You think your life is boring? Be careful what you wish for…
MOCA marks 20th anniversary of Sept. 11 with largest ever exhibit
Michael Richards Are You Down? 2000, Museum of Contemporary
Art, North Miami, 2021.
Courtesy of The Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami,
Oriol Tarridas Photography
Caribbean Life, JULY 23-29, 2021 27
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
See one, do one, teach one.
They say that that’s a
good way to gain a new skill:
observe, try the action yourself,
and then share what you
did with someone else. You
can learn a lot from another’s
experiences, as you’ll see
in these great memoirs by
women writers…
We all like to think we had a
normal growing-up, but what
is “normal”? In “Nowhere
Girl” by Cheryl Diamond
(Algonquin, $27.95), the
author recounts a childhood
of seeming adventure, spent
in a number of countries and
continents. By the time she
was a teen, she’d done things
that most of us only dream
of doing, until the nightmare
of her life became clear: Diamond
was born into a family
of criminals and con artists
and things were about to get
bad…
Similarly, look for “Upper
Bohemia” by Hayden Herrera
(Simon & Schuster, $26.00),
whose free-spirited parents
moved Herrara and her sister
around from place to place
and lifestyle to lifestyle when
they were children. The danger
inside this story is different
than in the Diamond
book, but no less heartwrenching.
Both of them are
page-turners.
Another memoir of an
unconventional upbringing is
“The Ugly Cry” by Danielle
Henderson (Viking, $27.00).
When she was ten years old,
Henderson was left for her
grandparents to raise, though
they were rather unprepared
for a child at their ages. As a
Black girl being reared in a
mostly-white neighborhood,
Henderson missed her mother
but the woman’s absence
turned out to be a gift: Henderson’s
feisty, foul-mouthed
Grandma never let her forget
her capabilities or her
strength. Beware the profanity
in this tale, and love it
anyhow.
When Shawna Kay Rodenberg
was just four years old,
her father tore his family from
their roots in Kentucky and
moved them to Minnesota to
live in an isolated religious
community. In “Kin: A Memoir”
(Bloomsbury, $28.00),
Rodenberg writes about being
a child in a restricted community,
and the abuse she
endured while living there.
But that’s not the end of the
tale: after the sexual abuse was
revealed, Rodenberg’s family
moved back to Kentucky, to
kin, and a new-old home in
coal country This tale‘s about
enduring, and about understanding
yourself, your past,
your family, and your future.
And finally, there’s “Sacrifice:
A Gold Star Widow’s Fight
for the Truth” by Michelle
Black (Putnam, $28.00), who
recounts in her memoir about
searching for the truth of how
her husband died. He was in
Niger in 2017 and was killed
in an ambush but Black wasn’t
given many details, past that.
The tragedy that left her with
two young boys to raise on
her own. She was also left to
search for clues and facts of
her husband’s death, without
the Army’s help.
If these memoirs don’t quite
fit what you’re in the mood
for, then be sure to ask your
favorite bookseller or librarian
for more ideas. They’re pros at
this and with their help, you’ll
be able to see yourself reading
one or all of these books.
Memoirs by Women
Writers
c.2021, various publishers
$26.00 – $28.00 various
page counts
Photo by Terri Schlichenmeyer
By Nelson A. King
The Museum of Contemporary
Art North Miami
(MOCA) says it is “pleased
to present” the exhibition
“Michael Richards: Are You
Down?”— the first museum
retrospective of the work of
Michael Richards, exhibiting
both his extensive sculpture
and drawing practice.
Of Jamaican and Costa
Rican lineage, Michael Richards
was born in Brooklyn in
1963, raised in Kingston, the
Jamaican capital, and came
of age between post-independence
Jamaica and postcivil
rights era America.
Tragically, Richards passed
away on Sept. 11, 2001 while
working in his Lower Manhattan
Cultural Council
World Views studio on the
92nd floor of World Trade
Center, Tower One.
“At 38, Richards was an
emerging artist whose incisive
aesthetic held immense
promise to make him a leading
figure in contemporary
art,” said MOCA in a statement
on Tuesday, adding
that Sept. 11, 2021 marks 20
years since Richards’ passing.
To honor this anniversary,
Richards’ cousin Dawn Dale
and “Michael Richards: Are
You Down?” co-curators Alex
Fialho and Melissa Levin will
be in dialogue with filmmaker,
visual artist and curator
Tiona Nekkia McClodden to
discuss the ongoing work of
stewarding artists’ legacies.
The event, titled “Conversations
at MOCA: Present
& Possible — Honoring
Michael Richards,” will take
place virtually on Zoom on
Tuesday Sept. 14 at 7:00 pm.
MOCA said Dale has
stored and cared for Richards’
artworks for two decades
since Richards’ passing;
Fialho and Levin have
been engaged with curating
Richards’ art since 2016; and
McClodden has worked with
the estates and archives of
artists Brad Johnson, Essex
Hemphill and Julius Eastman.