Black English: African-American characters are central to The Fire This Time.  Some are first generation immigrants to the United States; others the children of these immigrants.  Many belong to an urban street gang which, unfortunately, may conjure up prejudicial stereotypes in certain readers.  Before crafting the dialogue spoken by these characters, I researched Black English or African-American Vernacular English as linguists call it.  Based on this research, I am persuaded that Black English is a distinct language related to but independent of American English.  Some commentators use phrases like ‘Standard English’ to refer to American English, but that phrase is arguably disparaging of Black English as a language. <Please click to continue reading>

Blood Libel: The Blood Libel is the accusation that Jews killed Christian children to use their blood for the ritual of making unleavened bread (matzoh) to be eaten during Passover.

In the Middle Ages, the first recorded Blood Libel accusation occurred in England in 1144.  The first recorded case outside of England was in France in 1171.  The accusation spread throughout Europe in subsequent centuries and continued well into the 20th century.  In the United States, a Blood Libel accusation occurred in Massena, NY in 1928. <Please click to continue reading>

Cultural Appropriation/Cultural Appreciation: Cultural appropriation, sometimes called cultural misappropriation, occurs when members of one culture, often writers, artists or other creative types, utilize tropes or elements from another culture to which they do not belong.  Like any creative endeavor, this can be done well or done poorly.  When the borrower interacts with the other culture in an effort to understand it and connect with it, it is not cultural appropriation.  It is cultural appreciation. <Please click to continue reading>

The Golem: A golem is a creature fashioned from clay or earth that is magically brought to life by incantations invoking God’s name as God is the ultimate creator of life.  Instructions on how to make a golem are found in the Sefer Yezirah ("Book of Creation" or “Book of Formation”), the oldest surviving manuscript of Jewish mysticism, a foundation text for the Kabbalah tradition of Jewish mysticism.  As is often the case with ancient Jewish texts, different rabbis have different interpretations of these instructions.  Shaping the golem out of clay or earth into a figure resembling a human being, then invoking God's name to bring it to life, is a common thread in these interpretations.  There are several versions, however, of how God’s name is used to bring it to life. <Please click to continue reading>

The Boston of The Fire This Time: When it comes to issues of race and racism, Boston has two contradictory personalities that often are at war with each other.  This is true historically and it is true today.  Boston’s contradictory personalities are an important element of The Fire This Time.  

Prior to the Civil War, for example, Boston was a hotbed of the abolitionist movement and was at the forefront of the campaign to abolish slavery.  It sent an all-Black regiment to fight for the Union in the Civil War.  Yet, prior to the Civil War, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court legalized school segregation based on race for the Boston public schools, forcing an African-American child to attend a distant school rather than her neighborhood school.  Also, prior to the Civil War, Beacon Hill, the neighborhood of Boston’s elite, was developed in such a way that a barrier existed between the white neighborhood where the rich lived and the African-American neighborhood where their servants lived. <Please click to continue reading>