By Tendisai Cromwell

Producer, editor and TV host, Sharon Ennis has lovingly maintained a diary about all of her children for the last eight years. Though each child has a section devoted entirely to them, the unique experience of raising her third child, 4-year-old Gabrielle, inspired more entries than her other children.

In the pages of her diary, Ennis expressed all of her sentiments of caring for a daughter diagnosed with the most severe form of spina bifida, a birth defect caused by an improperly formed spinal cord resulting in adverse developmental effects.

“Raising Gabrielle has been a journey,” Ennis revealed; a parental journey that for Ennis and her husband, was fraught with many challenges.

At the encouragement of others with whom she shared excerpts of her diary, Ennis was propelled to write a deeply personal book, Gabby’s Gift, about her experiences of rearing a child with special needs. Ennis describes her book, published this past June,  as very honest and emotional, consisting largely of those entries recalling the last four years of Gabrielle’s precious life.

Throughout her pregnancy with Gabrielle, all of the tests for abnormalities came back negative. Resultantly, Ennis was woefully unprepared to deal with the reality of having a child with special needs.

“When we found out at birth, it was quite a shock,” Ennis said.

In the emotionally tumultuous period that followed the birth of Gabrielle, Ennis endured a seemingly endless cycle of pain and anguish.

“In the book, I actually open up and talk about the dark ages, as I call it.”

It was the unfulfilled expectation of a healthy child coupled with her husband leaving for medical school shortly after Gabrielle’s birth that made the “dark ages” descend upon her so relentlessly.

With brute honesty, Ennis describes some of the dark thoughts that tainted her natural love for a child of her own.

“The dark ages involved me not even wanting this child anymore,”Ennis revealed. “I wanted this to end.”

“Inside I was fighting; I was really fighting trying to be a mother and loving this child no matter what and looking at this as a gift from God. God won’t give you more than you can bear,” Ennis said.

How the condition manifests itself in a chid’s development varies and is sometimes difficult to predict accurately, as such, Gabrielle’s capabilities remained very much a mystery to Ennis and her husband, only time would tell. For the first year of Gabrielle’s life, Ennis doubted that her daughter would even be able to walk.

She had later found the optimism that she had so desperately needed emerging from the darkness of despair.

“I had to do a lot of praying,” Ennis said.

Although later than a child’s normal development, Gabrielle began to walk allowing Ennis to truly experience hope.

“Gabby was a fighter,” Ennis stated.

Sharon with Gabby

Ennis began to fully embrace raising Gabrielle and credits her daughter with helping to cultivate patience and improving her parenting skills.

“With a child with special needs, you’re more sensitive, ”Ennis said. “Patience has grown for me tremendously. Because Gabby brought that out of me, I’m able to be more patient with the other children.”

Ennis hopes that her book will be a source of guidance for those lacking the emotional support needed in caring for children with special needs. She has already received positive feedback from people who related to her journey. One mother, herself raising a child with spina bifida, expressed that she was deeply grateful for Ennis’ book which echoed her own sentiments.

Ennis as well aspires to educate the greater public about the condition which she admits she was unaware of prior to Gabrielle’s diagnosis.

“I hope this will help to open people’s eyes,” Ennis said. “A lot of people still need to be educated. I’m hoping that this will educate them emotionally and proactively, that they will do things about it and help spread the word.”

Visit the Gabby’s Gift website to purchase her book.

For more information, visit the Spina Bifida & Hydrocephalus Association of Ontario. www.sbhao.on.ca

For the month of August, group member Carlene has chosen The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot.

To find out more about the award-winning book and its author, visit  rebeccaskloot.com/the-immortal-life.

Don’t miss the next meeting on Thursday, September 8, at Trane Studios, 964 Bathurst Street at 6:15pm. Please rsvp to [email protected].

Miguel San Vicente, A Different Booklist Co-owner

By Tendisai Cromwell

Place yourself in A Different Booklist and you may feel awakened by the narratives and wealth of knowledge that surrounds you, but they are not only contained within books. The bookstore attracts people from all walks of life: the eccentric, the philosophical, the political, even the curious pedestrian.

