If you live to be 110, how would you look back at your life? With Fondness? With Regret? Missed Opportunities? Or At Peace? The protagonist of Denny S. Bryce’s debut novel, Wild Women and the Blues, gets to answer that question. Honoree Dalcour is in mid-1920s Chicago during the heart of the jazz age where… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Wisdom From Kammbia Column
Marion’s Favorites: Mary J. Blige’s My Life Documentary
Mary J. Blige’s My Life is one of my top ten favorite albums and one of the most important R&B albums to be recorded in the last thirty years. Blige’s pain and vulnerability soars throughout the entire album and how sings over strong hip-hop beats makes it a landmark album that has stood the test… Continue Reading
Marion’s Favorites: Stardust by Willie Nelson
As a music nerd and lover, I will admit that I never thought I would have a Willie Nelson CD in my collection. Nothing personal against the legendary musician, but country music is not my favorite musical genre. However, I have learned as a reader (and writer) that good art (In all of its forms)… Continue Reading
Marion’s Favorites: Off The Wall Documentary
Questlove Supreme is one of my favorite podcasts and I have been listening to his backlist episodes over the past few weeks. I recently heard the podcast with Spike Lee and they were discussing his career. Spike mentions the Off The Wall Documentary as one of his favorite film projects he has done. Off The… Continue Reading
Wisdom From Kammbia Book Review 82: Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman
What does it mean to being smart? It seems we have judged intelligence by IQ and rational knowledge throughout human history. However, there was a book published over twenty-five years ago that challenged the notion and looked at emotions as an important factor regarding intelligence. Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman presents a claim that it… Continue Reading
Wisdom From Kammbia Book Review 81: The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo
I spent a couple of hours last night reading this beloved book. The Alchemist told the story of Santiago, an Andalusian boy who travels to Egypt in search of his destiny. On the surface, it read as a simple story of the hero’s journey told in a different package. However, Coelho mixed various faith and… Continue Reading
Marion’s Favorites: High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America
Food is foundational to culture. Every human culture on the planet has food as an essential part of their culture. African Americans did not differ from anyone else along the human spectrum in that regard. High On The Hog is a four-part miniseries on Netflix that celebrates how African American Cuisine transformed America. The concept… Continue Reading
Wisdom From Kammbia Story Review 3: Speech Sounds by Octavia E. Butler
What if you lived in a society where speaking is a threat to the social order? Octavia Butler speculated on the aforementioned question in her Hugo Award-winning short story, Speech Sounds. I came across this story when it was discussed on the Novel Pairing Podcast. The discussion was interesting, and I had to read the… Continue Reading
Wisdom From Kammbia Book Review 80: Planting Stories (The Life of Librarian & Storyteller Pura Belpre) by Anika Aldamuy Denise & Paola Escobar
The joy I get in reading with my daughter Norah is you learn about someone that you have never heard of before. This is the case with the book, Planting Stories: The Life of Librarian and Storyteller Pura Belpre by Anika Aldamuy Denise and Paola Escobar. Pura Belpre was the first librarian of Puerto Rican… Continue Reading
Wisdom From Kammbia Book Review 79: Respect-The Life of Aretha Franklin by David Ritz
Sometimes after reading one book will make you want another book with a similar topic. My previous review was a fictional music documentary in a novel titled The Final Revival of Opal & Nev by Dawnie Walton. Opal Jewel was one half of a groundbreaking punk rock duo from the early 1970s that nearly made… Continue Reading
