Welcome to the Bookcase.

I'm your host, Shawna Richards, a sometime writer and a longtime reader.

I invite you to join me as we explore the Bookcase and celebrate Virgin Islands authors and talent.

Each week on the Bookcase, we'll introduce you to a local author and learn more about them and their work.

A storyteller lives in each of us, and I am so excited to give our homegrown storytellers a chance to tell their story.

Tonight, selection from the Bookcase is Elijah and Paba, and I'm honored to welcome its author, Michael Flemming.

Michael, welcome to the Bookcase.

Thank you so much for joining us this evening.

So I know you to be an entrepreneur and a dad, but I don't know you as a writer, so introduce yourself to our audience.

So once again, thank you for having me on the show.

My name is Michael Flemming.

I am a local author.

Father, Barber.

Born and raised on the island of Saint Croix and recently moved back about a year and a half ago.

And the book has actually been something I've had written for quite some time, but I'm looking to publish later on this year and just learning about life and trying to put that down on paper so people can know me and get to understand how us as Virgin Islands just fit into the grand scheme of the world.

What inspired you to write this book?

Well, this book specifically, my son.

It’s named after my son, Elijah.

Shout out to Elijah.

So I just want him to know about the world and, you know, different stories and great tales so that he can understand life lessons and how it applies to him on a global scheme.

What are some of the lessons that you thought it was important to put into Elijah and Paba?

So there’s a specific term in Swahili called Kujichagulia.

So that is a Kwanzaa reference means self-determination.

So I want him to understand that in life you have to give yourself that opportunity to to succeed in life by using different skills within yourself to express yourself.

So in the book, Elijah and Paba different life lessons.

So I wanted him to be aware of how he can use these lessons to get him to any kind of life traumas.

So when Elijah and Paba, they in the book, they have a series of experiences.

And do all of these experiences relate to our Virgin Islands reality?

Some of them do, Correct.

There's a specific story in the book that details this legend of the hurricane.

So there's a story that details how the baobab tree have these mystical properties to it.

So Olasee Davis, he is a local, how should I say?

He is a historian.

Historian, botanist.

Correct.

So he told us a story one day that back in the days when hurricanes would come to the island, that some women would go in the tree to give birth and some thought that the tree was used as a transportation device that would take you back to Africa.

So I kind of use that storyline to incorporate it within the story to show that we still have these relatable tales.

And it's also the trees can be used for a lot of different medicinal things as well as mystical happenings.

When did you first start writing?

Is this your first book?

So this is my second book.

So the first one is called That Is All Part of Life.

It is.

It is a self-help poetry book that I wrote is an excerpt of poems and axioms that I detailed throughout my long collegiate career and baseball career so that I could assist anyone who is going through any life trials, any type of mental instability to assist them in finding themselves.

So I'd like to take a look at your illustrations.

When I saw, Can I take a look at your illustrations?

When I saw your illustrations, I was immediately struck by the vibrant colors.

Can you tell me how you found.

Can you tell me how you found your illustrator?

Absolutely.

So the book was, of course, concocted with some of my illustrations.

But in order to bring the vibrancy out, I got the reference from a Brazilian artist.

Torhera Durand actually was the one who gave me the the link to the Brazilian artist.

So I gave him the idea of what I wanted the book to look like, the characters to look like.

And he brought it to life.

And it's so amazing.

Torhera has also been a guest on The Bookcase, so it's really amazing to see how our, you know, Virgin Islands community of writers supports each other.

But I love that the colors in the illustrations just really popped off the page and it almost had a very, you know, mythical and mystical sense to your illustrations.

Was that what you were intending for?

That is exactly what I was intending.

I wanted to kind of give it an Eastern look as far as when it comes to in relation to Africa, because the book details a lot of, you know, transportation of ideas that kind of draws that bridge with the Caribbean to the east side, which is Africa.

Right.

I had a sense of almost the Arabian Nights, because you had different stories that were being told to Elijah that all had a common theme, but they were different stories that helped him towards, I guess, understanding.

That's correct.

So I use those reference themes to kind of give us once again, because Saint Croix sits in a very specific and particular place in the Caribbean, right?

So we get storms that come off the coast of Africa, we get the Sahara dust that comes off the coast of Africa.

So I wanted people to realize that we're not that different from Africa.

I think Saint Croix is like a little African country at the end of the day.

