Getting amongst it!

Another week at the Lit and Phil has gone by and I sense a buzz in the air. I had a working lunch with Kay ( thanks for that Kay) where we discussed the selcetion for the forthcoming National Poetry Day event. It was a difficult decison as we had so many submissions of a high standard. It was time that swayed out hands in the end as we wanted to get home before midnight on NPD. Its exciting as the majority of people who will be reading are unknown to us, new kids on the block. This might even be their first reading event. So I'm pleased that not only am I fulfiling my brief with research into the past to unearth hidden voice, but I am also bringing unknown voices to the forefront in the present. It feels good. So NPD is Thursday 5 October, 7.30 onwards. Come along, you'll be more than welcome.

While talking to my husband about the event, he asked if I had taken the time to step back and really think about what I am doing in the Lit and Phil. I took offence at first, reading this question as if I'm wasting my time at the Lit and Phil or rushing into things without really thinking about what I'm doing. But, (and no arguement took place, I may add. He got his explantion in quickly!), what he was really saying was that here I am a Black female researching slavery in the 21st century within a Victorain institution founded by white men. I sit in the cosy women's powder room in the Lit and Phil four hundred years after the events have taken place as a Black female who has links with both the exporters of human trafiic, Ghana, and links with the receivers of human cargo, Trinidad. And I should not forget this and I should keep these thoughts present as I bear witness to these happenings.

Thinking of the 'Middle Passage'

It was our wedding anniversary this week. 'Our' includes me, husband and son. We had one of those modern, all inclusive weddings, 3 years ago where our son was our best man. Very risque as he was 5 at the time, but it worked well. Any way, for this year's anniversary we went to Whitley Bay, late Wednesday evening, the light just failing. We have found this lovely, Venetian and Tapas restaurant just next to the ex Spanish city and we were going to stuff our faces. And we did. I was thinking about the sea and every time I'm by the sea I think I want to live nearer to the sea. If I did would I be a different person? Would I change? I love the sea and should make more time to go see the sea and just be in the presence of the sea. I know its been said before but, I feel a sense of calm and soothing when near the sea. I feel replenished.

We ate, too much, even got a doggy bag for home. Walking back to the car, the sky was a petrol blue, electric even and it had merged with the sea. And I was thinking about all the things I had read this week about other waters , the Atlantic Ocean, in fact. This ocean used for trade, taking the human cargo from Africa to the Caribbean,where they were sold or, in some cases, traded for goods such as molasses, which was used in the making of rum. 'The Middle Passage', this journey was called. The Middle Passage was the longest, hardest, most dangerous, and also most horrific part of the journey of the slave ships. With extremely tightly packed loads of human cargo that stank and carried both infectious disease and death, the ships would travel east to west across the Atlantic on a miserable voyage lasting at least five weeks, and sometimes as long as three months. In some sense, these thoughts dampened my mood, but in another they didn't. I felt inspired to keep on delving into the old dusty books in the Lit and Phil. Keep on reading and bringing first hand history to light. Finding the hidden voices from the sea of books because they will get the chance to live again. And we can learn from them.

Wanted: Identity Poems

• WANTED: IDENTITY POEMS
  
  for the National Poetry Day reading at the Literary and Philosophical Society, Thursday 5th October 2006 at 7.00 p.m.
  
  Poems, poetic writings, short anecdotes on the subject of Identity.
  
  This year’s National Poetry Day theme, 'Identity', invites us to explore through poetry one of the crucial issues and talking points in today’s culture. What is identity? How do we develop it? How do we define it? And how are we defined by it?
  There will be a small fee for each reader. Closing date for submissions: 15th September.
  
  Please send your poems to keasson@litandphil.org.uk

Writer in Residence

Monday 4 September, saw me, Sheree Mack, banging on the large oak doors of the Literary and Philosophical Society, to get in. I was raring to go for the first day of my residency at the Society. And those doors couldn't open soon enough for me. This day had been a long time coming. In existence since 1793, the Lit and Phil was about due a Writer in Residence and I believe I fit the bill. The aim of the four month residency is to explore the extensive tracts within the collection in relation to the trade and abolition of transatlantic slavery. This is laying the foundations for a series of events and projects that are planned for 2007 to mark the bicentennial of the abolition of transatlantic slavery. Not only will the research feed into my PhD and fuel personal commitments to this phase in British history but, this is also an opportunity to document the hidden stories and facts about the North East's involvement in this appalling economic system.
The Lit and Phil enjoys an atmosphere all of its own. Ask anyone about the place and their face will crease into an instant smile and then they will go on about how much they love the place. This is the only library I know where you can drink your tea or coffee and nibble biscuits and cakes amongst the books. Even if the majority of people who come through these doors are of a mature clientele( see I have tact!), this only adds to the feelings of awe that you experience for the place. There's friendly chatter and laughter. There's quiet corners and dusty shelves. The Lit and Phil is an aladdin's cave and I've been let loose in it. Watch this space and see what I find.
Best
Sheree