31 Days (Nights): Memoir of Living Black in America by Reginald D. Jarrell Book Review Can you tell a book by its cover? This is a question that author Reginald D. Jarrell addresses in his just published book, 31 Days (Nights): Memoir of Living Black in America (Blue Cedar Press, 2022). The question is a theme in Jarrell’s memoir as he revisits his life as a Black man growing up in a country where the color of a person’s skin causes people, mostly Caucasian, to prejudge. Jarrell also makes … [Read more...] about 31 Days (Nights)
Archives for February 2022
I Care Too Much to Watch
I Care Too Much to Watch By Jim Potter My friend told me he was going to end the call and watch the news. “Ukraine is being invaded,” he said. I was silent, knowing I would not watch the news. I care, I hurt, but I can’t hurt enough to help another. Out of my control, unable to cope with the deep, personal suffering. Instead, I help others where and when I can. Until next time, happy writing and reading. … [Read more...] about I Care Too Much to Watch
Soul by Soul: Life Inside the Antebellum Slave Market
Soul by Soul: Life Inside the Antebellum Slave Market I’ve just completed reading the best book ever about understanding slavery. Soul by Soul: Life Inside the Antebellum Slave Market (1999) isn’t a new book, but it’s a classic. The author, Walter Johnson, brilliantly examines the slave market in New Orleans, the largest in North America during the nineteenth-century. Through exhaustive research using primary resources, Johnson shares the words of enslaved Africans or descendants of Africans, … [Read more...] about Soul by Soul: Life Inside the Antebellum Slave Market
The Antebellum “Persac Map” of 1858
The Antebellum "Persac Map" of 1858 Can you love history? Am I exaggerating when I say, I do? I especially enjoy learning about history and seeing how events connect with one another. If you’re my age, you can remember traveling cross-country by automobile with your parents (or parent) on interstate highways. When we stopped for gasoline at service stations, we used the bathroom, and sometimes we’d pick up a free road map. How many of you still have a road map stuck away in a junk drawer … [Read more...] about The Antebellum “Persac Map” of 1858
