Post by Veda Jairrels.
Diary
Winding Down to Wind Up
Thanks to the generosity of a dear friend, I am heading out of town this week for a short urban retreat. I will be heading to a city in the northeastern US to just kick back, relax, eat well, and spend hours and hours writing Blood of a Dark Nation, the next installment of the Dark Nation series.
I have had a lot on my plate recently. Gamma Xi Phi, the professional fraternity for artists, is still a very important volunteer experience for me and I recently joined the Georgetown University African American Advisory Board. Though I’ve still been writing, it hasn’t been with the intensity that I usually do. However, I think this trip will be an excellent way to kick-start the next portion of developing this book.
Just time…in a different environment…with no interruptions. Exactly what Justin and Dante need to get the rest of their story told.
I’ve written about 50 pages of the novel and I’m guessing it will be about 200 pages total. Covenant was also a short novel, but it gets to the point.
Blood of a Dark Nation will have a lot of action. I’m excited to introduce several new characters, including Annette Mitchell, Dr. Leung, The Butcher, and of course, The Jackal.
Spoiler alert: There will be blood.
That said, I will be scaling back my blogging and social media updates unless it has to do with the writing of this book, from next week through the end of August. Since Blood of a Dark Nation is totally outlined and 50 pages are already written, I don’t think it will take longer than nine weeks to finish the rest.
I would *like* to publish the novel by the end of the year, retaining my annual publishing streak. But I can’t promise that because the editor and cover designer still need to be paid as well as the company which formats my work for e-books. (I could do that myself, but I really am not that good at it.)
I might pull a Beyonce and just surprise y’all when it drops. That does take a LOT of pressure off me when it comes to the promotion leading up to a launch. Like, dropping a book is much like planning any other special event. But really… like really really…. I don’t make a lot of money off my books in the first place, so why not take the risk of a “surprise” publish date? My super readers follow me on this blog and social media so there’s little risk that anyone would miss the announcement.
Just rambling at this point. Haven’t made any decisions yet.
Y’all take care!
Fraternal Friday: Maybe the inactive members have it right
On Facebook over the holiday weekend, a Facebook friend posted the following:
it absolutely burns me up to see a “brother” buy a new vehicle and the first thing put on it is a fraternity tag. Mind you, these same brothers won’t come to meetings, pay dues, or support any cause of the fraternity. If you’re not about what you’re advertising, don’t advertise. I’m tired of these letter wearers.
First, a fact: A majority of initiates into my fraternity are currently inactive. That is probably the case for every fraternity. Let me underscore the fact that the judgment of inactive members is a huge pet peeve of mine. I have been inactive and I have been active. I went from neophyte of the year to inactive member the very next year. And when I came back to activity, I became a national committee chair. And I am currently inactive again. This does not stop me from wearing paraphernalia. My ‘nalia reminds me of good things and of friends I made. It allows me to connect with people I wouldn’t ordinarily connect with, even if only fleetingly. And I look rather good in black and gold. For me, my current reason for being inactive is financial. I just don’t have the $150 to pay the fraternity for the benefit of a magazine that is consistently late, if it comes out at all. That’s pretty much all I would get. I haven’t been a member of a chapter for many years. I wasn’t a member of a chapter when I was a national committee chair, either. Rather than go into those reasons, I want to share with you a list why people might be happy to represent their membership but loathe to become an active member of a local chapter:
- The members of the chapter aren’t nice.
- The grad chapter/grad members had an adversarial relationship with the undergrad chapter.
- They are tired of being hit on at fraternity functions.
- The local chapter is just wack/socially awkward/inept.
- Tired of the scandals at the national level.
- Don’t want to be begged for money at every chapter meeting.
- Extremely difficult to be a leader in the chapter due to cliques or generational differences.
- The chapter treated them poorly when they were a member – before you even joined the chapter yourself.
- Don’t agree with the direction of Greek life as a whole anymore.
- The local chapter is homophobic.
- The local chapter is full of closet queens who won’t change the status quo.
- The member is an introvert.
