Little Lov'n Monday & Giveaway

Little Lov'n Monday is a day we celebrate the work of fellow bloggers.

Between now and Monday, post a link to work you've read or written you think deserves a little lov'n. Works can be short stories, poetry, reviews, articles or visual art. On Monday, come by BES and check out the links to works published by your peers.

GIVEAWAY

Going to try to gain some traction here. Earn an entry for each of the following actions. Deadline is March 5th. 2 Winners will select a book from the list provided:

+1 for leaving a link to a post you think we should check out
+1 for leaving a comment about a post you've read
+1 for linking to this meme
+1 for following this blog
leave a separate comment for each entry

PRIZES

Twilight by Stephenie Myers
Silent to the bone by E.L. Konigsburg
The Center of Everything by Laura Moriarty
The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
A Weekend to Change Your Life by Joan Anderson
White Teeth by Zadie Smith
Airman by Eoin Colfer
The Martha Rules by Martha Stewart
The Giver by Lois Lowry

Let's have a posting marathon. Show some love for your fellow bloggers. Comment to a new piece as well as the shared link. Check here for a growing list of posts for good reads:

Let's Talk About Speak at Presenting Lenore- (book discussion)
Interview with Monica McKayhan at The Brown Bookshelf- YA author
Their Eyes Were Watching God at The Striped Arm Chair- (review)
neo-slave narratives at Fledgling- (book review)
21st Century Thinking: My blog visits at A Year of Reading (education)
A Wish After Midnight by Zetta Elliott at The Happy Nappy Bookseller-(review)
A blog party at Amanda Ashby's
30 years later, a look at domestic violence at The Diary of an Anxious Black Woman
John Green's vlog

In My Mailbox (10)

Each week, Story Siren asks us to share what we got in our mailbox for the week. I got a good mix of titles. The jackpot though was mulitple titles by Zetta Elliott. I am pushing these high on my list so I can review and interview this talented young author:

From Zetta Elliott- Strangers in the Family (memoir) Three Plays and A Wish After Midnight (YA novel)



Salaam, Paris by Kavita Dawani- This will be shelved at our library.
A new novel takes a look at young women trying to navigate the world of modeling and balance hot careers with the other priorities in their lives. Beautiful Tanaya Shah leaves her home outside of Mumbai, India, to meet Tariq, the man her grandfather wants her to marry, in Paris. Although Tanaya has always longed to visit Paris, she is reluctant to marry and the engagement is broken off...

Raising Raul by Maria Hinojosa- Adding this to our Prize Bucket.
...A former staff reporter for National Public Radio and currently the urban affairs correspondent for CNN, Hinojosa, a Mexican-American... describes both the highs and lows of reconciling American motherhood with her traditional Mexican upbringing....

For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf
by Ntozake Shange- Will be offered in our Prize Bucket.

....extraordinary "choreopoem"...is a dramatic elegy for black women with an undercurrent message for everyone. Its theme is not sorrow...but courage. Its strength is its passion and its reality....An unforgettable collage of one woman's view of the women of her race, facing everything from rape to unrequited love....Wisdom and naivete go hand in hand. Wounds and dream intermingle; strong passions melt into simple courage.

Celia: My Life by Celia Cruz- Adding it to our library.
Cruz's success derived from her inimitable vocal style, passion for Cuba and its music, and her desire to keep expanding her oeuvre by recording with new artists and embracing all types of Cuban music (rumba, cha-cha, mambo, etc.)—...reason for her eventual status as "a cross-cultural, cross-generational phenomenon,... "

Loose Ends by Electa Rome Parks- Will be shelved at our library.

Cross by James Patterson- for our library. Saw it on another site.

The Moons of Mirrodin by Will McDermott. This will be added to our library. The reviews aren't good but I was seduced by the cover and a desire to build our fantasy section.

Poetry Friday

Uncollected Ghazal
Michele Elliot

I used to collect people but now I collect things.
People became unmanageable, so now I collect things.

The easy way out is, I am nothing.
I have nothing, so I collect things.

Like sounds and words and laughter
The uncollected, I collect these things.

I collect vision and dancing- lines blurring, beautiful
I have nothing to hold this in, but still, I collect things.

Like rainstorms and broken dream,
Whispers and eyewinks- these precious things.

I am no one and nothing.
I am everything and urgent. I collect things.

Like silence and tears,
And loss. Oh, these precious things.

I used to collect people but now I collect things.
I have nothing to hold you in so now I collect things.


from Cave Canem Anthology 2002. This is by far one of the poems I recite most often. I love the sounds, the rhythm and the meaning here. This poem affected me instantly, the first time I read it. I wish I could thank Ms. Elliot personally for putting into words what I have felt.

Each week, poets and poetry readers share selections for Poetry Friday. To read more go here.

A Reader's Response

Reposting my response to a current discussion at Presenting Lenore's about the novel, Speak and including my original review.

Book Review: Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

The discussion of this book is a great opportunity to discuss what a reader brings to read and how own personal experiences color our perceptions.

