Still Unreal

Even a year later it seems surreal that he's gone. I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when I heard the news. Here we are, a year later and I still don't believe it and I don't feel any better about it. I can only imagine what his kids are going through. I know what its like to lose a parent, but to lose someone whom they would have spent almost every hour of every day with for all of their young lives is unfathomable. I still can't watch him in motion without welling up a bit. I can't look at him as the entertainer he is, the life force he gave and picture him forever motionless and decaying, never to sing another song, never put on another show. Never again. Even as I write this it doesn't all mesh together in my head. But I know he's gone. His life is over and I will never see him move as he is...only as he was. But it still doesn't seem real. Its been 1 year. 365 days. Yet I remember it like it was yesterday. It still doesn't seem real.

I don't know what to think...

So, I just finished reading Passin' by Karen Quninones Miller a few days ago and I am officially stuck. I don't now what to think or what to say. I know the thoughts that the idea of passing brings to my mind. I've had them before, I've thought about them when reading other books about the same act, though they are in different contexts. In this instance, its in today's time. This century, 2007-2008 to be exact and, for me, the idea of a black person making the conscious decision to pass, for whatever reason, stumps me mentally. Partially because I have truly not thought of a person opting to do that in today's time. I, like many of us, would like to think that the time where passing is needed has passed. We, as a race, don't face many of the issues in today's world that many of our parents grandparents and great grandparents faced. We can shop and try on clothes without being forced to buy them if we touch them. We can use the same public facilities as other races. We aren't forced to take on menial and often times manual labor jobs to support our families because of the color of our skin and what that implies for today society. Is it a perfect society? No. There are many faults that still exist, some by the thoughts of others and some by the thoughts of other African Americans. I'm also stumped because I truly cannot fathom denying, or taking the risk of having to deny, my family. I can't imagine taking the 1st gift my parents gave me, my name, and changing it to fit into someone else's mold of what a more proper, non-ethnic, name would be. Something that would otherwise be seen as so trivial, made such a difference in the story. The change of a name from Shanika, to Nikkie, to Nicole is a big step to being disassociated from those who raised you and loved your light, bright, damn near white tail from birth. So, those are a couple of the reasons why this book has stumped me. Not to mention that it ends so incompletely. I'm hoping there's a sequel somewhere because I was looking for more story...not the reading group discussion questions on the last page. But anyway, I'm still pondering this. Even as I read another book in my collection, I'm trying to make this book, which was a good read, make sense to me. I just can't imagine a black woman today, no matter how white she may look, choosing to pass. Especially when looking at the character in the book, who never hesitated to tell people as she was growing up that she was not white, she was black, born to 2 black parents. I just can't picture it. Probably because I've never encountered it personally. I've heard stories of people passing. I've heard of and read about the fear they always had of being found out, and in the days where there was no plastic surgery to hide the more ethnic features, that was a constant fear. The isolation that many of them felt after choosing, not to leave, but to abandon their families and relocate to keep the farce alive. I've heard it all. But none of it occurred in 2007. Heck, none of it occurred in 1987! I guess the sign of a good literary encounter is how long you think about it after the reading is done. If that is the case, this book is better than I thought it was...and I thought it was good, except for the ending. I do need to watch "Imitation of Life." I've never seen it. Never thought about seeing it. Its really not my kind of movie. But after reading this book, I think I need to have a seat and see how it goes. It's amazing, I never thought about the other passing story lines I've read so much as I have this one. But they were all set in the time between post slavery and pre-civil rights movement America. Are there more books out there based on this subject set in the time of the 21st century? I need to look into that as well.

The Wedding Singer...*SMH*

So, I went to see The Wedding Singer and hated almost every minute all of it. There isn't much I can say about it other than the male voices were great, the females...horrible! Imagine a cat that ate a mouse and both were trying to sing out of the same mouth at the same time. HORRIBLE! Reedy, nasal pitch that made my throat hurt. I'm glad I went to see it, simply to support the arts in my community so that more shows would come to this area, but I really didn't enjoy it thanks to those horrible female voices. In fact, the best part about the show was my $25 seat, high in the balcony, by myself (3800 capacity, 1100 tickets sold) = feeling like I bought out the theater for my own private showing of the musical. Bird's eye, center, direct view of the stage. That was great. If the night had been my seat, the male cast and the ushers it would have been great. Those doggone female cats wrecked the night for me.

