Michael Lomax, Cleage embarked on her journal as race relations were splitting apart the country. A student at Spellman College in Atlanta, involved in SNCC meetings and civil rights organizations with her politician husband-to-be. My copy is all underlined and dog-eared and I'll probably read it two more times…at least.A sampling of playwright and novelist Cleage’s (What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day) journal entries over 20 years, from 1970 to 1990, as a young journalist, feminist, Civil Rights activist, wife, and mother delineates a long, difficult journey toward self-realization. Here's the thing about this book: It will make you braver, you'll want to live your life better and make a difference, you'll become more forgiving. I laughed, cried, leaned back on my eyes and hummmmed. I knew her memory would intersect with mine in her walk toward Black womanhood and freedom. She makes me feel at home in her life.”įrom the moment I opened this book, I knew that I was reading an old friend who would inspire us with her ‘flat-footed truths’ and intellect. Her lies, lessons and love affairs wash over me like water, sage and lavender. The honesty and humor, insight, and determination to show up authentically, is pure Cleage.Īn enjoyable, nonstop read. Pearl Cleage’s changes are many, in this gift of record keeping during the early, middle, and (a few glimpses at what may be) the later years of her life. Her wit and authenticity allows us to look at our own lives with a bit of levity, compassion and freedom."Ī journal is the perfect place to watch one’s self grow. Pearl's courageous, candid recollections of the ups and downs of her life remind us of our human nature, at times, to doubt and judge ourselves too harshly.
Nikki Giovanni, Chasing Utopia: A Hybrid) Things I Should Have Told My Daughter is another gem. Pearl, whether or not your kid needs it, we do. We can just sit and turn page after wonderful page.
We, who knew it was there and knew it had to come out, need no excuse. Pour a glass of good red wine and indulge yourself. Cleage’s extraordinary experiences, deep social concerns, passionate self-analysis, and personal and artistic liberation, all so openly confided, make for a highly charged, redefining read.Ī juicy book.
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