“Itah’s a storyteller, she can describe some of the characters that have come in,” co-owner Miguel San Vincente said speaking of his wife, Itah Sadu, with whom he co-owns the store.

Some of the more famous characters who have graced the bookstore with their presence include Shaquille O’Neil, Queen Latifah and Johnny Cochran to name a few.

“We try to represent the community, not just through books, but through many different avenues and I feel that’s what has made us attractive and brought people from all different areas to the store,”Miguel explained.

A Different Booklist serves the literary interests of the African and Caribbean community, but it is more than just an interesting bookstore, it’s also a community space with a political conscience.

“We’re excited about the role we’ve been able to play in the community and we want to continue doing so and to expand on it, if possible,” Miguel said.

This summer and beyond, the bookstore is hosting an array of community events and activities.  Weekly international language cafe nights commenced in July for those who wish to improve their French and Spanish. The bookstore holds bi-weekly film screenings followed by discussions which began last week. There will be ongoing discussion groups on various topics and, as always, book launches. In September, A Different Booklist is hosting renowned African-American author Sistah Souljah at the University of Toronto for her newest novel, Midnight and the Meaning of Love.

A Different Booklist also endevours to increase awareness about Africa-related issues. The Africa Project will be an on-going effort to disseminate accurate information about the often ignored realities of Africa to the public through research, documentaries, and lectures.

“We want to educate the wider public,” Miguel said. “There are a number of things that most of us feel we are uninformed about because we are not getting correct information from the mainstream media.”

Presently, the focus is on the foreign intervention in Libya, which Miguel heavily critiques. Similar sentiments are shared by many staff members and volunteers.

“We find it alarming that the current mainstream media is so much in support of a violation of the sovereignty of a nation supposedly in the interest of human rights,” Miguel said of the NATO-lead campaign in Libya.

Other focuses of the Africa Project will include the separation of Southern Sudan, the political situation in the Ivory Cost, the famine in Somalia among others.

Summer Student Staff, Jameel Dawkins and Ekram Abubaker

During the summer months, events take place in the bookstore’s backyard appropriately called ‘The Book Garden’.

“It’s a beautiful space, it has a backyard feel, it’s tented and we have a number of community organizations and groups who have been accessing this space to have events.”

Tucked away in Toronto’s Annex neighbourhood, A Different Booklist provides refuge for those seeking black and multicultural literature, delightful conversations and community involvement.

“People enjoy and love the feel of the bookstore and the friendliness of our staff. We take great pride in that” Miguel said glowingly.

For more information about events or to contact Miguel San Vincente to volunteer for the Africa Project, visit A Different Booklist’s website.

The current tour coordinator said her love of reading began as a young adult when a friend of hers lent her the book, Scenes From a Sistah by Lolita Files.  “I loved the book at the time and began reading fiction books by other African American authors such as Terry McMillan, Eric Jerome Dickey and Toni Morrison.”

Dickenson said her desire to start reading again and get together with others to discuss them has prompted her to reboot the Soulful Expressions Book Club.

“Black literature for me means reading stories that I can relate to on one level or another as well as supporting the work of black writers.”  She has chosen the book Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones for the month of July.

Synopsis

Tayari Jones unveils a breathtaking story about a man’s deception, a family’s complicity, and the teenage girls caught in the middle. Set in a middle-class neighborhood in Atlanta in the 1980s, the novel revolves around James Witherspoon’s families– the public one and the secret one. When the daughters from each family meet and form a friendship, only one of them knows they are sisters. It is a relationship destined to explode when secrets are revealed and illusions shattered.

Tayari Jones was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. Her previous novels are Leaving Atlanta, winner of the Hurston/Wright Award for Debut Fiction and The Untelling, published in 2005. Tayari Jones is a graduate of Spelman College, The University of Iowa, and Arizona State University.

Soulful Expressions’ first meeting is scheduled for Thursday, August 5, at Trane Studio on Bathurst Street. If you would like to attend, rsvp to [email protected].

True Daley

By True Daley

Like many children raised in Caribbean households, Dr. Karen Flynn grew up attending church every week. The unusual presence of nurses on duty at the Seventh-day Adventist church peaked her interest as a little girl, and served as the impetus for her first book.

