Book Review

Terri Schichenmeyer  |   OW Contributor
Jul 14 2011

Author Pearl Cleage

Throughout your life, you’ve done some regretful things.

Riding your bike downhill with iffy brakes was one of them. Cutting your own hair. Sassing your grandma while she was standing close. And then there was that time you ate something somebody said “tastes good.”

You can attribute that to being young and dumb, but there’s no excuse when you’re grown. Dating the wrong person, going clubbing in some hideous outfit, that email to the boss: all impulsive, all regretful.

Terri Schichenmeyer  |   OW Contributor
Jul 7 2011

Author: Richard W. Walker Jr., M.D.

For many hours each week, you spend your time running to nowhere—or so it seems.

As often as possible, you do your laps on a treadmill, run-run-running in place while the status of your health does the same: your blood pressure remains sky high. You’re still pre-diabetic. And your friends, surprisingly, are saying the same thing.

Terri Schichenmeyer  |   OW Contributor
Jun 30 2011

Author: Manning Marable

You are many people.

To your friends, you’re supportive, funny and solid. Your boss sees you as someone who gets the job done. Your kids think you’re authoritative, with a wallet. And your family knows the you with warts.

You’re a person with many faces; some public, some private, but never the same. In the new book “Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention” (c.2011, Viking, $30.00 / $34.50 Canada, 594 pages, includes notes) by Manning Marable, you’ll get a (supposed) peek at a complex man with several personas.
 

Terri Schichenmeyer  |   OW Contributor
Jun 23 2011

Author: Alice Walker

People call you a “dog person” and you kind of like that.

It’s no reflection on you, personally, of course. That moniker just says to the world that you have a love for anything canine, that you probably have a few pups of your own, and that you’ve never known a dog you didn’t like. You probably also know a lot of other dog people and maybe a few cat and horse people, too.

Terri Schichenmeyer  |   OW Contributor
Jun 16 2011

Author: Ethan Long

Superman is not so super.

Oh, sure, he can leap over buildings, but does he give horseback rides? He can stop trains, but can he stop your sister from bugging you? The answer is probably no to both questions.

Really, come to think about it, Spiderman is just another guy on the web and the Hulk is a hunk of green compared to the real hero in your life. When you read “My Dad, My Hero” by Ethan Long (c.2011, Sourcebooks $12.99 / $14.99 Canada, 32 pages), you’ll definitely agree….

Across Black America

Here’s a look at African American people and issues making headlines throughout the country.

California
San Diego college students and volunteers will carry out their sixth home restoration project on Wednesday, July 10 through Sunday, July 14. as part of the “Healing our Heroes’ Homes” (H3) program created by the nonprofit Embrace. The five-day effort will take place at the home of medically retired Marine Corps Capt. Sarah Bettencourt. Bettencourt served with many different units across the country during the Global War on Terrorism and developed a rare neurological disorder in 2008. With a focus to restore the homes of disabled veteran homeowners, H3 falls in line with Embrace’s mission to mobilize college-student volunteers and community members to serve less fortunate members of civilian and veteran communities. The project for the Bettencourts’ home includes kitchen and bathroom remodeling, building ADA-compliant disability ramps, widening their driveway to ADA standards, widening doorways and landscaping.
 
District of Columbia
The 2013 Smithsonian Folklife Festival will showcase its five-year community research project on African American identity with the program “The Will to Adorn: African American Diversity, Style, and Identity.” This multicity collaboration examines the history and culture of the aesthetics of African Americans. The festival will be held June 26-30 and July 3-7, outdoors on the National Mall between Seventh and 14th streets. “Whether we realize it or not, we are all dress artists. The way we compose our look is a creative expression of our ideas about who we are and who we aspire to be,” said Diana N’Diaye, program curator. “This program explores the diversity of African American traditions of style, but also teaches young people the importance of documenting their own culture and saving that information for themselves and future generations.”