But none of those reasons impact the fact that said member’s life was changed when they became a member of the organization. Becoming a member is a rite of passage to be proud of and a symbol of prestige in the community. It’s possible to be proud of what you are and hesitant to be engaged at the same time. Nobody wants to be around smug people who think they’re better because they have the money and the time to be engaged. And perhaps that’s what some of our organizations have become. There are some people that I look at and praise their activity because they really do enjoy it. Quietly, I am placing bets on when they, too, will be burned out from the drama and foolishness and become engaged in something else. A radical change in the culture of Greek life has to occur before the majority of the inactive members come back. So long as the leadership and the rank-and-file alike are harping on this sense of “obligation” to be active, we will stay away, our time will go to other endeavors, and our money will go to other causes. Having been both engaged and disengaged, I can’t say that the inactive brothers have it wrong. I’m proud to BE… and I’m happy to stay away from the mess I have encountered inside chapter walls.
Harpo, who dese women?
http://vimeo.com/68784626
It’s funny how the above video has apparently been on Vimeo for 11 months but only just went viral (in my world) this morning. In the space of an hour, three different friends told me about this video and asked for my comments.
After watching it yourself, I think you can understand that I am not necessarily a fan. It definitely seemed like an interesting concept, but you can tell there are already some “characters” in the bunch who just want to be famous for the wrong reasons.
If I was going to be Executive Producer for an unscripted show about sorority life, here’s how it would go:
First, I’d call it “Joiners” and I wouldn’t limit it to sororities.
I’d cast an AKA, a Delta, a Link, a Jack and Jill mom, and an OES member. My hope is that all five women know each other from their community work. I’d want them to be in their late 30s at least so the world can see that membership really is for life. And I want different types of orgs so the women can discuss why one might be in more than one.
I’d follow them from September through May as each woman plans their chapter’s major social/philanthropic event for the year. I’d love some sort of friendly competition among the five, like who can raise the most money with their events.
Of course I’d want to follow them on service projects, conventions, parties, church, etc.
Joiners should be more documentary and less ratchet. Which means it would only last a season, but at least it could be a season we’d be proud of.
I’d choose DC over Atlanta, but Baltimore or Philadelphia would be just as good.
Anyway, as far as the above project, I can see why it didn’t go anywhere. The women involved are too young to be interesting, if you ask me, and too old and educated to be ratchet.
What do you think?
Fraternal Friday: You want to put that hot sauce where?
Last week, the Alphas at University of Tennessee were kicked off campus until 2016 for some pretty ill allegations. Here are the receipts for those of you (like me) who need the salacious details like to understand how disciplinary investigations work.
To be honest, I don’t want to talk about what my brothers are accused of specifically. When these stories get out, it becomes all-too-easy to play pile-on with not only the undergrads, but the entire generation.
OMG THEY NEED TO STOP ALL THIS HAZING
OMG THIS WHOLE GENERATION IS KILLING THE FRAT
OMG THEY MAKIN UP NEW SHIT NOW! WE NEEEEEVER DID THAT
OMGWTFBBQ
So here’s the thing…. I will be 35 years old on June 25. I am not a young man. The practice of putting hot sauce on your privates as a stage in the pledge process is not new. I first heard about it as an undergraduate which was over 15 years ago now. There is a name for the practice and there is a reason for the practice. It’s not a mindless thing that somebody made up out of the blue.
It is, however, very reckless and unnecessary for the training of potential members into a fraternity. So if you’re reading this and you’re doing this to your pledges, please stop. And if you’re not, don’t start.
But again, this practice existed fifteen years ago. It bothers me when older fraternity members don’t think critically about how culture works. Just because you didn’t do it doesn’t mean it wasn’t going on. “The Process” has never been one monolithic experience. When it comes to unofficial, underground pledge processes, they vary from totally hands-off pledging experiences which are uplifting and educational, to cruel and meaningless hazing practices and probate show practice.
Most fall somewhere in the middle.
