Antiquing Find & Ancestral Thoughts

[Disclosure for those who don't know already: I practice Ancestral Veneration]

Something I'm grateful for in working as a creative working from home is just being able to sit with spirit, my Ancestors, and spirit guides and allowing that flow in terms of support around direction and reflection around what's next. Mondays have particularly become a day in space for that for me. 

Recently, I was called to look through an old literary magazine/journal. Jack and Jill is the name of it. It's a subscription for kids with stories, crafts, and recipes. The copy I found is Jack and Jill, June 1953, Volume 15, Number 8, Copyright 1953, published by the Curtis Publishing Company.

I met with an author colleague in Niowt, Colorado, this past August. She was doing a reading of her book that had just come out at that time last year, Bitsy Bat, School Star, and if you don't have it, here's the link. (I suggest you add that to your bookshelf.) 

A REMINDER. So, you don't need kids or to have... an excuse for permission to buy and have picture books on your shelves. You don't need kids as an excuse to love stories with images; picture books are for everyone. [Thanks for coming to my TED Talk]

So I went up to support her. The event was at the Wandering Jellyfish Bookstore (TWJ), which closed this past year's end. I am going to miss that bookstore. I know that for the local (Colorado) author and illustrator (publishing) communities that I'm a part of, The Wandering Jellyfish space holds a place in our hearts in terms of the connections and the magic that comes from creatives connecting with the book lovers who are sharing those creations with the world. There's an antique store next to where The Wandering Jellyfish used to be, and I had heard the call to visit for a while. So we first went to the park near the bookstore for her beautiful reading and then went on our adventure at the antique store, followed by a meal. It's always fun to explore old things and sometimes also nerve-wracking as a BIPOC individual. We never know what we may come across with the way history has gone down so far. 

But one of the few things I did find and decided to take home with me was the Jack and Jill. There are quite a few stories in it, but one in particular had me pull the trigger on making the purchase. There is an African story in it, and that intrigued me. The story is Hozi and the Fire Hunt, written by Gertrude Ginnis. The volume I purchased has chapter two of the story, so I do not have chapter one, but I indulged in chapter two and decided to read the story aloud. 

When I start to read, I never start to read anything out loud; I read in my head, and then I hear the call to read it out loud, and I think that comes from my guides. Many reasons play into why I hear that request. One is BIPOC oral traditions coming forth and leaning into me being a griot and being in that energy. I'm also called to share the story with whoever is in the space, whether I can physically see them or not, and then I see it as a reminder of the magic power of being told a story or hearing a story. I know how I feel in my body when I'm told and listening to stories; how comforting that feels for me. 

And so while I started initially in my head, I moved into reading out loud. While reading the story, I realized I'm not terrible at reading aloud, but I could be better... I mess up almost every time I read out loud; nothing major, but it happens. But this had me reflecting on what reading aloud was like growing up. I think of all those movies where people sit in a classroom, and the teacher calls upon someone to read, and they clearly don't want to. And I think maybe they're not ready, and there's this whole trauma and this fear, and this entire thing has been built into Hollywood culture, especially Western Hollywood culture. And I had to sit with, what did that look like for me? I wasn't necessarily fearful of being called on, but I was going to be ready. So I didn't listen to anything anyone was reading in advance, their sections, or what they were reading before it got to my turn. I had counted ahead and was prepared for my paragraph when it came to me because I wanted to read it correctly. I wanted to make a good impression, not embarrass myself with all the eyes on you and everyone listening. I wanted to get it correct, But it makes me sit deeper with just the layers of reading aloud and the aim of perfectionism (a trait of white supremacy culture) that came along with it. 

With the digital publishing company that I'm building, Fire and Honey Press, an essential aspect is that every project published with us will be in three formats. So, every project will have an auditory format, a visual format, like a movie, and a written format if you want to read it physically. And there are so many layers behind the reasons for that. It's like, yes, accessibility; we are here for it. But on a deeper level, I sit with the idea of how we all learn so differently and engage with stories differently. And so I wanted to make that possible through Fire + Honey Press. 

I'm going to leave the story here for you to enjoy. I remember showing a friend what I had rescued from the antique store, and they were like, have you shared it online? Have you made it digitally available to everyone? So here I am doing that, and if people want the whole Jack and Jill booklet, I can post the entire thing, but in this blog post specifically, I have just included the Hozi and the Fire Hunt story. 

After reading the story, I thought of Equity Chats, a live podcast I run with friends. We talk about equity, looking at things through an equity lens, and this can range from fairy tales to weighty topics like 'White Supremacy doesn't require a White Majority.' Still, we look at everything and have dialogue in community about things equitably. But what comes up for me in this story first is, who is Gertrude? Who is the author? And then, has this author been to Africa? I would like to know what they know about that space when writing this story, especially with how old the story is, you know.

I'm curious how accurate the story is and how much of it is through the author's lens and the author's experience rather than just imagining what a hunting experience could be. How much research was done? A perfect example is engaging in media created, produced, or made in locations and places beyond our home country or our home language(s). Often, we're still processing them through our lens. Examples of this that regularly come to mind are the movie Parasite and the show The Squid Games (I didn't get through it, though. I got through the first half of the first episode. Squid Games was too much for me).

But the critique around the Western world, particularly Americans, I kept seeing is that the Western world didn't get it or process it in the way it was intended in the critique of our current systems, particularly capitalism. And that's because we're processing it through our lens, not through the lens of the country for whom and the community for whom it was made and written. 

Hozi and the Fire Hunt was fun to read. Since I only have a chapter and not the first, and clearly, there are chapters after, it stops at a point, giving the cliffhanger of waiting for the next episode. But I think, in all, it was an exciting place to sit with and sit in reflection of, I don't know, a glimpse of the past of what storytelling looked like and just what kids were engaging in at that time; those are my Aquarius thoughts at this moment in this space of reflection. 

BONUS: A Mermaid story from the, Jack and Jill (As I have always loved mermaids and water is my element)