The movie Conrack (based on Pat Conroy’s teaching memoir The Water is Wide) was my first introduction to isolated South Carolina islands like Daufuskie and their strong Gullah/Geechee culture.

The Gullah/Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor stretching from Wilmington NC to Jacksonville FL is a National Park Service effort to bring attention and appreciation to this unique mix of African customs and traditions and even language that is left over from slave days.  It is a work in progress and there are ongoing discussions and documents about the best ways to preserve the relics and traditions within the corridor.

Who are these folks? From what I can gather, the term “Geechee” is more common in Florida and Georgia, and “Gullah” is used in the Carolinas. The NPS Corridor website says:

“The Gullah/Geechee people are descendents of enslaved Africans from various ethnic groups of west and central Africa. Brought to the New World and forced to work on the plantations of coastal South Carolina, Georgia, North Carolina and Florida, Gullah/Geechee people have retained many aspects of their African heritage due to the geographic barriers of the coastal landscape and the strong sense of place and family of Gullah/Geechee community members.”

The children’s TV show Gullah Gullah Island on Nickelodeon brought renewed attention and appreciation to this heritage, especially the Lowcountry barrier islands off the coasts of South Carolina and Georgia.

Where can you experience Gullah/Geechee culture?

One way is the annual (February) Hilton Head Island Gullah Celebration, with storytellers, dance, music, traditional foods, and crafts such as making sweet grass baskets, weaving fish nets and dying indigo. Gullah Heritage Tours are also available on Hilton Head.

Brand new this year – and coming right up on October 30, 2010 – is a Gullah/Geechee Seafood Festival sponsored by the Gullah/Geechee Fishing Association, on St. Helena Island, South Carolina.  You can also visit the historic Penn Center on St. Helena; they have a Heritage Days celebration every November (it’s 11-13 Nov in 2010) that includes artwork, a Fish Fry and Blues Night and a prayer service.

The village of Hogg Hummock on Sapelo Island, Georgia is the last intact Geechee/Gullah community in the Sea Islands (residents are direct descendants of slaves that were brought there in 1802) and the Sapelo Island Cultural and Revitalization Society (SICARS) is working to preserve it. There is a Sapelo Island Cultural Day this month, on October 16. You can only visit the island by private boat or the state-run ferry from Meridian, GA near Darien, but there are places to eat and stay on the island and SICARS does have tours. Here is their PDF brochure with more details.

The preservation of Gullah/Geechee culture as a result of geographic isolation is somewhat similar to the rich pockets of Cajun culture in less-traveled parts of Louisiana.  Tourism, especially in the early stages, can bring resources and appreciation that helps to preserve such unique places and peoples.

The trick is to keep us camera-toting, WiFi-seeking hordes from ruining what we’ve found.

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A couple of years ago I interviewed Tim Leffel for Write to Travel’s ‘interview with a travel writer’ series. Even then, it was clear that he saw the writing on the ‘digital’ wall for freelance writers.

In response to the question ‘What do you see as the future for travel writers in the printed media and online ?’, Tim replied…

The future looks fantastic if you’re riding the right waves. Writers who whine and moan about where things are headed remind me of buggy whip makers complaining about the automobile. I actually had a veteran travel writer tell me last week that she has never written anything for the Internet and doesn’t understand it. That blows my mind. What is she going to do 5 years from now–retire?

We’re in a transition phase right now where pay for Web articles is nowhere near what magazines pay, but the glory days of print are clearly fading behind us in the rear-view mirror. Newspaper travel sections have dwindled to almost nothing and it’s getting increasingly tough for travel magazines to thrive.

The Web is not yet generating the same kind of ad revenue for corporations that print does, but if you own what you produce, that’s actually an advantage we individual experts can exploit. I know a few travel writers who are pulling in six figures without sending out a single query letter or doing any revisions per article for a flighty editor in New York. They write about what they love for their own site and their passion makes them money.

One person can create a mini-empire relatively easy these days if he or she is patient and persistent. It’s a different mindset though, obviously. You have to be more creative and multi-functional rather than just stringing sentences together to meet an assignment.

His new book, Travel Writing 2.0, based on his own experience and that of over 50 other mainly online  travel writers,  follows through with these thoughts, offering clear advice and, if you read carefully, a fully mapped out path on how, as travel writing transitions between traditional and digital media, travel writers can create diverse income streams.

