Feel the heat as you read about authentic tales
Judge Judy talks about life
growing up in Brooklyn
Caribbean Life, January 17-23, 2020 43
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
Everybody has that place.
You know, that place where everyone
knows you, they know what you
want, and they get it for you before
your coat’s half off. It’s where you
can catch up on gossip and good
news, where you take shelter and
get sympathy. In “Hitting a Straight
Lick with a Crooked Stick” by Zora
Neale Hurston, you also get a front
seat.
Born in around 1891 in Alabama,
Zora Neale Hurston learned early to
make her own way: she was just a
teenager when her mother died, and
when her father married a woman
she hated, Hurston left home. After
briefly working as a maid for a
traveling actress, she moved to Baltimore
where she graduated from
high school, shaved a decade off her
age, and enrolled at Howard University.
There, her first story was
printed.
Unable to secure money to graduate
from Howard University, Hurston
moved to New York in 1924, arriving
in Harlem with near-empty pockets
but a head full of stories that began
winning awards for her. This led to
more opportunities, a return to college,
a network of other writers, and
a publisher for her books.
In this book are 21 of Hurston’s
short stories, including Harlem
Renaissance works that were previously
considered “lost.” Many were
written in a way that reflects stereotypical
patterns of speech and pronunciation
which, says Genevieve
West in her introduction, was risky
and controversial but Hurston knew
exactly what she was doing.
While some tales are set in Harlem,
Hurston’s stories here start out
in Eatonville, Florida, where everyone
knew everyone else. It the place
where John Redding lived before he
died, floating in the same waters
that he dreamed might show him
the world. It’s where every man
gathers at Jim’s restaurant to talk
trash, and where Sam met Stella,
who changed him into someone who
never gambled and came home on
time, mostly. Eatonville was where
Spunk Banks got too brave, where
Old Man Morgan could put down a
curse on anyone; and where “white
folks are very stupid about some
things.”
Don’t be surprised if “Hitting a
Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick”
is quickly elevated to your local high
school’s reading list. Yep, it’s that
kind of book.
Read, and you’ll almost wish you
were slumped on a wooden chair on
Jim’s porch on a hot summer day.
Read, because authenticity oozes
from every page here and you can’t
help but like the men and women
in the tales. Read, as author Zora
Neale Hurston’s wit shines between
biting narratory descriptions and
comments, like sunbeams sneaking
through Jim’s raggedy roof, underscored
by a mix of highbrow words
and lowlife scoundrels.
You’ll also feel the heat sometimes
but it’s not always from the
weather.
One thing: modern readers may
want to know that the “dialect”
that Hurston insisted upon may
take some getting used-to, but it
ultimately adds to the realism that
you’ll love about this book. For
that, “Hitting a Straight Lick with
a Crooked Stick” is right for any
place.
“Hitting a Straight Lick with
a Crooked Stick” by Zora Neale
Hurston, edited with an introduction
by Genevieve West, foreword
by Tayari Jones
c.2020, Amistad $25.99 /
$31.99
Canada 304 pages
Book cover of “Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick” by Zora Neale
Hurston.
Judge Judy.
On the latest edition of Power
Women, Schneps publisher and
president, Vicki Schneps replays
an interview with Judge Judy
who talks about life growing up
in Brooklyn and the difference
between growing up then and
now. Judge Judy goes on to talk
about her journey from childhood
to adulthood and how
she became an internationally
known television star. Listen
to this and our other podcasts
at Podcasts.schnepsmedia.com
and download wherever podcasts
are found!
Listen and enjoy!
/Podcasts.schnepsmedia.com