While Anderson did not set out to make a point, the central issue of this book is about the aftermath of rape.

I believe the rape comes off as a subtext for two reasons: 1)because that is how Melinda processes it. The subtext reflects how a victim copes and 2) who wants to focus on the ugliness of rape? Neither a reader nor survivor. Much easier to couch the issue and to deflect. The humor is in part a coping mechanism or at the least a device that helps a reader who has been a victim, get through the read. The humor however does not detract from the experience nor the aftermath.

Having read several comments across blogs, it is interesting me that a great deal of the comments talk about everything but how a girl is affected by rape.

Many rape survivors are like Melinda, trying to move on and act normal when they don't feel normal at all, and the rest of the world has no clue how abnormal the survivor feels. The responses to the novel suggests to my thinking how we as a society have difficulty discussing rape and abuse. We don't know how to relate to the survivor.

I bought this book because I work with girls who have been raped, abused and some who are so desperate for the guy, that they end up in situations that spiral out of control like they did for a 14-year-old, Melinda.

*I edited my response to change victim to survivor because while we were victimized, we survived. We do not remain victims.

3WW

Roswell waited for Pecker boy to tuck in sleeping beauty. What in bloody hell was taking so long? How can he stand the sound of that cow snoring? Let's get on with it already. The clause prohibiting him from killing her rubbed him like callous feet. While he was a patient man, a methodical fellow, a professional of unquestionable skill, this assignment was dragging on far too long. He would not let that bore of woman interfer any more. Peter Pecker would be killed tonight, and if he had a take a cut for killing her, too, to do, so be it.

Finally, Peter locked Janie's door and tip-toed the ten steps across the hall to his flat. His own head was throbbing, a dull, persistent ache the source of which he couldn't figure out. Janie had drank like a fish not he. No matter, to bed and in the morning he'd be fine.

"Good evening, Mr. Pecker."

"Peter?"

"Bloody hell"!


*Every Wednesday, Thom posts three words at 3WW. I'm stuck. I can't figure out how to quicken the pace, use the words, and keep this compact all at once. lol To see what others have done with the word choices go here.

Dig Deep

I firmly believe that if you support others, genuinely care about them and wish them well, you in turn will be supported. Love comes full circle today. Zetta at Fledgling made me choke up today. See her post supporting Color Online and our library here.

Thank you, Zetta

Meme- My favorite Genre(s)

Read this meme today at Wendi's Book Corner: Do you have a specialized blog where you only review a certain genre or type of book? If so, what is your favorite thing about that type of book? If not, what is/are your favorite genre(s)? What makes that genre(s) a favorite?

I read mostly womens literature, YA fiction(sub-genre realistic), multicultural literature and a fair amount of poetry. I read across genres but the above best covers the majority of what I read. Actually, women of color which connotes a variety of genres and issues, best describes my reading habits. I have two blogs. Black-Eyed Susan's is my personal space. It is broader in scope covering anything I lay my eyes on. Color Online was created to support a lit group I run, and is focused on women of color. Our aim is to inform both members and visitors about writers they might not otherwise know. We hope our blog helps readers diversify their reading habits.

continued here.

readwritepoem

I Like The Sound of My Voice

I like the sound of my voice- blue, blue black
factory bent, southern descendant- mama’s
hopes tied up in three little brown faces.
Hips swayin', dashki wearin’,70s’ sexy sangin’
Davis’ fro pickin’ & Panther dreams explodin’ .
It’s about the Revolution, baby & love & baby-makin’ .

This is me with my rhythm;
I write my own anthem.

I like the sound of my voice- click, click, heels
on stairs stepping into the blue lights in the basement.
Come on baby & slide, come on baby & slide.
It was Strawberry 23 the first time you kissed me;
Stevie was blaring ribbons in sky, ribbons in the sky,
ribbons in the skies of your love-
between my thighs.

This is me with my rhythm;
I write my own anthem.

I like the sound of my voice- sista in locs and Birkenstocks
in the blue lights at open mic. How I wish I were the cup
that touches your lips. Scented locs & anks & incense burnin’
Come on baby, I don’t have much just a little beans & wine.
Politics & Love Jones. More Jones. Wanna be the funk in your thigh.
Let’s celebrate Mandela’s release; revolution is won, baby.

*This is me with my rhythm;
I write my own anthem.

*Writing prompt at readwritepoem is to write a bop. We also had to borrow two lines. My *refrain comes from rmilana. At Totally Optional Pompts it's write an anaphora.

Confession Tuesday

I've been dreading today. Keeping this short so I won't have the same guilt next week. Today I confess that I haven't been reading books; I've been reading blogs- lots of them. I've been watching the news and listening to NPR, watching the Oscars, and last night I watched two movies: Slum Dog Millionaire and Benjamin Buttons. I've been busy increasing content and updating here and Color Online, running our Black History Contest, participating in a few memes, checking in at our discussion forum, advocating for the library and working.

I have some great books but I've been restless, anxious, busy with tasks. Ready to slow up a bit again and spend hours reading.

