Book Review - February Tribute to Black History Month - II

Peace from Broken Pieces: How to Get Through What You're Going Through - by Iyanla Vanzant

Author spiritual adviser, Iyanla Vanzant, longtime staple on the Oprah Winfrey show, before Drs. Phil and Oz. Molded her career by advising and teaching women how to be strong in a world run by men. Helping women to overcome obstacles, face challenges, to mend themselves and relationships without losing self or femininity. These life lessons were taught with her invaluable gift of homespun mother wit, common sense and humor.

The spotlighted work is her first in a long time due to the challenges Ms. Vanzant faced in her own life. The death of her daughter, severing of a 40 year relationship which ended in divorce, the damage to her friendship with Oprah (rekindled), loss of her fortune, and the loss of her dream home to the current foreclosure crisis. Compounding the aforementioned was the deep rooted fact that the adviser did not practice what she preached.

Quote from the book:

Broken pieces of my life, broken pieces of my history, my story, my mind - broken pieces of my mind, my heart. I just got to that place where I had to come to peace with that. I think we just have to - you can't fix it. I couldn't fix it. I couldn't fix anything, I couldn't change anything, I couldn't make it any different, I couldn't undo it. I just had to come to peace . - Iyanla Vanzant

Killing Willis: From Diff'rent Strokes to the Mean Streets to the Life I Always Wanted - by Todd Bridges

A bare boned honest, no holds barred autobiography so raw some readers said they literally felt this young man’s pain. Fans learned, from endless torrid headlines, the end result of Todd’s infamous career. None of us were ready for the behind the scene ugly tragedy that this man endured in the beginning of his career. His job . . . his employment was to bring a bright smiling caricature to face the cameras in his portrayal a street kid who lucked into a better life. Behind closed doors, at the place he called home, where he should have felt safe he suffered the horrors of repeated sexual abuse.

No excuses are made for his bad life choices, but this piece reveals the mistreatment and abuse children receive, especially child stars, and how abuse can and will leave a scars for life. These children are not equipped with tools, and are ill prepared to make the necessary good decisions that life thrusts in front of them. Bridges shares information regarding his bout with depression, racism, drug addiction all in very plain English never mincing words.

Todd is not a member of a “cursed” TV cast, or a bad child star, addict or criminal. He bravely puts his life out there for all to see. This action, in itself, reflects the growth and inner strength of a survivor not a victim.

Denise Nichols is more publicly known as an actress from such ground breaking television shows as Room 222, and In the Heat of The Night (in which Denise penned two episodes) than an author. Freshwater Road has been touted as a wonderful story of fiction that takes place during the civil rights Movement.

Main character, Celeste Tyree, is a young black collegian who leaves her cozy surroundings of Ann Arbor, Michigan to work in the trenches of the civil rights movement in 1964 Poplarville, Mississippi. The story takes place in the summer and focuses on volunteers who came from around the country to help found a Freedom School and assist in voter registration. That faithful summer turns out to be an important life lesson for this student where she learns the truth about the realities of politics, race, poverty and racism.

The author spoke from her experience as a Freedom Rider in 1964, she uses these experiences to reach back into her memory of that summer.  A summer where so many fought and died to secure the freedoms that we as Blacks now enjoy.

Micky Dee - love you bro thank you so much for your encouragement.

Please enjoy his work below you'll be better for it.