Moving Beyond Borders : A History of Black Canadian and Caribbean Women in the Diaspora, documents the experiences of 35 black nurses from the postwar-era, and is the first book to take an in-depth look at the multi-dimensional lives of Canada’s black healthcare workers. The academic-turned-author, migrated from Jamaica to Canada as a child, and says it’s important to tell the stories of those who came before us.

“We have to have a sense of entitlement of being in this country. Sometimes we don’t feel like we deserve to be here and to be recognized for the contributions we’ve made. That’s one of the things that I like about the last chapter in my book.  I talk about nation, home and belonging. These black women who came to Canada and didn’t think that they were Canadian, so to speak – after a while they made a certain contribution through their community work. Whether it was through volunteer work or even raising wonderful, responsible black children in light of the discourse they were facing, they have a right to claim this place as home.”

Ironically, in order for these success stories to come to light, Flynn had to move south of the border. Since 2004, she has been an

Author Karen Flynn

Assistant Professor in the departments of Gender and Women Studies and African-American Studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.  Despite being the first black woman to graduate from York University’s Women’s Studies in 2003, Flynn says she realized early on that she’d have to relocate from Toronto.

“York was a great place to be, I was the VP of Services for the Graduate Students Association and I learned about unionizing and becoming a faculty member, and things of that nature. I got a position at McMaster University, but it was a one-year position called a contract-limited appointment. I felt like I wasn’t going to get a full-time job as an academic. So even though I went to the U.S. on a one-year position, that opportunity resulted in a tenure track position. UIUC gave me $30,000 over three years to complete this research. That’s how I was able to finish my book. I feel like I wouldn’t have made that kind of headway here.”

Although it’s not the first book to tell the stories of black nurses, it is the first to move beyond the race, class, gender paradigm. By using a multi-dimensional approach to her research, and including the challenges faced by indigenous African-Canadians, Flynn says varied experiences are unveiled.

“One of the things that we sometimes tend to do is talk about black women as this monolith group of women who are not differentiated by their sexuality, or their race, or class or even shade of skin color. If you read some of the research on black nurses, the common tag line is that they’re all concentrated in certain specialty areas like geriatrics or psychiatry. What I have emphasized in the book, is that not all black nurses were at the bottom of the nursing hierarchy. Most of the nurses I interviewed were RN’s. I make that argument really clear.”

The book explores how family, religion and education influenced the lifestyle choices of these heroines of healthcare. Pictured on the book cover, is Lilian Johnston, Canada’s first black Director of Public Health for Leeds, Grenville & Lanark District. Flynn recounts the 88 year-old’s unconventional yet inspirational lifestyle choices.

“She went to Scotland in 1954, and did mid-wifery at 24. She was a teacher in Jamaica, and came to Canada in 1960. She said that because of her personality someone would want to control her. She’s had suitors and people that loved her, but never married or had kids. She said she never regretted it, and wasn’t going to sit around and cry just because she was single. This woman started the Sickle Cell Foundation of Ontario, was appointed to the Order of Ontario, and still rides the subway to this day. I think she is someone we can all learn from.”

Flynn says she feels extremely humbled by the book’s endorsers – some of whom began as mentors who helped her to navigate through the system of higher-education. When she initially applied to York University’s History Department to begin her thesis on black nurses, she was told there were no professors who could supervise the research project.

Professors at Windsor advocated on her behalf and Flynn was eventually accepted. Today, she sees her former York professors as extended family members whose guidance prepared her for her work in the U.S.

“I remember going to a conference at the Canadian History Institution, both of my profs were in the audience. Both Katherine McPherson who was my supervisor at York and Christina Simmons my MA supervisor at Windsor, were in the audience and I told them that ‘It’s on your shoulders that I stand’.

My book has four pages of acknowledgments and people ask me why it’s so long. I thanked everyone going right back to my basic school in Jamaica, because I believe we all did this together.”

Moving Beyond Borders is published by University of Toronto Press, and will be  available in Fall 2011. Dr. Karen Flynn has been invited to Windsor’s Bookfest in November.

