#ownvoices

Well, I have heard of instances where different ethnic groups have been offended by someone using one of their legends, etc., in a story/novel.  Frankly, I think they should be flattered so long as it is done tastefully -- now I realize "tastefully" is a matter of opinion, but then it is like obscenity, as the Supreme Court said, we know it when we see it.  Some white writers, I believe, are frightened to write anything but pure white stories because of this.   I know I've been criticized by the judges here for my portrayal of Southern blacks and the whites who interacted with them -- they say people just don't act that way.  I don't think they have lived in the Deep South is what I'd like to say to them!  

In other words, some people are always offended.  It goes back to my conscious statement.  Yes, some people don't have one.  But a person who does will know whether they are being fair and true to the original legend or myth sufficiently.  In mine, I tell the story of the original and then take it past it -- the original is very short.  I see no harm in that; it is "the rest of the story."