Nine to five is how to survive, I ain't trying to survive I'm trying to live it to the limit and love it alive. - Jay Z
Whether you're sitting @ your desk, reading my blog on your IPHONE 4 or Blackberry or checking your email before you leave the house, we all share a common bond. The desire to be successful. To fulfill our potential and leave our mark. Unfortunately, the responsibilities of adulthood seem to rob us of our youthful exuberance. Work. Pay bills. Repeat. Like my favorite MC once said, "Its an everyday struggle".
Today, instead of focusing on record sales, or who has the hottest video or the biggest ass (grown or purchased), I like to take a moment and recognize those who defied the odds, the naysayers and self doubt. Those who stepped outside of the box to attain something more valuable than money and fame...Flip the page to learn about 3 up and coming authors who are achieving a different type of "success"
Flake (author of The Skin I’m In and Who Am I Without Him?) is a master craftsman of contemporary urban storytelling. Here she introduces us to a collection of nine young men facing difficult to impossible choices. Among them are Tow-Kaye, who is 16 on his wedding day; James, who starts a diary while deciding whether to kill himself; and Tyler, who fancies himself a ladies’ man. The stories about these boys, and the accompanying free-verse poems, offer the reader a glimpse of what it means to be young, male, and black today. While some of the pieces are message-driven (with threats of violence, teen pregnancy, and AIDS), Flake’s prose and grasp of character win the day.
Johnson, Angela. Sweet, Hereafter.
An average student with few friends and no affection for her family, Sweet does not feel connected to anyone. That changes the day she meets Curtis. He is handsome, smart, and haunted by his recent tour in Iraq. For a short time, they live a near-idyllic life in his family’s vacation cabin on the edge of the woods. Then a letter comes, which sends Curtis back to the war. This final book in the "Heaven Trilogy" is dedicated to "those who did and did not come home" and is ultimately about the impact of the war on those left behind. Johnson’s awards outnumber the books she has written, a testament to her exquisite wordcraft. Here she is in top form.
Magoon, Kekla. The Rock and the River.
It’s 1968, and Sam is the younger son of a notable (fictional) Civil Rights leader, Minister Roland Childs. Childs embraces nonviolence, while his oldest son, Stick, turns to the more militant Black Panthers to seek social justice. Sam is caught between the "rock and the river," between his father’s righteousness and the gratifying appeal of standing up to police brutality. Magoon does not downplay the moral complexity of these two positions, quietly weaving class issues into a story that still keeps the reader turning the pages until its dramatic conclusion. This winner of the John Steptoe New Talent Author Award is the first book for teens that I have read that gives voice to the Black Panther movement.
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