FORUM
The 'circle of reading'
Nigel Alston
Motivational
Moments
"Don't confuse knowledge
with wisdom. Don t confuse talk
ing with conversation. Don't
; confuse feelings with truth.
Don't confuse movement with
- progress."
- "Life s Little Instruction
Calendar"
"Every book, if it is anything
at all. is an argument: an articu
late arrow of words, fledged and
notched and newly anointed
with sharpened stone, speeding
through paragraphs to its shim
mering target." Recording to
Drs. Lewis, Amim and Lannon,
authors of "A General Theory
of Love," a book about the sci
ence of human emotion.
^ I agree. I used to be intimi
t dated by books, especially those
"big" books, with 700 to 1,000
pages or more. That changed a
long time ago when a coworker
encouraged me to read "Atlas
Shrugged" by Ayn Rand. "No
way," I told him. looking at
1.200 pages of small print.
"You must be kidding." He
persisted: "I started reading it
and couldn't stop. I am addicted
to reading now, excited about
engaging in a conversation
through the pages of a book with
an author and following the
arrow to its target: sometimes
laughter, a challenging question,
self-examination, insight or
inspiration.
I read an interesting article in
the May issue of Savoy maga
zine that featured Bernie Mac
and decided to take a summer
afternoon off to sit outside,
smoke a cigar, and read "I Ain't
Scared of You" by Mac with
Darrell Dawsey. I laughed out
loud reading through the
evening, enjoying the comic
relief. If you like Mac's comedy,
you will love the botik. A warn
ing, though: the language is for
mature audiences.
"The Monk and The Riddle"
by Randy Komisar with Kent
Lineback, a book given to me by
another avid reader, presented
an attention-grabbing question:
"What would you be willing to
do for the rest of your life...?"
You can create a life and make a
living.
"Let Your Life Speak." by
Parker Palmer, helps you create
a life by listening to the voice of
vocation, a voice we miss some
times, "because we don't pay
attention to our own experi;
ence." according to Palmer, "ft
the life I am living the same as
the life that wants to live in me?"
he asks himself. "If we can leam
to read our own responses to our
own experience - a text we are
writing unconsciously every day
we spend on earth - we will
receive the guidance we need to
live more authentic lives." ,
"The Pact - Three Young
Men Make a Promise and Fulfill
Their dream," by Drs. Davis,
Jenkins, and Hunt, meets other
needs: encouragement, inspira
tion. and realizing your dream. It
is a great book to share with
teens too. (Read "The power of
friendship," Chronicle, June 6).
I have passed it on to several
young men to read.
"Sittin' in the Front Pew," by
Parry "EbonySatin" Brown, is
an absolutely entertaining and
infectious read. I enjoyed it so
much that I repeatedly attempted
to read it to my wife, who
refused to listen to me and later
read it herself. She laughed out
loud too. It is about the true col
ors that start to show during the
planning of the funeral of the
father of four sisters. Strange
emotions emerge and a bomb
shell of a secret is revealed
about the father that the sisters
didn't know. It's a page-turner.
I turn the page daily in "A
Calendar of Wisdom - Daily
Thoughts to Nourish the Soul"
by Leo Tolstoy, "a wise thought
for every day of the year, from
the greatest philosophers of all
times and all people." Tolstoy
created what he described as "a
circle of reading" for himself.
"The Paradoxical Com
mandments - Finding Personal
Meaning in a Crazy World," by
Kent Keith, has been added to
my "circle of reading." The
book is about the "grace, wis
dom, and happiness that come
from facing the worst in our
world with the best in our
selves," a paradox. "Give the
wdrtd the best you have and
you'll get kicked in the teeth,"
writes Keith. "Give the world
the best you have anyway."
It's the end of another day. I
am flipping through the pages of
"The Right Words at the Right
Time - Mario Thomas and
Friends." an inspiring collection
of personal revelations from
more than 100 remarkable men
and women who share moments
when words changed their lives.
Tonight I'll read about the words
that changed Venus Williams,
advice from her kid sister, Sere
na.
I am listening to my voice
now, and it is telling me to take
a brealOmd chill, relax, go away,
for a few days, recharge the bat
teries and smoke a few more
cigars. That's why I am taking a
few weeks off from this space. 1
have another "big" book to read,
a novel by Stephen Carter: 'The
Emperor of Ocean Park." It's
about ambition, murder and jus
tice gone wrong.