Early reviews of Travel Writer 2.0 by Tim Leffel is indicating that this is a must read book and resource for travel writers, new and experienced, who are interested in making real money from their writing in the digital age.

Tim has also created a companion Travel Writer 2.0 blog site that features interviews with successful travel writers.

Travel Writing 2.0 is available in print or PDF e-book form (Kindle and iBook versions are due out later in the year) directly from the publisher and also at various online bookstores including Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.

And thanks to Tim, one lucky Perceptive Travel reader has the chance to win a free copy. All you have to do is leave a comment, telling  us about your thoughts on the future of travel writing. And next Wednesday (October 6th), a winner will be chosen randomly to receive an PDF e-book copy of Travel Writer 2.0.

After I visited Casa Azul, the birth and death place of the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo last year, I complained that I felt somewhat irritated by all the focus on Kahlo’s love life, and specifically, her marriage to artist Diego Rivera.

I’d heard of Kahlo long before I heard of Rivera — she was part of the brand new Women’s History Month curriculum that launched when I was in elementary school in the 1980s, while I only learned about Rivera in college. So when I visited Casa Azul and found  so much emphasis on Kahlo’s marriage and her husband, it seemed anachronistic and belittling.  It would be like visiting, I don’t know, a museum dedicated to Margaret Thatcher and finding that much of the focus  was on her marriage and on her husband, Sir Denis Thatcher. (That’s not a completely apt comparison, but you get the idea.)

So when I returned home from Mexico City, I resolved to research Kahlo some more. I got what’s considered the definitive biography of Frida, and a few more books besides.  I ordered the Salma Hayek biopic from Netflix, and although it took me five months, I finally watched it. And I liked it, although I could see after all of that why Casa Azul would choose to highlight the Frida/Diego relationship.  It was muy picante.

But I’ve found a great deal of satisfaction in a new book on Frida Kahlo called Face to Face: Frida Kahlo, written by the artist Judy Chicago and art historian Frances Borzello.  In Chicago’s introduction, she points out exactly what had irritated me at Casa Azul: that considering Kahlo only in terms of her biography and especially her relationship with Rivera is, at the least, incomplete. “… by viewing her paintings in relation to Rivera’s behavior, her works are demeaned, turning them into reactive rather than active creations,” writes Chicago.

Face to Face: Frida Kahlo is a corrective. It considers Kahlo’s entire oeuvre, and puts it into the larger context of art history. “Frida Kahlo signals the moment where women artists begin to break their historic silence about women’s experiences,” writes Chicago. “Her depiction of Rivera as infantile should be recognized as an early and courageous example of what would later become a new avenue of expression for women artists as they began to convey their long suppressed rage against men.”

With lavish and lush illustrations, Chicago and Borzello explore Kahlo’s both own artistic influences and tease out her influence on artists that have followed in her wake.

I wish this book had been published last year so that I could have read it before my trip –  it provided so much of the context I was missing at Casa Azul.

There’s no shortage of books and articles around on the art of travel writing, focusing on the traditional old school methods of publication, requiring constant query letters and creating relationships with newspaper and magazine editors.

But in this digital age, when there are so many different ways in which travel writers can develop their careers and build up their portfolio and their income, these books just don’t make the grade.

New and experienced travel writers need a more definitive up-to-date travel writing guide – one that focuses less on query letters and more on how to use new technologies to develop a multi pronged approach to travel writing.

Now, thanks to veteran travel writer Tim Leffel, there is such a book.

Called Travel Writing 2.0: Earning money from your travels in the new media landscape, this book looks at the pros and cons of these new technologies and discusses everything from why you should blog to writing for webzines, from owner content to writing for online networks, from carving out a niche and developing a platform to how compensation comes in many forms plus  how to develop multiple streams of income.

Tim points out that these new technologies have changed the way that many successful travel writers are earning incomes. By adapting to the new technologies of the digital age, they have been able to chart their own course and maintain ownership of their content while developing a platform that marks them as experts in their field.

But they have only succeeded through hard work, determination, discipline, and a willingness to learn and adapt to the new technologies.

