Charles J. Dale: my writing

Friday, August 14, 2015

For Michael Morones: A Caged Bird Sings

(originally posted 2/16/14)

So I'm involved, along with founder Paul Richmond, in Art for Michael, the eleven year old Michael Morones who was being bullied for liking My Little Pony. Michael has in the course of events lingers in critical condition after attempting suicide. Long story short, Paul is looking for artists to either draw or write something that will then become a book that will then be given to the family.

Huffington posts story about Paul Richmond and his project

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/10/art-for-michael-morones-_n_4761263.html

The blog site where you can see the work submitted for Michael and a link to submit your own work

http://youwillriseproject.blogspot.com/p/artformichael.html

My submission, which is the reason for this post is, as follows:

A Caged Bird Sings

A bird in a gilded cage
Longing for unspoken freedom
Dreading darkness of night rages
Begins to fade
Singing loud the musical
Darkness has become dawn
Yet do you know why
This caged bird sings
Are his notes
Filled with sorrow and despair
Yearning for a frail branch
Bending once 'neath him
No, for the

Brittle ebony branches are coming to life
Sweet magnolia perfume of spring
Ending his ruffling sobs
That were so loud so clear long ago
Breaking out of his ivory shell
O I can tell you why the caged bird sings
Holding fast to his bosom the dream
Of fluttering out the window
Carried by welcoming rays of sunshine
On the flight of tireless wings

Within a community of love and acceptance
No longer caged but free
Singing because once cruel
Bruising ended
Old scars are far away
On another distant hill
The narrow gilded cage
Sits empty by the window sill
For once he dared to be
A caged bird with a dream needing singing

It is my deepest hope that Michael has a full recovery. We as a greater community, along with his family pray for the best. God's speed to you and your family.

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Kent grad writes historical novel of gay persecution (press about my first book)

On May 16, (at Keillor's A Teddy Bear Shoppe, 117 Canal Street, Canal Fulton, OH 44614) Dale will sign copies of “In God's Silence,” his historical novel that details homosexual persecution during the Holocaust.

Posted May. 9, 2014 @ 6:00 am

Repository staff report

JACKSON TWP.

What began as a class assignment for Charles J. Dale has become a compelling new book.

On May 16, Dale will sign copies of “In God’s Silence,” his historical novel that details homosexual

persecution during the Holocaust.A native of Welshfield, in Geauga County, Dale, 47, graduated

in December with full honors from Kent State University’s Stark campus, earning a bachelor’s

degree in English. He has been accepted into a two-year creative-writing residency program at

Fairfield University in Connecticut.

While at Kent, Dale wrote a short story based on Rudolf Brazda, the last-known gay Holocaust survivor,
who died in 2011 at 98.

“I knew a little bit about the topic, but I did not have much time to research being gay during the

Holocaust,” he said. “My original story was eight pages.”

Dale said his writing professor urged him to do more research, and to write a more-extensive

piece as an honors project. “There are less than 10 books on the topic,” he said.

PARAGRAPH 175

The research would stretch to two years. Dale said he searched libraries, online archives at the

Untied States Holocaust Memorial Museum, videos, survivor testimonies, and even eBay auctions.

The result was a 225-page thesis that became a 344-page book.

Between 1933 and 1945, the Nazis systematically murdered 11 million Europeans, including 6 million

Jews, 1 million children, and thousands of homosexual men, who were classified as “degenerates” and

seen as a threat to Germany’s national health.

For identification purposes, homosexuals were required to wear pink inverted-triangle patches or

“Rosa Winkel” on their clothes, part of an extensive code to identify victims.

Up to 100,000 homosexuals were arrested under a German law known as “Paragraph 175.”

At least 50,000 were imprisoned, and 10,000 to 15,000 were interned in concentration camps,

where more than half died.

Paragraph 175 remained a law in Germany until 1969, Dale said.

Dale said the story, which centers on a young couple and their best friend, is gleaned from factual events.

“It’s creative nonfiction,” he said. “The thing I want to stress is that, in the forgetting, we’re doomed to

repeat the past. In so many ways, it’s still happening.”

Dale said that although he’s hopeful because of recent gains made, he points out the persecution and

arrests of homosexuals in Africa, in Russia during the Sochi Olympics, and executions of gays in

the Middle East. He criticized an attempt to pass a law in Arizona that would have allowed business

owners the right to refuse to serve gays, based on religious beliefs.
- A SILENT GOD
  
  “That (law) almost was going to happen here in Ohio,” he said. “There’s also some minority group
  
  under the thumb of the bigger guy ... Why do we have to repress somebody all the time?”
  
  Dale said the book’s title comes from Holocaust survivor and writer Elie Weisel.
  
  “A lot of survivors felt like God wasn’t just absent, but silent,” he said. “With all the prayers spoken,
  
  they felt that if God had been listening, the Holocaust wouldn’t have happened.”
  
  Dale said he was 21 when he was ex-communicated from his family’s Southern Baptist Church
  
  after revealing that he was gay
  
  “I told my mother first,” he said. “She was very supportive and said she knew from very early on.”
  
  His parents later resigned membership from the church.
  
  Dale said the novel’s message offers universal lessons. He recounted the loss of hundreds of friends
  
  and acquaintances as a result of the AIDS virus.
  
  “We all have experienced loss and love,” he said. “We all share the human experience.
  
  We’ve all experienced racism or bigotry, or we’ve done it. If we have been perpetrators, we can rise
  
  above it.”
Read more: http://www.cantonrep.com/article/20140509/Lifestyle/140509152#ixzz31E15EXIb