Rachel Pieh Jones's Blog, page 3

Making Art or Documenting Facts?

This topic has always felt interesting to me, especially when comparing movies and TV shows to books. There seems to be a much higher standard or sticking to facts with books. A movie or even a show like The Tiger King can say, “based on actual events” and then veer wildly off course. But a book? Not so much.

William Zinsser says, in Writing About Your Life, “To write a memoir you must manufacture a text. You must construct a narrative so readers will want to keep reading. You must, in short, practice a craft. You can never forget the story-teller’s ancient rules of maintaining tension and momentum…give yourself a plot.”

Lee Gutkind, editor of Creative Nonfiction, in You Can’t Make This Stuff Up, is adamant that writers of nonfiction cannot make things up. He  questions time compression and composite characters. He says, “Making stuff up, no matter how minor or unimportant, or not being diligent in certifying the accuracy of the available information, endangers the bond between writer and reader.”

Ann Patchett says that Lucy Grealy said, in Truth and Beauty, “’I didn’t remember it,’ Lucy said pointedly. ‘I wrote it. I’m a writer.’ This shocked her audience more than her dismissal of illness, but she made her point: she was making art, not documenting an event.”

Philip Lopate says, in To Show and To Tell, “In giving it shape, a NF writer may be obliged to leave out some facts, combine incidents or even rearrange chronologies. Fine. I do not think we need aply the strictest journalistic standards of factual accuracty to all literary NF.”

Joan Didion says, in On Keeping a Notebook, “I always had trouble distinguishing between what happened and what merely might have happened, but I remain unconvinced that the distinction, for my purposes, matters.”

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Roy Peter Clark in The Line Between Fact and Fiction in Creation Nonfiction says, “The nonfiction writer is communicating with the reader about real people in real places. So if those people talk, you say what those people said. You don’t say what the writer decides they said. You don’t make up dialogue. You don’t make a composite character.” And he finishes the piece with this: “So don’t add and don’t deceive. If you try something unconventional, let the public in on it. Gain on the truth. Be creative. Do your duty. Have some fun. Be humble. Spend your life thinking and talking about how to do all these well.” (italics mine because, well, amen to that about pretty much everything I do)

And then there is the ever-controversial John D’Agata who says changing a fact is justifiable if you do it in the name of art, Lifespan of a Fact. If three trees sounds better than eight trees, write three. Even if there were eight.

When it comes to writing nonfiction, should writers be held to the same factual standards as news reporters? Is it ever okay to compress time? To create composite characters? To change names and details? How much does art come into play when writing nonfiction?

If that is too many questions to answer, how about just one: Can a nonfiction writer change anything when writing an essay? and if even that is too much to think about, go read the books here. They are all excellent.

11 Ways Running is Like Learning a Foreign Language

Two accomplishments I feel rather proud of were accomplished in Africa. Here, I became a runner and here I learned a foreign language. Actually two: French and Somali. Both were incredibly hard and both changed the way I see the world. Amazingly, they have some things in common. Here are eleven ways that running is like learning a foreign language, in my case, Somali.

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1. Its hard.

I thought I was going to die during my first mile-long run in Djibouti and I was already in relatively good shape from doing aerobics. At the end I put my hands on my knees and gasped. “People do this, like, for fun?!” Same with studying Somali. It was hard, required obscene amounts of time and strenuous effort.

2. Progress is slow and steady.

I added a few minutes to my runs each week and built endurance. A 5k turned into a 10k, turned into a half marathon, turned into three full marathons. But that took years. A grunted sentence in Somali, “Me like rice” turned into grammatically correct, multi-faceted sentences that include cultural knowledge as well as vocab, “I like rice that has been cooked on holidays and dyed pink and blue, with roasted lamb and hot sauce.”

3. There are pitfalls along the way.

Injuries, tripping over stones in the desert, getting lost while running in a new city. Mistakes in language usage that leaves one saying, “Do you want my husband?” instead of, “This is my husband.”

4. They change the way you see the world.

I now notice runners everywhere, I notice shoes. A guest leaves a pair of Asics by the door and I know she is a runner. I even know they are Asics. I see the world in terms of running trails and get to know new places while on my feet. Learning Somali has taught me new things about history and justice, camels and color and saying ‘Thank you,’ or not.

5.  They open up new communities.

I didn’t know people existed who use the word “bonk” in normal conversation or who eat Gu on purpose or who think nothing is wasted about four hours spent running solo or who don’t seem to want all their toenails. Not only have I met these people, I’ve become one of them. I didn’t know people who laughed back in their throat like Somalis or who could memorize entire poems and stories simply by listening or who would sweep and mop my house when I come back from time in the US simply because they cared about me. Now I call those people friends.

6. They are never done.

I can cross off a run for the day but I am never done being a runner. It is who I am now. I will never be fluent in Somali. I am now a Somali-language-learner.

