Christopher Robin Andrews

What kind of stories am I most drawn to? I call them--"Creole Noir".

Stories of mystery and knowledge and power. Of folks who don't have much of the latter, yet still rise up and fight for freedom and redemption. Which they sometimes even achieve. Apprehending some tiny glimpse of the wonder of the universe. If only for a brief moment. Despite sins and transgressions. Transcending this mortal coil. Stories sacred and profane.

The term "Creole" has a thorny history and multiple meanings. I am using it in the sense of a people and culture with a diverse and "Mixed" ancestry.

My Uncle and my Father used to tell me horror stories of coming up in the Segregated South in the first half of the 20th century. As "Mixed" folks, they were both blessed and cursed. When they got on a bus, they would go for seats that bordered the "Black" and "White" designations. They were always in mortal danger, no matter which side of the line they sat on.

My cousins commented on how lucky I was, with "good" hair and light skin. My take? At least they know what they are! Teenage years, I struggled with exactly what I was and where I belonged. Chained by these "Identity" classifications. Much later, in a momentary flash of wisdom, I came to appreciate moving between tribes. Magically shape-shifting. "Passing". Seeing the world from multiple perspectives. Uncategorizable. Blessed and cursed.

"Creole Noir" dramatizes the consequences of social misfit, moral ambivalence and political corruption inherent in a landscape of systematic discrimination and disproportionate resource allocation. "Creole Noir" is a subversive secret agent operating within the conventions of the popular and accessible crime fiction genre. A "Black Mask".

I always especially identified with the Spock character in the original "Star Trek" television series, both and neither Vulcan and human. And his relationship with Lieutenant Uhuru. Together, "alienated". Perhaps, as because during the period of enslavement and Jim Crow, my family's very existence was a crime, I also identified with criminals. And of course, we always go back to Brother King's Birmingham jail letter, "...one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws...". Resistance to repression. Insistence on freedom, for all beings. I am hence, a "free person of color".

"Creole Noir" chronicles folks journeys manifesting witness into the eternal and essentially human process of "Creolization". The coming together of the powerful and the power-seeking. Deadly conflict and sensual joy.

Although "Creole Noir" is my own story, and my family's, I trust it resonates with many other folks. Spocks and Uhurus. A story that just must be told. On the largest canvas. From African dance ceremonies to Greek tragedy and comedy to modern cinema and beyond, the storytelling medium of dramatic narrative has incredible power to bring us all together, in a civic realm. To inflect a shade of compassion and understanding in the context of the powerful daydream of "race".

Thus, through our limbs be bound, may all our souls be free...

BACKGROUND & EDUCATION:
Christopher Robin Andrews was raised up in the diverse cultural environment of Greenwich Village in New York City in the late 20th century. His world-view was shaped by his artist parents and by his mixed African-American and European-American family ancestry. He attended the Rhode Island School of Design and the University of California at Berkeley, where he acquired degrees in fine arts, architecture and urban design.

WRITING, PERFORMING & THEATER EXPERIENCES:
As a young person Christopher studied acting, music and creative writing. He was especially drawn to dramatic narrative, and was blessed with a front seat to the flowering of Black theater and cinema of the 1970's. In his twenties Christopher wrote and performed a series of song cycles based on the American vernacular music he had grown up with, including elements of blues, gospel, country, jazz, soul and rock and roll, at CBGB's and various New York City music venues. In the 1990's he developed several one act plays in workshops at the HB Studios, the McBurney YMCA, and the Strasberg Institute. Influences on his writing include August Wilson, Spike Lee, David Mamet, and Martin Scorcese, and the novelists Octavia Butler, Chester Himes and Patricia Highsmith.

CURRENT SITUATION:
Christopher moved from New York City to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1995, and now calls Oakland California home. In addition to raising his family and diligently practicing his profession of architecture and urban design, he has also been continually dedicated to honing and practicing his writing craft. This work ranges from scholarly articles addressing the critical intersection of architecture, urbanism and culture, to short stories, to dramatic narratives, particularly in the genre he has dubbed "Creole Noir".

Christopher is always looking to develop creative relationships with other folks with similarly diverse interests and energy, and to actively and passionately contribute to the social vitality and civic life of his neighborhood, city, and world.