Right with our themes, like mockojumbies, our relations with the foods that we cook, the way we talk, the way we relate with one another.

So I kind of wanted the book to have that, of course, diversity, but still have that togetherness at the end of the day.

So your first book was a self-help book?

That's correct.

And with this book, Elijah and Paba, you pivoted to a children's book.

Why the shift?

Well, with the shift is specifically because when I wrote “That Is All Part of Life” I was single, right now I'm a father, right?

So it's kind of moving to the different stages of life, which we all have to go through.

So for me is having to build, you know, a form of generational wealth, generational wisdom for my children, for my progeny, for posterity at the end of the day, so that we can have a reference point to know who they are and where they should go and what they will see once they get there.

So the book is is like I said, it's a cornucopia of information that they can use and it will be a series going forward.

So in Elijah and Paba, you have people who look, you know, like Caribbean people.

Were you reading or seeing those types of books when you were growing up?

I was.

There's different books that I read growing up.

Of course.

Anansi.

There's books like Aesop, you know, his themes.

And I wanted to kind of incorporate that in my story once again, because I wanted us to realize that we're not so different.

And a lot of the cultural practices that we have is the same cultural practices they have in the East it’s just we're on a different side.

So that's the whole theme of me creating this new work.

And a lot of the times when I was reading growing up, I didn't have a large array of information, not because it wasn't around.

It's just I wasn't aware.

So me doing this for my son, for my daughter is something close to home, literally.

You know, so they can just go and pick it out.

And it's almost like a reference point.

They may not read a book in its entirety, but they might see something that resonate with them, and they might go and look up ASAP They might go and look up other local artists and that, you know, that they can relate with.

So that's more of the reasons why I feel I have to create this type of work for us in general.

So now as a dad, as a parent raising your son, your daughter, did you see a gap in children's literature and say this is a gap that I want to fill with my book?

I did.

I wanted to create story lines that once again have us in it, even though there's there is works and people have been doing it once again.

But to me, I wanted to create a story where it's new and it's relatable.

Right.

Because a lot of the things my book does have historical themes, but I wanted to still have a present day feel to it, so that way they can relate to it better.

So when you were writing your book as you were writing Elijah and Paba, who are the your readers?

Who are the people that give you honest critique and feedback?

Parents.

My son.

What did you what what did Elijah say about it?

Well, he loved it because his name is on the book.

However, he really enjoyed the parts of the book, which is a coloring book in the back because he sees us in our different travels.

You know, go into like Puerto Rico going to like the river when it rains in the rainforest, going to the beach carnival festival time, and just having him see himself.

It's almost like he knows that he belongs.

Right.

And I feel that's one of the biggest things for us as Caribbean people, as African people, is seeing where we fit into the grand scheme of life, feeling that we we need to belong.

Being seen as very important to me.

And if it's important to me, I can only imagine how it feels for the the wide array of us.

And I appreciate that you were really intentional in making that connection between Saint Croix and the Caribbean and Africa, especially in your story about Sahara Dust.

And it really made me think of Sahara dust in a different in a different way.

Sahara Dust heralds a lot of things.

It heralds the start of hurricane season, for example.

It heralds the start of allergy season for many people.

But I appreciated how you were really intentional in making those connections without being, you know, heavy handed in your message.

But when you first started writing, did you start writing in school as a student?

Well, I started writing well, definitely.

I was school age by the time I started writing, my mom always brags that I was reading since I was three years old.

Right.

My son took up that mantle.

But as far as being detailed and writing little short stories, I was between the age of eight and nine.

I was always one of those students.

When the teacher is telling her lesson, I will be in the back of my book.

Just doodling and writing those short stories.

So do you have that collection of early Michael Flemming work anywhere?

My mother would.

Okay, I just have to ask for it.

But it’s always something that I continuously did.

So I have like a plethora of journals, drawing pads because I always have ideas that has to be churned out and I have to see it actualized.

Right?

And writing for me is one of the most important things to kind of give you that definite purpose, right?

Because it crystalizes your thoughts and it brings it to reality because it puts your brain into auto suggestion.

So it's something that I was doing since I was young, and I didn't realize it until I started living that which I was writing.

Of course not the super first of all, like super powers and all that, but we have superpowers it’s just we go unsung.

But so writing it began as early as nine.

Do you have a writing mentor now?

Someone that you look up to that encourages you?

