West Side Girl by Anita Solick Oswald

West Side Girl

Anita Solick Oswald

Released June 19, 2018

Autobiography/Personal Essays

Print $14.95

Ebook $4.99

Buy the book on Amazon

About the Book

West Side Girl chronicles the colorful and oftentimes unpredictably eccentric characters and adventures of Chicago’s West Side in the 1950’s and 60’s. These visceral and nostalgic essays transport you into the world of a ragtag brigade of migrant and immigrant children finding themselves in a rapidly changing community. The daughter of a fireman and frustrated-writer turned-housewife, Anita Oswald portrays life from her family’s third-story apartment and Bohemian Madison Street restaurant with a fresh perspective. These stories of equality and nascent social justice are equal parts outrageous, insightful, funny, and touching.

All royalties from book sales will go to Off the StreetClub, a Chicago nonprofit that supports at-risk youth.

About the Author

Anita Solick Oswald is a Chicago native. Her essays have appeared in The Write Place at the Write Time, the Faircloth Literary Review, The Fat City Review, and Avalon Literary Review. She is a member of the Chicago Writers’ Association and the Association of Writers and Writing Programs. She is also a founding member of the Boulder Writing Studio, and works with the Dairy Center for the Arts in Boulder, Colorado. She lives in Niwot, Colorado with her husband and two cats. Visit the author's website for more information.

A Brief Interview with the Author

This collection is based on your personal experiences growing up in Chicago. What made these stories feel important for you to tell?

For years I have been telling my stories about growing up in a great time of freedom for children in a neighborhood that was culturally diverse. It seems especially relevant now to tell those stories of social change and the benefits of cultural diversity. I remember telling some of these stories to my daughters as they were growing up, so putting them together in this collection has also been a way to connect with my family in meaningful ways, and share that with others.

How do you navigate the sometimes-blurry lines between truth and storytelling? What kind of research do you do?

For me, this is not an issue. I check sources if individuals are still alive or, in some cases, I do not use last names or have altered the names. I’ve researched family records, photos, newspaper articles, school records, and memorabilia, have contacted alumni groups and former residents of my old neighborhood and verified my recollections with relatives, friends, and former teachers. I never stop researching.

What does donating your royalties mean to you?

For many reasons, West Garfield Park was a neighborhood in decline when I was a child. Through organizations, like Off the Street Club, and the dedication and generosity of staff and donors, we never knew we were slum kids. This club has meant so much to so many and was an integral part of my golden childhood. I hope to share that wonderful gift with other children.

Read an Excerpt from West Side Girl’s “Hot Diggity Dog.”

In July, when every day seemed like the last day of Pompeii, a free cone sounded like a great idea. But as we turned the corner our maniacally eager expressions vanished. The line to get free soft serve cones stretched all the way around the corner on Madison Street right up to the front door of Solick’s restaurant. It looked like every kid in the neighborhood had heard about the freebies. I wanted to throw in the towel and go to Columbus Park swimming pool. I didn’t like vanilla cones anyway. I wanted a chocolate dip cone. If we hurried, I argued, we’d still make the last batch of 500 kids before they closed the pool for cleaning.

But the rest of the gang maintained that free ice cream was worth the delay.

“Come on, Anita, the line isn’t that long. It’s moving fast.”

I really didn’t want to go to the pool alone so I reluctantly agreed to hang out and wait my turn in the heat and humidity of Chicago in July. As we walked past the takeout joint to claim our places in line, I had time to size up the place. I had to agree with my mother. Hot Diggity Dog didn’t look too hot. I admired their entrepreneurship, though. The staff was sweating and working as fast as they could, taking orders and dishing out soft serve to overheated customers. Their aprons were stained and the trash cans were overflowing. It was a pyroclastic event. Money and sawdust covered the linoleum. The owners had developed their own creative security system. They figured it would be harder to ripoff the dive if thieves had to pick up the cash and they instructed the customers to throw their money on the floor. Sweaty dogs spun on the greasy roller rotisserie – no sneeze guard in sight. Mom was probably right about the hygiene. I saw people walking past us with cones and Chicago dogs and remembered my mother’s cautionary tales about dirty kitchens and diseases you’d get if you weren’t careful. The pungent smell of the dogs and the raw onions and the bleach smell from the laundromat next door made me gag. I thought about all the nasty pig body parts that were supposed to be in hot dogs. Maybe those hot peppers really were cockroaches – were they wiggling? I needed a Coke.

Helene Louiesa Mynhardt dissects apartheid in her memoirs

   

Memoirs of  Play-White
Autobiography/Memoir
Helene Louiesa Mynhardt

Released
Reach Publisher's Services, South Africa

Paperback $12.99
Kindle $2.99
Buy on Amazon
Buy $7.99 on Barnes and Noble

About the Story:

Louiesa, an impoverished child, was raised by her unemployed single mother. She was employed part time as a student, earning a lucrative salary. The reason was unclear to her until she was confronted by a furious co-worker. The author explains how siblings from the exact same parents were classified differently and gives details about how children with a darker complexion were abandoned by fair-skinned parents. The author further explains in great detail, deep rooted segregation not previously exposed to the world during apartheid: how racial classification destroyed family unity and friendships. Forceful resettlement according to race destroyed family life and friendships.

