Cameron Conaway's Blog - Posts Tagged "privilege"
The real challenge of Malaria, Poems
Many readers over the years have asked: What was the most challenging aspect of writing Malaria, Poems?
Add-ons to that question typically assume it was researching tropical medicine, or maybe trying to weave science with human stories.
The real challenge was in moving from beyond mere recognition of my privilege to figuring out how best to use it in the service of others.
This took countless hours of purposeful meditation as a range of questions emerged at various stages of the manuscript. Here are a few among many:
1. I’ve never had to suffer from its impact, so should I be the one writing this book?
2. I’ll be meeting hundreds, potentially thousands of people who have suffered from it. How should I explain what I’m doing and why?
3. How can I leverage my privilege to be an ally in service?
Many signals, including these three, informed my decision to move forward:
1. Malaria, as far as I could tell, hadn’t been taken seriously as a literary topic since Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss) wrote about it while he was a captain in the U.S. Army during World War II. Yes, I’m sure others had, but I’d convinced myself that a full-length collection completely dedicated to it could be a valuable contribution both to the literary community and to the world.
2. Here I was. I’d received a grant to write it, knew plenty of researchers, and could travel to see its impact. These were all significant privileges, but throwing them away felt far worse than mindfully using them (this was particularly true when I saw the way malaria brutally ravages people and their communities).
3. Poetry mentors, researchers, and community leaders believed I should move the project forward. This was the most important aspect for me, as I'm often slow to make decisions because I want to absorb the perspectives of the smartest people I can find.
Many authors will tell you their love of writing books is in large part because of their love of learning. That’s certainly been true in my case. And working on Malaria, Poems, taught me that the challenging and completely unexpected type of learning is the most beneficial.
Add-ons to that question typically assume it was researching tropical medicine, or maybe trying to weave science with human stories.
The real challenge was in moving from beyond mere recognition of my privilege to figuring out how best to use it in the service of others.
This took countless hours of purposeful meditation as a range of questions emerged at various stages of the manuscript. Here are a few among many:
1. I’ve never had to suffer from its impact, so should I be the one writing this book?
2. I’ll be meeting hundreds, potentially thousands of people who have suffered from it. How should I explain what I’m doing and why?
3. How can I leverage my privilege to be an ally in service?
Many signals, including these three, informed my decision to move forward:
1. Malaria, as far as I could tell, hadn’t been taken seriously as a literary topic since Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss) wrote about it while he was a captain in the U.S. Army during World War II. Yes, I’m sure others had, but I’d convinced myself that a full-length collection completely dedicated to it could be a valuable contribution both to the literary community and to the world.
2. Here I was. I’d received a grant to write it, knew plenty of researchers, and could travel to see its impact. These were all significant privileges, but throwing them away felt far worse than mindfully using them (this was particularly true when I saw the way malaria brutally ravages people and their communities).
3. Poetry mentors, researchers, and community leaders believed I should move the project forward. This was the most important aspect for me, as I'm often slow to make decisions because I want to absorb the perspectives of the smartest people I can find.
Many authors will tell you their love of writing books is in large part because of their love of learning. That’s certainly been true in my case. And working on Malaria, Poems, taught me that the challenging and completely unexpected type of learning is the most beneficial.
