A few weeks ago, I was visiting my parents in my hometown of Jasper, Alabama, and my dad gave me a little tour of the cemetery at New Hope Primitive Baptist Church where four generations of my ancestors are buried. There's my grandfather, James Everett, who was a Baptist preacher and coal miner, and my grandmother, Ruth "Mama Ruth" Aaron. There's my great grandfather, Sammie Aaron, who died in 1924 from rabies after being bitten by his own dog. There's my great great grandfather, Ira Aaron, who around 1900 served six months in jail for stabbing a man to death over some sheep. Sammie, who was a teenager at the time, was also charged in the crime, since it was his knife that was used, but those charges were later dropped. The oldest Aaron grave at the New Hope cemetery is that of my great great great grandparents, Sam and Jane, who were both born in 1830. Can't help but wonder what these various Aarons, miners and farmers and murderers alike, would've thought of something like SCALPED? Probably not all of them would want to claim me as kin after reading it, but nevertheless, I'm proud of my heritage, and I'm proud of being a Southerner. Eventhough I’ll likely spend the rest of my life in Kansas City, I imagine I’ll always think of myself as a Southerner at heart. And I’m quite certain that my Alabama upbringing will continue to have a profound effect on my writing. I would seriously like nothing better than to someday be remembered as a Southern writer. There’s a pretty good tradition of those, in case you hadn’t noticed.
Happy Fourth of July.
2 comments :
Mr. Aaron,
I know you’ve probably heard this a lot from emails, letters, signings, etc. But I just wanted to say that I’ve been a huge fan of your two books: “The Other Side” and “Scalped” from DC/Vertigo. I wanted to ask you a question if you didn’t mind. I’m a huge fan of the crime genre and so far “Scalped” has done a really good job in doing that. I remember earlier this year you had an interview with Around Comics where they asked you what the pitch to “Scalped” was. You mentioned it was like “The Wire” with a little Cormack McCarthy. Now being a big fan of David Simon and “The Wire” myself it seems so far it’s been doing that in terms of explaining these characters not by looking at them as simply black or white but gray. You have also showed an image of the Native American that not many people are familiar with set in North Dakota. Now I wanted to ask you, do you have any plans on “Scalped” to explore the politics, poverty line as well as the education system of Native Americans? It would be really interesting to see all of those aspects because so far I’ve been hearing many good things about how “Scalped” hits the very essence of what is going on in many of the Indian Reservations of North Dakota as “The Wire” has brought Baltimore to life. I know you’re probably busy writing but if you get the chance I would love to hear your answer. Until then, take care of yourself.
Sincerely,
Edward Kim
(New York City)
Thanks for the kind words, Edward. In answer to your question, yes, SCALPED will definitely be exploring different aspects of life on our fictional rez. No plans as yet to deal with the education system, but politics will continue to play a part in the series, as we watch Chief Red Crow struggle to deal with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and his own tribal council. And look no further than issue #10 for a story that explores the poverty on the rez. Be sure and let me know what you think. And thanks again.
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