alchemical fantasy
In case you missed any of the posts in my Back to School for Writers blog series, here they are again:
Many thanks to my wonderful guest bloggers for making the series a success!
Welcome to the LAST post in the Back to School for Writers blog series. Today’s guest is Jodi Lea Stewart, telling us why she’s proud of the Navajo Code Talkers. Read on for a fascinating glimpse into history.
Mix all ingredients, then add:
Turn mixture out into well-seasoned platoons and…
The above “recipe” produced the world’s first and only indecipherable code and a group of heroes who were the military’s best-kept secret until 2001.
Major Howard Conner, fifth Marine Division signal officer said that were it not for the Navajo Code Talkers, the Marines would never have taken Iwo Jima. According to the Navajo Code Talkers World War II Fact Sheet, six Navajos were in Iwo Jima working around the clock non-stop for the first two days of the battle. They sent and received over 800 messages, ALL WITHOUT ERROR!
Where did these outstanding Code Talker candidates come from?
The Rez! Government-run boarding schools were set up in the 1890s to assimilate Native Americans into American culture. The children were stolen participated by leaving their families at the age of five or six years old. They didn’t return until after graduation. The schools were run with rock-hard rules similar to an adult military boot camp.
From these prisons schools, came the Navajo Code Talkers, the only men in all of history to create a code so magnificently ironclad that the best code crackers in the world couldn’t touch it. It makes me want to scream, it’s so cool!!
The recruits had to meet age, weight, health and language requirements, and went through the standard Marine boot-camp training. It is said that drill instructors and other recruits were in awe of the physical endurance of the Navajo men. After boot camp, the initial group of Navajo Code Talkers were charged with creating 211 military terms. The codes were memorized and never written down. Before it was over, the secret code words numbered more than 700, thus marking the end of constant interception and sabotage of US. military communications from our enemies.
Exactly how the code was conceived and implemented is nothing short of breathtaking.
Are you getting it why I’m so proud of the Navajos?
The code itself was declassified in 1968, but the Code Talkers were still under wraps until 2001. Some of the Code Talker’s own families had no concept of how their relative had served in the wars in which they participated.
In 2001, the Navajo Code Talkers were honored and recognized by this country as heroes. President George Bush awarded Congressional Gold Medals to the original twenty-nine code talkers. Of the original twenty-nine, only five were alive, and four were able to travel to Washington D.C. to receive their medal. Later, in Window Rock, Arizona – the capitol of the Navajo Nation – silver medals were bestowed upon the other men who later qualified as Navajo Code Talkers. Because recognition was so slow to come, most of the medals were handed off to survivors.
On a smaller but not lesser scale, members of the Sioux, Choctaw, Comanche and Mohawk tribes also used their native languages as a code during World War II for the Army. (If I left any tribes out, I apologize. Contact me, and I’ll be more than happy to add them to this list.)
It is stunning and sad to realize that the Native American men (and women) who sacrificed everything to serve their country in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War were not allowed to vote in US elections until:
Arizona – 1948 *three years after the end of World War II*
New Mexico – 1953 *After the end of the Korean War*
Utah – 1957 *After Native Americans had served in World War II and the Korean War*
On the Official Website of the Navajo Code Talkers, it says: They were a small band of warriors who created an unbreakable code from the ancient language of their people and changed the course of modern history.
That gives me goose bumps. I’ve studied the Navajo people enough to know that the sacrifice those young men made to the war effort is incalculable, and that it goes far beyond serving a stint in the US military.
Diné – what the Navajos call themselves. It means the people.
Diné Bizaad – the native language of the Navajo.
In Code Talker language:
Hitler was: He Who Smells His Mustache.
Mussolini was: Gourd Chin.
Pretty creative, right?
In case you want to read about the Code Talkers on Wikipedia in their own words and language, please be my guest, and good luck!
What about you? Did you already know about the Navajo Code Talkers, or is this something you’ve never heard of? If you are familiar with the real Code Talkers and their contribution to US history, do you think the movie Wind Walkers with Nicholas Cage exemplified them properly? I lean toward no. What do you think about that? We’d all love to hear!
Jodi Lea Stewart was born in Texas and grew up in Apache County on a cattle ranch near Concho, Arizona. She left the University of Arizona in Tucson to move to San Francisco, where she learned about peace, love, and exactly what she didn’t want to do with her life. Since then, Jodi graduated summa cum laude with a BS in Business Management from Letourneau University, raised two children, worked as an electro-mechanical drafter, penned humor columns for a college periodical, wrote regional western articles and served as managing editor of a Fortune 500 company newsletter. She currently lives in Texas and Arizona with her husband, two Standard poodles, two rescue cats and numerous gigantic, bossy houseplants. Silki, the Girl of Many Scarves: SUMMER OF THE ANCIENT is her first novel. Her next book in the series, CANYON OF DOOM, will be out in early 2013.
