Creative Writing Exercise #1

STANDING BEAR – “THE PERSON”

 (a fictional dialogue based on a true story[i])

by Laura Lai/Uncategorized

(In the spring of 1877 the 750 Ponca Indian Americans, led by the Standing Bear (1829 – 1908), were forced by the US Army to relocate from their homeland in Nebraska to the southern Indian Territories (in Oklahoma). Due to the southern weather conditions, of high humidity, and heat, and without having received their rations, one-third of the Ponca Indians died in the first year, including Standing Bear’s daughter, granddaughter, and son. The son’s last wish was to be buried where all their ancestors are, back in Nebraska.

On January 2^nd, 1879 the Standing Bear wrapped the body of his son and with 30 Ponca Indians started the journey back to Nebraska. They were followed by the army, accused by Gen. Crook of having left the Indian Territories and put to jail, where the Standing Bear stood trial in a barrack in Fort Omaha. He could not stand for himself, because under ‘the white man law’ he was not considered a man. However, at the end of the trial, Judge Elmer Dundy allowed Standing Bear to deliver a speech in his defense. He did it remarkably. And following the trail ‘The Standing Bear vs Crook’, the Indian Americans are considered ‘persons’, and therefore 100,000 of them become US citizens. At the trial took part also Mr. Tibbies, a newspaper editorialist, who described the courtroom.)

The scene is in a courtroom. In the public, there are fashionably dressed women, clergy, businessmen, lawyers, and Gen. Crook and his staff wearing uniforms. The Standing Bear wears traditional colorful clothes.

ACCUSATION LAWYER (AL). The Accusation calls the Standing Bear. (He walks and sits calmly in the witness box.) Standing Bear, right? (to the public) What kind of name is that for a man?

PUBLIC (long laughter).

JUDGE. Silence! Silence! (to the AL) Please proceed!

AL (makes a step further from his desk). Mr. Bear (he makes a break to smile), do you know that under the ‘white man law’ you are not a man? How often do you have sex?

PUBLIC (laughs euphorically).

JUDGE. Silence! Silence in the courtroom!

DEFENSE LAWYER (DL). Objection, your Honor! Irrelevant!

JUDGE. Sustained! (to the AL) Please rephrase your question!

AL. Yes, your Honor! (to the Standing Bear) How do you relax, Mr. Bear?

PUBLIC (some of them laugh and talk to each other).

DL. Objection!

JUDGE. Overruled! (to the Standing Bear) Please answer the question!

THE STANDING BEAR (to the Judge). I play the flute, Sir.

AL (makes a few steps even closer to the witness box). This is your idea of perfect happiness?

PUBLIC (laughs euphorically).

THE STANDING BEAR. My idea of perfect happiness, Sir, is to be allowed to bury my son, who’s in the wagen outside …

AL (looks at the public). Mr. Bear, you carry a dead body with you?

PUBLIC (gestures of disgust).

THE STANDING BEAR (to the Judge). … where our ancestors are buried. And for my people to return to our Homeland. 

AL (arrogant). I suppose you know what a ‘building’ is. Does your beloved ‘Homeland’ have buildings? Any favorite one you have, Bear?

PUBLIC (laughs euphorically).

JUDGE (to the public). Silence! Silence! (to the AL) I want the detained to be referred as ‘Mr. Standing Bear’. (to the Standing Bear) Please answer your question!

THE STANDING BEAR (looks towards the window). The Homeland of my people is nature, Sir. For generations, we have tried to live in harmony with nature. And nature has been good to us. Our Fatherland is back in Nebraska, Sir because there are all our ancestors buried. (to the AL) Yes, Sir, there are buildings in my Homeland. And of all the tents we have, my favorite is the one in which I live in harmony with my family.

PUBLIC (smiles arrogantly).

AL (returning to its desk): Mr. Bear…

THE STANDING BEAR (to the Judge). If I am allowed. I haven’t finished my sentence.

JUDGE. Go ahead, Mr. Standing Bear.

THE STANDING BEAR (to the AL). We also have vehicles in my Homeland. I personally have a BlackBerry vehicle.

PUBLIC (intrigued). What? What kind of vehicle is that? A ‘Black Berry’? Never heard of it!

JUDGE: Silence!