Dr. Elaine Brown Spencer

By Adebe DeRango-Adem

Dr. Elaine Brown Spencer’s courageous play, adapted from her recently published book, breaks the silence and tackles issues in the Black church community members have ignored for too long.  Sway sits with the acclaimed writer and scholar Dr. Elaine Brown Spencer to get at the heart of the issue, and how she keeps the faith.

AD: Your play Private Pain In Public Pews is adapted from a book you recently wrote (Private Pain In Public Pews: Uncovering the Hidden Secrets of Life in the Pews, Westbow Press, 2010) and looks at the silenced pain that goes on in church communities.  What was writing the book like, and then creating a play from that text?  Did you find making the transition to playwriting natural?

ES: The process of writing this book was intense and exhilarating. It allowed me to give voice to the thousands in the pews who have experienced silent pain left unaddressed. During the four months of writing this book, the truth is, I had no idea that I would adapt it into a play as that wasn’t the purpose initially.  However, half way into my writings, I was divinely inspired to adapt the book into theatrical form.  It was somewhat of an easy transition as the framework for the storylines were already written in chapter 2 on “Real Talk,” which is the chapter the play is based upon.  The actual transition from book writing to playwriting did feel natural but writing the scripts was definitely challenging at times in terms of eliminating some of the detail that is not necessary for the stage.  Nevertheless, this process has been deeply rewarding and I am looking forward to writing part two.

Does the play mirror your own spiritual journey in any way?

Absolutely.  I grew up in the Black Church and I have seen and experienced a lot. Some of the storylines depict portions of actual life events that I have encountered. The play connects the viewer with the spiritual realities of faith communities who experience and overcome many obstacles. This is why I am so passionate about the unique and cherished community of the Black Church because despite the “drama” there is a relentless vitality, power and hope for those who strive to and have overcome life’s obstacles.

It might be argued that in order for an idea to really be transformative, it can’t “preach to the converted” so to speak; it has to speak to those who are willing to be changed.  What do you think of this?

Part of the issue today is not being real about our failure and struggles. This is not to suggest that we should not be aiming for success but rather that we should have a humble approach to life’s realities. If we tackle ideas that transcend  superficiality and be real about struggles that can be remedied through our faith  in God (as in the case of characters Samantha and Sarah in the play, for example), that is where change comes about.

You have an impressive academic background, with a PhD in Sociology & Equity Studies.  Do you see a connection between equity studies and your pursuits in the creative arts?

Most definitely.  My dissertation looked at the historical Black Churches in Canada from a sociological perspective. There has been little attention in academia to the role of the Canadian Black Church in the Black Community. I argue that the Black Church played a pivotal role during the Afro-Caribbean immigration years of the 1960’s, 1970’s and 1980’s. It served as a social welfare institution and safe haven for black people who experienced severe injustices and discrimination in Canada. The Black church provided an outlet and sense of belonging for a people who were dehumanized in broader society. Yet, the creativity and resilience fostered amongst its members has been the catalyst to its survival. The creative arts have always kept us going. The music, the vibrance, the preaching style and oratory skills within the church are all distinct cultural patterns that should not be ignored.  My play Private Pain in Public Pews connects faith with equity as it creates a space for us to interpret the church from within, not negatively from those who are not members of this community.

Who would you say your primary audience is, as an author as well as playwright?

As an author and playwright, my primary audience are people who enjoy Black Theatre from a perspective of faith.

How do you see the state of Black Canadian theatre?

There seems to be a revival and upswing of theatre immersed in the Black experience but not enough that is faith based. I would love to see more of this as I believe there is a huge audience that would welcome Black Canadian Theatre that connects issues of faith.

Do you have any advice for young Canadians who want to pursue theatre or writing? 

Writing is a gift that needs to be nurtured. Perfect, perfect and perfect it some more. Theatre and writing is the expression of our inner emotions, thoughts and ideas. I encourage young Canadians to open their appetite to reading, music, visual arts, poetry and critical knowledge that questions the mainstream. A critical mind that produces write critical pieces can positively impact generations to come.

What are you working on now, and where can we go to hear more about your work?

I am currently working on doing more shows and developing the sequel for my play, Private Pain in Public Pews – Part II.  You can hear more about my work by visiting www.drelainespencer.com, Facebook, or by emailing me at [email protected].

