Ebony's Pearls

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First off, even though the immigration attorney named New Atlantis, he did so without any research. With the internet now making research so easy, I did a bit of checking and discovered that at least 4 other “New Atlantis” nations existed, one created by Ernest Hemingway’s brother, Leicester, and another by Ron L. Hubbard. OK, Hemingway’s New Atlantis ceased to exist, but as far as I can tell, the others still do. Adding yet another “New Atlantis” into the mix may not matter, but as the citizens of the nation, we don’t have to call ourselves what other countries do. Nations shift names – look at Persia, now known as Iran. Cities and peoples also change their names from what outsiders once called them to what they call themselves.

One of the names being bandied about for Our “New Atlantis” is “Terra Mer”. The pros for this name are: it means land sea (differentiating it from any nations which call themselves “Tierra del Mar” and Sealand, a nation that exists off the coast of Great Britain) so it still retains the connection with the sea upon which I was born. It is euphonious, easy to say, easy to spell, easy to understand, and citizens can be called “Terra Mericans”. I’m sure we can all see some of the benefits in that. The symbols chosen for Our flag and nation won’t need to be changed to comply with the name, as “Terra Mer” suits all the work we’ve already done. The cons for the name include the fact that “Terra Mericans” is very close in sound to “Americans”. We’ve had the name “New Atlantis” since 1988, and therefore have almost a full generation of acclimatization to the name. Going back to pros for a moment – we’ve hardly used the name so really, changing names isn’t as difficult as it might otherwise be – no web pages to change, no documents other than the one mention during the hearing, no stationary or T-shirts to recall or anything of that sort. Now, not exactly a con or a pro, but a thought – in this time, we can change Our nation’s name to anything we want. We can stay with “New Atlantis”, change to “Terra Mer” or change to something else. Why not “Erdenmeer”? Perhaps we could select Thule or Frisland or Antillia or Baccalar or Cassiterides or Groclant or Asmayda or Roccabara - all “phantom islands” that may have existed and have appeared on maps of the Atlantic Ocean but no longer exist. They may have been mismapped and are now other islands or lands (like the Island of California, now known to be the peninsula of southern California or the Baccalao Island named after the phantom Baccalar).

I’d like to point out that New Atlantis (or whatever name we eventually bestow upon it) is perhaps the only aspirant nation founded by a female. I could be wrong, but I have yet to find a micronation, aspirant nation, secessionary movement, or microtopia founded or created by a female. I’m sure others exist, I simply haven’t found them yet. There are a few founded by couples, but in reading the histories of those, it was usually the man who promoted it. I’m not sure why creating new countries is a predominantly male pursuit. Other, more scholarly, people have speculated (in the Journal of the Future, for example) that these countries are formed by white hetero males to regain what they perceive to be lost privileges, or by teen boys or young college men, or by men who have tax or other legal disputes or are very far to the left or right politically or religiously. The Empire of Atlantium, for example, was created to regain lost privileges, while the Kingdom of Talossa was created by a teen boy.

New Atlantis doesn’t fit any of these suppositions. It was created out of an immigration dispute during a divorce, mostly for my benefit so I could establish my right to my children, job, and other benefits of citizenship for which I’d paid taxes for decades under the assumption I was a legitimate citizen. My children and I decided to go with the attorney’s ploy and declared ourselves the sovereigns of the as-yet-undiscovered land of New Atlantis, as the attorney named it. We played with it between ourselves until they got to college and their friends wanted in on our action, so we opened our (mental) borders to immigration, and created the flag, the national symbols, a seal, and a few other things, established national holidays, and a few cultural traditions. Then they graduated college, and I allowed the country to languish. And now, with all these books being published on how to create your own country and micronations and model countries and so on, I felt it was time to revive New Atlantis.

I don’t want it to be a web page and a few giggles, a game. I’d like to actually establish it as a model nation, an aspirant nation, along the lines of Freetown Christiana in Denmark or the Principality of Sealand off the British coast, or even the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. There are some things I’d like to foster that were started by the early citizens of New Atlantis (many of whom have expressed an interest in reviving their citizenship) that deserve to continue, and to rebuild the culture that was starting so it can also continue.

Some of the things I don’t want are to actually secede from the US (we don’t have enough sustainable land anywhere in the world to do this, and realistically, no finances to create a viable, sustainable land – probably a floating island sort of arrangement, which would cost millions of dollars no one I know has to spare, plus, I get seasick in rough waters – there’s a sight for citizens – a puking queen) or to antagonize any other country as right now. With fewer than 3 dozen citizens, we lack everything needed to survive such an encounter, let alone to survive sustainably on our own. I expect the citizens of New Atlantis (or whatever we name it) to be model Americans, paying their taxes on time (and as a nation, We would refer to this payment as a price Our citizens pay for the defense of Our nation) and obeying the laws of the physical land before the laws of New Atlantis. And should we acquire citizens from other countries, I would expect them to do the same in their respective countries. At the moment, I prefer to accept only citizens of countries that allow dual citizenship so there is no dispute or difficulty with other countries.

What I’d like to see is as many citizens as can manage to meet together for Citizen’s Day – the closest weekend to March 23rd - because I think it’s important that Our citizens meet one another in person when possible. Citizen’s Day is a good day because as part of the day, I prepare a meal for all Our citizens who are present. We can discuss laws, customs, traditions, and so forth which is much easier than conferencing via the internet. Face time is important.

I’d like to see Our citizens embodying as many of Our customs, traditions, and ideals as is feasible into their lives, to treat New Atlantis as real, and to treat other citizens as compatriots. I’m considering reactivating the emailing list we had (I put it in hold status because we were flooded with spam, and then never reactivated it). Everything’s still there – photos, chit-chat, calendar of events, discussions of flags, symbols, laws…

And I’m considering creating a web page/blog for it. 10 years ago, I was good at web design, but newer programs and innovations have left me behind, so We would need an Internet Minister who could handle that. (As an aside, I capitalize “our” and “we” and “us” and such only when I’m referring to all New Atlantians collectively; it’s not a royal “we”.) Since We impose no taxes and therefore have no treasury, payment for such services will be slim.

We could create an income source. Other incipient nations, micronations, model countries, and such have supported themselves off the sales of collectibles such as T-shirts, stamps, tote bags, hats, and other such items. Given the current economy, that’s a chancy way to get revenue. It is possible, perhaps, to create items or services to sell and tithe a portion to the nation. Then We’d need a treasurer, because I’m not doing that. I am terrible at math since I had chemo and I don’t trust myself to do that accurately.

More thoughts later.