Apartheid was abolished for one day during 1985 and all races lived in harmony next to each other. For once in the history of apartheid blacks were given a privilege denied to whites. South Africa sent two contestants to the Miss World pageant representing whites and non-whites respectively. The outcome of the results stunned the National Party and the entire world. Blacks created their own entertainment with much success, attracting international stardom and subsequently departing from S.A. due to racial biases and political interference with irrational censorships. Journey with the author while experiencing her personal encounters: death penalty, gang violence, teenage pregnancies, alcoholism and starvation. She endured extreme weather conditions without proper clothing.

This is truly an inspirational story of hope and transformation. Readers are invited to journey through the remarkable life of the author who dreamt of freedom from poverty barriers, worked hard towards it with dogged determination and succeeded. During the first democratic elections the ANC party did not win an outright majority due to the coloured votes. The author takes the reader on a journey into the lives of the coloured race during apartheid, sparing no detail.

My Review

Mynhardt’s autobiographical memoir begins with the story of her grandmother and mother, women of Xhosa heritage who’d we’d call today victims of servitude in their small villages. To those of previous generations, life was hand-to-mouth, making and raising babies with little male support.

By the time Mynhardt’s mother Doris gave birth to her, Doris had been widowed and shunned by Muslim in-laws. Her successful food vendor shops had been taken and her first children eventually removed. Doris raised her daughter Elena in poverty. Elena was officially named Helene by a zealous administrator who registered the birth in order to potentially provide better opportunities with an Afrikaans-sounding name.

When it came time to Helene to decide how to take control of her own future, she chose to continue her education even if she didn’t like it all that much and it was expensive, and became a fair typist. Her self-confidence led her to step into the world of finances in the mid-seventies, applying for a job at a bank. She worked her way through several departments and promotions, too often fighting for her personal rights as well as rampant fraudulent practices.

Told in a jarring, journalistic and forthright manner, readers are taken on a journey of the dark underworld of abuse, apartheid, and social casting in South Africa, from the 1950s through the first democratically elected black president in 1994.

From Destitude to Plentitude 

Released June 2018

Reach, South Africa

$7.99 Nook 

Buy on Amazon 

$2.99 Kindle

$12.99 Print

About the Book:

In this book, author writes about her triumphant entrepreneurial victory from an impoverished background. As a self-made entrepreneur, she identified and successfully pursued a business opportunity with her employer who granted her a rare chance to be placed on their panel as an external vendor (debt collector) before BEE became law. Although Louiesa treated her business partners as equal she did not receive the same reciprocation from them. Find out how laws are altered and manipulated to benefit the rich at the expense of the poor. The possible reason why South Africa is unable to narrow the gap between the rich and the poor is scrutinized. Read about how the change in government policy on dividend taxation saved the day. 

Journey with the author, as she faced numerous business challenges on her own, ranging from fraud to sexual harassment, cultural barriers, and external auditors investigating fraudulent payments. Follow her story of how she witnessed firsthand racism towards fellow panel members. Without legal qualifications or any help, she became the legal representative in court cases representing their business. Her carefully planned strategies resulted in arrests and imprisonment. Numerous other interesting stories are included to analyse and explain the overall life challenges and constraints that ordinary, poor and struggling South Africans face. 

The reason why the South African white race could not be “pure” is also explored with ample examples. Find out how fair-skinned parents abandoned darker-skinned children and how a coloured child was born to white parents. South African legislation was intended to serve everybody. However, manipulation and alteration from its original meaning and intention resulted in benefiting the rich at the expense of the poor. Find out possible reasons why the author alleges poor people in South Africa became poorer due to the debt trap they found themselves in. The government is constantly changing the laws but finding it difficult to keep up with ongoing manipulation. The author identifies exploitation of the poor and the vulnerable by big businesses. 

This is truly a remarkable journey in the life of Louiesa who did not allow poverty barriers to curb her success. Her dogged determination made it possible for her to succeed despite many obstacles that she sees as prohibitive poverty barriers to many ordinary South Africans. She believes that South Africa is the world’s most unequal society and it is difficult to manage constant manipulation. The author further shares interesting information about how one thousand South Africans were reclassified under what is today known as the chameleon dance. 

