#342 Ashes to Ashes- Jabari Asim

#342 Ashes to Ashes- Jabari Asim

Friends for life Leo and Octavius, aka "the reverend" and "the rascal" have found themselves tested like many have, living lives under Jim Crow laws.

Violent events in 1928 caused them to flee the south for their lives. Like the millions of others that fled north during the second great migration, they hoped to find a better existence for themselves. Now in 1968, in that “better world” history repeats itself, and violence follows the pair.

There are times in life where a stand has to be taken, and of course a prayer must be said.

Notable Passage: “Sullen and humiliated…rage rose from them as thick and redolent as the smoke that had issued from the barbecue grills not long before. Unlike the smoke, which rode the air over the woods and on to far more pleasant places, their anger had nowhere to go.”

Rating: 9-8-9-9 Total= 35

#234 Lives of the Artists- Jabari Asim

#234 Lives of the Artists- Jabari Asim

It is after hours at Reuben’s sign painting shop. The fellas are “Talking John Brown Jive” or slinging B.S., playing checkers and unwinding from the day. It’s a scene that could be in a small shop anywhere. Nothing important is being discussed but that doesn’t mean nothing meaningful isn’t taking place.

Among the tall tales and bad jokes, is this gem that any New Yorker who’s ever come face-to-face with a subway rat would appreciate:

“I’ve seen better [fighters]…the best I ever saw used to skirmish in the back of my uncle’s Laundromat. They were rats, understand. Big, rowdy looking rodents. They’d actually stand on their hind legs and trade punches.”

While the night winds down, a young man bursts in. He, and many others, are being hunted down for sport by the cops. Handing out protest leaflets is their only transgression. When the cops follow uninvited into the shop, the men know better than to interfere, but that doesn’t mean they’re not wanting to fight back:

“Reuben balled his hands into fists, stuffed them into his pockets to avoid thinking about them.”

Rating: 8-7-8-8 Total=31

#165 Drunk on History- Jabari Asim

#165 Drunk on History- Jabari Asim

Reuben Edward Jones Sr is an artist, a painter. He’ll paint anything with the same spirit and enjoyment, be it a portrait or a sign outside a barber shop. He enjoyed his work and was proud to have the identity his work gave him.

“He’d never get rich, but he’s never get bored either.”

He worked from home in a little studio, “He calls his space a studio, Pristine calls it a firetrap.” His reputation was above reproach and he always had steady work.

After taking a job from a man he recognized by could not remember, Reuben was blocked. He couldn’t feel that artistic inspiration he called The Surge. He was weighed down by thought, by the thought of his family and history, history he learned in his favorite book: Notable Negroes. 

He sat in his work space waiting for The Surge to come-- “Anything will give up its secrets, if you love it enough.”—Eventually, it always does.

I really enjoy the way this collection is coming together. It’s a true collection, not  a compendium of random stories by one author. As each one passes, the characters reveal themselves one by one, but there is no real through line to make it a novel. So, each story stands alone.

Notable Passage: “Nothing was beneath the spirit of art.”

Rating: 8-7-8-8 Total=31

#151 Sic Transit Gloria- Jabari Asim

#151 Sic Transit Gloria- Jabari Asim

Gloria is paralyzed by fear, fear of people, fear of outside, and more of all fear of the Devil. She is a shut-in, trying her best to fend off the evil of this world and raise her son, Roderick. Roderick is a special child with unnatural intelligence, he is aptly named by everyone in the neighborhood, The Genius. Gloria rarely leaves the house, not even for her own mother’s funeral, because cemeteries have too many places for the Devil to hide. While looking out for Satan, she awaits signs from God.

“All these years of fearing—maybe even believing—that I’ve been marked by the devil. All these years spending every living minute looking over my shoulder for Satan, and here come God, right on time.”

Roderick’s story is an interesting one. He is a Christ-like figure in these tales. Born of a mother with no father, he will bear suffering to uplift the community, his talents likely will have to be sacrificed like his Mentor/Father (figure) Orville. But for now this story is about his mother. What will it take for her to overcome her own burdens, her own fear, and face her own demons. It appears that she is now prepared to face the world to protect her son, her very own savior.