Private Pain in Public Pews

A Dutch group torch photocopies of the cover of Lawrence Hill's The Book of Negroes in Amsterdam on June 22, 2011, as a protest against the title.

By Bruce DeMara, Entertainment Reporter

A Dutch anti-slavery group has followed through on its threat to symbolically burn a copy of Canadian author Lawrence Hill’s acclaimed Book of Negroes because of its title.

A spokesperson for Amsterdam’sde Telegraaf newspaper confirmed a photocopy of the book’s cover was burned Wednesday afternoon in Oosterpark, which has an anti-slavery monument.

The Dutch group, the Federation for Honour and Reparation of Slavery in Suriname, recently announced it would publicly burn the book on June 22 if the title wasn’t changed. The book has only recently been published in the Netherlands under the title, Het Negerboek.

The Book of Negroes is the title of an actual historical document which documents the migration of 3,000 African slaves who supported the British cause in the American Revolution and were allowed to go from New York to Nova Scotia. Many of them later returned to Africa.

“The title is not intended to be offensive, but. . . to shed light on a forgotten document and on a forgotten migration, that of thousands of blacks from the USA to Canada in 1783,” Hill wrote Groenberg in reply.

It’s not the first time the award-winning book’s title has raised controversy. Publishers in the United States and Australia insisted the title be changed to Someone Knows My Name and in Quebec, the book is titled Aminata, the name of a female slave who returned to Sierra Leone after being abducted as an 11-year-old.

Originally published on toronto.com

Every time it appears Jay-Z adoration has reached its threshold, it grows more lop-sided and nears worship.

Last week he released Decoded, written in collaboration with celebrated hip-hop author and journalist Dream Hampton.

As can be expected of any product from Brand Jay-Z there’s been a huge marketing push to promote the book – an interactive and crafty contest with online search engine company Bing, interviews on the Daily Show and other later night spots, a CNN feature, an hour long Howard Stern interview, and even a plug on Oprah’s giveaway show to name just a few.

For long time fans of Artist jay-Z, there’s barely anything new in the book except a few rare anecdotes about his guarded life.  Most of this material has been reported multiple times in his music and the press.

While it provides context and functions as a cultural translation of hip-hop for the rest of America, and by extension the world, it seems also to be an elaborate excuse for the negative aspects of the culture.

Fans have been decoding his words for a decade plus now.  He’s an exceptionally gifted lyricist, savvy businessman and industry leader.

Still, there is something slightly minstrel about his parading around the media championing his past as a drug dealer.  He still wears the crack dealer badge with honour, despite stating the contrary. Perhaps no one or nothing else in pop culture, save for the movie Scarface, has effectively mythologized drug dealing better than he has.

One of the biggest songs of the past year, his “Empire State of Mind”, contains stylized references to cooking and selling crack cocaine (“catch me in the kitchen like a Simmons whippin’ pastry”).  So do virtually all of his songs and catch phrases unbeknownst to most listeners.

Decoded is an insightful look into the stories and characters that inspired his lyrics – part analysis, part memoir.  It’s an intriguing work that serves to illustrate his personal past and the ’70s/’80s socio-economic conditions that birthed hip-hop culture.

However, he and the genre’s biggest stars continue to deny responsibility for its rampant misogyny, sexism and violence.  While it’s warranted that hip-hop is informed by larger American culture and institutional racism, at some point the culture has to accept at least a fraction of responsibility for its negativity.  With Decoded, Jay-Z comes very close but still fails to do that.

The drug epidemic of the 80’s, the environment that sprouted hip-hop culture, was a massacre.  It claimed millions of victims that either perished or were indefinitely scarred.  The devastation was exponential.   One was either a user, related to users, or victim of the upsurge in crime due to drugs.

