Chicago: I’ll Never Say Goodbye!
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Janis F. Kearney |
My love for Chicago is as permanent as my early, innocent loves that, even now, remain in the recesses of my heart and mind – no matter who else I’ve met in life, and no matter where else I’ve called home.
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Truthfully, I wasn’t prepared for the way Chicago captured my heart in such a short time. It didn’t hurt that I arrived here in early summer, just as the city began to slough off its winter coat, and bloom into a world of bright colors, sounds, and smells. If you don’t fall in love with Chicago in the summer…your heart must be made of stone. Summer in Chicago is different from anywhere else in the world.
Within months of my arrival in Chicago, I met an amazing number of southerners—even native Arkansans, who now called Chicago, home. Many had left the south with their parents as much as 50 years earlier, joining the Great Migration that allowed Black Americans to escape the blatant racism of the south, and to create a new life for themselves. How could they have known that this cold, Midwestern city could offer so much? But, even knowing the sense of purpose that brought them here, I was yet surprised at the depth of their love for this adopted home.
But, Chicago grabs your heart like that. Frank Sinatra sang about New York, describing the city much like a tough, forceful man—who demands you love him or leave him. New York,
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| Janis F. Kearney with radio personality Holly Campbell (center). Other in attendance are(l to r), Dilpi Nandi, Jean Qualls, host, Mamie Rodgers, and Gwen Hudson. For more photos, click here |
I will be forever grateful for the six years I spent in this city. It was this place, where art is in the air, that I began this second phase of my life as a true artist and book publisher. No, I wasn’t a 21-year old just stepping out on my own; but, I was moving out of one life and preparing to step my foot into another. Chicago allowed me to pursue this new life with fervor and excitement and the knowledge that it could be done. Not to mention the people who helped give me that footing.
More than anything, I will miss my newfound friends…die-hard Chicagoans who only shake their heads when I tell them I’m moving back to Arkansas. I have such a deep, deep fondness for my newfound friends…lifelong friends. In spite of the statistics that inform us of what’s wrong about the city; there is such a deep reservoir of humanity, here. There is a great body of art and culture unlike any place I’ve visited…and, as I begin this new exploration of life and place; as I meet yet, new friends…I will never, ever forget what I learned and what I gained, in Chicago.
WOW Press Announces New Titles for 2008
Writing our World Press is proud and excited to announce the upcoming titles for release in 2008. Excerpts from each title will be available at our website,
in the next newsletter - coming Summer, 2007.
Something to Write Home About: Memories from a Presidential Diarist. Janis F. Kearney, author of Cotton Field of Dreams is completing a sequel to her memoir that begins in 1987, with her role as publisher of Daisy and L.C. Bates‘ newspaper. The book also includes her years as presidential diarist, and is interspersed with more memories about her life as a member of the Kearney family -- cotton sharecroppers in the Arkansas delta.
We Couldn't Hear their Voices: A biography of Black Musical Geniuses. Elaine Mack, classical musician, writer, and global educator spent years traveling the globe, talking with black classical musicians, documenting their stories. This is a revolutionary delve into the world of black classical musicians - in words and pictures.
See excerpt here
Once Upon a Time, there was a Girl. Janis F. Kearney debuts her first fiction; an historical novel based on an actual southern race murder. In this riveting story, Kearney paints a portrait of a typical small southern town, the ‘good” people who believed race was no longer a problem, and the innocent victim whose death proved them wrong.
See excerpt here
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