When I first started reading The Healing, I couldn't get past the fact that the author was a white male living in Minneapolis writing about black women in The South. In reality, it probably made me think less of the book. At the end of the book, he listed all the people that helped him write the novel giving credibility to his story telling. I realize I should have read the book without my initial prejudice, but it is what it is. Tonight we were honored with his visit to our book club. He is an incredible story teller. As we discussed the books there were tears and laughter. Some members gave specific page numbers that they had read over and over. While others asked questions about the characters and setting. Mr. Jonathan Odell did a wonderful job answering questions by sharing delightful stories.
As I usually do at this time of year, I sat and listened, but I also thought of the new school year. I want to do a better job at two things next year. The first thing I want to tackle is helping students ask better questions. When he was talking about questioning his parents and others to get the story, he discussed how when he asked his mom about picking cotton, she gave a simple answer such as, "It was hard." However, when he asked what what time she started in the morning, it made the answer more specific (more of the story) because she could think of something specific and tell the story. He talked about how asking the correct question is a difficult task. The next thing I want do is add more "stories", oral stories. Much of Odell's research came from reading stories from the WPA. I need to find the resources and stories to share with my students. Thanks Jonathan Odell for a mesmerizing and thought provoking evening. I'm still thinking about it this morning.
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