Beautifully Written but Biting Words!

Page 61: "'Injun Summer,' by John T. McCutcheon, who was a 1932 Pulitizer Prize winner. McCutcheon's poem gives a sedate visual depiction of autumn in the Midwest, but because it depicts Native Americans in an insensitive way, Leona would always lecture her daughter before she used to read it to her."

(Virginia Lathan says: Perhaps if we're going to share a creative piece of writing
that some might find offensensive,

Telling Children Stories

The power of relating to children by telling them stories was written about in Laughter Kills...Laughter Heals on Page 22: "But what I recall most, Miriah said, "is when their mom told me how she did the best she could to counter the negative things her children were experiencing by telling them stories about their culture, stories about their ancestry, stories about how hard their father was working to create a new home for them."
     I always tell stories to my children when I'm trying to get a message across to them

Pit Bulls

Page 19: At first Miriah was leery about permitting her to bring their pit bull, but it didn't take her long to realize that because Asia was raised with love rather than agression, she was as gentle as her own dog, Champ. And the two of them got along just fine.

I believe this is true. If you raise a pit bull with love rather than agression,

Children Playing in Nature

On page 16, Miriah tells Mr. Carter: "But that's the way it should be with children their ages. If we can provide more opportunities for our children to play in nature, they can develop in much healthier ways."

Reminds me of when I was growing up. The Smith family lived next door. Our house was nice, well maintained inside and out. Theirs wasn't. My grandmother hated it because it was such an eyesore. But my brother and I used to play with the Smith children--in the fields and gardens around the neighborhood. On hot summer days we'd play until the sun started to set. That's when the group playing would end and we had to be on our own  porches. I remember sitting on mine watching how pretty our grass was in the moonlight. I also remember the Smith children sitting on theirs looking at

John F. Kennedy's Quote

"There are three things that are real--God, human folly, and laughter. The first two are beyond [full] comprehension, so we must do what we can with the third."

This quote sets the overall theme of the book. I chose it because it hooks together the tapestry that is woven as the book's characters go through their individual trails and tribulations. And it also talks about using "laughter" as a tool. I chose the quote after writing the book and choosing the title. I hadn't heard it previously. I feel it's so apropros to the storyline that it's like Kennedy said it way back then just so I'd have it available to use at this time.

But then I found out that another writer was also given credit as the originator of the quote: Aubrey Menen. I found out about this when I read a book my sister, Zora Lathan, edited ("Survival Kit for Everyday Life"). She said in her book that she gave the credit to Menen rather than Kennedy because she felt, as often happens, that the lesser-known person says something first, but then it's only when a famous person says it that it becomes well known and the famous person gets the credit. Do you agree?

As an aside, Mutual of Omaha and Harpo Productions ran into a problem with this