If you know how to balance your passions, your life, let me know. If you'd like to comisserate with others at the confessional, check in with January.

Diversity Rocks!: Diversity rocks the classroom!

Diversity Rocks!: Diversity rocks the classroom!

Zetta Elliott is a talented writer, educator and friend. I am unabashedly promoting her book, A Wish After Midnight. The video is stunning and do read Edi's review at Crazy Quilts.

osi

bowed from dawn to dusk
the twilight of our dreams
drift us upstream


*This weeks prompt at One Single Impression is twilight. Visit OSI to read more responses.

Sunday Scribblings

Each week at Sunday Scribblings we're given a prompt. This week's prompt is trust. I actually posted my quote for today before reading the prompt. I couldn't ignore the serendipity. I posted my first thoughts in the wee hours. After sleeping (I work midnights), I gave the prompt more thought. This is where I was lead.

I can’t think about trust without thinking about faith and belief at the same time. I asked myself do I trust anyone or anything completely. Then I asked myself is that the right question, the right context. For me, trust like faith and belief is an ongoing process. It’s going to the well again and again to get what I need. The things I believe in and therefore have faith in are the things or people I trust.

I run a community project Color Online and I run the library where we meet. I believe that the work I do with these young girls and young women is love and true love is always right.

I believe in my two daughters. I doubt my ability to parent but I never doubt my love for them. I trust they never doubt my love either.

I trust my partner, my spouse. When we met, I doubted I could give him what he needed. He taught me I give him what he wants. When my flaws frustrate or disappoint him, he doesn’t give up on me. He believes in our relationship. I believe and therefore I trust him.

Years I ago, I had a yearning. I had no spiritual home and I missed that. I wanted a place to anchor my faith. An odd series of events and ideas led me to the Quakers. I found a meeting online and set off for a meeting that same week. The members embraced me warmly and I knew I was where I wanted to be. I trust that what I seek eternally, I can find when I listen. That’s faith.


Go here to read more thoughts on trust.

Little Lov'n Monday

Little Lov'n Monday is a day we celebrate the work of fellow bloggers.

Between now and Monday, post a link to work you've read or written you think deserves a little lov'n. Works can be short stories, poetry, reviews or visual art.

On Monday, come by BES and check out the links to works published by your peers.

Let's have a posting marathon. Show some love for your fellow bloggers. Comment to a new piece as well as the shared link.

Check here for a growing list of posts for good reads:

How diverse is your bookshelf?- Connect with Sarah Ockler at Authors Now (discussion)

Elizabeth Scanlon-The First One Hundred Days (poetry)

Someone else's voice- Stoney Moss (poetry)

The Maelstrom- The Maelstrom Band (short fiction)

A Cool Moonlight- by Angela Johnson- Color Online (book review)

In My Mailbox (4)

Each week, Story Siren asks us to share what we got in our mailbox for the week. This week was lean for mail but I did have gift cards and a Borders' coupon for 40% off. Oh, a sister was quite happy when she walked into the bookstore. I picked up:

Battle of Jericho by Sharon Draper
We're currently giving away a copy of November Blues by Ms. Draper for readers who linked to our contest or became followers at Color Online. Battle is the prequel. Adding this to our Prize Bucket.

The Warriors of Distinction has been the school's most exclusive club for 50 years, so when 16-year-old Jericho is asked to pledge, he's excited--and intimidated. He is also disappointed after he realizes that he'll have to give up a music competition because he can't miss a night of the initiation week. When the ceremony turns cruel--with the one girl pledge being singled out for abuse--Jericho begins to have second thoughts. Then the affair turns deadly.

Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta
I picked up this 2009 Printz winner because of Doret's review at The Happy Nappy Bookseller.
Treat yourself to a mini Melina Marchetta marathon. Then you'll understand why I love her writing so much. Marchetta's first two novels have a Laurie Hale Anderson/Sarah Dessen feel to them.

Red River by Lalita Tademy
We received a review for our Black History Month Writers' Contest. Adding this to our Prize Bucket.
In 1873 in the small southern town of Colfax, Louisiana, history tells us there was a riot. The Tademy family knows different. "1873. Wasn't no riot like they say. It was a massacre..." The blacks are newly free, just beginning life under Reconstruction, with all its promises of equity, the right to vote, to own property and, most importantly, to decide their own future as individuals. Federal Government troops are supposed to arrive to protect the rights of the colored people--but they are not yet on the scene.

Kushiel’s Scion by Jacqueline Carey
This is going in our Prize Bucket for Color Online. A friend of mine read the first book in this series and spoke very highly of it. It's adult fantasy. Some content.
The magnificent fourth book in Carey's Kushiel's Legacy series marks the start of a new trilogy set in Terre d'Ange, the author's reimagined Renaissance world… Traitorous parents, the curse of Kushiel's blood in his veins, and the unspeakable crimes he endured while a child slave severely damaged Imriel. Feeling tainted and incapable of goodness, he fears he will misuse Kushiel's gift.