Highlighting the thoughts and the road to success of dozens (52 to be exact) successful travel writers who write predominantly online, Travel Writing 2.0 is a gold mine of information, a modern day guidebook for those interested in the business and marketing side of travel writing, with chapters on niche development, self promotion, and online income streams.

A definite must read for both new and experienced travel writers interested in developing and expanding their online presence.

But don’t just take my word for it.

Here’s what a few other reviewers have said about Travel Writing 2.0…

 “…unflinching look at the market and what you have to do to carve out your place… This book is solid, honest, and a much needed insight on a difficult career choice. You think you want to be a travel writer, do you? You should read this book.” – Nerd’s Eye View

“Travel Writing 2.0 is most useful for the seasoned freelancer in its breakdown of potential travel writing markets and advice from other writers onto how to break into the world of travel writing.” – Freelance-zone.com

“This is the first guide to earning money from travel writing in a media landscape turned upside down. With stories and advice from dozens of working travel writers, editors, and publishers, Travel Writing 2.0 leads readers on a path to success straddling print and electronic media.” – Travel, Writing, and Photography

(Disclaimer:  While Tim Leffel, author of Travel Writing 2.0, might be the editor of Perceptive Travel blog, he had no editorial input into this review. A complimentary review copy, however,  was provided by the author)

Cape Breton is an island in northern Nova Scotia, at the far north of Atlantic Canada. It is a place where forest meets sea, where mining and fishing helped define life, and where music has, for centuries, been shared around the kitchen table as often as it has been played and sung in the pub, in church, and on the concert stage. Not for nothing is the province named Nova Scotia, or New Scotland: that is the home place of many who settled there, and today you are as likely to find a MacGillvray or a Chisholm from Cape Breton as you are one from Scotland.

The music has maintained ancestral ties, as well, while at the same time rising to meet the challenges of a new land. There is music in the air always on Cape Breton. That’s especially true for two weeks in mid October, when the islanders invite the world to come celebrate their culture and their music during the Celtic Colours International Festival.

This year, the theme of the festival is the idea of home. The opening concert is called Home is Where the Heart Is, to be held in in Port Hawkesbury, and the closing concert, Songs From Home, is in Sydney. Those are large concerts in large halls. Music of home will also be played out in more intimate fashion as forty three other concerts take place across the island through nine days, in venues ranging from an eighteenth century restored French chapel to a modern school auditorium to a fire hall to a small community center, in towns and cities including Albert Bridge, Baddeck, Big Pond, Boisdale, Boularderie, Cheticamp, Christmas Island, D’Escousse, Glace Bay, Iona, Judique, Louisbourg, Mabou, Main-a-Dieu, Membertou, North River, Orangedale, St. Ann’s, St. Peter’s, Terre Noire, Wagmatcook, and Whycocomagh.

Each of these concerts is a collaborative venture, with, usually, three or four artists and bands performing several songs each, and then joining in for a finale. Visitors and island residents alike can choose to see local favorites such as Andrea Beaton and JP Cormier, Irish artists including guitarist John Doyle and flute player and singer Nuala Kennedy, world renown fiddler and Cape Breton native Natalie MacMaster, singer Bruce Guthro, also a CB native, who is part of the top Scottish folk rock band Runrig, and this year’s composers in residence fiddler Chris Stout and harper Catriona McKay. from Scotland. Dozens of musicians are involved, with a range of concerts to choose from each evening, as well as after hours sets lasting far into the night at the festival club, held on the campus of the Gaelic College at St. Ann’s.

Cape Breton is one of a very few places outside the Scottish Highlands and Western Isles where Scottish Gaelic is a living language, so Gaelic is always part of the festival. Newly written songs in Gaelic, done in collaboration with local artists and as well as with musicians from Scotland and Ireland will be part of the program. There are other things going on besides concerts, too. In addition to playing their music, artists will give talks and workshops. There will art exhibits and guided walks to explore the island’s natural beauty and its history. There will also be community dinners where island residents welcome visitors to share island foods and island fellowship.

The fellowship, the creativity, and the welcoming spirit carry through all the activities at the festival, which this year tuns from 8 through 16 October. To find out more, visit www.celtic-colours.com.

photograph copyright Kerry Dexter, from a Celtic Colours concert in Big Pond, Cape Breton