Stories in eye of beholder, author says
By Alonzo Weston
Diversity Institute Fellow
07.29.02
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| Tina McElroy Ansa, left, during book-signing for her new novel. |
Tina McElroy Ansa sees stories everywhere.
As an acclaimed novelist and storyteller, she sees people and experiences from her childhood and in her everyday life as gift boxes just waiting to be opened.
She believes that it’s not just the obvious daily news that can serve as fuel for stories. Conversations with your grandmother, a rap session with the wino on the corner and those talks that unfold in the neighborhood barbershop or beauty salon can also serve as wellsprings of literary inspiration.
“We have so many gifts, so much baggage, so much stuff we don’t open, let alone get around to using,” Ansa said.
On a recent visit to Nashville, Ansa mixed stories from her childhood and passages from her new book, You Know Better, to encourage members of the inaugural class at the Freedom Forum Diversity Institute at Vanderbilt University to use life experiences to enhance their writing.
The Diversity Institute is a journalism training program for minorities who are seeking to enter newspaper careers after initially working or studying in other fields.
Ansa also shared her message with about 50 guests who attended a public session at the Freedom Forum.
In both sessions, Ansa mixed personal anecdotes about growing up in rural Georgia in the 1950s with frank commentary on the state of black culture today.
Her observations inspired her latest novel, which is a single story told from the point of view of three generations of black women in a fictional Georgia small town.
In her talk and in the book, Ansa argued that some of today’s black culture reflects a lack of appreciation for the rights and freedoms gained from past struggles. She lays the blame largely at the feet of Hip-Hop culture, saying many young blacks have little self-respect and have abandoned old-fashioned values. She chastised young black women who put their needs ahead of their children.
"We came through the Middle Passage; we came through slavery; we came through Reconstruction and Jim Crow and the lynching. We came through all that just to lose it now because (for some women) going out on Saturday night is more important than taking care of (their) children,” she said.
You Know Better is Ansa’s fourth and latest novel. The native Georgian won the Georgia Author Series Award for two of her books, The Hand I Fan With and Baby in the Family.
Ansa and her husband Jonee’ are currently at work producing a feature film based on Baby in the Family, which was her first novel.
The movie is scheduled for release in 2003. The cast includes recognizable actors such as Pam Grier, Vanessa L. Williams, Alfre Woodard and Todd Bridges.