Afua -- I remember exactly where I was when I heard that the Ntozake Shange's classic for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow Is enuf was being made into a movie. My first thought was, "Oh Lawd! PLEASE DON'T RUIN IT!" I mean I think I'm still mad about Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God. Unlike some of my friends, I was not a reader when I was younger so this was not a book that influenced my youth. Those were the days when I was too stupid to know I was able to save myself in the pages of a book. It would be a book that I found in my 20s only to discover how much I had missed. At least that was my judgment about it at the time.
Welcome to the second chance at love I call it. The second chance to discover the magic of the written word. To get into the head of not only the author but the heads of the characters she or he created. The satisfaction that comes from the progress of turning pages and the sense of accomplishment that results from the book being completed. Once you have enjoyed it, it is passed on to be enjoyed by another person. A gift that keeps giving no matter how many years have passed. It truly is magic to me.
Well, this one has a lot of conversation associated with it don't it? Last year, I remember when I put Precious on my classroom bulletin board as the book of the month. Almost every young lady in my senior Canadian Family class was walking around with book in tow. Although I can't claim to be a fan, I was impressed with READING! Yes, young people do read! I know that we often times think they are so caught up with Facebook, Tweeting, Txting, Sxting, and other pursuits to care less about reading. I mean, 3Dreads and a Baldhead started our "An Evening with....." Literary Series after being inspired by a young woman (Romy Mbuyamba) who was reading Satisfy My Soul by Colin Channer. I've always therefore been struck by why we adults don't take more opportunity to find ways and things to read WITH young people. Not only for ourselves but to share with someone of another generation. Inter-generational reading! Many of us do - Harry Potter, Twilight Series for example.
While hanging out with Itah Sadu, owner of A Different Booklist located in Toronto, I overheard her telling a patron that many young woman like books by E. Lynn Harris, Zane, Eric Jerome Dickey - books some of us would say have an erotica slant that many of us didn't discover until we were in our 30s (I remember the summer of Eric Jerome Dickey's first 5 books when it seemed like every black woman I knew was reading one of them). The person seemed surprised to hear that.
There is a pedagogy that claims READ SOMETHING, ANYTHING is better than NOTHING. Well folks, they are reading!
I therefore see a great opportunity to get the best of many worlds again and with this book. If there is a movie to a book, see movie and read book. If there is a movie to a book that is directed by Tyler Perry, you better see the movie and read the book! If there is a movie to a classic book that is directed by Tyler Perry, you better find a young person see the movie with them and read the book with them! I mean we could complain about how he's off the mark (or not) but that would be a conversation for one generation without the other generation knowing what's up. Sharing prospective is called for! I admit that I don't believe people who haven't read the book would be able to answer the discussion question in the book:
"How does 'dark phrases', the opening poem of for colored girls, evoke the psychological states of the many narrators of the work in these lines.....?"The solution for me to share a prospective with another young woman so she can get more from the experience and so can I.
The young woman I chose to do this with is Stephanie. She has been a student at my school for 2 and a half years now. She is one of my Fugees. She is from the United States, of Haitian ancestry, and a senior student about to graduate. I am so excited to be doing this with her. We will be blogging our experience together and it starts NOW!
Stephanie -- I'm also looking forward to this opportunity and experience to read and be able to talk about the book. It wasn't until the movie came out and you told me about the book that I found out about it. After hearing your opinion about the movie vs the book I wanted to watch the movie and read the book just to see if the book is really better than the movie.
After having seen the movie and thought that it was the most powerful film I've ever seen therefore if it wasn't anything close to being as good as the book then I just can't wait to read it.
Yesterday( 13/12/2010) was the first day I've felt, received and started reading the book. To begin with it's clear that this is no ordinary book because it's dedicated to us (Black Women) and the way it start isn't like most books. Ntozake Shange starts off the book by telling us how she wrote the stories and how she came up with the characters. This is the first African American play I've read and also first choreopoem book I've read therefore to have this opportunity is destiny playing its role in my life!