Wicked Understudies for the Wicked Witches!

Sooo, I'm a little late in typing this bad boy up, but I have to get this one in before I go see yet another musical this week!! Last Sunday I took my mom and family friend to see Wicked: A New Musical at the Landmark here in Richmond. I was so excited to take them and I couldn't wait to see the cast once again myself. As this was my 2nd time seeing it on the road, I wanted to see the wonderful Marcie Dodd as Elphaba again as well as the person playing Glinda, who was different from the one in Norfolk last year. So, imagine my disappointment when we get there and I open my Playbill to find all these little inserts. Everyone who's been to a musical knows what that means....UNDERSTUDIES!!! I was so disappointed. My hopes were dashed a little bit before the lights even had the chance to dim. Then I had to do a little coaching for myself. I ran the things I know are true: The understudies/standbys have to be good at what they do, otherwise they wouldn't have been chosen. No one can be an understudy and suck, Broadway doesn't work that way. Marcie is the lead in a VERY taxing musical, there's no way she can sing every single show without rest. The understudy will be good. But it wasn't just Elphaba who was being played by the understudy. Elphaba, Glinda & Nessarose were played by understudies! The whole lead cast. And they were all GREAT! Anne Brummel (Elphaba) showed a much higher range than Marcie Dodd and absolutely gave me chills on her 1st big number "The Wizard & I." Michelle London (Glinda) wasn't as strong of a voice as the Glinda from Norfolk. She still had the wonerful upper range, but her lower range was not as bright or carrying. All in all, it was like seeing Wicked for the first time all over again! It was awesome!!! They were awesome. The audience was so caught up in what was going on and the collective gasp that came forth from every single person in the grand tier at least, was amazing when Elphaba sang "Defying Gravity." The lesson learned....Never doubt the strength of an understudy.

The Power of A Proofreader

There are few things that irritate me more than reading a mass produced piece of literature littered with errors. How this even occurs, I can't begin to understand. Even if an author submitted a book to a publisher full of errors, aren't there editors and/or proofreaders who preview the written material BEFORE it hits the press? If there are no proofreaders, I would love to stick my name in the hat to be one, especially after reading the last book I read. Written by one of my most favorite authors, the book Any Rich Man Will Do by Francis Ray was filled with so many 4Th Grade mistakes I should have read it with a red pen in hand! The mistakes in this book were so blatant that, if there was a proofreader employed in the publication process, they should be forced to return the money they were paid to do a job that they obviously did not do well. I really wish I could say that I'm exaggerating but, unfortunately, I cannot. If you don't believe me, read the book for yourself. While a Francis Ray story NEVER disappoints, the editing/proofreading that was supposed to be done, left a lot to be desired. From the omission of the "r" in "her" ("[She] wondered if he son"), to "than" being used when it should have been "then," to the wrong words being made plural ("often attended his schools assembly" instead of "school assemblies"). These are just some of the occurrences that showed up time and time again, page after page. I don't understand how so many errors made it to the mass-produced print copy and I wonder if, since I bought a copy from the 1st edition in 2005, the later editions have been corrected. I'm certainly not going to purchase a copy to find out, though. This is not the first time this has happened. I've read other books, by other authors that were littered with some of the same errors, this is just the most recent. I even highlighted errors in the first Brenda Jackson book I read. Perhaps what was most frustrating was that I'm a huge Francis Ray fan & I felt let down by whomever had the task of making sure that this story was in its best shape when it was printed. Maybe it was because the story was a really good story of redemption and an example of the Psalm passage "when my mother & father forsake me, the Lord with lift me up" & how people are sometimes placed in situations that they don't feel they deserve, just to be given another chance, and due to the errors I was repeatedly jolted from the story to correct what shouldn't have been incorrect in the first place. At any rate, what this has done is renew in me the desire to get into proofreading and see how I can make some additional funds doing something that is obviously, desperately needed, while also doing something I enjoy. Considering that many of the errors I find are discovered while simply reading a story, I would like to think that it may not be that hard. Of course, I could be wrong considering evidence to the contrary. But I am about to get really serious about looking into it and making it happen. Until then, I will keep my red pen handy. And to Francis Ray, should you read this, know that I continue to be a fan of your work. I would, however, look into who St. Martin's Press is using for editing and/proofing your work, because they aren't doing a good job. Or at least they weren't in 2005.