Showing results by narrator "Je Nie Fleming" in All Categories

Poet, educator, and social activist Gwendolyn Brooks was a singular force in American culture. The first Black woman to be named United States poet laureate, Brook’s poetry, fiction, and social commentary shed light on the beauty of humanity, the distinct qualities of Black life and community, and the destructive effects of racism, sexism, and class inequality. A collection of 30 essays combining critical analysis and personal reflection, The Whiskey of Our Discontent presents essential elements of Brooks' oeuvre - on race, gender, class, community, and poetic craft.

Deidre Clark-Morris is a faithful Christian who has everything she could dream of - except the children her heart longs for. Kenisha Smalls has lived in poverty all her life. She has three children by three different men and has just been diagnosed with inoperable cancer. While the meeting between these two women appears accidental, it becomes their catalyst of hope. Neither woman expects the blessing that God has in store for her.

While struggling with infertility, Candy and Frankie, a mixed-race couple living in Chicago, decide to adopt a black child. Despite objections from their wildly different families, who beg the couple to go the more "traditional route", Candy and Frankie schedule an appointment with the Department of Child Family Services in the hopes of finding not an infant, but a toddler - a child "no one else wants".

Jada Jackson is the most average of teenage girls. She, like the other girls, has never considered any option other than to attend the local, completely average high school. When the mysterious Miss Genevieve informs Jada that she has been invited to enroll in a seemingly prestigious, yet curious, school for young ladies, Jada hardly hesitates to accept the offer. But on her very first day, Jada learns that Miss Genevieve's promises are more fraught than they initially seemed.

In an age of reality TV, a husband and wife cling to Victorian notions of privacy, though doing so threatens the life of the wife. Their daughter, Anna, yearns for her mother’s unguarded affection, and eventually learns there is value in restraint. But Anna, a Caribbean American immigrant, finds that lesson harder to accept when, eager to assimilate in her new country, she discovers that a gap yawns between her and American-born citizens.

In an increasingly polarized society, and in the midst of seemingly endless culture wars, our civil discourse appears to be in shambles. What are we to do? If a lack of conversation is the primary culprit of the current state, then perhaps intentionally engaging in debate and discussion will lead us in the right direction. From race and police brutality, to concepts of beauty and the body, to sex and dating, Let's Agree to Disagree is an endeavor to revive cultural dialogues from hostility to civility.

Six years ago, eco-chef Alice Sullivan and her culinary-school rival almost gave into the burning tension between them. But those kisses? Just the heat of competition boiling over. Sullivan never expected to see Kia after graduation . . . until Kia crashes back into her life with a plan to buy Sullivan’s beloved Portland greenspace.