Sandra Proto's Blog

Reflections: Redesign Your Mind: The Breakthrough Program for Real Cognitive Change by Eric Maisel, PhD

For years, I’ve been smothered with internal negative self-talk derived from external influences such as conflicts, tragedies, and other traumatic experiences. The suffocation of the negative self-talk enabled me to live a life full of anger and insecurity. I know I am not alone in this debilitating conversation. All of us have some negative self-talk that inhibits the true person we are meant to be— confident and active individuals. The trick is how to rid ourselves of it so that we can breathe.



Read More
https://sandraproto.blogspot.com/2024...

Book Review: The Book of Harlan

(I won this book in a Goodreads Giveaway)

Bernice McFadden’s 2017 NAACP Image Award and American Book Award historical novel The Book of Harlan is a tragic story, which is reminiscent of Native Son and A Lesson Before Dying,

Ms. McFadden tells the story of Harlan Elliot, a fictionized character based on her genealogical research, by nestling it between Walt Whitman’s quote, “I am the man, I suffered, I was there” and Dorothy West’s quote, “There is no life that does not contribute to history.”

Throughout Harlan’s life, he faced a string of trials and tribulations starting with being temporarily raised by his grandparents, Reverend Tenant Robinson and Louisa Robinson because his parents, Emma and Sam Elliott, left their hometown of Macon, Georgia to chase Emma’s dream of becoming famous and rich.

Full Review:
http://sandraproto.blogspot.com/p/rev...[

Writing Inspiration- Sketches: An Ekphrasic Journey

from Sketches: An Ekphrasic Journey)
A Note From The Author


When my sister suddenly died in late May of 2004, I was the one who cleaned out her apartment and decided what to keep, throw away, or donate. Her drawings were one of the main items I kept. I tucked them away in my closet for two years and then in my basement when I married and moved.

Three years after my move and five years after my sister’s death; I pulled out her portfolio stuffed with sketchbooks and old posters (movie posters from the NYC train stations) which were filled with renderings of faces, body parts, and patterns. I flipped through the sketchbooks and noticed completed drawings as well as incomplete ones. As I continued to flip the pages, I wondered what the subjects in the drawings were thinking. I sat looking at these portraits and figures, then it came to me, I could have the subjects voice their thoughts through the vessel of poetry. I gathered all the drawings that spoke to me and photocopied them to store in a book report folder.

READ MORE:

http://www.sandraproto.com/single-pos...

Reflection: Excerpt from Promise Me You Won't Go To Beirut Part 2 by George J. Thomas

After having had a small stroke whilst working in Prague, and during my recovery period, my secretary and friend Zdenka persuaded me to go along to a major bonsai exhibition, being held in the gardens of one of the many palaces in Prague. I was completely enthralled by the bonsais, some of which were over 150 years old. This started me on my voyage of discovery. I bought around ten bonsais and the tools, pots and materials which I needed.

READ MORE:

http://sandraproto.blogspot.com/2015/...

Reflection: Excerpt from Promise Me You Won’t Go To Beirut! Part 1 by George J. Thomas

As I begin the winter ritual of pruning, wiring, and the general tidying up of my bonsais after their summer growth, I reflect on the size which many of them have reached as they have grown and matured during the many years I have cared for them. Along the way, some of my bonsais have died, afflicted by old age or disease or inclement weather. Some trees have withered, branches covered in lichen mingling with living limbs, aging much like their human counterparts. The deciduous trees have lost their leaves, just as I have lost my hair. This work, and this particular winter have induced in me a certain degree of melancholia, having recently suffered a potentially life threatening illness. At the age of 72, I decided that I should commit to paper my life experiences, for my three children, and to give my eleven grandchildren a record of their grandfather.

Read More:

http://sandraproto.blogspot.com/2015/...

Reflection: Interview with Jacqueline Pitts author of The Children of Wasafa: A Message to Gang Bangers

I met Jacqueline Pitts at a play performance that a mutual friend had directed and produced. I sat in front of Ms. Pitts and eavesdropped on her conversation (LOL). She was talking about a book that she had written. My ears are always perked for anything related to writing or the arts. Her name struck a bell. I remember seeing her name along with the title of her book on another mutual friend’s Facebook newsfeed. I turned around after her conversation and asked her was she the author of The Children of Wasafa. She said that she in fact was. We shared our relationship with both mutual friends because all of us were connected through Rockaway, Queens. I was a former resident—and she— a life-long resident of Rockaway. The friend who play that we attended was a former Deacon at one of the Baptist churches in Rockaway, the friend on Facebook, is a long time friend Ms. Pitts has known since they were both teenagers and is a Community Activist that I also worked with.

