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Writers Quote Wednesday, 2015
In 1979, June was designated as Black Music Month. In recognition, this week for Writers Quote Wednesday 2015, I chose to share a quote and the music from one of America’s jazz legends, Miss Billy Holiday.
Writer’s Quote Wednesday 2015k
My interest to search out female African-American authors has been a long-time, though neglected wish, to know more about their contributions to and role in the literary world. Writers Quote Wednesday 2015 has helped me to fulfill this wish and for this I am grateful.
Nella Larsen.
Larsen, a fiction novelist, is the first African-American female author to win a Guggenheim Fellowship.
In her short-lived career, she published:
- Two BooksPassingQuicksand; and
- Four StoriesFreedomQuicksand
- The Wrong Man
- Sanctuary
Charles Larson, edited Larsen’s literary works; and, published the book, “The Complete Fiction of Nella Larsen”; which, I am currently reading.
Her life story is a sad one — emotional abandonment by parents, controversial divorce, and accusations of plagiarism. The plagiarism allegations, in 1930, related to her last story, “Sanctuary”. Following this, she gave up writing and returned to her career as a nurse.
According to Black History Now,
“Her value to American literature is continually growing. Today, many critics consider her to be the greatest novelist of the Harlem Renaissance, and her work continues to be read nationally and internationally.”
Born on April 13, 1891, in Chicago, Illinois, Larsen died alone on March 30, 1964 in her New York Apartment.
Writer’s Quote Wednesday 2015
My Blogging Break: Part One Granddaughters’ Visit
Other than a few photo challenges and several Writers’ Quote Wednesday 2015 posts, I was on a Blogging Break during April and May. Sometimes, stepping away from that which we enjoy opens our space up to receive even greater joy and happiness.
This is exactly what happened with me during April and May when gifted with the opportunity to spend quality time with my visiting granddaughters as well as a cousin that I had not seen for more than eight years.
I needed a series of three posts to record most of what happened during this blogging break.
Part 1: Granddaughters Visit
Lady C, 23-years-old, and Cupcake, 6-years-old, visited us during their spring break, in April. It was a busy week filled with planned and unplanned activities.
We started off with a day at Walt Disney’s Magic Kingdom where Hubby and I both agreed that walking around in this huge theme park was not an option. We rented scooters.
Even with scooters it was difficult to keep up with the granddaughters as we moved from attraction to attraction maneuvering our way through huge crowds.
Lady C has visited Magic Kingdom, almost yearly, since she was 3-years-old. This was only the fourth visit for Cupcake; and, she still gets over stimulated when she enters Disney’s world of fantasy.
Our second outing was to the Wet N’ Wild Water Park. Walking or scooting through the water park observing our precious granddaughters climb up to high towers and plunge down into a body of water, was more stress than Hubby and I could handle. We chose to relax in a rented Cabana.
As the Florida heat rose, we sought relief and closed off the cabana to the hot sun rays but left the back panels open for a nice breeze. It made for a serene and relaxing day.
Throughout the day, the granddaughters returned to the cabana to raid the small refrigerator we had filled up with our own special snacks and drinks.
After a full-day at the water park, we were all exhausted. The next day was a relaxation day at home with a quick trip to the nail shop for a mani/pedi.
Cupcake, always the creative one, chose to have every nail and toe painted a different color; and, Lady C went for a very subtle apple green color.
The granddaughters and I, on our last outing spent a quiet Sunday afternoon painting at a local pottery gallery.
Lady C and I painted vases.
There were an unbelievable number of pottery pieces and it took Cupcake a while to decide. But, she finally picked one of her favorite pets — a cat — like the one at her Grandma Cebby’s house.
Here’s a look at our masterpieces.
I am grateful that this blog opened my space up to record my life experiences. For, if my memory fades and/or when I leave this world there is a record of those things that brought both happiness and sadness into my space.
Finally, our children and grandchildren live thousands of miles away; and, I am especially blessed in their presence.
(Part 2 and 3 of This Series Coming Soon)
Wordless Wednesday – May 26, 2015
Weekly Photo Challenge – May 22, 2015
Broken
I painted this Santa Claus pecan resin figurine more than twenty years ago. During the Xmas holiday seasons, my eldest daughter displays the figurines that I painted those many years ago. And, every year, she carefully packs them away.
In fact, I took this photo when I stayed in her home this past Thanksgiving.
Several days ago, I was showing photos of my Santa paintings to a friend. And, for the first time I noticed the missing head on the little girl.
I checked with my daughter who did not realize it had broken. She said,
“Things that we cherish break, but I choose to keep the broken as a cherished memory.”
Wordless Wednesday – May 20, 2015
Weekly Photo Challenge – May 15, 2015
Enveloped
Writers Quote Wednesday 2015
This week, I selected a quote from a newly found author, Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins:
Hopkins was born on August 13, 1859 in Portland, Maine. Introduced to the performing arts at an early age, she wrote and performed skits with her family’s group, The Hopkins Colored Troubadours.
She, also, was a playwright, journalist, short story writer, biographer and editor.
Written in 1900, her first novel Contending Forces: A Romance Illustrative of Negro Life North and South, dealt with miscegenation and Post-Civil War race relations; and between 1901 and 1903, she published three serial novels in the Colored American Magazine:
- Hagar’s Daughter: A Story of Southern Caste Prejudice;
- Winona: A Tale of Negro Life in the South and Southwest; and
- Of One Blood or The Hidden Self.
Hopkins writings, fiction and nonfiction, covered:
- African-American History;
- Racial Discrimination;
- Economic Justice; and
- Women’s Role in Society.
Little is known about the last twenty-five years of Hopkins life which ended in 1930 during a house fire.
Hopkins first novel as well as her three serial novels are in The Schomburg Library of Nineteenth Century Black Women released by The Oxford Press in 1988.
Thank you Colleen for Writers Quote Wednesday, 2015. I enjoy sharing my favorite author quotes as well as the quotes from previously unknown authors. Participating in this weekly challenge has opened my space to reconnect with known authors and has led me down the path of discovering new authors.
SeasonedSistah 