I hope you read something
good this summer. Find some
time to laugh loo; both are good
for the soul.
Nigel Alston is a radio talk -
show host, columnist and moti
vational speaker. Visit his Web
site at www.motivationalmo
ments.com.
Will we miss J.C. Watts Jr. in Congress?
Ron Walters
Guest
Columnist
J.C. Watts Jr. recently announced his
planned departure from his seat in the U.S.
House of Representatives serving the Fourth
District of Oklahoma and although I would
tike to bid him a hasty farewell. I also have a
few reservations based on a few little-known
, facts.
But first, the real reasons for his leaving
bore out my earlier observation that he was an
affirmative action hire when he was elevated to
the chair of the House Republican Conference
in 1998 as a two-term member of the House.
As such, he had little juice inside the party. It is '
unlikely that Watts would be leaving had he the
internal clout of people like Majority Leader
Dick Armey (R-Texas) or House Majority
Whip Tom DeLay (R-Texas). Watts often
claimed that he was excluded from many of
the crucial decisions on Republican policy
although his role was to help sell it to the
American people and to keep his troops on
board. But some of his colleagues in the party
leadership bid him good riddance for "whin
ing."
By withholding real influence, the plan
appears to have been to use Watts as a poster
boy to shield the party's racism and to attempt
to attract a marginal number of blacks into its
ranks. So in 19%. he was given a keynote
speech at the Republican Convention, in '97 he
gave the Republican response to the State of
the Union Address, and in the 2000 election
and afterward, he was the lead person for the
Southern strategy of creaming off 15 percent
of the black vote to enable Republicans to win
the White House and local seats as well.
If Watts had the power of an Armey or
DeLay Or Newt Gingrich, in his role as Repub
lican conference chair, he would have had seri
ous influence with a Republican president as a
member of the team that moved his agenda
through the House. But George Bush obvious
ly did not depend upon Watts. In fact. Watts
was angry that Bush did not communicate with
him about his administration's plan to kill the
$11 billion Crusader artillery system, which
would have brought many jobs to his district.
Also, he could have parlayed his notoriety
into millions of dollars in book deals and
under-the-table contribiStions to his business
and political interests, which, in turn, would
have protected his family's economic status.
This fact would have made moot his decision
to leave Congress in order to "be with my fam
ily" in order to help raise five children and. not
incidentally, to make more money to finance
their educations and other needs. But for all of
his initial press attention, there has been little
recently, as the oxygen of political visibility
and resources have been sucked up by other
leaders in the Republican Party.
In any case, he will be missed. Although
Watts was not a member of the Congressional
Black Caucus, he has been a major point of
contact since Republicans took the House in
1994. For example, he worked with them on
legislation to develop a memorial for slave
laborers who built the Capitol; lobbied for a
Presidential Medal of Freedom for Rosa Parks
and a resolution stating Congress' opposition
to all forms of racism and bigotry (which
failed); led passage of the African Growth and
Opportunity Act and the Renewal Communi
ties Act. More recently, we found him going to
Alabama to campaign for Democrat Earl
Hilliard in a re-election campaign that ended in
Hilliard's defeat.
Most important. Watts has been the sole
member of the Republican leadership with his
finger in the dike of opposition to affirmative
action, holding back bills from being passed in
the House. His position was that since Repub
licans didn't have a good alternative, they
should be cautious about this issue because of
the potential to contribute to a racist image of
the party and thereby block blacks from con
sidering it as an alternative. A major question is
whether DeLay and others will now feel free to
go ahead with their plan to eliminate affirma
tive action w hen he is gone, or wait for the U.S.
Supreme Court to do it for them.
Nevertheless, I won't miss the conserva
tive side of J.C. Watts: the bombs thrown
toward black leaders such as Jesse Jackson, for
instance, when he called Jackson a "race hus
tling poverty pimp"; nor his alliance with the
gun lobby, the religious right, the Heritage
Foundation; or his fronting for Clarence
Thomas and any number of organizations and
politicians who have done considerable dam
age to black interests.
In this sense, the fact that there will be no
black Republicans in Congress shouldn't mean
a thing to black Americans.
Ron Wallers is Distinguished Leadership
Scholar, professor of government and politics
at the University of Maryland and author of
"African America and Leadership."
File Photo
Retiring Congressman J.C. Watts poses with House Speaker Dennis Hastert.
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