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Celeste invited U.S. G.I.R.L.S. into her home for a lovely midday luncheon for the discussion of Bernice McFadden's Gathering of Waters.
When we entered the meeting space, we were immediately greeted by the "delectable" buffet of salads, seafood trays, meat trays, dips, fruit, croissants and let's not forget, the caramel cake from "Sugar Bakers" of Brunswick...Yummie!! After all members arrived, Celeste opened with a beautiful prayer for the group of ladies, and introduced her daughter, Celestial as her guest.
While serving ourselves from the vast selection of "goodies," Dee updated the members on some of the "latest and greatest" reads that have been "trending" on the web. Once everyone had their lunch, we began the discussion.
Celeste prepared 28 (yes, 28 ) questions to challenge and test our skills of dissecting and digesting literature. The discussion began with Ms. McFadden's use of an inanimate object (Money, MS) as the protagonist and went all the way to the topic of "soul mates" and everything in between (i.e. paranormal experiences, civil rights and young people today, love and relationships, ..etc...) Everyone contributed to the discussion and it was very engaging. Ka Saundra pointed out that growing up, she had the opportunity to travel and live in different Countries. This allowed her to witness the strong "supernatural" beliefs of the Asian people and their culture. She also mentioned the recent news accounts of a "new" illegal substance on the streets that is producing "evil" behavior that is borderline Satanic. Bonnie was also quick to remined everyone that the Bible speaks of good and evil spirits.
Several of the members shared some of their experiences. Everyone interjected some valid points and stories that called for a few seconds of silence for us to "gather" ("no pun intended...." almost missed that one : ) ourselves. We also took away some serious aspects of the book related to the actual case surrounding the horrific murder of young Mr. Till, as well as the similarities of the Trayvon Martin case. Has anything really changed in America..., does racism still exist..., have we truly overcome? Dee and Maria exchange some dialogue about "raising" African-American sons in this era of change. Okay ladies...this is really getting deep; let's "lighten" the discussion a little!
The possible use of the southern food favorite "Johnny Cakes"(more commonly referred to as "Hoe Cakes" in FL and GA), as a metaphor evoked a lot of discussion and non-stop laughter. We could not say this enough.."Celeste did an AWESOME job on the questions!!" She also had the foresight to prepare an outline on the life of Emmett Till, that shed a lot of light on the events. *Acknowledging this is a work of fiction: We all enjoyed this novel; however there was some concern expressed that Ms. McFadden "faulted" an evil spirit for the crime of murder, vs the evil of "racism." While we are confident that this was not her "literary" intent...it makes us wonder how the family of Emmet Till feels about this book.
Celeste presented each guest a personalized mug with our initials filled with candies, microwave popcorn, tea bags, and hot chocolate; all wrapped up in our signature purple color, accented with a silver ribbon.
What a wonderful literary luncheon... U.S. G.I.R.L.S. say..."Thank you Celeste !!"
Business: We agree to modify the by-laws to encompass all authors; Prior to adjourning, U.S. G.I.R.L.S. took a photo to submit for the casting call for public television's new show "The Book Club Show. To read more about it; go to www.thebookclubshow.org Please remember to go on the website periodically for updates and information. Please use the R.S.V.P tab - this will be helpful to the hostess for preparation purposes. JayBee's sister-in-law, "Ann" has completed her due diligence by becoming familiar with our by laws; and has joined U.S. G.I.R.L.S. "Welcome Ann!" We look forward to loading her bio and photo on our website
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