DAUGHTERS

Sanaa Lathan's face

actress, Gabrielle Union

"'...a woman's casual relationship with her own beauty is an appealing quality misunderstood by predators, over emphasized by poets, and taught by mothers, and older women who know, and understand the importance of rising above the illusions of fame, and self-importance. I had to find a way as a father to teach these things to my two daughters against a Christian backdrop that resented that kind of empowerment. It was an interesting time of making mistakes, asking questions, learning, unlearning, and challenging the very nature of fixed ideas encircling my little girls. The large challenge was me. Daughters made me acutely aware of my actual beliefs. It frightened me as they discovered my contradictions. Their personalities accepted their powers to show me what was inconsistent within me. Now it is funny listening to them recount those days, and a bit unnerving hearing their critiques. Their mother (we are no longer together) recently told me the same story with the same set of emotions as we reviewed the lives we led our children into."'

-Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories

Gail Cullen, a FACEBOOK friend