Visit her online at http://jodileastewartblog.com/.
Welcome to the Back to School for Writers blog series. Every Wednesday until the end of September, a guest poster will share their knowledge and expertise on a specific topic. Today’s guest is Lisa Lawler, who corrects common misconceptions about the Ancient Celts.
Many writers, particularly those writing fantasy, draw on the Celtic culture for inspiration for their novels, and often give an inaccurate view of the Celts, based on many of the mistakes (and sometimes even forgeries and overactive imaginations!) of earlier writers and scholars.
For instance, there are ‘beliefs’ about the Celts that come from the scholars of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries who looked to the newly-discovered New World and the Native American people as a framework for what their prehistoric Celtic ancestors were like.
Then, later on, when a separate national identity and culture became important to the people of Celtic descent, a romanticized view of the Celts came into existence.
In this post, I’ll take a look at some of the more popular myths of the Celtic culture and what the historical and archaeological evidence and literature reveals.
1. The Celts were not Wiccan.
The Celts were not Wiccan. For instance, it would have been impossible for a Celt to honor the tenet ‘An it harm none, do what you will’ because Celts did not think in terms of individual will. They were taught to respect the gods and goddesses and to live in harmony with the world around them. They were taught that duty to and the wellbeing of the tribe was of the utmost importance.
2. Druid was not a title given only to a member of the priesthood.
The Druids who were seers and soothsayers were concerned with the spiritual wellbeing of their people and read omens and portents. They also made sure the people paid the proper respect to the gods and respected all life. But there was more to the Druids than that.
The Druids were the professional class of society, the Aes Dána (ACE DAW-nah), which included lawyers, judges, teachers, counselors, musicians, poets, healers, astronomers and so on. They were distinct from the Warrior class, the Ruling class, the craftsmen and freemen.
3. Kingship was not inherited by primogeniture.
Kingship was not passed from father to eldest son. The king had to be a strong man in both body and mind so that he could protect his people from both external and internal strife.
The derbfhine (DURV-in-ah)(a group usually made up of three generations of the royal family) had to agree who their leader would be. They usually chose a man from within three generations of the previous king’s family. i.e. a cousin, brother, uncle or grandson.
4. The Celtic Tree astrology is not an ancient system of divination developed and used by the Druids.
The Celtic Tree astrology was, in fact, developed in the twentieth century by a poet by the name of Robert Graves and presented in his book The White Goddess which was published in 1946.
5. The Celtic Druids did not build Newgrange or Stonehenge (or any other megalithic structure).
Newgrange in Co. Meath in Ireland is older than the pyramids in Egypt by a thousand years. The Celts arrived in Ireland in or around 600BC. Newgrange had already been built and was still standing and being used by the people who had inhabited Ireland long before the Celts arrived.
In the twelfth century, Geoffrey of Monmouth created the story that the stones of Stonehenge were transported magically from Ireland by a druid called Merlin.
In the late seventeenth century, John Aubrey realized that Stonehenge was not a Roman monument, but because he could not find any other explanation for it, he believed it to have been a temple for the ancient Britons. After that Stonehenge appeared in illustrations connected with the Druids, like the one that appeared in Godfrey Higgins’s The Celtic Druids in 1827.
Dr William Stukeley, in 1740, published a book based on the “druidic temple” ideas of Aubrey and others, but also put forward many other wild claims.
You may have found information here that surprised you or confirmed what you already knew, but I hope that it serves as a good starting point for further research. The books by Peter Beresford Ellis are probably a good place to begin, and for the whodunnit-lovers, he has also written The Sister Fidelma Mysteries (featuring a female Druid in seventh century Ireland) under the name Peter Tremayne.
Lisa Lawler lives with her husband and son in Western Australia and loves books to distraction. She believes our thoughts create our reality, that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, and that what we do is not as important as who we are while we are doing it.
She blogs at www.liselmsdiary.blogspot.com.
Welcome to the Back to School for Writers blog series. Every Wednesday until the end of September, a guest poster will share their knowledge and expertise on a specific topic. Today’s guest is Veronica Valli, talking about how alcoholism, addiction, and recovery are portrayed in fiction.
Addiction and Alcoholism
Alcoholism and addiction are ripe issues to explore in fiction as they give so much potential for drama. Addiction is, unfortunately, such a common problem that it’s great that these issues are explored as much as they are. It at least starts a conversation about a difficult subject and, when done well, can be inspiring. But of course, like for experts in many areas, there are always representations of addiction that drive me nuts, some that make me laugh, and some that are spot on.
