Meet authors from "Oil and Water...and Other Things That Don't Mix"

Judith HeartSong Fine Art Studio and Gallery Presents:

Make Your Support Matter
A reading to help the Gulf region


A Reading for the Gulf: "Oil and Water...and Other Things That Don't Mix"

October 9, 2011
3:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

6112 Oberlin Avenue
Glen Echo, Maryland

Please RSVP (Attendees Only): mdoallas@aol.com by October 1.

Please join us on Sunday, October 9, for a special afternoon event with contributors to the benefit anthology Oil and Water and Other Things That Don’t Mix. Ginger McKnight Chavers, Maureen E. Doallas, Laura B. Gschwandtner, and Nicky Wheeler-Nicholson Brown will be reading their work and signing your copies of the book, sales of which aid Bay Area Food Bank and MOBILE Baykeeper.

Nicky Wheeler-Nicholson Brown, a seventh-generation Gulf resident, is an editor and ghostwriter for several publishers in New York and the Berkshires.

Ginger McKnight Chavers of New York City is the author of the recently completed novel Messages from Midland.

Maureen E. Doallas, of Arlington, Virginia, is the author of Neruda’s Memoirs: Poems.

Laura G. Gschwandtner, also of Virginia, is an award-winning writer, author of the novel The Naked Gardener, and co-owner of an integrated media business.

Summer 2011

Here's a link to the latest on the lawsuit against BP. It's a pretty concise assessment of where things are. Finally, it sounds like something is happening, at least in legal terms. Unfortunately, it's not going to be making much news.

I've been here on the coast since early March and things are very different from last year this time. I came down in late June last year and there were no boats in the water up and down the coast and almost no one on the beaches. The houses were all empty as if it were the winter season. This year the tourists are out in force and that is important for economic survival. However many small businesses went under this spring as well as independent contractors such as fishermen, tour boats and other water related businesses. There is still a pretty devastated economy here.

The environmental issues are literally buried--under the sand and lying on the bottom of the ocean. No one knows what the outcome will be of all the corexit that was dumped in the water, not to mention the oil that's still there. Many local people are not catching or eating crabs as they are bottom feeders. One of the largest local raw seafood houses still has a good selection but it is all from other coastal areas and labeled as such.

My sister who walks a stretch of beach for Share the Beach looking for turtle tracks and eggs notes that their area near the Perdido Pass and Orange Beach/Gulf Shores has had no turtles so far this season. A little further closer to the mouth of Mobile Bay, Fort Morgan has had several, thank goodness.

To top it off there is a severe drought in the area and now there are wildfires burning all around. One tourist was overheard complaining that the locals seem to be "whining" a lot about hurricanes, oil spills and drought/wildfires. Gee ya think?

Demand Fines Imposed on BP Be Returned to the Gulf Coast

MOBILE Baykeeper--one of the Gulf coast charities receiving proceeds from the sale of the Oil and Water anthology--is urging people to write to their legistlators demanding that revenue from fines imposed on BP be returned to the Gulf coast to assist with oil spill recovery. Apparently, although the fines are being levied because of last year's spill, the money is not guaranteed to go back to the Gulf coast. It may in fact be deposited into a general US Treasury fund. You can read MOBILE Baykeeper's stance on this issue here.

BP Oil Spill One Year Later - What Have We Learned?

I know people are already sick of hearing about this anniversary. Since the cameras left last year and people have resumed their lives, it is assumed everything is back to normal, and guess what--pictures don't lie! Or do they? See, there's a little thing in writing called "spin" and it has developed into a true art form. Depending on your resource, you can get any answer you want depending on which way the "spin" is turning.

Of course things look clean...on the surface. But anyone who thinks that this kind of massive oil spill and the chemicals involved in the production of and the cleaning of the oil will not have long-term consequences are fooling themselves.

Frankly, I'd rather hear from the people who are still on the front lines--the residents of the Gulf Coast--about how life really is on a day-to-day basis. I'd trust their word over any corporate press release or soundbite from a PR exec. I'd trust their word over most journalists.

I hope people remember those who lost their lives in the explosion and the thousands--millions--of animals and sea life that died and continue to die because of the spill, and that they remember the communities who live off what the Gulf provides.

Remember all this when you go to the gas station or go out to that new seafood restaurant for dinner. I'm not saying feel guilty, I'm just saying remember, and give a bit of thought of the sacrifices that went into bringing these things to you. We may not all like seafood, but unfortunately, we are all tied to the oil umbilical cord.

I would like to think that people are fed up with corporations and politicians bedding each other and transmitting their disease of looking the other way to the rest of the world. But there's only so much pain and disaster any person can take, and many people can't think of what it would be like to lose a loved one in a disaster or to lose their livelihood--that is people other than the ones who are directly affected.

In the case of the BP Oil spill, at least we are being screwed with oil-based lube as BP boasts about rising profits and the possibility to continue drilling in the Gulf. Their recovery is clear for the world to see, but not so much the recovery of everyone else.

It's funny. The other day I was reading an article about the growing health issues facing people who worked in cleaning the spill. I try not to read the comments after articles because more often than not they are the playgrounds of the terminally vitriolic and selfish, but sometimes you can read a comment that's worthwhile. One comment came from someone said something along the lines of "Where are all the leaders? It's like I woke up in America and no one was in charge."

I'm paraphrasing because I can't remember what he/she said and it's probably burried by hundreds of less meaningful comments by now, but the point is that this person was lamenting about how we, as a nation, as a people have completely lost any sense of leadership. We have all decided to point fingers and play the Blame Game rather than take control of a situation.

