My editor at about...time magazine wants me to send her a piece about why I write. What motivates me? Where does my desire come from? She plans on running it next to my new novel, Win...Win's review.
I had to really think about this. I never thought about it before. Writing for me is very automatic. I know that I don't write for money. I don't write for fame. It's something more.
A lot of times, I can just whip off opinion pieces when I am angry or the facts that are presented are in error. I know that I write to remember certain events in my life. I definitely use humor writing in my fiction and I enjoy painting pictures with my words.
I guess the main reason that I write is because many of our stories NEVER get told by mainstream media. During segregation, mainstream media used to hide behind the banner: All the news that is fit to print. I get annoyed when media can ONLY put up photos of people of color only when it relates to crime stories. I'm so tired of hearing "the suspect is black and in his early 30's." Why can't a story be done about the black boy who found a purse with a $1,000 in it? Or the black girl who did CPR on an elderly woman? Why can there never be a profile of a loving black family?
It was crazy when the McCoys got national coverage about their s*xtuplets. They were in every paper and on every TV station. Donations were coming their way; people couldn't do enough to help them. However, there was a black couple from Texas who also had s*xtuplets and national media had no interest in covering their story. Why don't they count?
As a journalist, I cover a wide array of stories within the African American community. When prominent people of color have visited our community, mainstream media doesn't acknowledge their visit. I have gotten plenty of scoops because editors didn't know who jazz saxophonist Branford Marsalis, musician Bobby McFerrin, or author Terry McMillan were. I want these stories documented. I want people to know who was here. I want people to remember how far we came. What challenges lie ahead.
I write to educate, entertain, inform, and to question issues of our day. The Black experience is not limited to the South. When I write I want to display a canvas of all Afrocentric stories with my words. I want readers to be able to walk in someone else's shoes. I write every day. I write because it is my passion and I love it.
Posted By: Marsha Jones
Saturday, November 28th 2009 at 11:48AM
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