My favorite soap opera portrayal of a drunk has to be Sue Ellen in Dallas in the 80s. Taking yet another verbal beating from J.R., her chin would wobble and she would reach for the Scotch, her hand shaking, tears welling up in her eyes. “Sue Ellen,” I would sigh at the screen, “grow a backbone for God’s sake. Stand up to the man”. But no, week after week, whatever happened, her first response was to reach for the bottle. As dramatic as this representation is, what they got right is Sue Ellen’s self pity. Alcoholics are full of self-pity. Now that Dallas has been rebooted, we can thankfully discover that Sue Ellen finally got it together and is sober enough to run for Governor of Texas. Way to go, Sue Ellen, you have my vote!
The portrayal of addiction in fiction that drove me the most nuts, however, was James Frey’s novel A Million Little Pieces. I read it after the controversy that it was actually a novel, not a memoir. It didn’t put me off as I’d heard it was a brutal representation of addiction and rehab so I was intrigued enough to read it.
God, I hated it.
I’ve worked in drug rehabs and I’ve never heard of anything like the experiences the main character, James, had. After finally hitting rock bottom, he ends up in rehab and starts his journey of getting clean and sober. Like many addicts, he has neglected to look after himself properly and needs to go to the dentist urgently. Because he is an addict in very early recovery and because pain relief medication has been known to lead addicts to relapse, he has several rotting teeth extracted WITH NO PAIN MEDICATION WHATSOVER!
Are you friggin’ serious?
Yes, it’s absolutely true that addicts need to be very cautious around pain medication, especially narcotic pain meds as they are highly addictive and could lead to relapse. However, there are going to be times in most recovering addicts’ lives that they are going to need to take something stronger than aspirin. I have never heard of any addict having teeth extracted without any pain meds. It’s totally ridiculous. I don’t know what the author was trying to prove here, but it annoyed me so much.
If you want to research some great representations of addiction and alcoholism in movies and TV, I would really recommend Maggie Gyllenhaal in Sherrybaby. She captures the selfishness and self-absorption of an addict. Also check out the magnificent Helen Mirren in the last season of Prime Suspect. Her character slid into alcoholism, and she portrayed an addict’s inner misery and loneliness with spine-tingling accuracy.
There is, however, one fatal flaw in the representation of addiction in nearly all books and movies that is so far away from what really happens, it makes me want to scream. This flaw is that the addict/alcoholic is ‘saved’ from their disease by the love of a good man/woman. True love conquers all and they are able to slay their demons, overcome their problems, and stay sober because they have fallen in love.
This never happens. Ever.
For sure, recovering addicts and alcoholics hook up with each other and with sober people (who usually promise to save them) all the time. It is one of the things that, as a therapist in a rehab, you are constantly having to deal with. Because it is always, and I mean always, a spectacular disaster that nearly always ends up with the addict relapsing.
Romantic relationships are very tricky for alcoholics and addicts. In early days (and sometimes beyond) we are very insecure and sensitive and have extremely low self-esteem. Can you imagine what a recipe that is for disaster?
When an alcoholic or addict gets sober, they are without the one thing that offered them safety and security. Alcohol and drugs were always there for them; they never let them down. Alcoholics and addicts primarily use substances and alcohol because it changes how they feel. Or, to be more accurate, they use them to take away any uncomfortable, painful or unpleasant feelings. Sure, they also use substances to enhance positive feelings, but the main point is that addicts and alcoholics have no control over their internal emotional lives and therefore have to use external means.
So when they get sober, they are still left with these same feelings and it takes time for them to develop healthy strategies to deal with them. In the meantime, a flirtation, a fling, or a love affair creates intense feelings that temporarily mask all the unpleasant feelings that have still yet to be dealt with. When that first rush of euphoria and lust wears off, the alcoholic or addict becomes desperate to find a way to keep managing their feelings. So they may cling desperately to the person they have formed an attachment to or launch into a series of unhealthy codependent relationships. I very rarely see this side of recovery portrayed in books or films. Ultimately, the relationship is a distraction from the main issues.
As a therapist, it is the one area that people need to know more about. I see a LOT of unhealthy relationships based on need and fear rather than love and respect. Movies and books are responsible in many ways for creating this impossible ideal that someone else will save you. The truth is that only you can save yourself. Recovery from alcohol or drugs is really about the journey you take to uncover the feelings and emotions you can’t cope with, the ones that drove you to drink.
As a final note, I’d really like to see more portrayals of people successfully overcoming addiction or alcoholism. Full recovery is entirely possible, with many people living full and authentic existences free from alcohol and drugs. Full-blown addiction is a horrifically ugly place to be (Irvine Welsh’s book Trainspotting springs to mind). Recovery can really be described as the exact opposite to that, which is probably why not many people portray it. Happiness tends not to be so dramatic.
Veronica Valli is a recovered alcoholic, therapist and Life Coach. She has worked in clinics and private practice in the UK and is currently finishing her book Why We Drink and How To Stop, which focuses on the spiritual and emotional aspects behind alcoholism. Find her online at http://veronicavalli.com.