7. They make you do embarrassing things.

Running in the hottest country in the world makes me sweat in unmentionable places. On the run things like farts, spit and other bodily fluids have been, um, encountered. Certain stories remain on the trail. Learning a language also brings up embarrassments. Giving speeches in broken Somali, being featured on YouTube under the title, “White Woman Speaks Somali!”, language mistakes (see #3).

8. They make you feel proud.

Not in a boastful, arrogant way. But they make you feel like you have accomplished something hard, worthwhile, satisfying. A marathon. The first novel read in the new language.

9. They draw strange looks from people.

Once at the end of a run in the hot season, a child saw me and was so frightened he tried to crawl onto the back of my guard, who was praying at the time. The kid screamed, “help me! help me!” When I asked the guard who the kid was he said, “I never met him before in my life.” When I speak Somali sometimes people have physically fallen to the ground in shock. Other times they simply stare. That happens a lot while I run, too.

10. They make muscles ache and make the muscles stronger.

My legs will never be the same. I’m no Paula Radcliffe but I think I’ve got some calf muscle that wasn’t there a decade ago. Don’t mess with my calves. Don’t mess with my uvula, either. Or whatever it is in my throat making those kh, q, c noises. The first few months speaking Somali made the back of my throat ache like my legs ached the first few weeks running.

11. They require support.

I needed the people who cheered me on during the marathons and other races, needed to see their faces and hear their cheers, needed to grab the Gu or the water bottle. I am so thankful they were there at the end, sometimes to literally catch me, that they were there while I trained. Biking alongside, taking care of the kids. I’ll never forget the chocolate-covered strawberries waiting for me at my front door when I got home from my first marathon, a surprise gift from my sister who lived states and states away. Learning language requires similar support, cheerleaders, encouragers, motivators. Maybe some fresh-baked chocolate chip cookie deliveries. People who notice the minutest increments of progress and who honor that.

Runners? Language learners?

Anything else the two have in common?

What’s Happening at Do Good Better?

Not blogging so much. I’ve moved almost all my writing and work to Do Good Better and to Stories from the Horn. Do Good Better is an engaging conversation, interactive and full of links to important stories in the world of humanitarian, mission, and development work. Stories from the Horn is my personal newsletter in which you’ll find exclusive essays and links to news from the Horn of Africa.

Here’s what we’ve covered in the past two weeks at Do Good Better.

Justice, Race, George Floyd, and Cross Cultural Service: Why missionaries, humanitarians, and anyone working cross culturally needs to care about racial justice
The Missionary Podcast Episode 2: who is telling the stories?: Listen and learn. Repeat.
Coronavirus and Cancelled Travel, Vacations, and Short Term Mission Trips: Is it possible cancelled short term mission trips is a good thing? Is it a disaster?
The Missionary Podcast: not just for missionaries: Saint or predator? Are there only two options?
Holy Pandemic Days. Passover, Easter, and Ramadan : What Can We Learn from Other Religions’ Responses to the Coronavirus During Holiday Celebrations?

And every Friday we have a beautiful thread of good things happening all over the world. From big things to simple things, all are worth celebrating and all are helping us find joy in a troubled world.

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Do Good Better.

 

[image error] I started another new thing.

I would love for you to join me in doing good better.

Are you a wanna-be do-gooder?

Do you want to help without hurting but aren’t sure HOW?

Are you confused about how to embody your faith in the world?

Are you tired of hot takes and throwing stones and want to dig deeper into untangling the messy middle of faith, development work, cross-cultural relationships, and humanitarian expatriate life?

Me, too.

We can do better but we need to help each other.

So, I started this new thing because…why not?

Compelled to create, maybe? Stuffing the coronavirus despair perhaps? Sure, whatever.

Do Good Better.

Check it out.

We’re going to have hard and challenging conversations over there because I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m pretty sure you don’t know what you’re doing either. But we both feel compelled to keep on trying, to keep on doing something, to dream of a better world and hope that we might have a part to play in inaugurating and celebrating it.

Come on over and subscribe!

It lives at Substack and is a subscription-only newsletter. For now, it is free but soon will be moving behind a paywall because producing things, sending newsletter, maintaining the website, these things are not free.

I would love for you to join me because I need your input and wisdom as we wrangle.

Mothering Strong Under Stress Summit

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Are you feeling overwhelmed? Stressed Out? Need some motivation?


 


In this three-day motherhood summit, you’ll receive a daily dose of encouragement to help you navigate motherhood’s challenges. Through exclusive interviews with six authors (who are moms too!) you’ll learn about mothering strong under stress, finding joy in the unexpected, and raising resilient kids.


 


Sign up and you’ll get all the information you need to access the Mothering Strong Summit on May 6-8.


 


Best of all, you can watch the summit on your own schedule.


