The Romantic Spirit of the Harlem Renaissance: Jessie Redmon Fauset
October 28, 2007
The Romantic Spirit of the Harlem Renaissance: Jessie Redmon Fauset
by: Mary Arnold
Jessie Redmon Fauset (1882-1961) also viewed art as a means for political or propagandist ends. In her personal life, as in her art, Fauset strove to depict the middle class values of which she saw as the way to freedom and equality for her race. In one very revealing episode in which her personal inclination conflicted with social propriety, Fauset chose to stay within the boundaries of society set for her. On a trip to Africa, Fauset had visited alone the section of Algiers named the Kasbah. She returned the next day with two companions, only to be warned by a Frenchwoman that the “quarters are too dangerous to visit without an escort” (Wall 34). Notwithstanding the fact that she had been there alone already and now had two companions, Fauset adhered to the proper conduct the Frenchwoman informs her of.
Fauset had earned degrees from Cornell University and the University of Pennsylvania, and had worked as a high school teacher for fourteen years before becoming involved in the Renaissance (Wall 35). During the years she spent as literary editor of The Crisis, from 1919 to 1926, she was also the “most prominent black woman writer” (Wall 36). Fauset published “poems, reportage, reviews, short stories, and translations” in addition to her four novels (Wall 36).
3 Article Outline Essentials
October 28, 2007
Most writers I talk with who experience “writer’s block” do not get bogged down by the content of the article, rather they are stopped by the outline proper. Without an outline, there can be no article. You can write effectively by remembering three essentials; I will share with you how your success or failure in article writing depends on mastering these essentials.
So, what are the essentials? You already know them: your topic sentence, the body of your article, and your conclusion. A fourth essential, your title, can and should be derived from your topic sentence. Thus, if you have a title it is your topic sentence and vice versa.
The problem many writers have is really with the second essential, the body of the article. Too often this is what holds up the outline, and ultimately the article, from being successfully completed. What is the answer for you? Bullets. That’s right, think of three or four generalized points and make them the highlights of your body. For example, if you are writing a product review on the Chrysler 300M your bullets could be:
1. The car’s unique style.
2. The car’s performance.
3. Chrysler’s success with the model.
4. Special price offers for the car.
The Romantic Spirit of the Harlem Renaissance: Introduction
October 27, 2007
The Romantic Spirit of the Harlem Renaissance: Introduction
by: Mary Arnold
The Harlem Renaissnace was such an important part of American history and literary history, but it is woefully neglected in ‘traditional’ history courses. Naturally, I had read some works of the prominent figures of the Harlem Renaissance, such as Langston Hughes and James Weldon Johnson, but the majority of the participants were unknown to me. Also, I knew next to nothing about the historical and social context from which the Harlem Renaissance sprang.
In conducting my research, I consulted four books on the Harlem Renaissance, many articles in The Oxford Companion to African American Literature, and nine published articles. It would be impossible to describe everything I learned about the Harlem Renaissance in these essays. The aspects of the Harlem Renaissance I will primarily focus on are the philosophical debate between African Americans over how they should be depicted in literature, the writers’ responses to the debate, a brief biographical sketch of eight of the artists, a list of their major works, and how their lives and works connect to American Romanticism.
Touching the Prospect?s Emotions in Your Sales Letter
October 27, 2007
Your prospect has emotions? and you MUST touch these emotions in your sales letter. Your copy has to excite. Stir curiosity. Generate fear. Create deep desire.
If it doesn’t your copy will fail.
The reason is simple. By and large… it’s emotions that move us. Your prospect might be a man who seems completely unmoved by anything other than cold logic.
Not true.
Even this kind of person won’t act until he’s motivated to do so by his feelings. You must inject emotions in your sales letter for him to want to become a buyer.
You Can Do This By Studying 3 Things:
1) Your Prospect. Determine what kind of a person they are. What is it they REALLY want out of what your product?
2) All the benefits your product will provide to them.
3) The match up. The most important "want" (whether it’s a desire to have something or a problem to be corrected) within your prospect determines the primary emotions your sales letter will target. You’re goal is to link product benefits to these emotions.
The Romantic Spirit of the Harlem Renaissance: Concluding Thoughts
October 27, 2007
The Romantic Spirit of the Harlem Renaissance: Concluding Thoughts
by: Mary Arnold
Although in these articles, I focused on just a few elements of the Harlem Renaissance that I learned from my research, there is so much more to be discovered about this intense, vibrant period in American history. As I stated in my introduction, I knew very little about the Harlem Renaissance before beginning this quest, and there is much that I learned that was not included in these articles, e.g. the historical and social context that led to the Harlem Renaissance (increased number of lynchings and race riots, tightening of restrictions placed on blacks, the psychological effects of World War I on African Americans, etc.). Besides the people mentioned in this journal, I learned quite a bit about many other participants in the Harlem Renaissance that contributed greatly to the movement. I have included in an appendix a chronological list of the major works of the Harlem Renaissance, borrowed from Cary Wintz. Because of the limits of these articles, I had to neglect many of the people, white and black, who supported the young artists, with encouragement, subsidies, or living expenses. But these patrons, such as Charlotte Mason, played an important role in the Harlem Renaissance also and should not be buried in obscurity anymore than the artists. I have endeavored to give others an overview of the Harlem Renaissance in hopes to pique their interest as mine was. It is up to us to keep these artists from sinking into oblivion as many of them did at one time.