I don't have a writing mentor.

I do have someone who inspires me a lot.

Once again, it’s my son because he draws all day, if he had the opportunity to be in a studio, he would probably fill this whole place up with paper and just watching his ideas.

He like, you know, I have this new idea with this super power.

I have this idea with a new story.

So it kind of keeps me keeps my gears turning right and we kind of bounce off ideas with one another.

And like, for me, I feel that's very important because as we get older, as adults, we kind of lose that inner child, that creativity, right?

Because we're so bogged down with life and expectations of who or what we should be.

But if we get back to the more simple things, like doing a wild dervish, you know, going out in the sun and just frolicking or, you know, just running barefoot it’s the simple things that kind of reminds me of what I should do, which is writing.

And my son does that for me.

So you're a dad.

You're an entrepreneur.

How do you balance the demands of life, as you just mentioned, with being creative?

So I always try to be very methodical.

Every day I wake up, I kind of know what I'm supposed to do.

It doesn't always work out the way I want it to.

However, I always set myself up the day before I write down what I need to do.

I discipline myself.

I kind of always I meditate, at least three times a week.

So I would wake up at four, meditate.

That's the best time to meditate when you're kind of still in a delta sleep state.

And I might go back to sleep right?

That's because, you know, ain’t every day you will be on high energy.

But doing that is very important to me because it kind of puts my mind into a focus, kind of puts on those, you know, those blinders to know what I need to do, where I need to go.

So detailing my day, I really map out my week before on Sunday.

So that way I know what to do.

So I wouldn't kind of be caught off guard.

So every day you are structuring that time for creative thinking, for writing.

Well as far as creative thinking, I always have a journal with me.

I always have multiple journals of multiple pads of notebooks.

So even though I don't schedule a time for writing, which I mostly never do, because if I do that, I kind of lose the whole creative, you know, portion of myself.

So I might be in traffic and I might have a thought.

don't do this now for the average person, however.

But I would pull out my little notebook and I would write something down and I make sure it might be a little excerpt of what I was thinking.

But I can always go back and reference because my mother has this saying.

Brain forgets what paper don't.

So I always try to write things down so that way I can always remember to go back to it later.

So, you’re definitely the pen and paper type of person not to sit down and type I’m old school abacas.

I try to because technology is a beautiful thing.

However, it puts you in a space of kind of make you think like everyone else.

And I try not.

I try to in order to be creative, you will see some of the most famous authors, writers, thinkers, Plato, Beethoven, They will say, you know, you must have to go into nature and sometimes kind of be in a in a state of solace in order to bring out the creativity in you.

So for me, a pen and paper does that because I don't have all the distractions, distraction, widgets, apps notifications to kind of distract me from, you know, what's coming from here, which is the seed of the soul right is your brain.

So you've written a self-help book, you've written a children's book.

What type of books do you like to read?

I am interested in a lot of different topics I love science, I love spirituality.

Right now one of my favorite books is Think and Grow Rich, which by Napoleon Hill is a book on Siddhartha.

That's another one of my favorite books.

There's a book that I read when I was in high school called A Drummer Boy's Battle, and that's a book that always reminds me that no matter what struggles you may go through, someone's going through worse, right?

So you should always kind of cement yourself.

In now.

In the moment of now.

But it's always interesting to go back and reread books as an adult that you read when you were much younger because you have the perspective of age, of experience and sometimes see completely different things in the book that you may not have seen when you were younger.

And I guess having lived a less life, I agree one thousand percent.

When you passed that stage of so-called innocence and you go through life's tumult, you get to see life from a different perspective.

So my son teases me.

One of my favorite movies is The Mummy.

Right.

So old school.

Old school.

So I watched this movie.

I could watch it three times a day.

That's how serious it is right.

But I would put off put it off for like a year.

And just do what I go to do move through life.

And I'll watch it again and I will see something different in it every time.

That's because you gain a new perspective, right?

You might have more focus, so you might be looking at a symbol that you may have never paid attention to when you were younger, Right?

Like the dung beetle, you know, they would mention that was a flesh eating insect.

But, you know, in the walls of ancient Egypt or Kemet it was a symbol that signified the completion of things you know and so it was like a completely different explanation from the story.

But I wouldn't know unless I moved through life and had these different experiences to know what that symbol meant.

It's called the capra.

So is there a favorite passage that you can share with our audience?

