By: A. K. Jordan
“He who gives the blows forgets. He who bears the bruises remembers.”
Proverbial wisdom such as this does not come cheap. Just ask Journalist/Writer/Activist Ethan Casey. Casey recently relayed this translation of Haitian Creole to students at Seattle Central Community College during the second week in May 2011.
Ethan Casey: Fighting the Good Fight
The Phrase, Casey explained, is an encapsulation of the folk-wisdom, and a less subtle reminder of the compound difficulties that have faced the people in Haiti: poverty, disease, structural violence, oppression, despotic governments, and most recently, natural disaster. “Until the earthquake in 2010, discussion of Haiti, and the issues that face it were largely a private matter,” related Casey, during his forty-five minute lecture. The significance for Casey and others who have reached out to aid the inhumane conditions that exist in Haiti has been great.
Casey, now in his forties, travelled with his father at the impressionable age of sixteen to Haiti as part of an outreach campaign led by a church-based medical group. Since that time, Casey has worked in a tireless fashion as a freelance journalist, and cultural ambassador for citizens in Pakistan and Haiti. Casey has written or edited over six books. A jokingly self-described “recovering journalist,” he has made it his mission to raise awareness and catalyze public discussion in order to shed light on issues that face refugees and immigrants from, and current citizens of Haiti and Pakistan.
Although the Journalism at Seattle Central has largely been trashed, students who found themselves in the Creative Nonfiction class taught by Jeb Wyman—former Adviser for the City Collegian—were given a first hand clinic on freelance journalism. Ethan Casey offered valuable perspective on the challenges, tactics, and opportunities that face “new” writers in a rapidly changing terrain of journalism.
Though scarcely given enough time to scratch the surface of a rich collection of stories and illustrations of his travels in Asia and the Caribbean, Casey spoke in a candid and eloquent manner to a rapt and appreciative audience. During a question-answer segment, Casey gave time and energy to field questions by students on the craft, travel, and being a self-starter. Phillip Bruan, a student responsible for giving background information and introduction of the speaker, received an in-depth response outlining Casey’s time spent in the Philippines covering the U.S. backed Coup d’état of President Ferdinand Marcos.
Following Casey’s presentation, all students were given a copy of Casey’s most recent publication, Overtaken By Events: A Pakistan Road Trip. Students were encouraged to read the book and give constructive feedback/reflections of their experiences with the text. Casey and assistant Ben Owen handed out the books, and explained that the cost of the books had been donated individuals and families that share Casey’s “concern for bringing a more accurate and human view of Pakistan to American students and other readers.”