Poetry Friday

Poetry Should Ride the Bus
Ruth Forman

poetry should hopscotch in a polka dot dress
wheel cartwheels
n hold your hand
when you walk past the yellow crackhouse

poetry should dress in fine plum linen suits
n not be so educated that it don’t stop in
every now n then to sit on the porch
and talk about the comins and goins of the world

poetry should ride the bus
in a fat woman’s Safeway bag
between the greens n chicken wings
to be served with Tuesday’s dinner

poetry should drop by a sweet potato pie
ask about the grandchildren
n sit through a whole photo album
on a orange plastic covered La-Z-Boy with no place to go

poetry should sing red revolution love songs
that massage your scalp
and bring hope to your blood
when you think you’re too old to fight

yeah
poetry should whisper electric blue magic
all the years or your life
never forgettin to look you in the soul
ever once in a while
n smile.


from We Are The Young Magicians Beacon Press April 1, 1993

I can't remember how I happened upon this collection. I buy poetry on impulse. You can never have too much poetry. Over the years I've learned to identify a good collection after scanning only a few pieces. Find more selections for Poetry Friday at the holly and the ivy.

3WW

"Another Day On The Job"
continued

He stood outside the bar watching them, brooding over the most restrictive conditions of his employment: only the designated party may be killed and no witnesses. These were frivolous, unnecessary provisions and every time he thought about them he boiled. His mood was as dark as the shadows that concealed him. To distract himself, he slowly pulled off the nail of each digit. It should have been excruciatingly painful instead the discomfort passed too quickly and his agitation grew.

Inside the bar, among her friends Janie laughed and drank. Her girlfriends’ reaction to Peter went beyond impressed. By four beers in, her success backfired instead of feeling elated she felt the dark edges of loneliness curling around her temples. Why can’t I be open and candid with other men? Why don’t I act on impulse, take a risk with a guy I might actually have a relationship with? Peter is kind and funny, and catching him by surprised that time wearing only a towel was delicioussssssssssssss. He’s perfect except he’s gay.

“Janie, ready to go, love?”


*Every Wednesday, Thom posts three words at 3WW. We're to be creative. Today's selection is a follow up to short piece I started a couple weeks back. I exceeded under 100 words. To see what others have done with the word choices go here.

Book Review

Converting Kate
Beckie Weinheimer
Viking Juvenile 2007

You know those times when you want that hopeful ending and a little sugar isn't so bad? Well, that's Converting Kate. If you've ever questioned your faith or actually left your family's religion, then you'd probably appreciate this story. Yep, it's YA and as an adult who reads a lot of contemporary YA let me tell you this is no Disney movie converted to print.

Kate and her mom belong to a pretty strict faith that preaches they are the one true church. After the death of her father (a non-believer), Kate's doubts turn to anger and then rejection. It's not a simple matter of accepting her father's death rather it's the confluence of questions that weigh on her as she matures. When Kate and her mom move to her dad's birthplace, Kate meets new friends, new school, and she's exposed to ideas and experiences she had been cut off from when she was very young.

The story has a good range of characters including Pastor Browning who turns out to be agnostic and gay and open-minded. He helps Kate navigate through her doubts and anger. Beckie Weinheimer writes from personal experience. There's authenticity here. It strikes a chord with all of us who remember our own crisis of faith.

Confession Tuesday

I'm worn out today. Can't even fake an attempt to say something interesting. Worked in the library yesterday. Had two assistants, got a lot done so why am I feeling low? Maybe because I filled out thirty incident reports for missing books. The library was trashed again (staff and others use the library and don't bother to clean up behind themselves).

Promoting and updating for the Black History Month contest has been exhausting. Part of me wonders why so few will submit or comment. Feels like a lot of work for little yield.

I keep trying to put my personal space in order and the clutter just grows. Everyone wants this form and that form filled out and returned.

No writing lately and not enough reading either. And I just returned from vacation? Doesn't feel like it.

January hosts this weekly support group. To hear from other members go here.

Book Review

The Watsons Go To Birmingham
Christopher Paul Curtis
Laurel Leaf 2000


The Watsons Go To Birmingham renders a personal spin on a piece of history in a way I think kids can relate. The story of the Watsons connects one family to one of the most tragic events of the Civil Rights Movement, the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church that killed four young girls: Addie Mae Collins, Carol Robertson, Cynthia Wesley and Denise McNair. I'm from Detroit and my family is from the south. Almost everyone I know, remembers or was told the story about the four little girls. Reading about the Watsons is like reading about my family.

I am impressed with Curtis’ ability to seamlessly weave a significant historical event with the intimate events of one family’s experiences. The bombing teaches Kenny and his siblings firsthand how fortunate they are. Until the trip, the Watson children had been insulated from the social turmoil of the day.

Curtis endears the reader to the family through Kenny, the narrator and Kenny is hilarious. I love his catch phrase: "Ready, aim, fire!" The dialogue rings true in my ears. The story reminds me of own family in many ways, and it connects me to my cultural roots. For many African Americans, we’ve all got an aunt, grandmother, cousin some family “down south.” Regardless if we actually have relatives like the archetypes, we identify with southern matrons with gardens, church services and going home.

