention or event I usually attend when I'm bored and/or have some extra cash.
Anyhoo, a gentleman was impressed by the fact I was published and had my own website. He asked what inspired my stories.

I told him I grew up on Greek myth and so, at the time, Tabber the Red (my site), had Greek Mythology* on the Welcome Page. He told me that was surprising, since I'm not Greek.

Huh? What? How did you arrive at that conclusion?
No, I'm far from Greek (I'm 1st Gen Caribbean-American), but what I don't understand is that, as far as I could tell, neither was he.

Yet, I got the impression that had I matched his skin color, this man would never have said such a ridiculous summation to me.
What did being non-Greek have to do with being a lover of storytelling that has lasted through the ages?
~~~
I don't like pigeonholes: in high school art, as a girl, I wasn't suppose to draw superheroes.

Instead, I should be creating the fashion art the majority of girls were drawing (one fashion artist even got ticked off when she saw the outfits I created for my characters, and demanded to know how I could draw such outfits - so, she was jealous at how..creative the outfits on cartoon characters were?).

In junior high, I should be drawing still-life instead of cartoons.

In college art courses, an instructor/professor had the nerve to tell me I was too repressed and restrictive, especially when, after completing his assignments, I turned to sketching my own work during free time.

When I decided to take writing seriously, when it no longer became a passing interest, no longer a hobby, but something I wanted to shape my life, there were folks who told me to stop writing about animals, stop living in science fiction world, stop these childish dreams, and focus on reality, and read Urban fiction (you know, because I AM Black).

And let me also mention the English teacher, who, in my first-year of high school, accused me of plagiarism (don't worry, will explain in another post), and a science teacher from my junior high days, a truly dreadful woman, who later showed up at the college I later attended!

Here I was, working at the college bookstore as a cashier, and she, horror of horrors, was the next in line!

Dreadful Teacher: Oh, it's you, Ms. Welsh. You're here. (Because, she could never call us by our FIRST names, as she was mean enough not to make it personal)

Me: Hello, Ms. (Name deliberately omitted). How are you?

Dreadful Teacher: What're you doing here?

Me: I'm majoring in art.

Dreadful Teacher: Oh. THAT again? I thought you gave that up.

I don't know why I wanted to bite her instead of the normal thought of punching her, I guess that was just the so-called 'Furry' in me, but I grinned wide enough as if I was bearing my teeth in a snarl and wished her a nice day.
~~~
As human beings, we all have prejudices; we all make snap judgements. We're all flawed.Yes, if we know a person's ethnicity, we can hope to better understand him/her, if we know someone's name, it betters our chances of connecting with him/her.

I get it. What I don't understand is, when a person can just outright BLURT OUT his/her snap judgements at you on the summation of skin color? Or gender? And then on THAT flimsy basis, decide what you must like, what must be your hobbies, what must be your life? And when you completely change that illusion or assumption, YOU, not the person who makes the snap judgement, are the brunt of that person's ire or confusion?

I don't want to understand. I just want to draw what I like. I want to write what I like. So far, some people like it, some love it, and some hate it no matter what. We are entitled to our interests. We are entitled to our opinions.
But please, for those who think you can decide everything about a person just by looking at them, maybe you're in the wrong business.
You should probably do fortune-telling. Yet, even palmists study a person carefully before making a prediction.


*For those who visit 'Tabber the Red', I have since changed 'Greek' Mythology to 'World' Mythology because the Greek stories led me to reading other cultures' myths and folklore.

How I came to Fantasy [Addendum]

herocomplex.latimes.com (c)

Unlike most writers who were brought to fantasy by way of Tolkien, I was only lucky enough to have seen the animated version of "The Hobbit" and "The Return of the King".

I am a late bloomer to Tolkien, having read him in my early twenties. Instead, those who brought me to fantasy in the way of wanting to write it has to go to Hans Christian Anderson, Aesop, and the Brothers Grimm, as well as various mythologies.

Actually, I can pinpoint wanting to write fantasy in 10th grade by way of Weis' and Hickman's "Death Gate Cycle" (Please read. Your mind will be blown at the 2nd-3rd book in this groundbreaking series).

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Later, I fell in love with David Eddings'*(Please read my April 2021 Post titled 'Our Heroes Are Actually Monster) "Belgariad", further solidifying my resolve.

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