AL (from his desk). One last question, your Honor! (to the Standing Bear) What is your most unappealing habit?

THE STANDING BEAR (to the AL). That I do not mock people, Sir!

PUBLIC (many of them looked down).

AL (arrogant, to the DL). The accused is yours!

DL (goes fast near the Standing Bear). What is your greatest fear now?

THE STANDING BEAR. I fear that I will not be able to fulfill the last wish of my son, to bury him with all our ancestors.

DL. Would you call this journey back to your homeland for this purpose and leave the Indian territories the greatest extravagance you have ever allowed yourself?

DL. Yes, Sir, I do. But I must fulfill my son’s wish.

PUBLIC (an impressed woman starts crying).

DL (to the Public). My client was doing the journey back, because of honor. Honor is its favorite word, a motto of his life…

AL. Objection! Speculation!

JUDGE. Sustained! (to the DL) Please formulate questions!

DL. Yes, your Honor! (to the Standing Bear) Mr. Standing Bear, what words or phrases do you most overuse?

THE STANDING BEAR. Honor, Sir! We honor the present by living in harmony with nature and we honor the past by being with our ancestors whose spirits guide us towards the future.

PUBLIC (speechless).

DL. What is your favorite journey? Where would you like to live?

THE STANDING BEAR. We want to go back to our Homeland where our ancestors lived, to our Fatherland. We have been forced to relocate in a new territory where we feel like strangers. The greatest regret of my life is that I had to break this convention and leave this new and strange territory to go back to what our home was for hundreds of years (He makes a pause) …in order to bury my son. All my other relatives are buried in the new land, but my son asked to be with all our ancestors. But for this cause, I am prepared to die! (Pause)

The greatest love of my life is my tribe, my family, and my Homeland. I stand here, in front of you, in order to allow us to return to our Homeland. And never to be forced to leave it, depending on the decisions that may come with the wind. (He stands)

I have never asked to be the leader of my people, but this is what my appearance in these clothes shows. But the most important lesson life has taught me since I wear these clothes is that, although the skin of my hand may be a little bit darker than yours, if I cut myself, it hurts and there is blood. And if you cut, it hurts you, too and there is blood, too. We are all people made by the same God! (Pause)

And I would like to be remembered by my people, as the Standing Bear who stood for their rights and had a fair trial! Thank you!

DL (while going back to its desk). No further questions, your Honor!

PUBLIC (standing, cheering, and clapping hands).

JUDGE. Court dismissed! (He leaves)

---

[i] This was an exercise I made within the framework of a writing course, in which the participants were asked to choose one picture from different eight pictures, and combine them with 20 questions. The questions were: 1. What is your favorite building? 2. What is your favorite journey? 3. What is your favorite word? 4. What vehicles do you own? 5. Where would you like to live? 6. What is your idea of perfect happiness? 7. What is your greatest extravagance? 8. What is your greatest fear? 9. What do you most dislike about your appearance? 10. What is your most unappealing habit? 11. What words of phrases do you most overuse? 12. Which living person do you most admire? 13. What or who is the greatest love of your life? 14. What is your greatest regret? 15. For what cause would you die? 16. How do you relax? 17. How often do you have sex? 18. What is the most important lesson life has taught you? 19. What would your motto be? 20. How would you like to be remembered? I chose the picture of a Ponca Man and I imagined that it was the Standing Bear. I knew the story, but I revised it, in particular the amazing speech he hold. In order to do this (homework) exercise I imagined that he was cross-examined, and tried to use as much as possible from these questions, making out of it a coherent, plausible scene corresponding to the atmosphere of those times. I had no intention to offend anybody or the memory of a person, but if I did it, I would like to apologize in advance.  

BAFTA Film Awards 2019

by Laura Lai/ Uncategorized

Every country on each continent has its own culture. It means that each of them has its literature, philosophy, architecture, film, music, and so on. The reason why we generally speak about an African culture, an Asian culture, a European or a Latin-American culture is because they share a common cultural heritage. It may also happen that a country to be as big as almost a whole continent, such as Russia, with its own language, architecture, film, music. And therefore, the Russian culture. A common cultural heritage can also be shared between a former colonial power and its former colonies, such as the Commonwealth. Culture transcends all political arrangements, whether a (British) empire, a (European) union, and so on.

