On a recent road trip from beautiful downtown Madison, GA, I scrolled through the stations on the radio and found very few stations. NPR was loud and clear so I settled on it. Featured that segment were a couple of authors whose names did not ring a bell, which isn’t unusual for me, but I listened intently as the moderator prompted them with questions regarding the subject for the day. The subject matter – and I’m paraphrasing – was that we need to have more books on the shelves in our libraries that have people of color as their main character. No lie.
I listened to them, with my mind thinking, something doesn’t sound right here. Now I’m not a college educated person, but I do read a lot. Not only books, but informational materials about different things that come to my mind. I remember words that aren’t familiar to me, and try to get familiar enough with their meaning that I can use them. It’s just a habit I have. That being said, there are books that interest me and books that don’t interest me. There are things I want to know more about, and there are things that I haven’t the least bit of interest in. I also write my own stories about personal events in my life and take pride in doing so, trying to carefully punctuate and spell correctly what I do write.
If I were to be a real author, one that wrote stories and books for publication, I cannot imagine that I would have my mind wrapped around the fact that this must have a main character of color. I was under the impression that an author wrote a story that made logical sense to the reader, that is, unless they are writing science fiction. Even a fiction book would, in my mind, need to have a main character that fit into the plot, setting, and common sense of the work. This whole experience, riding down the road, listening to these two young authors (they were YA genre authors) prompted me to wonder exactly what NPR is thinking. The moderator made no attempt to contradict or counter their claims. They complained that if they went to a library and asked for a book that contained a person of color as the main character that there is very little, if anything on the shelves.
Which brings me to my whole point. Here we have two young ladies, hoping to sell their own publications, with the idea that an author must have someone tell them subject matter and/ or who to write about. Now, last I heard, an author of notoriety doesn’t normally write what somebody suggests, but writes from their own talent and research on subject matter. I don't think you can make an author write a best seller any more than you can make a soprano sing bass. It’s an art. A talent.
NPR is funded by our tax dollars. So is the National Endowment for the Arts.
After looking through the whole list of grants given for the past year, I didn’t see one single grant that would benefit a rural, poverty-stricken community that would give them an opportunity to explore the arts. One small town was included, but as you will recognize, it is an affluent community and my guess is that they could fund any arts programs they wanted, by raising funds on their own. The whole premise and mission statement of the Endowment seems somewhat overblown in their effort to educate and assist opportunities in the quest for art for all Americans. What do you think? You may be a little surprised at exactly where your tax dollars are going if you examine the lists from the past years.
https://www.arts.gov/