In my mind leadership requires courage, organization, common sense, and the ability to do the right thing no matter what it costs or what the risk. Also, you can't be a leader if you don't have the respect of those you are leading, and it's hard to respect anyone with questionable sense of ethics, let alone morals.

People may scoff at the paternalistic attiudes of classic TV shows like Father Knows Best or Leave It to Beaver, but I no longer feel patronized by these black-and-white visions. What is so wrong about teaching your children to be responsible and mindful of others? And thank GOD(DESS) for June Cleaver who would remind Ward when he wasn't living up to his image as role model for Wally and the Beav by practicing what he preached. Instead, what do we have today as an example of fatherhood and role model for those lacking a better one?

Charlie Sheen.

Until we all start taking responsibility for our actions and holding people accountable for theirs, we will ALL go down the toilet pointing fingers of accusations at each other about how THEY are to blame for our collective misfortune.

Clean up, not cover up - Don't let BP tell you "all is normal"

A "mystery" illness affecting clean up crews. It can hardly be considered coincidence.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/usoilpollutionenvironmentbphealth

Remember the BP Oil Spill on BlogTalk Radio - April 16

The first anniversary of the BP Oil spill is approaching and we would like to invite you to a live event.

On Saturday, April 16th, 2011, author Anjuelle Floyd will host several of the contributors from the “Oil and Water...and Other Things That Don’t Mix” anthology on her radio show

Book Talk, Creativity and Family Matters


The call in time is 12 Noon PDT, 2pm CDT, and 3pm EDT.

The call-in number is: (347) 215-7740.

Please share this number with friends, family and fans who might want to listen or call-in.

Meet Shonell Bacon--Author of "Fellowship at Hardee’s”

Before I moved to Lubbock, Texas, in 2009 to pursue my Ph.D., I lived in Louisiana—by way of Baltimore. I moved to Southwest Louisiana in 2001 to work on my MFA degree, and at the beginning and end of every holiday, you could find me at a Greyhound station, trekking back and forth from Baltimore to Lake Charles.

On the 24+-hour long rides, I witnessed a lot of things, many of these things finding their ways into stories.

One of the stories would turn into “Fellowship at Hardee’s.”

The story is truly one where reality and fiction blurs to a point where sometimes, I don’t think I can really tell you what parts are true and what parts are fictional; it all feels true to me now. And I guess in a way, considering the situation that arises and the layering of issues and voices you can find in the story, it is pretty real.

As a writer, I’m attracted to women characters that are flawed, that have a slew of internal struggles and somehow, some way, their external world clashes with those internal struggles and forces them to choose—will they fight the struggles and overcome themselves or will they opt to let be what is and suffer their struggles forever.

In August 2004, I was on a Greyhound, on my way back to Louisiana when the bus broke down—so that was true. I did meet a young female pastor, I did sit on a grassy knoll in the blazing heat, eating my Hardee’s fries, and I did make acquaintance with a young lesbian couple that didn’t care in the least that the pastor kept staring at them with fire in her eyes.

And…as a writer…I sat in the midst of this situation, feeling the tension as thick as the humidity, and thought to myself, This would make for a great story.

By the time I reached Louisiana, I was exhausted. The ride was full of angry whispers, a few choice words, and lectures on the sin of homosexuality and how we all needed to read our bibles for the truth—the pastor’s version of that truth. Needless to say, Shonell had a lot to say to this pastor before she returned to school.

But I realized that once I did return to school, Shonell still had things to say to that pastor. She had a lot to say about the whole experience. But there was a problem. Shonell couldn’t physically talk to any of these people anymore.

Enter Kensington, a girl I laden with a ton of issues and on top of those issues and her need to hop on a bus and flee from them, I forced her to interact with the same people I had to interact with months earlier.

When I finished “Fellowship at Hardee’s,” I immediately submitted it to the fiction workshop. I was pretty sure it would be the first chapter of my master’s thesis. It was one of the best workshops I ever had—despite the fact that the majority of classmates (and the professor) thought it wasn’t a first chapter. They thought it was the story. They saw Kensington getting on a bus at the beginning of the story and getting off it at the end—and in between we’d see the story of her journey and her dealings with these people that clashed, that didn’t mix.

It didn’t take me long to agree with them and months later, a thesis was written: The Greyhound Chronicles. What had started as my real-life dealings with a difficult situation had become a living, breathing, fleshed out story about characters who on the surface didn’t mix at all, but once we got down to the marrow of each, we realized their wants, dreams, and regrets were all too similar.

When I was offered the opportunity to submit something for possible inclusion in Oil & Water, I immediately thought about “Fellowship at Hardee’s.” The theme of the anthology—“Conflict...Resolution Optional"—resonated with me, just as it resonates in Fellowship. With each character you meet in the story, you’ll find a conflict with another character (or more than one…or actually with no other character but him or herself). And the conflicts can’t be easily fixed. Opinions are personal, subjective, and no matter how much heart, how much conviction, how much truth you use to state your case, sometimes people will not and cannot be persuaded. Sometimes, the resolution is indeed optional. The ending of the story, I think, reflects this well.

It’s great when conflict can be resolved, when sides can come together, listen, and move toward fixing an issue in a diplomatic, conciliatory way. But in reality, that doesn’t always happen, and I hope by reading Oil & Water, you’ll see that we try to show the reality of this truth.



Shonell Bacon is an author, doctoral student, editor, and educator. She has published both creatively and academically; the mystery Death at the Double Inkwell is her debut solo project. Since 2001, she has edited for hundreds of writers who have gone on to pursue successful literary careers. As an educator, she has taught courses in composition, mass communication, and creative writing. Currently, she is pursuing her Ph.D. in Technical Communication and Rhetoric at Texas Tech University.

You can learn more about Shonell by checking out her official website, http://www.shonbacon.com.