The Romantic Spirit of the Harlem Renaissance: Wallace Thurman
October 26, 2007
The Romantic Spirit of the Harlem Renaissance: Wallace Thurman
by: Mary Arnold
In Wallace Thurman’s short life and short artistic career, one can discern tragic circumstances even more devastating than those of Hurston. Thurman (1902-1934) was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, and attended the University of California (Ferguson 729). He tried to create a literary movement in California like the one in Harlem through his establishment of Outlet, a “magazine similar to those being published” in Harlem (Ferguson 729). After the journal’s failure within six months, Thurman moved to Harlem in 1925, where he continued his artistic career in various forms: novelist, editor, poet, playwright, and literary critic (Ferguson 729).
Thurman’s dream was to “become editor of a financially secure magazine” (Henderson 150). He worked at several magazines in New York before becoming involved with Hughes, Hurston, and others to launch the journal Fire!! (1926), which was to stand in opposition to the mainly political and propagandist magazines being published currently: The Crisis, Opportunity, and The Messenger. Fire!! folded after one issue, leaving Thurman with a thousand dollar debt it took him four years to pay back (Ferguson 730). Thurman started another magazine in 1928, Harlem, A Forum of Negro Life; this journal had a longer life than Fire!! but it failed also (Ferguson 730).
How Ezine Ads Explode Your Online Income - Part 2
October 26, 2007
Here’s a big tip ? the secret to succeeding with smaller ads is to set it up like a campaign over a few issues. If you go for the top ad, run the same promotion for 3-5 issues testing different ad copy (we’ll get to some good ad writing tips in a minute). Now, what this does is it builds a rapport with the readers so you become a familiar and trusted presence in the ezine. As I’ve said countless times in this course, you cannot expect all customers to buy first time round, and by appearing in several issues of an ezine you’re overcoming this problem and giving them more chance to click on your link and find out what the fuss is about. I would also recommend as part of your campaign to get at least one solo ad in there as well to heighten your familiar presence even more ? again, use the same link and the same product so this familiarity really hits home. With a solo ad being the first ad in your campaign and following up with top placement sponsor ads, you will be setting yourself up nicely there for some affiliate commission.
Writing Articles For Permanent Traffic
October 26, 2007
Writing articles is possibly the best way to generated free traffic to your site. A short article, submitted to a few places, creates permanent streams of traffic. Here are some of the ways articles bring traffic to your website:
1. Click-throughs from article banks. People read your articles at an article bank, and click on the link in the “author’s resource box.”
2. Search engine traffic. Search “cheap international plane tickets” on Google, and sites with my article will be in the results. Wherever the article is found, readers can click through to my travel site.
3. Other web sites. When my reports show a referral address I don’t recognize, it’s usually a web site that’s using one of my articles.
Article Submission - The Basics
Submit your articles to article banks and newsletters. Article banks usually carry “free-distribution “articles, meaning anyone can use them for a site, newsletter or blog. They just can’t change them, and they have to leave your link active. The link is in the “resource box,” where you say something about yourself and invite the reader to visit your web site.
The Romantic Spirit of the Harlem Renaissance: Zora Neale Hurston
October 25, 2007
The Romantic Spirit of the Harlem Renaissance: Zora Neale Hurston
by: Mary Arnold
Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960) grew up in Eatonville, Florida, the “first incorporated black community in America” (Wall 376). Perhaps her isolation from white racism and discrimination during her childhood and her mother’s encouragement to “jump at da sun” contributed to her strong sense of self and her audacity in crossing racial, social, and gendered boundaries (Wall 376). Indeed, in exploring Hurston’s life and experiences, it is difficult to believe that Hurston herself discerned any boundaries attempting to be foisted on her. Hurston describes her literary aesthetics as:
Every phase of Negro life is highly dramatized. No matter how joyful or how sad the case there is sufficient poise for drama. Everything is acted out. Unconsciously for the most part of course. There is an impromptu ceremony always ready for every hour of life. No little moment passes unadorned. (Wall 163)
In her four novels, Jonah’s Gourd Vine (1934), Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937), Moses, Man of the Mountain (1939), and Seraph on the Suwanee (1948); in her two works of ethnography, Mules and Men (1935) and Tell My Horse (1938); a memoir, Dust Tracks on a Road (1942); and “more than fifty published short stories, essays, and plays” Hurston worked to recreate “the sense of drama and will to adorn” that she found in the language of African Americans (Wall).
Why Do We Publish?
October 25, 2007
WHY DO WE DO THIS?
A major “character” in Mark Salzman’s first autobiography is his father. Sometimes his father paints. But his father hates painting. He likes it when his painting is done. He likes having painted. But the act of painting itself is, in his opinion, a big pain in the backside.
Nobody reading this approaches writing like that, do they? I know I don’t. Of all my experiences as an author, whacking those words down onto the paper is the best of the best. Always has been, always will be. Even though I cut most of them. I like creating.
I’ve quoted Hemingway before. Long periods of thinking, short periods of writing. These days, my thinking takes longer and my periods of writing are getting less frequent, but both still happen, and I still love creating something from nothing.
If it weren’t for me, you would never read the words you’re reading right now. Nobody else would ever write them. And they contain my thoughts. Through time and space, better than telepathy, you hear what I’m saying.
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