In a Silent Way

A Novel

Mary Jo Hetzel

• Publisher: She Writes Press
• Year: 2016
• eBook ISBN: 9781631521362
• Edition: 0
• Subtopic: Women in Fiction

In a Silent Way chronicles the coming of age in the late sixties of young Jeanna Kendall as she quietly facilitates a close-knit community of learners in a progressive urban school, grapples with racism and sexism within her community activist group, and experiences the extreme highs and lows of her first intimate relationship—which happens to be with a revered and powerful community leader. Jeanna encounters all the same issues we confront today: youth of color demeaned and destroyed, wise community elders discounted by leaders who "know better, " and the "sexploitation" of women in the movement. Gradually overwhelmed by the mounting challenges she faces on all fronts, and on the verge of a breakdown, a crisis emerges within her movement group that transforms everything and everyone and opens up a new world of possibilities—ones deeply relevant to us today.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Chapter One: Yeah, But It Still Be School
• Chapter Two: It Way Too Late for Me, Miss J
• Chapter Three: Chefman’s Blessing
• Chapter Four: It Was the People, Not No Lawyers
• Chapter Five: What the Hell He Done Now
• Chapter Six: Does This Look Like Madison Square Garden?
• Chapter Seven: I’d Rather Be Killed Here Than Die in a Straitjacket
• Chapter Eight: Land? He Ain’t Going Nowhere
• Chapter Nine: Promise Me Something
• Chapter Ten: We Were Both Out of Line
• Chapter Eleven: You Ain’t Acting Like We Know You to Be, Tommie Lee
• Chapter Twelve: Report and Support
• Chapter Thirteen: He’s Always Been a Real Fine Boy
• Chapter Fourteen: It Just Slipped Out
• Chapter Fifteen: Jam
• Chapter Sixteen: I Just Do What He Say
• Chapter Seventeen: He Deserve Better
• Chapter Eighteen: Project Day
• Chapter Nineteen: But Shouldn’t the Community Be Involved in This?
• Chapter Twenty: The Last Word
• Chapter Twenty-One: You Were Awfully Quiet Tonight
• Chapter Twenty-Two: It Was Land, the Way He Does Things
• Chapter Twenty-Three: Helene Told Me Not to Bother
• Chapter Twenty-Four: That’s Old As Time
• Chapter Twenty-Five: This Couldn’t Be a Personal Invitation
• Chapter Twenty-Six: I’ll Never Do Anything You Don’t Want
• Chapter Twenty-Seven: Living in Land’s World
• Chapter Twenty-Eight: How Many Times Can a Heart Be Sliced to Smithereens?
• Chapter Twenty-Nine: I’m Famished
• Chapter Thirty: I’m Sick a Hearing That
• Chapter Thirty-One: Cat in a Fix
• Chapter Thirty-Two: You Think That’s Wise?
• Chapter Thirty-Three: The Excluded
• Chapter Thirty-Four: This Blank Absence of Connection Was a Killer
• Chapter Thirty-Five: Couldn’t Pray No More
• Chapter Thirty-Six: More Than You Know
• Chapter Thirty-Seven: It’s Like I Fell into This Dark Abyss
• Chapter Thirty-Eight: All-City Congress
• Chapter Thirty-Nine: Queen of the Universe
• Chapter Forty: A Slippery Slope
• Chapter Forty-One: A Force to Contend With
• Chapter Forty-Two: It’s Like You Don’t Think Nothing of Yourself
• Chapter Forty-Three: The Sound of Nothingness
• Chapter Forty-Four: Sometimes You Can Give Too Much
• Chapter Forty-Five: Last Demonstration
• Chapter Forty-Six: Guff and the Race Man
• Chapter Forty-Seven: You Been Hidin’ Your Light
• Chapter Forty-Eight: I Shoulda Known
• Chapter Forty-Nine: I Was Hoping You Could Help Me Sort It Out
• Chapter Fifty: I Thought It Was Just the Way of the World
• Chapter Fifty-One: Sometimes There Ain’t No Right Way
• Acknowledgments
• Bibliography
• About The Author
• Selected Titles From She Writes Press