Spotlight On Writers
H.E. Ross
- Where do you originate from?
I was born in San Francisco with my original neighbourhood being the oldest one in San Francisco called, Dog Patch, near Hunters Point. We moved to the ‘Mo, the Fillmore or Western Addition both Black neighbourhoods and at seven to the Haight Ashbury, well before the hippy influx. The Haight was heaven to me as a kid growing up with the Golden Gate Park and the Buena Vista Park offering adventure and jungles and football. Almost every day I was in one of the parks.
- What do you cherish most about the place you call home?
We live in a small riverside village called Calstock that has always had a welcoming community for us and our two children are well defined in their progressions through life. I have been a sailor for most of my life as a lifestyle, so living on land is a bit emotionally jagged at times but by appreciating and enjoying the sense of wilderness and the warmth of the people in this community I would say those are the things I do cherish about Calstock.
- What ignites your creativity?
I am a sailor, so I am prone toward water and at my old age I would say that the memories that pop into my boom beaten head are easily relied on to bring out something. But, generally I cannot think of any one thing that can ignite my urges to write. I usually write a poem to start a story to dig into what I am at that moment and from that poetic perspective delve into what I need to write. Such as at this moment a breeze has touched my hand and I am sailing from Cartagena to Cayman with light winds and beam rocking seas. That kind of thing.
- Do you have a favorite word and could you incorporate it into a poetic phrase?
Blue.
Blue dissolves any line between sky and sea with an uncertainty of my destination.
- What is your pet peeve?
Not quite sure how to take this one on. At the moment my focus is on researching Black maritime history and heritage from original out-of-Africa migration sea routes to our acknowledgement that we have always been sailors.
If the question is about things I enjoyed doing I could say rowing a dinghy at night on the Bay used to be one, when I lived in San Francisco.
Or, it is more or less trying to write a setting that puts a reader in it without strain.
- How would you describe the essence of H.E. Ross?
My essence is forever changing with weather, family concerns, humour, trusts, external influences, courses set. As a sailor independence and awareness are necessary components for taking everything in an individual stride and living through it. My sensitivity needs the balance of intuition and practicality. Again, sailing teaches that every sailing, small outing or long voyage, is always completely different and has to be experienced that way.
- Spotlight On Writers – H.E. Ross - July 5, 2025
- The Meditation in a Sailing Lesson - June 16, 2025
- Dos Pepes - November 22, 2024