I believe that most undergraduates who participate in underground processes are well-meaning young men and women who yearn for a deep connection to…something. Maybe it’s to the ancestors, or to ideals, or just to a legacy they can be part of. We (collectively) hype fraternity and sorority membership to be a transformative experience. And for decades, “The Process” was the catalyst for the transformation.
But as “The Process” changed and laws against hazing changed, the official intake processes had to change as well, forcing deeper underground the already illegal practices that chapters were engaging in.
Let’s be clear: there has always been an “underground” even when pledging was “above-ground.” Every chapter had its own traditions and practices. Everyone wasn’t putting hot sauce on genitals, but some people were getting peanut butter perms while others were getting shot in the face with water guns.
And men and women endured because the benefits to joining a BGLO are real and tangible, and for many, it was worthwhile socially and professionally.
But that’s really outside my overall point, which is that undergrads are being vilified nationally because they are being caught engaging in practices which are often as old as the chapters themselves. Something about that doesn’t sit right with me.
Maybe it’s because my brothers and sisters haven’t accepted that there is no singular underground process with a syllabus, objectives, standards, and reading list.
When you go underground, that is a local decision. You do it because you want to be transformed. When the mask comes off at the probate show, you want to have earned that new name. I get that.
But I wish they didn’t feel that way. And I wish the chapter members (and alumni) giving them the underground process didn’t feel as though they had to. This is a generational curse that perhaps no amount of revamping of the official process can solve.
I do know that vilifying an entire generation of those who have chosen to be hazed won’t solve anything and won’t mend any rifts between the young and old. It’s going to take a lot of compassion and listening to solve this complex problem.
The Resurgence of DC Black Pride
Last weekend, as is every Memorial Day Weekend, was DC Black Pride, sometimes referred to as DC Gay Black Pride by those of us who aren’t ashamed of the word “gay.”
I went to my first Pride in the year 2000. It was epic. I think everyone’s first Pride is epic, no matter how small it becomes. I didn’t attend my next Pride until the year 2004. That year I sat in the lobby at the feet of author Brent Dorian Carpenter as he held court, selling his book and making new friends. It’s because of Brent that I knew I could publish without the aid of an agent or traditional publishing house. The following year, 2005, I participated in Pride as an author and vendor for the first time. Since then, I have attended Pride each year, if even only for a few minutes.
A few years ago, DC Black Pride “fell off.” Not only were the crowds dwindling due to competition from circuit parties and for-profit LGBT-related vacations, it could also be said that Pride itself had not trained the next generation of leaders to take it over from the elders. For me, the last straw was last year, when I was told rather flippantly that there would be no authors forum.
You have to understand, in addition to all the parties that Pride is known for are the more important workshops and “daytime” events, such as the Poetry Slam, the Film Festival, the Author’s Forum. It’s not just vendors… this is an opportunity for authors to directly connect with their readers, get new readers, and inspire other writers – just as I was inspired by Brent.
Perhaps even more importantly is that the people who attend Pride are those who want to be on the forefront of new movements in the black gay community, politically and artistically. If I hadn’t been an avid Pride attendee, I would have never known about black gay films like The Ski Trip and black gay shows like Noah’s Arc.
So it was a heartbreaker that they eliminated the Writer’s Forum.
But this year they brought it back and I was invited! As usual, I had a ball. Wyatt O’Brian Evans did a more than capable job as the moderator. I was joined on the panel by old friends BuddahDesmond and LaToya Hankins and new friends J. Omarr and Tiana Meek (T’Ego). I think it was the right size, diverse mix of opinions, and a good vibe overall. The audience had great questions, too. I was lucky to reconnect with other old friends from my Georgetown days.
I would say that DC Black Pride is definitely alive and well. The audiences, though smaller than they were in the mid-00’s, are growing again. The spirit was back. Nobody seemed defeated or tired or unhappy. The name finally matched the feeling – PRIDE.
I hope this message encourages all of you who had written Pride off to make it your Memorial Day Weekend destination once more. The writers are still writing and we are again being included. Let’s make it even bigger next year, okay?