"Interpretation of Harlem Jazz" a.k.a. "Drawing in Two Colors" art by German artist of the Harlem Renaissance Winold Reiss. (circa 1917, public domain) “Life calls the tune, we dance.”   ―   John Galsworthy , from Five Tales It was almost enough for me to simply join PEN American Center and set up a profile page without doing much else to qualify its existence. Such a page alone could allow me to relax inside the satisfaction of knowing I had remained true enough to my literary calling to place my name beside that of authors whose lives and craftsmanship had so often empowered my own. That idea, of course, faded very quickly as I further allowed myself to acknowledge something I have long known: you do not claim rights to an honored tradition just because a few books allowed you to bring them into the world or because you managed to cough up the obligatory dues. One claims a right to such traditions very much the way runners on a winning Olympic relay