Author Archives: Terri Schlichenmeyer OW Contributor

Raising a child is quite a challenge.
When they’re small, you feel as though the entire world is dangerous. As they grow, you waffle between encouragement and fear, wings for them and tears for you. Teenagers, well, they’re a whole separate category and in the new book “My Brown Baby” by Denene Millner, some parents have even more to worry about.

Your friends follow what you have to say.
Whether on social media or otherwise, they listen to you and understand, ask your opinion, seek your wisdom, and look to your lead. With them, you live a good life. Have followers like those, as you’ll see in “Madame President” by Helene Cooper, and you can change the world.
“This child will be great.”

You’ve seen a lot of things you weren’t supposed to see.
Some might call you “snoopy.” Others might say you’re “nosy,” but you understand that keeping your eyes open, finding information, and knowing what you’re not supposed to know can sometimes be a good thing. And in the new book “Spy on History: Mary Bowser and the Civil War Spy Ring” by Enigma Alberti & Tony Cliff, sleuthing and snooping can change history.
Bet Van Lew knew that what she was about to ask of Mary Bowser was huge.

You are on a need-to-know basis.
You’re told only what’s relevant, and nothing more. Rumors, innuendo, extra little details, none of that’s important; only what you need is what you get. But read “The Lost Eleven” by Denise George and Robert Child, and you may wonder what else you’re missing.
Hitler reportedly did not want the 1936 Olympics in his Berlin.

Run, run, run.
Some days, it feels like that’s all you do. Run the kids to school, dash to work, rush with errands, and run yourself ragged before bed. You’re always on the go, always moving, and in the new book “Never Caught” by Erica Armstrong Dunbar, your breath isn’t the only thing to catch.
Twenty-one-year-old Mulatto Betty must’ve breathed a sigh of relief.

I know what you’re thinking.
You’ve said that before, to a furrowed brow, a mischievous smile, a child who’s about to do something sneaky. You can see it in the eyes, the body language, the tone of voice, and you know just what they’re thinking. But until you’ve read “Tears We Cannot Stop” by Michael Eric Dyson, you might not really have a clue.

You really can’t remember.
For sure, something important happened years ago, something you should recall very easily, but time’s made things fuzzy. Have you forgotten or, worse yet, have you just remembered everything wrong? Usually, you suppose, it wouldn’t matter but in the new book “The Blood of Emmett Till” by Timothy B. Tyson, it surely does.

Your needs are very simple.
Food, shelter, water. Those are the essentials, but then there are the things you need for yourself: family, good friends, a warm bed, a good book, and a place of welcome. You wouldn’t die without them, but those things spice your life. And if you were Maurice White, author of “My Life with Earth, Wind & Fire” (with Herb Powell), you’d add one more: music.
Born in Memphis at a time when Jim Crow ruled the south, Maurice White was four years old when his mother told him that she needed to go to Chicago to find a job. She left him with a friend who became White’s “Mama,” and who raised him with strength and wisdom.

If you can’t say something nice…
Sometimes, it’s hard to say nothing at all. There are times when you need to speak out, to confront, share your opinion, rant, or vent. And then there are times, as in the new book “Audacity” by Jonathan Chait, where you must praise.
For perhaps the last few months of Barack Obama’s presidency, media outlets have debated about something that definitely matters: was he one of the best presidents, or one of the worst?

Even if you wanted to, you couldn’t escape your father.
For most of your life, you were known as Little Him. Junior. Insert-your-father’s-name here’s kid. You’re a chip off the ol’ block, maybe named after your Pops, forever known as your Dad’s offspring. But, as John Edgar Wideman indicates in “Writing to Save a Life: The Louis Till File,” that doesn’t mean that the supposed sins of a father should be laid at the feet of his child.