My review:

Mynhardt's frank and critical autobiography challenges conceptions and misconceptions of world trade. Whatever you thought you understood about apartheid and progress, it's worse. Here's one example of the regulatory practices Louiesa fights: Some of South Africa’s laws were ambiguous and left open to interpretation. There were a few ambiguous rules that were not illegal but when raised as a defence, it would be illegal for someone to pursue that matter. One of the examples of these laws was the “in duplum rule” mentioned previously, which stated that no one was allowed to pay more than double the original loan amount, inclusive of interest and legal fees. Rich, educated debtors with legal representatives knew about this rule and could raise a defence that they were not willing to pay more than what the “in duplum rule” stipulated. And as soon as someone mentioned this rule, the vendors were not allowed to pursue the matter and the file had to be withdrawn and closed. This rule was a defence that was only applicable when mentioned. Since it was not a law but merely a defence, it was not illegal to disregard this rule - unless raised as a defence. However, big businesses had outdated computer systems that did not take this rule into account, which meant their systems continued to charge interest. Sometimes a person would pay 10 times the amount he was legally supposed to. Although EDS computer systems promised to introduce sophisticated to one of the South African banks, their system did not work in the South African market because it was unable to stop the interest when reaching the “in duplum” limit (pp 98-99).

The book is memoir, essay, deconstruction of a devastating socio-economic practice, yet a triumph to persistence. Mynhardt's story of dealing with today's business culture is teeth-rattling, annoying, absurd at times, and sometimes heart-wrenching, but provides an air of triumph.

Begin your journey with Mynhardt's Memoirs of  Play-White. You'll be able to answer a resounding yes the question Louiesa was asked, “Do you honestly think that you have lived such a fantastic life that readers would be interested in reading about it?”

About the Author

Louiesa Mynhardt is a self-made entrepreneur, founding member and Managing Director of Sterling Debt Recoveries that is a leading collection agency, founded in 1998. She has a 40% shareholding in this business. Sterling Debt Recoveries provides efficient, large scale services on a commission basis to large credit-granting institutions. She is a novice author who was born in Kliptown, Johannesburg in the late 1950s and is married to Harold. They have two daughters studying abroad.

Review of Blues to Blessings by Suzette Webb

Review of Blues to Blessings: Moving from Fearful to Faithful

By Suzette Webb

c. 2017

Light of Mine Publishing, Chicago, IL

Spiritual autobiography

ISBN: 978-0-9961127-2-7

$4.99  eBook

$14.95  Print

Buy on Amazon

Buy on Barnes and Noble

About the Book:

Blues to Blessings: Moving from Fearful to Faithful inspires people to leap from their comfort to their miracle by renewing their faith and trust in the Lord. With fitting Bible verses and engaging, powerful stories, it guides the reader to a place of deeper connection with God and with themselves to ensure they are living the fulfilling, purposeful life they were meant to live. For more information, visit www.bluestoblessings.com.

My Review:

The author approached me to ask if I would consider posting an article on my blog. I was impressed with her content which was about evaluating your life, supposedly in time for its name day on October 16. I happened to be in the middle of a move and, unusual for me, ended up missing the date, but posted anyway. Read it here. Suzette was gracious and later asked if I’d considered reviewing the book that inspired the message. To be honest, I work with many authors of the same type of material and was a little hesitant to read another one.

What I found was a raw, emotionally packed journey. Webb told her story with emotional candor, sparing no one and nothing, not even herself, as worked through self-discovery to learn what was causing her to sabotage her outwardly perfect life. Financially secure, upper class, married with children in a nice home in Chicago, Webb had achieved everything she thought was the epitome of success during her dysfunctional and abusive childhood in New Orleans. But more than being passed over for promotions during the economic downtown that was the early 2000s, more than increasing dissatisfaction with her career path, even more than reigniting her religious faith, she realized the only way she was going to effect a positive change in herself was to go deep and heal pain she wasn’t aware she’d harbored.

Even though I wanted to tread lightly through her story, I found myself eager to pick it back up every time I had to put the book down. I was fascinated by the way Webb learned to evaluate her motives and shared her life lessons with her readers. Written in an engaging manner, readers are encouraged to participate in the transformation process, the same way a butterfly moves from egg to flight.

Recommended for those who appreciate biographies with deep lessons, self-exploration and evaluation, and spiritual matters.

About the Author:

An accomplished entrepreneur, Suzette Webb founded Light of Mine (“LOM”) in 2006, a company that designs and manufactures high-performance lighting systems for military armored vehicles. The opportunity to support our military men and women has been an honor for her both professionally and personally.

She also produces and hosts a devotional podcast called B Moments, which airs daily on Moody’s Christian radio station. This unique devotional allows time-crunched people to pause, reflect on their faith, and set positive intentions for their day. B Moments encourages listeners to take a moment to “Be still…to Be fed by the Word of God, and to Be grateful.” For a catalog of these daily devotionals visit www.bmoments.org.

Suzette holds an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University, and a BA in Communications from Loyola University, New Orleans. She serves on the Board of Directors for International Teams, and is a member of Chicago Women in Publishing (CWIP). She is also a fund development services consultant for By the Hand Club for Kids, a faith-based after-school program that helps children who live in high-risk, inner-city neighborhoods have abundant resources and a fulfilling life. Suzette and her husband live in Chicago and have three sons. Visit her at: www.bluestoblessings.com.