 


Sign up here to save your seat

Covid19 Is In This Town, Lyrics

This song is to the original The Other Side, from the film The Greatest Showman. The video will be posted below ours.

Lucy was supposed to perform music from this movie for her choir concert that was cancelled. It seemed appropriate to make another music video. She wrote all the lyrics herself.

And so we present to you…the Jones’ Public Service Announcement. A music video in which rebellious mom wants to go outside but her daughter won’t allow such dangerous behavior.

Will mom get out? Or will the daughter win the day and convince her to stay inside?

You’ll have to watch to find out (apologies that the mother in this video cannot sing to save her life. Let me suggest you listen to the daughter).

The lyrics are below so you can sing along.

 

Lyrics:

Right here, right now

You need to hear me out

Don’t want to chase you down

I need to warn you

You stay at home

Even though you’ll be alone

Into your walls you really need to stay in

Don’t be rebellious its really for the best

And if you’re hungry eat a bunch of candy

You can play it sensible, get TP and canned beans

Or you can risk it all and see.

 

Don’t you dare to go outside

And stay away from everyone in sight

The disease is in the air and its starting to spread around

Covid19 is in this town

Cause you can go and get sick

Or you can be healthy

Stock up on food and wash for 20 seconds

Oh yeah you can’t keep going around

Covid19 is in this town

 

Okay my friend you wanna keep me in

Well I hate to tell you, but it just won’t happen

I can’t stay at home

I gotta go outside

I’ll just go mad in the house I stay in

I’ll use handsoap and even wear a mask

But I’m not going to stay

not eve-en o-one day

Wha-at will I do     if I’m stuck with you

No way that it’ll ever be

 

I’ve got gotta go outside

And I talk to everyone in sight

Though corona’s in the air I just can’t be alone

I really cannot stay at home

You can be alone

I’m gonna go free

Not gonna stay if I know I won’t be happy

Oh yeah I’m gonna walk around

I really cannot stay at home

 

Now is this how you’d like to spend your days

TV and misery, video games

 

If I let myself loose it’ll probably be bad

I’d get the disease and have to breathe from a bag

 

But you would finally live a little, finally laugh a little

Just let me give you the freedom to dream

 

But it’ll make you cough and cause your AKING

Don’t wanna help the virus in spreading

Not a disease that seems worth getting

But I guess I’ll leave that up to you

 

Well its intriguing but to stay would be so boring

What are some things I could do with my time wisely

 

Fair enough you’ll want a little bit of action

It’s a really good time to work on fractions

 

That’s school, that’s boring. I’d like something fun to do

 

Why not just go ahead and try an instrument or two

 

Puzzles?

 

I’d do crafts.

 

Baking

 

Legos

 

Fun!

 

Don’t you dare to go outside

And stay away from everyone in sight

The disease is in the air and its starting to spread around

Covid19 is in this town

Cause you can go and get sick

Or you can be healthy

Stock up on food and wash for 20 seconds

Oh yeah you can’t keep going around

Covid19 is in this town

 

So you can go and get sick

Covid 19 is in this town

 

Or you can be healthy

You’ve convinced me to stay home

 

Don’t cough or sneeze

At Any single time

 

Covid 19 is in this town

 

 

And the original

Covid19 in France and Morocco, Guest Interviews

This week I had the immense privilege of sharing my first two interview podcasts (after the interview with my daughter, which was awesome because she is awesome).

I spoke with Laurie Meberg about her family’s decision to stay in France and also about how all five of them (all FIVE) have had covid19. She describes what the illness felt like, the fear of going to the hospital and what might happen there and whether or not they would see each other again, and how her family is already thinking of how they can serve in their community when they come out of quarantine.

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And then I spoke with Jessica Dame, who used to live in Djibouti. Her family left Morocco, expecting to be gone for three days on a visa run. Now, weeks later, they are still not home. They are currently in London, with the few bags they originally packed, and learning to survive and even thrive between two homes.

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These expatriate covid19 stories are incredible. They made me cry, they made me laugh. The way these women are surviving this trauma with grace and goodness, the way they are able to see beauty and hope…it is inspirational. Of course things are hard, of course they have their hard and bad moments, but they also demonstrate resiliency and creativity.

I know you’ll be touched by these stories. You don’t want to miss them!

Quiz: Should You Stay or Should You Go?

Just for fun. Don’t take this too seriously.

What are your results?

Fear and Hope in an Age of Disease Excerpts

Here are portions of the April 4 podcast episode. You can hear me read the whole essay through the link. It is outdated already, I wrote it barely three weeks ago. But part of this whole podcast diary thing is to keep a record and I’m willing to say things have changed, even while looking back at what I thought before. That’s part of the process. I’m done with stories that are told from the end point, where everything is wrapped up and has nice conclusions. I’m fascinated by the process, by other people’s processes. That shows how we grow and change and that gives me hope.

