Writers can write about coronavirus, social justice – or something else - Press-Enterprise

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By Stephanie Barbé Hammer

Contributing columnist

Writing friends,

I am hearing from a lot from friends, acquaintances and current as well as former students that they are feeling blocked/stymied/silenced by the various crises in our country. And they don’t have the time or energy to write.

Stephanie Barbé Hammer, who has taught at UC Riverside, has suggestions on how to spark writing during this time of crises in the nation. (Photo courtesy of Stephanie Barbé Hammer)

That’s an entirely reasonable reaction, in my estimation. Many folks are taking care of family – older as well as younger – as well as trying to work at home. Or they are — like my best friend’s son – working on the front lines as essential workers, testing people for COVID-19 at the local airport or managing the crisis in other, very direct and hazardous ways. In addition, BIPOC writer-friends (namely Black, Indigenous and Of Color writers), have shared with me that it’s a frightening, challenging and draining time just to be alive, let alone care for others in their communities.

Please take care of yourself, your family and your community. Those people come first.

But if you are lucky enough to have the leisure time to write, then for heaven’s sakes, DO.

You can write about whatever you want.

Here’s a writing assignment:

1. Make a list of 10 things or people that you think about at least five times a day.

For example:

• My partner
• The garbanzo beans I forgot to get at Safeway
• Stamps
• The protests in Belarus
• Matthew Shepard’s parents

2. Next, look at your list and circle three of the items. Or, have a friend, roommate, significant other, or relative circle three of the items for you. If you have kids or grandkids who can read, have them pick some items.

3. Pick one. Write about it. You can free write, write a poem, or try a story that begins “once upon a time.” See where the story takes you.

“Once upon a time a can of garbanzo beans looked out from the supermarket shelf and noticed that all the spaghetti was gone …”

Or Do you want to take on the big stuff, but don’t know where to start?

• Take a photograph from recent events that moves you.
• Sit down and try to describe as minutely as possible what you see in front of you.
• Try to write a poem or story that uses the different points of view of every person depicted in the photograph (if there are any). If not, look for a point of view that lurks in the picture … a building, a dog, a cloud, a piece of litter in the street.

“Why should I bother writing this?” you ask. “Who is ever going to read my fairy-tale about garbanzo beans?”

The answer is: you never know. Your story about the can of beans might end up being great and might give pleasure and comfort to yourself, first of all, because writing generally makes us feel better.

And maybe you’ll show that story to your kid, your grandkid, your parents, your friends, your spouse or a friend you’re talking to online. Maybe that story will make them laugh or cry, or think. Then they might write their own story, and then share it with their circle. And the stories about garbanzo beans will flow through the state, the country and the world … Making us all long for hummus.

The same goes for your poem or story about the photograph you wrote about the protests in Portland, or the terrible storm in Iowa, or the fire in Apple Valley. Your writing about those things in a careful, observing fashion might help you understand those events in a more nuanced way. Sharing that work might mean something to your family, friends and communities.

What you write is a record of the time we are living in. And records are important.

How do I know this? Let me tell you a story.

Once upon a time there was a boy who lived in New York. His name was James. James was really poor but he loved words, so he read like crazy and wrote like crazy. He got an article published in his high-school newspaper and he even wrote the lyrics for his school’s song. He did not go to college, but he continually wrote about what he saw and experienced. He wrote fiction and he wrote nonfiction. He wrote about himself, his family, and his relationships, as well as the cities he lived in and the ways he thought about politics, race and gender.

James Baldwin is now considered one of the most important American authors ever. He gives us an unparalleled picture of and insight into the United States of the mid 20th century.

Who knows? Maybe your story about the can of garbanzo beans will travel through time and give a distant descendant a picture into the world as we know it right now. It’s possible.

Happy writing.

Stephanie Barbé Hammer is professor emerita and distinguished teacher in comparative literature at UC Riverside. A six-time Pushcart Prize nominee, she is the author of “Sex with Buildings,” “How Formal?” and “The Puppet Turners of Narrow Interior.”

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