Kenny is full of funny stories like when his brother gets his tongue stuck to a frozen car window or when he talks about how their mother puts so many layers of clothes on his sister that her hair sticks to her forehead by the time he pulls off her outerwear at school. He tells us about fun times listening to the earliest technology in car stereos with his dad.

The Watsons do have financial challenges and everyone who lives in Michigan knows about bitter winters. These are facts of life for many working class families I know. What’s impressive here is the closeness of the family, even with a rebellious oldest child. This family is very much intact, functional and loving. I can’t say how glad I am to see a family like the Watsons. Black children need to be exposed to more portrayals of families like this and so do others who see the black family too often portrayed as dysfunctional and riddled with strife.

I love the pacing and humor of the story. Curtis does a wonderful job introducing a piece of American history in an accessible and intimate way. This is the power of literature at its core: an examination of who we are and what we are capable of and hope for what we can be. Given the targeted age group, kids between eight and twelve, there is a good balance of history and fiction. For adults, we see this as an introduction to a part of history. For kids, they relate to Kenny and it just so happens that his story coincides with a piece of history.

Link & Win A Free Book

I need to increase traffic at Color Online. Tell your friends about us. Add us to your blog roll or other sidebar links, and we’ll enter your name in a drawing for a free book from our Prize Bucket or a $5 Amazon gift certificate. Leave a comment for each entry.

Earn extra entries:

+ 1-add a link to our promotion in your sidebar
+2- blog about our promotion
+2 if a poster leaves us a comment that you referred them to us

Deadline is February 28. 2 winners will be announced March 1st.

Little Lov'n Monday

Between now and Monday, post a link to work you've read or written you think deserves a little lov'n. Works can be short stories, poetry, reviews, articles or art.

On Monday, come by BES and check out the links to works published by your peers.

Let's have a posting marathon. Show some love for your fellow bloggers. Comment to a new piece as well as the shared link.

Check here for a growing list of posts to support.

Potpourri Quiz at Color Online

Book Review: The Rock and The River by Kekla Magoon

In My Mailbox (9)

Kristi over at Story Siren asks readers to share what books they received in the mail each week. Most of my books are from book trading sites like paperbackswap.com and Frugal Reader. I've been away visiting my daughter. When I arrived home, this is what I found:

The Rock and The River by Kekla Magoon. This author is new to me. I won the book courtesy of Doret at The Happy Nappy Bookseller. To receive it, I had to commit to writing a review so stay tuned. Select the link to see Doret's review.

You can check out Ms. Maggon at her blog.




The rest of my stash includes

White Teeth by Zadie Smith. This will be shelved at our library.
... novelist Zadie Smith takes on race, sex, class, history, and the minefield of gender politics, and such is her wit and inventiveness that these weighty subjects seem effortlessly light. She also has an impressive geographical range, guiding the reader from Jamaica to Turkey to Bangladesh and back again.

The Dew Breaker by Edwidge Danticat. I'm a huge Danticat fan. Have wanted to read this for a while. I have read it is not an easy read. We'll see. It will be housed at our library as well.

Haitian-born Danticat's third novel (after The Farming of Bones and Breath, Eyes, Memory) focuses on the lives affected by a "dew breaker," or torturer of Haitian dissidents under Duvalier's regime. Each chapter reveals the titular man from another viewpoint, including that of his grown daughter, who, on a trip she takes with him to Florida, learns the secret of his violent past and those of the Haitian boarders renting basement rooms in his Brooklyn home...

Played by Dana Davidson. Don't normally name drop, but I'm making an exception here. I atteded school with Dana. She was an exceptional student and athlete. You knew she was going to do well at whatever path she chose. She didn't disappointed. This award winning teacher now author teacher has published two YA novels. Glad to have this one. It will be part of our Prize Bucket at Color Online.

Gorgeous Ian Striver is horrified when he receives his final challenge for entry into the FBI, an exclusive fraternity at Cross High School. Not only must he prove that he has gotten plain Kylie Winship, an obvious virgin, to "give it up," but he must also prove that she has fallen in love with him. Although Ian is prepared to fulfill the challenge, he isn't ready to fall in love himself. Neither is Kylie prepared to fall for Ian, who sometimes even humiliates her. Davidson, the author ofJason and Kyra (2004), has written a disturbing, authentic romance. The characters are African American, but the story is focused on plot and characters rather than ethnicity. Direct and affecting, this will pull at readers' heartstrings while also serving as fair warning for teenage girls everywhere.

A Raisin In the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry. If you haven't read this classic play or seen it, don't tell anyone and do get it. Got this from paperbackswap for my cousin. She's wanted a copy.

Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun written in 1959 is an intriguing, must read play. This play shows the strength of an African-American family's values and ability to stick together. They face many hard things that shock the reader and the audience including an accidental pregnancy. They battle against harsh prejudice and a system that attempts to keep them from having good opportunities to improve their life. Hansberry does a good job of intertwining family hardships with the individuality of each character.

Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson. Woodson is my favorite YA author, period. I've heard a lot about this title and with the release of the sequel, I had to have this. After I read it, it will be shelved at our community library.

Lonnie Collins Motion, the Locomotion of the title, is a New York City fifth grader with a gifted teacher who assigns her class to write different forms of poetry. The house fire that killed Lonnie's parents and the four years of trauma and slow healing that follow are gradually revealed through his writings. In a masterful use of voice, Woodson allows Lonnie's poems to tell a complex story of loss and grief and to create a gritty, urban environment. Despite the spare text, Lonnie's foster mother and the other minor characters are three-dimensional, making the boy's world a convincingly real one. His reflections touch on poverty and on being African American when whites seem to have the material advantages, and return repeatedly to the pain of living apart from his younger sister.

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz. Listen to the audiobook this past summer. Got the paperback for my daughter who shares my interest in self-improvement.

Full of grace and simple truth, this handsomely designed book makes a lovely gift for anyone making an elementary change in life, and it reads in a voice that you would expect from an indigenous shaman. The four agreements are these: Be impeccable with your word. Don't take anything personally. Don't make assumptions. Always do your best. It's the how and why one should do these things that make The Four Agreements worth reading and remembering

The Color of Water by James McBride. Read this when it first published. Got a copy on trade. Will be shelved at our library.

This book is, indeed, a tribute to the author's mother. In it, the author, a man whose mother was white and his father black, tells two stories: that of his mother and his own. Tautly written in spare, clear prose, it is a wonderful story of a bi-racial family who succeeded and achieved the American dream, despite the societal obstacles placed in its way.

Staying Fat for Sarah Bynes by Chris Crutcher. A librarian at Shelfari recommended the author. After reading Whale Talk, I was sold on the author and immediately checked out my second Crutcher novel. Loved this.

An obese boy and a disfigured girl suffer the emotional scars of years of mockery at the hands of their peers. They share a hard-boiled view of the world until events in their senior year hurl them in very different directions. A story about a friendship with staying power, written with pathos and pointed humor.

Meme- My favorite Genre(s)

continued...

What makes that genre(s) a favorite?

I read mostly womens literature, YA fiction(sub-genre realistic), multicultural literature and a fair amount of poetry. I read across genres but the above best covers the majority of what I read. Actually, women of color which connotes a variety of genres and issues, best describes my reading habits. I have two blogs. Black-Eyed Susan's is my personal space. It is broader in scope covering anything I lay my eyes on. Color Online was created to support a lit group I run, and is focused on women of color. Our aim is to inform both members and visitors about writers they might not otherwise know. We hope our blog helps readers diversify their reading habits.

What makes that genre(s) a favorite?

I love women's literature because I favor the feminine voice. The issues addressed in women's literature matter a great deal to me: equality, self-awareness, empowerment, beauty, love, social commentary, justice and family. I love YA literature because it empowers, informs, entertains and inspires our young people, and supporting our youth is part of my life work. I love multicultural literature because I have an insatiable appetite to connect with people. I am curious and I want to learn about the world around me.

I promote and support women of color writers because it matters to me to celebrate writers who look like me, whose work mirrors my own aspirations, desires and experiences. If you can empathize with what it means to be marginalized and invisible, then I think you can understand a desire to be heard. Literature has the power to make the universal, intimate and relevant- a connection between reader and writer. I want readers to better know who we are. I love and promote women of color writers because if I don't, who will?

3WW

Peter nursed his drink and waited for the mayhem. Janie had cajoled him into joining her at the Gas Light for Karoke and quarter beer- a sure combination for setting off the rabble rousers. He’d rather not listen to off-key reinditions of Duran Duran, but Janie, a normally sensible girl, became a poll dancing dervish (if there were a poll) three beers in. Her hair and clothes would be in disarray soon enough. He’d call a cab, put her to bed and slump into his own next door.

Janie was pleased with herself having Peter there. By her own assestment, she was pretty enough, gainfully employed and bright- an upwardly mobile young woman. Still every woman likes attention and a little envy. When the girls from the office saw Peter, their eyes validated Janie had it all.

So Peter was her neighbor and friend, no one need know that but Janie and Peter.



Each week at 3WW, Thom posts a three word writing challenge. This week's words: rabble, disarray and validate. I've opted to continue a story. Visit the site to read more submissions.

Confession Tuesday

This will be short. I'm in San Diego visiting my daughter. She has a really nice place. Maude, she's so neat (I'm feeling guilty thinking about my desk, my closet, my bedroom). She picks me up in a newer model car, a gas guzzler and like a mother,I critisize how big and expensive the car is instead of complimenting her for having the credit and job to buy a car like this. Smack upside the head for that one. I made a mental note to compliment her often and to keep my opinions about her life at a minimum. My daughter misses her mommy and clearly wants her to be impressed.