If this is too heavy for you, for now, check out our hard rock video (though I have heard it made people cry – different kind of cry) or the episode offering tips on how to wipe your butt without toilet paper.

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…What concerns me is the power of corporate fear in the West, specifically in my native country, the USA, the way fear drives people into isolation, ethnocentrism, and self-centered hoarding. The way fear erases empathy and skews common sense.

What concerns me are the answers to these questions: What are we afraid of? What does fear do to relationships? What are we going to do with our fear?

We already live in an age of suspicion, prejudice, and isolation, fueled by anxiety and misplaced faith in the fragile façade that we are, or should be, invincible.

In the West, we worship the god of safety but this god can make no promises. This is a god crafted out of our own delusions. Delusions that we are stronger alone, that we are not interconnected and interdependent, that health corresponds to morality or superiority, that we are in control, and ultimately, that we will get out of this whole thing alive and unharmed if we only prepare well enough.

These delusions reveal an underlying ambition of making ourselves into God. Or, if we can’t be God ourselves, we demand our politicians play the role. Then we are free to abdicate responsibility for our own choices, our own cruelty, our own neglect of the refugee and the homeless, our own rampaging of the planet, our greed and selfishness.

What our human made systems have to offer will not save us. Build the walls. Close the borders. Shut your doors. Buy all the toilet paper and canned beans. Be afraid. Don’t concern yourself with your diabetic neighbor, your friend who needs chemo medications, your coworker with high blood pressure. Save yourself. And if you can’t, find someone to blame…

…You probably know what the flu feels like, maybe you even know what COVID-19 feels like. Do you know what fear feels like? Have you ever taken note of how your body responds in moments of fear? Pay attention.

Fear is a tunnel that grows increasingly narrow the longer I remain inside. Vision constricts until I can only see what is directly in front of me, no peripheral sight. My body constricts, too, pulls in on itself as if it were trying to physically avoid contact with fear. Sounds blend into a cacophony and it is difficult to discern specific voices or words. I experience what I anticipate because that is all I can absorb.

Fear is a dull ache in my lower back, as though my kidneys are slowly expanding and putting increasing pressure on my skin. It is marbles, the big glossy shooters my kids collected in elementary school, lodged above my clavicle. Fear is a long, lumpy worm, wriggling in my stomach and disturbing the contents of my lunch…

In some ways, fear is like hope. Experienced in the body, resting upon uncertainty, looking to the future with anticipation.

How else is fear like hope? Have a listen to Episode 19: Fear and Hope in an Age of Disease.

We’re Not Gonna Get It. The Lyrics.

Just in case you want to sing along with our version of Twisted Sister’s We’re Not Gonna Take It, here are the lyrics.

Also, the original music video is totally worth watching. We didn’t master the makeup but I think we did the hair pretty well.

Here is the Joneses’ version and down below I’ll paste the original Twisted Sister version.

We’re Not Gonna Get It (by the Joneses, aka Twisted Sister in a Time of Coronavirus)

 

We’re not gonna get it

No! We ain’t gonna get it

We’re not gonna get COVID19

 

We’ve got hand sanitizer

We wash for 20 seconds

This is our life. We’re stuck at home.

 

I’ll do the online school, fine

Don’t judge my video game time

Where are my friends? I’m all alone

 

We’re not gonna get it

No! We ain’t gonna get it

We’re not gonna get COVID19

 

Oh I’m so bored and antsy

There’s no point in dressing fancy

The school is shut, no work to do.

 

My life is stuck with these two

Pray that I will make it through

We’ve got TP and we’ve got canned food

 

 

Corona

Corona

 

We’re stuck (in Djibouti!)

We’re home (alone)

With luck (yeah)

We’re healthy (for now!)

 

We’re not gonna get it

No! We ain’t gonna get it

We’re not gonna get COVID19

 

We’re not gonna get it

No! We ain’t gonna get it

We’re not gonna get COVID19

 

Insha allah!

 

(music)

 

Corona

Corona

 

We’re stuck (in Djibouti!)

We’re home (alone)

With luck (yeah)

We’re healthy (for now!)

 

We’re not gonna get it

No! We ain’t gonna get it

We’re not gonna get COVID19

 

We’re not gonna get it

No! We ain’t gonna get it

We’re not gonna get COVID19

 

Just you try to infect us

 

We’re not gonna get it

No! We ain’t gonna get it

We’re not gonna get COVID19

 

Come on! You’re all coughing and sick

 

We’re not gonna get it

No! We ain’t gonna get it

We’re not gonna get COVID19

 

 

We’re not gonna get it

No! We ain’t gonna get it

We’re not gonna get COVID19

 

Don’t try to cough on me…

(we hope!)

 

 

And the original.