“The sound doesn’t enter my ears like noise normally does. It’s born in my bones, rises out of my pores, and takes shape in the air. It makes me hot and cold at the same time. Chills up my spine, sparks in my limbs. My son speaks, God touches me, and I get up and go.”

Rating: 8-8-9-8 Total= 33

#137 The Genius- Jabari Asim

#137 The Genius- Jabari Asim

The stories of this excellent collection are all connected, surrounding the life and circumstances of Crispus, his family and his neighborhood in the summer of 1968. This story is about education in the black community.

“Thirteen years after Brown…and Gateway City Schools are still separate and still unequal.”

Roderick is a rare 13-year old genius and beyond most people in the neighborhood. Only Orville, a genius in his own right can think on his level. But like most geniuses, while everyone else worries about your mental abilities, his thoughts lie elsewhere:

“For all his legendary skill with solving equations, conjugating verbs, or computing faster than the cash register…he had no knowledge of his own origin. He didn’t know who his father was…He’d gladly give up everything—his intelligence, his health—to hear a man call him son.”

He thinks Orville is his father but cant be sure. His bigger, more immediate problems are the local bullies. They resent his brains, his weakness, and dog him at every turn:

“Go on using those big words all the time and you’re just begging for someone to beat you up.”

What’s the value of education, what is it’s worth, to the individual, the family, the community?

Notable Passage: “Tout a ete realize, a l’exception de la facon de vivre…Everything has been figured out, except how to live.”

Rating: 8-7-9-8 Total= 32

#123 Zombies- Jabari Asim

#123 Zombies- Jabari Asim

It’s summer in the neighborhood. We see little Crispus take a beating for leaving the safety of his stoop. We see the neighborhood kids play around and give each other crazy nicknames. They call Crispus 'Flip-Flop' because that’s what he got beat with this last time.

He and his brother walk together. His brother like to take him past the funeral home run by Mr. Burk, because he knows how much it freaks Crispus out. They talk to Mr. Burk about the dead bodies and then talk to each other about his grey, plastic, zombie eyes. They’re kids so the myths they tell are pretty fantastic:

“They like to buy black folks’ eyes because ours are so much bigger and better looking. You know how rich white folks are. When black folks die they pay for their eyes.”

Life is rough sometimes, but its also touching, especially through the eyes of children:

“I was always in a hurry to get to sleep because I got revenge in my dreams. I undid the day’s disasters and rewrote them to suit my most fervent desires. I had control. Everyone listened to me and there was no end to my handsomeness.”

Rating: 7-8-8-7 Total= 30

#109 Something Like God- Jabari Asim

#109 Something Like God- Jabari Asim

This is a very powerful story. Rex Canada, known only as Curly is was a blind man, a local man, a man known to everyone in the community. This is his funeral, he was killed by police while trying to protect two boys from their harassments.

“Like many black men of his generation, he’d come north hungry and hurried, tight-lipped and lean. Little in his pockets and even less to say about where he had been and what sent him.”

Outside the church stands Gabriel Patterson aka. The Liberator. He was leader of the Warriors of Freedom. They stand outside the church, dressed in military fatigues patiently waiting to hand out rally leaflets. Despite being next to a church, “Love was not high on his list of priorities.”

Inside the church, moved by the moment and the power of the Word, Rose closes her eyes and sings Poor Wayfaring Stranger for the congregation. The sound seeps out to the waiting Gabriel and holds him rapt for this moment is “Something like fate. Something like God.”

“Through the walls and windows of the church came a voice so lovely and pure it almost hurt to hear it. If the Liberator had not been careful, his soldiers might have seen him cry.”

The scene is put together beautifully, and the characters entwined in their fate. The foreboding is palpable and the reality tragic.

Notable Passage: “She would pay like the Lord paid, with welts and thorns and bruises and the taste of blood in her mouth.”

Rating: 8-8-10-9 Total= 35