She treated me to a manicure and pedicure (I couldn't stop laughing while the young woman scrubbed my feet. It tickled and I realized I either never had a pedicure or it's been so long I've forgotten). The spa treatment was nice. I couldn't stop thinking Rick was spending too much money. I don't need these things.

She cooked me dinner last night. Very rich meal. She made stuffed salmon and beans and rice. These are foods I used to make for her (I don't recall this combination though) and I know she really wanted me to have a special dinner. I told her it's really good. What I was feeling was I wish she wouldn't try so hard to please me. I'm her mother and I love her. I'm very proud of her. I also worry about her because like most of us- she gets some things right but...

Back to me. I'm glad I'm spending time with my daughter so why can't I relax? Because those other things. I did not survive my twenties because I was mature and bright. I think they call it grace. I can't relax because I'm her mother. My daughter is 23. I wish she had had a better model mom.

I see how we're alike and how we're different. I see two women grasping at strings we remember binding us together. We didn't have the best friends mother daughter relationship. We had the other one. As adults, we're trying to create a space where fantasy and memories smoothe over old wounds. It's not a matter of lack of love, it's trying to figure out what our love is suppose look like.

A friend wrote about her relationship with her mom, and I could relate except I'm the mom. I don't know the details and they aren't necessary. Motherhood and parenting, these aren't my strengths. I work with young girls because I've been where they are. I've been the daughter and the mother. And I know the monsters bleed. They are as scared as much as they are scary. Somebody turn the light on.

Writer's Meme- Why Do You Blog?

When I created Black-Eyed Susan's, my main motivation was to experiment with blogging in general. I had created Color Online's space with a specific focus but with little experience with blogs, I wasn't sure how to present the content, how to cultivate a readership, what a successful blog looked like.

I knew I needed to find bloggers to emulate. I also needed and wanted a space to explore other interests I have. In the short time I've been blogging, I've learned more than I've mastered, but now it's more a matter of honing rather than figuring out the how's.

Today, while blog hopping at my regular stops, I read Geoffrey Philp's, "The Top 5 Reasons Why I blog." Geoffrey consistently provides information to grow on.

Check out the post and when you're done, share your top 5. Post a link here. To jumpstart this meme, I'm going to tag a few of you.

Little Lov'n Monday

Little Lov'n Monday is a day we celebrate the work of fellow bloggers.

Between now and Monday, post a link to work you've read or written you think deserves a little lov'n. Works can be short stories, poetry, reviews, articles or art.

On Monday, come by BES and check out the links to works published by your peers.

Let's have a posting marathon. Show some love for your fellow bloggers. Comment to a new piece as well as the shared link.

Check here for a growing list of posts to support.


"Be Giving" - The Bottom of Heaven

Make New Friends, But Keep the O-Old- A Striped Armchair

Sweet Honey In the Rock- Current Between Shores

In My Mailbox (6)

Each week a group of readers share what books they received in the mail. From paperbackswap.com, I got Wild Seed by Octavia E. Butler. Our last copy walked. Our best stuff often walks (sigh). I highly recommend it.


Friction by E.R. Frank

Most well-known for her devastatingly poignant teen tales of urban desperation and redemption, renowned young adult author E. R. Frank switches gears and narrows her focus to the pivotal events of one 8th grade classroom. The progressive petri dish of Forest Alternative’s middle school is stirred the wrong way when sophisticated, tongue-ringed Stacy makes the scene. Almost immediately, Stacy takes advantage of the school’s relaxed and experimental atmosphere to start a little excitement....

Swollen by Melissa Lion
What Happened to Lani Garver by Carol Plum-Ucci
Ressurrecting Mingus by Jenoyne Adams
Guitar Girl by Sarra Manning

All of these are for our library though I hope to read Adams in the near future. I really like E.R. Frank and right now, Survivor by Butler is sitting on my table. I have a group read for it later this month.

Poetry Friday

Quilts
by Nikki Giovanni

(for Sally Sellers)

Like a fading piece of cloth
I am a failure

No longer do I cover tables filled with food and laughter
My seams are frayed my hems falling my strength no longer able
To hold the hot and cold

I wish for those first days
When just woven I could keep water
From seeping through
Repelled stains with the tightness of my weave
Dazzled the sunlight with my
Reflection

I grow old though pleased with my memories
The tasks I can no longer complete
Are balanced by the love of the tasks gone past


rest of the poem here.

Read Jessica Fox-Wilson's thoughts on what she learned after
hearing Nikki Giovanni Speak.


Find more Poetry Friday entries here.

read write poem

you lay blossoms at my feet
weave liquid silk round
my ankles running upstream


*I'm sharing an older piece inspired by my love for Nikki Giovanni's work and prompted by a recent article about the poet at rwp.

An Alpha Meme

Lenore of Presenting Lenore tagged me (ok, I asked) for a meme where you list ten things that you love that start with a letter that is randomly assigned to you. I got the letter A.

If you want to participate, let me know, and I'll assign you a letter.

Ten things I love that start with the letter A:

Autumn- It is my favorite season. It's also a season of loss.

