4 minute read
High schooler
BOOK REVIEW
Author Anna Quindlen weaves her magic again. This author of nine novels and a journalist who writes fiction, nonfiction and self-help bestsellers who won the Pulitzer Prize and who’s been a columnist for the New York Times has tackled the subject of becoming a grandmother. In her lively, beautiful and moving book, she offers thoughtful and telling observations about her new role, no longer mother and decision maker but now a secondary character and support to the parents of her grandson.
Image from Amazon Quindlen uses her own experiences to illuminate those of many others. She’s amazed that her eldest child is growing into his new role as parent, but the best parts of the book are the anecdotes and vignettes of her alone time with her grandson. The experience is new to her so she voices her concerns and celebrates the high points with love, sensitivity and insight. Her life is now filled with unbreakable dishes, scattered
Nanaville: Adventures in Grandparenting by Kathy A. Megyeri
Legos and bite-sized treats, but she treasures most a shared book, a held hand, a child’s laugh and a relationship built on mutual love, respect and understanding. She reflects on ways parenting and grandparenting have changed; i.e., fathers are more involved, there’s more baby gear to buy and lug around like car seats to cope with, and more people are living longer to become grandparents. The entire experience gives Quindlen “a second chance, to see, to be, to understand the world, to look at it, and reimagine my place in it, to feel as though I’ve made a mark.” She also reflects on her changing relationship with her son and daughterin-law, and the shift from being central in the lives of her children to a “peripheral place” in the new family dynamic. “Our grandmothers were pre-gym, pre-Botox, pre-skinny jeans. They never kissed, hugged or praised; they never would have gotten down on the floor to play with their grandchildren.” So, Quindlen reflects on their interactions, shares sensible advice, and above all, expresses gratitude for her status. She focuses on the wonder of her first grandchild at the same time that she zooms out to see him and herself as part of a family chain stretching forward and backward. Thus, this book is an insider’s view on navigating yet another of life’s shifts in a new direction with grace, wisdom, joy and love. Quindlen brings an eloquent voice to our common experience and says, “Grandparenting is the last great role we have as parents.”
BY: RANDAL C. HILL
It was more—much more—than just another rock ‘n’ roll hit. While “Black and White” became the third single by Three Dog Night to reach the top of the Billboard charts, the tune itself had been created in 1955 as a way to honor the landmark 1954 Supreme Court decision to end segregation in America’s public schools. “Our idea was to celebrate the event,” said Earl Robinson, the co-writer of the classic along with David Arkin, the father of actor Alan Arkin. “We had no idea that it would reach out as it did eventually.” “Black and White” had been recorded by Pete Seeger in 1956 and Sammy Davis, Jr., a year later. But the song languished in the public consciousness until a Jamaican quintet called Greyhound cut a reggae version (a hit only in the UK) in 1971. During a European concert tour, members of America’s Three Dog Night heard the Greyhound offering on a Dutch radio station. Immediately they declared that this could be their next hit 45 on Dunhill Records. Most pop-music fans were probably unaware that “Black and White” had been created originally from a different point of view. Both the Three Dog Night and Greyhound versions opened with the lines:
The ink is black, the page is white Together we learn to read and write During their hitmaking years, Three Dog Night placed 21 Top 40 singles on the charts, with “Black and White” being the band’s third Number One disc, after “Mama Told Me (Not to Come)” in 1970 and “Joy to the World” the next year. Three Dog Night had taken their name from an Australian expression for the coldest possible night for sheepherders who snuggled with their dogs to keep warm in the chilly nighttime. The California-based aggregation featured a trio of lead singers—Danny Hutton (who sang lead on “Black and White”), Chuck Negron and Cory Wells. The group gave exposure to such on-the-rise songwriters as Randy Newman, Laura Nyro, Nilsson and Hoyt Axton. TDN’s “Black and White” arrived near the end of America’s Civil Rights era, and while some of the all-important original lyrics had been excised, the overall message of the later recording remained strong and clear: The world is black, the world is white It turns by day and then by night A cild is black, a child is white, The whole world looks upon the sight A beautiful sight Yes. A beautiful sight indeed!
