Juvey

Juvey is based on three juvenile convicted felons. Each of them has their own life of fatal tragedies, some beyond their control. Juvey, Trigger and Gangster were all friends until Gangster died and Trigger became treacherous. Trigger betrays the trust between Juvey and himself with an attempted robbery, not knowing he was being watched and monitored by the FBI. Juvey struggles to change but his life becomes unbearable. Juvey’s mother and sister will stop at nothing to see him succeed. Even though Juvey’s situation appears to be dead, watch how prayer can turn a whole family life around for the better.

H8ters

They had a love for each other that everyone hated, they were the best of friends. Christina was ghetto fabulous and Shakira was fabulous to the ghetto. Christina would chase men, the men would chase Shakira . See how these two females deal with hating at it’s all time high. See why females roll their eyes and suck their teeth, at just the thought of these two women. See how they made living in the hard streets of the R, look easy. They fought their way through struggle but their biggest fight comes when Christina struggles to become Shakira and Shakira fights not to become like Christina. Shakira still holds on to their childhood bond, while Christina throws it out. Crossing every line they had ever made. Will Christina come to her senses and chose love or lust, friend over foe? Will she stick to the bond and love of a thirty year friendship, or will she become a hater to?

My Testimony Before and After Grace: Before Grace Cornelia K. Gail
Girls In Da Game Publishing Inc., United States, $15.95, paperback, (154p)
ISBN: 0-9674454-1-8

It's not easy being born and brought up in Mosby, a ghetto of Richmond, Virginia. In fact, it is one despairing struggle for survival - as author Cornelia K. Gail so intensely depicts in the first part of the real life story, "My Testimony Before and After Grace: Before Grace." Born in 1973 and raised by a single mother and grandmother, young Faith is soon ruthlessly exposed to the seamy side of ghetto life. Sexually active at the age of thirteen, she is pregnant at fourteen. Nine months after her son is born, the sixteen-year-old father of her child is sentenced to twenty-two years in prison for killing his mother's boyfriend. And why? Because, "one thing you don't do is watch a man beat your mother mercilessly not in the projects you don't."

Set against this squalid background, the chances for Faith's continued existence appear bleak. Miserable and despairing because of the humiliation due to her pregnancy, her mother's disgrace, and the problems of single parenting, she attempts suicide. But, recalls Faith, "I didn't die; I just slept for a couple of days. So many times I just wanted to die." She takes to selling drugs, and soon, "The money was rolling in, and I was looking better, dressing better...It was finally my time to shine." Nevertheless, the downward spiral continues; drug dealing, casual sex, hustling, driving junkie cars, street fights, alcohol, and of course, men. "I dated so many guys I don't even remember most of them," she says. "I changed men like I changed my underwear. In love one day, out of love the next." By the time she is eighteen, Faith is pregnant again.

This is a story of courage, of faith in God, and of the enduring belief that there is a guardian angel for everybody. Faith is most grateful that, "Through all my mess God put a hedge over me so Satan couldn't destroy me completely." She is bright, a straight A-grade student, and intelligent enough to stay away from drugs. She is aware that the pathway she has chosen will inevitably lead to selfdestruction, but she continues nonetheless. Paradoxically, the turning point appears while she is in jail. "I went to jail, found out I was not an animal...that Jesus loved me, and violence was not of him...I found out I had a chance, a second chance..."

Does Faith take it? Is there a better future for her? Readers will have to wait to find out when part two of this book, "My Testimony Before and After Grace: After Grace," is published. Cornelia Gail's style of writing is true to life. She takes you straight from the comfort of your armchair and the warm glow of your reading lamp, into the cold, merciless glare of the streets of the ghetto. Using the language of Mosby projects to telling effect, she reveals the stark realities of the life of under privileged African Americans. She is able to convey the despair, the cynicism, and yet, the hope and faith of Faith and the people of her world. This is a book for young adults; it's about the choices that they are compelled to make; and the consequences of making the wrong ones.

BookWire Review - April 27, 2006

 

 

Black Man Wake Up
 is a heartfelt, true life story that affects millions. The judicial system has laid a dark carpet before us which many of us struggle to walk. To be stamped as a number and labeled as a criminal, our backgrounds stumble behind us as we face life. As a people, we are telling our story, today you will hear our voices, one day you will see our faces, we will not give up.  Our change will come!!!
“Scanita Brown”