It is in Europe that all the former colonial empires are. Therefore, it is no surprise that it is in France that Antoine Lumière (1895) made a first film projection in a cinema in Paris. In the same year a first film projection took place in Vienna and in ten years after the first projection had Vienna 10 cinemas. But Vienna is also known for its music, for its Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. The Germans have their Berliner Philarmoniker. And the British have the London Symphony Orchestra.

            It is almost a logical consequence that after the first film projections, cinemas to be built and films to be made. The concept of ‘film festivals’ brought the idea of film competition. And the competition has its dimensions: national, continental or international film festivals. In France takes place the Cannes Film Festival; in Germany, the Berlin International Film Festival; in Italy, Venice Film Festival. And in Britain?

Great Britain remains loyal first to its long theater tradition. However, it organizes yearly at Royal Albert Hall the BAFTA Award for outstanding achievements in British Film and Television. But what is ‘BAFTA’?

            The word itself can stand as a noun and as an acronym. As a noun, in English, it is rooted in ‘Urdu’ and ‘Persian’ language and it refers to a cloth. In another language, in Romanian for example, it is a noun rooted in Turkish language, but it evolved into the noun ‘bafta’, which means ‘good luck’. When used as an acronym, BAFTA means the British Academy of Film and Television Awards.

            Some of the 2019 nominations for the BAFTA Awards scheduled for February 10^th are: ‘The Favourite’, ‘Green Book’, ‘The Wife’, ‘Can you forgive me?’, ‘Stan and Ollie’, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, and many others. As every year, the film competition is tough and the decisions are difficult to take. 

As a viewer and as a film lover, I wish them all…bafta!

Donald Trump Delievered his Second State of the Union. Melania Says: 'Be Best'

Official White House Photo, by Andrea Hanks

by Laura Lai/ Essay

On February 5^th, 2019 the President Donald J. Trump delivered his second State of the Union speech in front of the US Congress. Loyal to his campaign’s motto, this year speech was again centered on great Americans, on reviewing the achievements of Trump Administration and on outlining the way forward, in order to make America great again.

But the activity of the US (Institution of the) First Lady is not to be left aside either. While the President is fighting to make America great again, the First Lady says 'Be Best'. The 'Be Best' is an educational campaign at the initiative of the First Lady, Melania Trump, centered on children in schools, in care centers and/or as patients in hospitals. If the First Lady should have delivered a speech in front of the US Congress, how would the speech be like?

It would most probably start with an elegant and committed woman taking the floor.

'Madam Speaker,

Mr. Vice-President,

Members of the Congress,

The President of the United States,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

it is a great honor for me to be here and to talk to you about the 'Be Best' campaign that is a national and international project of the Institution of the First Lady of the United States of America.

The 'Be Best' campaign has at its core the essence of the future: our children. It is based on three pillars: the (social and emotional) well-being of children, the (positive and the negative effects) of the social media on our children, and the consequences of the opioid abuse (on healthy pregnancies included).

My belief is that education is very important and it requires both a top-down approach (through national educational policies), as well as a bottom-up approach (through proposals coming from teachers and their pupils). In raising awareness on the importance to protect, to teach and to empower our children, I took part in roundtables, I visited national and international schools in the US and abroad, I took part to classes, and I talked to national and international politicians and teachers alike.

My most recent international tour, under the motto 'Be Best in Africa', approached the importance of education for the future of the state in Ghana, Kenya, Malawi and Egypt. We, as adults, have also a responsibility towards our children from choosing the right words in talking to them, to preserving the ancient cultural heritage, like the one in Egypt. I have been beautiful impressed by the Nairobi National Park and I would like to thank for the invitation to the National Theater of Kenya. All these elements are educational parts of a whole that puts at its core the healthy development of our children.

At Cape Coast, in Ghana, I walked through a symbolic 'Door of No Return': I firmly believe that the growth and success of our country, the United States of America, as of any other state in this world starts by educating our children.

I am committed to put all my efforts in the 'Be Best' campaign. And everybody is invited to join me in my efforts, by writing about, by bringing new ideas, by donated books. Or by being encouraging, kind, compassionate and respectful with your children. Thank you!’

And it would most probably end with standing ovations from both the Republicans and the Democrats.