Assonance- I'm partial to sound devices in poetry.

Art- love all forms. I love beautiful things and things created out of passion.

Audre Lorde- I think she was a brilliant writer and gifted poet.

Abandoned Automobile: Detroit City Poetry 2001. An anthology that shows the real breadth and humanity of my native city.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. Informative, funny, relevant. Perspective changing.

August Wilson. An African American playwright if you don't know him, you should.

Alice Walker. We share a birthday. We both write poetry. She's good at it. She's a womanist. Me, too.

"All Things Considered", title of a poem I wrote. Sentimental but I actually think this one works.

"Adagio for Strings," Samuel Barber. One of the first pieces of music my guy shared with me. Affected me deeply.

TOP

"America"

Rolling hills and flag waving patriots patrol borders
while jobs migrate overseas.

Patriots patrol borders while families stand in cascading
lines for food and rent vouchers.

While families stand and wait cascading lines of caskets are shipped
to final resting places beneath rolling hills and flag waving.


*This is my first contribution to Totally Optional Prompts. This needs serious work. Any suggestions welcomed. To submit or read more, go here.

3WW

"Another Day, Another Coin"

While the hunt had been uneventful, the pay was generous. He thought better of his complaint. He unfolded the slip with his next victim's name on it. "So, who's my next daisy pusher, hmmm?" He roared as he read it, "Peter Pecker! Ah, it seems the universe has never been kind to this fellow." He crumpled the note and then frowned. "With a name like Peter Pecker, how much nerve could this sap have"? He'd have to come up with some vile and illicit amusements to make this one fun. "Oh well, all in a day's work."


*Every Wednesday, Thom posts three words at 3WW. We're to be creative. Today's selection is a follow up to short piece I started last week. I decided to try to keep this under 100 words. Do you think this qualifies as micro fiction? To see what others have done with the word choices go here.

Confession Tuesday

“I don’t understand art for art’s sake. Art is the guts of the people.”
~Elma Lewis
American artist

A Reader’s Lament

Good poets write about themselves in the context of what’s going on around them. Good poets are historians, anthropologists and activists. Good poets remind us who we are. They are our collective unconscious outwardly celebrating and challenging our collective psyche.

That’s how I see poets. This is how I see artists in general. And for some time, I have felt many of our aspiring writers and poets have chucked duty and instead gone off on holiday to write their memoirs before they’ve actually completed a body of work that merits subjecting us to the minutia of their vacations. I’m worn out by the interior examinations that impress me to be little more than intellectual word play. I don’t want to read about idyllic fields, beautiful babies or clever poetry chock full of figurative language that confronts nothing, internal dialog that doesn’t engage the reader but demands a captive audience. Good literature provokes and challenges; it changes us.

I’m desperate for someone to talk about how no one is excited about another meal of Hamburger Helper and everyone is craving a steak. I want somebody to talk about losing her research job and her husband getting let go from Circuit City. I want to hear someone admit that self-imposed poverty of attending college is no longer an option. Somebody say they’re pissed off because they think we haven’t expressed real outrage about kids being blown up in the Gaza. I want someone to write about Africans having their fingers cut off for stealing diamonds because they are hungry. Someone advocate for the girls being sold into sex trade. Somebody shake us out of the feel good green stupor that has folks thinking changing light bulbs and sorting our trash is going to save us from global warming.

But I’m more reader than writer. I’ve been wary of being the critic. After all, I’m not writing anything noteworthy. But writers need, want an audience, right? So do I have a responsibility as reader to be honest?


* Every week January asks us to fess up. To join us or to read more go here.

Book Review

If You Come Softly
Jacqueline Woodson
4/5 stars

Elsie is Jewish and Jeremiah is black but If You Come Softly is not a syrupy slick, modern spin of teen Othello. It is an incredibly beautiful story about first love. Woodson is an astute observer of character. We see this in the way this young couple navigates through their own emotions as well as how they react to others’ behavior and attitudes toward them. This novel forgoes the love conquers all cliché. Instead, this is murky and honest, the fumbling and failings that many of us teens and adults alike have never put into words.

What I really love is that Woodson deftly addresses complex issues in an accessible, authentic way. The teens' voices ring true in her work; she examines the nuances of attitudes and behavior surrounding race, sexual orientation, family dynamics and social norms with a subtlety that affects the reader without clobbering her audience with morality or judgment.

Here is a prolific writer who clearly understands how teens process their emotions and experiences of being a young person coming into their own. So far, I've read From The Notebooks of Melanin Sun, Maizon At Blue Hill, The House You Pass On The Way, Dear One, I hadn’t Meant To Tell You This, Lena and After Tupac and D Foster. All of these works are well-written, engaging and page-turners. Woodson is one of those authors whose entire body of work you want to read. I am looking forward to the experience.

If you haven't read Woodson, do. And if you're looking for realistic fiction for the teen whom isn't big on reading or is likely to relate better to characters who are more real than fantasy, I recommend Woodson. I can't say enough about this author.