Definitely.

So there's a story in here called The Legend of the Sundial.

So I’ll begin from a top today, Papa and I went camping, climbed a few coconut trees, made a fire to cook the fish we caught.

And I swam in the river until my fingers turned to wrinkles.

We took a drive up to Point Udall to watch the sunrise the following morning and I asked Paba, what is that triangle thing in a circle?

Well, Paba said, it’s what people used back when to tell time like a watch, but I have a story about the sundial if you would like to listen, Paba said.

Is a cool?

Paba leaning closely and said, Very!

Okay, listen carefully.

500 years ago, a small island in the Caribbean was being controlled by invaders.

Their people were made into slaves and they were being controlled.

The Indians were treated badly, and they worked from sunup to sundown with barely any food to eat.

One winter day, a woman named Kowatata decided to gather the women around the fire, to pray, to be free.

They did so for 11 days straight, and on the 12th day, she told the women to make their husbands do the same.

At that time, gatherings were only meant for the enslaved to pray to God on Sundays.

The husbands soon after decided to follow their lead.

The village leader at that time was named Madie, and he was given access to the plantation house because he managed a library and when guests visited, they enjoyed his stories.

Madie and Kowatata started these prayers around the sundial.

Anything discussed in the circle of the sundial stayed in the circle of the sundial.

Madie made men battle ready, and Kowatata taught the woman the art of disguise and how to blend in to nature by using flowers and twigs in hairstyles.

Madie showed the men the art of deception that the greatest weapon is one's mind.

He said the best battles are the ones won without a fight.

Kowatata and a woman learned how to read the Sun and Moon cycles when Madie and the men mastered the art of voice mimicry.

They prayed every Sunday going forward around the circle of the sundial They all communicated secretly and they waited.

Spring rolled around in the Sahara dust fill the sky.

Kowatata understood the cycles of the sun and moon as she urged the women to be ready and made sure their hair were well done.

And that is certainly making me think of the sundial and in certainly a different way when now you're using it to not just tell time, but to plot the moon, you know, cycles of life and really as a symbol for people and progress.

Correct.

Were you inspired by Point Udall?

So I was inspired from Point Udall and it actually made me deep into deeper research on the different sundials around the world.

So that structure is similar to other structures around the world, much like our sundial which is a easternmost point of the United States.

So the sundial once again was used to tell time, and it was used for people to do you have gatherings, And in regards to this specific story, which is I think is the millennium sundial, that's what it’s named at our Point Udall.

So our people use similar structures like this to gather around and kind of find different ways to free ourselves from bondage.

So I wanted to kind of tie in that story and use different themes to show how not just our Point Udall but there's different, you know, sundials around the world that have similar stories, which I plan to visit and see the stories, those sundials, so that we can draw reference to see this kind of the same things.

So you've been writing for years and have, you know, really been on your own evolution as a writer.

What tips do you have for other writers out there who may be listening and maybe thinking that they're ready to tell their stories?

To do it!

To travel.

Don't overthink, even though that's a part of the writing process.

And, you know, when you do have that writer's block, just get out into nature, right?

Don't just sit in a room and wait for something to happen.

If you do sit in a room, I would say sit in a dark room, because that's where most ideas are sprung from.

When you're in that you know that deep darkness of, I guess you call it, your soul.

See who you are.

Let that come out.

But I always tell people you have to use different mind, boggling not mind boggling but mine flowing exercises, right?

Nature, traveling.

Definitely talk to people.

Right.

Because you can get a story from someone that can help you bridge that story that you have in your mind.

Right.

Right.

I'd like to talk to elders because they have the best stories.

They have the greatest wisdom because they've been through it all like you went through that, that’s nothing you know, right?

They think everything you go through is child's play, which is a beautiful thing.

So they will make it easier for you to kind of get over that roadblock that you have in your mind and don't focus so much on, you know, people may not receive the information.

What's most important is how you feel about it.

Right.

You have to be your own cheerleader at the end of the day and know that you will succeed by just believing in yourself.

And I think that is the best word for anyone, writer or not, to just believe in yourself.

It's been a pleasure to learn more about Elijah and Paba and to speak with Michael Flemming.

For more information on Elijah and Paba or any of the books featured on this program, visit our website at www.wtjx.org We appreciate your support of our local authors and we'll see you next week when we take another book from the Bookcase.