Precious ME

I guess if I had grown up reading books by Sapphire, was raised in a depressed home environment and had an abusive father; I could of related more. Don't get me wrong, I do empathize with anyone, black or white that has to endure such atrocities. I am no better than anyone and I do not want you to take away from this that I am. I am simply stating that that was not my experience growing up. Of course too, I am not stating all was well. In Precious, I did see quite a few similarities in my own emotional upbringing. I can relate to being the fat daughter, the ugly girl, the dumb student. I, like many black girls longed to have the light skin and long hair. We kept our hair relaxed in hopes it would grow down to touch our shoulders and we could shake our heads and it would move from side to side. Oh yes, once that happened, I knew better days were ahead. Wrong!

I grew up in Hyde Park on the south side of Chicago. Back in the 80's the neighborhood was mixed. It was not a suburb where white folks only encountered black people on tv while watching the Jefferson's. I was surrounded by a loving but stern family, very intelligent friends and teachers who gave a damn. I remember Mr. Latman and Mr. Sherrill, Mr. Dora and Ms. Stein pushing me to my limits and allowing my tiny, shy, ugly and fat voice to come out. Thank you.

Back to the movie. Mo'Nique did a phenomenal and exceptional job! I would recommend everyone watch this movie. Precious represents all of us in one way or another. It is neither black or white but more of a universal truth that needs more exposure so we can heal the hurts and right the wrongs. You will learn something about yourself. You will change or at the very least think about change.

The director and the writer. As a writer it is always good to meet, and interesting to hear of the successful ones plight/fight to the respectable top. While Geoffrey Fletcher was inundated with other aspiring writers wanting to know how he made it, I asked what his inspiration was for the line "tv channels I never watched." We weren't allowed to take notes during this screening so the line is not exact. He gave pause, he noticed me and we struck up a conversation. Mr. Fletcher told me that it took him five months to write the screenplay adaptation - his first. He shared that it was like that, we get in a rut and only watch what we can understand, not venturing out to learn something new (my words not his). I always want to know the thought process and the "whys" of any behavior - I guess that's just my die hard and useless criminal justice background education. Fletcher did a good job by keeping true to author Sapphire's voice and skillfully added a hint of his own. He did well with his very first adaptation.

The director Lee Daniels. I love meeting people in person. It allows me to mentally understand who they really are by observing body language and how they answer questions (damn CJ mind). He admitted he wanted Helen Mirren to play the role Mariah Carey had. That right there should give you a glimpse of who he really is. I will let you guess. He also revealed he realized he was "racist" before making this movie. Now the white folks in the audience did gasp, but that isn't what he meant. He wasn't racist against white folks, he was racist against his own folks. He, like many confused black Americans have subscribed to the media portrayal of their own kind, exploiting the sad and the hopeless. That's not his fault. The fault is in "The American Dream" - another CJ reference. Daniels did a good job in bringing this tragic novel to the big screen.