That night, we exchanged contact information and became instant friends who shared our research about the African-Americans in Rockaway.

Below is my long awaited interview with Ms. Pitts:

What sparked your interest in writing The Children of Wasafa?

I was concerned about gang violence in communities of African descent; that is perpetrated by young people who are of African descent, on others who are of African descent. I am also disturbed about mass incarceration which is fed in some measure by gang violence and the trades attached to it.

Read More:

http://sandraproto.blogspot.com/2015/...

Writing Inspiration: Ekphrasic and Erasure Poetry

As a poet, it is only natural to experiment with different poetry forms. By doing so, it gives you the freedom to discover what words can really reveal about your feelings and what you are trying to convey. The last poetry forms that I had a chance to work with were the Haiku/Senryu. I used these forms for my last poetry book Spring’s Tepid Breath because it was the simplest way to express myself about my trials and tribulations in the time of my mother’s death. For my upcoming collection, Sketches, I am exploring Ekphrasic and Erasure poetry forms.

In Ekphrasic poetry, you look deeply into the artwork for the story the artist is telling. The artwork—that I am using for Sketches—is from my late sister’s collection.

Read More:

http://www.sandraproto.com/#!Writing-...

Reflections: Being a Two-fisted Reader

Back in college, the thing to do besides going to classes was to go downtown to the bars. I use to go with my roommate on Thursday nights for the drink specials (Buy One Get One Free). We would sit at the bar and savor the flavor of one of the BOGO drinks unlike the red-face guys standing in the corner with a beer in each hand laughing and talking with their friends. The Two-fisted Drinkers (which I heard the guys refer to each other) would first guzzle the beer in their right hand and then their left until they were both empty. The look of disappointment would gloss over their face. They would sway back and forth slurring their words on their way back to the bar. Obvious, they did not need another round but insisted on it and the bartender would oblige.


Just thinking about this reminds me of reading two books at once.

READ MORE:

http://sandraproto.blogspot.com/2015/...

Reflections: A Lesson Before Dying

A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


My thoughts:


Nine months ago I finished reading A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines. I initially gave it a four-star rating because I felt it was lacking in showing Jefferson’s side of the story.


If you have never read A Lesson Before Dying, the story is about a young man who was found guilty of murdering a liquor store owner during a robbery and was executed. Jefferson is a young man who is described as being “slow” and who follows two young men into the liquor store. Jefferson claims that one of the two men was the one that killed the liquor store owner. When the police officers arrived, they found all three men dead and Jefferson taking money from the cash register. Jefferson went to trial for the robbery and murder of the liquor store owner. His lawyer tried to establish his innocent by comparing him to a “hog.” This comparison of “hog” brings me to Claude McKay’s poem about the race riots of 1919, If We Must Die:

If we must die, let it not be like hogs
Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot,
While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs,
Making their mock at our accursed lot.

Ernest J. Gaines’ use of “hog” is the center point of the story because Jefferson’s aunt, who is his caregiver enlist the African-American teacher, Grant Wiggins as a mentor for Jefferson. She wants Grant Wiggins to teach Jefferson how to be a “man” so he can die a “man” and not a “hog.”

The story is told through the eyes of Grant Wiggins except for one chapter that Jefferson is telling his story before his execution. I, as a reader, wanted to hear from Jefferson’s mouth what had happened in the liquor store. When Mr. Gaines did not let that happen; I felt cheated as a reader. I didn’t get it why he chose not to have Jefferson explain himself. I did get the whole “man” part. Because at the end, Jefferson “walked” like a “man” to his death and with that he taught Grant Wiggins how to be a “man” and take responsibility.


Yes, that is a lesson learned.

But, also what I learned from A Lesson Before Dying, by witnessing what has been happening with the killing of black men and boys from Emmett Till to Eric Garner, is that whether one whistle’s at a white woman, steals cigars and cigarettes, holds a toy gun, celebrate at a Bachelor’s Party, wear a hooded sweatshirt and eat Skittles or just having a right to defend someone:


A black man pleaded to the white men
And said, “He’s just a child.”
The white men threatened the black man
And said, “Keep your mouth shut if you
Wanna live to be sixty-four.”

-from Emmett Till (He was just a child)

Is that it is justifiable to kill a black man or boy because in the eyes of the law—they are always in the wrong.

Note: I have changed my review to five-stars because I get it now.




View all my reviews

2 Poetry Books up for Giveaway

Enter to win one of my poetry books in my Back to School Giveaway.

Go to :
http://sandraproto.blogspot.com/p/wha...