I wrote that caption – and then… I had an idea…
If #BlackLivesMatter, why has no one made an animated TV series out of the life and times of Frederick Douglass? When the #ThriversEd content empire is big enough, we’ll do this – and do it right.
And that, all of it, is exactly right: There should be all kinds of media about Frederick Douglass, where now there is little beyond research tomes, and ThriversEd – me, we, us – is the right way to get that job done. I don’t want to show Douglass to black children, though that is hugely worthwhile, but to all children – and all adults, for that matter. And what I want to show is how a determined oak grows out from under a slab of broken sidewalk.
That’s a whole genre of kid-lit that doesn’t much exist any longer, the inspirational biography. As discussed, I’m not interested in promoting a one-size-fits-none ‘ideal man,’ but I love the idea of regular consistent portrayals of inspirational role models. And I love them every which way – as books, as TV or cinema, as interactive fiction (that’s video games to you) – you name the medium and I want to be there.
This is not work I can do – much too C for a D like me – but it’s work I can manage – arguably better than anyone, taking account that no one is doing anything like this now. And last night, I worked out a praxis to get the best cinematic experience out of the best literary experience, but all that’s just details – the production flow, as it were.
The big news is here: I have a project to commission for a writer-for-hire: A kid-lit biography of Frederick Douglass.
If you can do this, I’ll edit it, publish it and promote it – ultimately, ideally, into a TV series or a film and beyond.
You’re not that writer? I know I’m not, either. But you can still help to make this possible. How? Cultivate thriving.