Hip-hop’s biggest ambassador, Jiggaman, was at one time a predator that fed on the desperation of these lost souls.  He has said in many an interview that he’s not glamorizing that life.  In fairness, he was in equal part a victim of systemic injustice simply by virtue of being born into those communities.  Still, at 40 years of age and with the time that a net worth of close to half a billion affords, one might assume he’d be closer to completely renouncing that way of life.  Perhaps if it were not for the fact that that image is his cash cow…

No other individual wields as much influence on hip-hop culture like Shawn Carter.    He sets music, fashion and business trends.  Industry tycoon Lyor Cohen once commented that while most rappers were stuck on stupid, Jay-Z was stuck on forward.  Indeed, this premise was the centerpiece of one of Jigga’s latest singles in “On to the Next One.”

In 1996, He garnered attention with his debut Reasonable Doubt, which contained lush and intricate stories of underworld business, politics, alliances, enemies, wars and betrayals.  His music was a mix between the understated and implied quality of Coppola with the theatre and production of Scorsese on record.  Jay was equal parts Vito Corleone and Kool G Rap - effortlessly cool, self-possessed, and street.  He had the timing and wit of a comedian, and made cultural references as yet unheard of in hip-hop music.   He was only 26, and only recently retired from a criminal career.

In 2010, he pals around with Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, [New York City] Mayor Bloomberg, Barack Obama, and Oprah.  Monumental achievement and progress, no doubt.  But a real success, and something uncharted, would be for him to confess the illness and affliction in idolizing that hustler/dealer persona he helped popularize. For a while now all his slick and ingenious hyperboles, puns, alliteration, allusions and double entendres kept us entertained.  Ultimately though, it’s a culture of death celebrating one’s triumph in achieving wealth by feeding on countless lost souls.  What does it say about us as a generation when we collectively revere that?  Let us repent and move on to the next.

Spiritual Consultant Mansa B. K. Musa has always been a bit of an old soul. He tells the story of how, at the age of 12,  he was advising elders of his village back in Trinidad and had already accumulated many strands of grey hair.  He calls counselling his “gift” and “spiritual calling”.

These days Mansa devotes much of his time to counselling the troubled out of his Delight House Spiritual Supplies office in Scarborough. From abused women to mothers with wayward children and couples on the verge of divorce, Mansa says he is never certain who will come through his door.   “All different kinds of people with all different kinds of problems– people of different colours, different races and all religions.”

Though his practice is focused on spiritual guidance, he remains non-denominational. His only requirement is belief in God. “The same God people may worship in other different forms is the same God…I just ask them, ‘Do you believe in God?’ If they say yes, I say good. Then we can work because if you don’t, I say I can’t help you.”

Mansa wears many different hats.  He’s also a motivational guest speaker, author and inventor.  ”I’m a multi-dimensional person.  I do a lot of different [things] and I try to do the best at whatever I do.”

One of Mansa’s greatest passions is for inspiring and uplifting women. “I like to speak up for [women] as a man because many of us are not doing it.  And if we don’t do it, who’s going to do it for them?”  Many of his clients are women facing physically and emotionally abusive situations.

And Mansa believes the best way of reaching women is through the written word, specifically poetry.  “[When you] put it in a poem or in a drama, it stays with a person longer because they can see it and identify…If you put it in an article, they can read it and forget. But in a poem, the way you rhyme it and put it together, it gets more in depth with them.”

The experiences of many of these women helped to inspire his new book W.o.W -Words of Wise+dom, a compilation of inspirational quotations, short stories and poems.

“I just love writing about things I think women want to hear. I’m more into the romantic kind of poems because, again, they’re not really hearing much from some of their partners.”

And most of the short stories all have what I call ‘moral teachings’ at the end.  I don’t just write a story for the method of writing a story.  I write a story, and when you’re done reading it, you have to say, ‘This helped me out in what I’m going through in my life.  It’s beneficial to me.’”

Many of the book’s quotations can be found on Mansa’s popular Facebook page under unique titles such as W.O.I.F.T (Words Of Inspiration For Today), S.T.T.A.T (Something To Think About Today) and W.o.W (Words of Wise+dom).

“I have people who will email my message box and say they will not leave home in the morning unless they read those quotations.”

With the book scheduled for release next month, Mansa’s loyal followers will soon be able to carry a bit of  Wise+dom wherever they go.

W.o.W – Words of Wise+dom will be available for preorder online beginning October 12 with an official release date of November 12.  Copies will be available on Musa’s website www.dafrobean.com, currently under construction.