Entertainment

Former Memphian ‘tells it like it is, not like it ain’t’

Poet and author Dr. Gwendolyn Jevita Cheatham – a former Memphian – has released her second book, “Big Mama, The World Is a Playground – Enjoy It!” “A harmonious life is a balance of respect for oneself and others, family involvement, loyal and wholesome friends, spirituality, a healthy social life, and participation in the community in which one chooses to live.”

Dr. Gwendolyn Jevita Cheatham

Poet and author Dr. Gwendolyn Jevita Cheatham – a former Memphian – has released her second book, “Big Mama, The World Is a Playground – Enjoy It!”

 A “big mama” is any woman who has positively influenced, has comforted or has just been there for another to rely on. And according to one reviewer, Cheatham, who graduated from Mitchell High School in 1963, apparently has had many big mamas in her life and is well on her way to being a “big mama” with this release.

The book is a collection of Cheatham’s wit and wisdom, featuring original quotes, her reflections on life, and her poetry. Among the reviews is the declaration that she “tells it like it is, not like it ain’t.”

For example:

“There is a difference between being cautious, prudent and discreet and being an outright, unequivocal, unmitigated coward” reads one of Cheatham’s observations.

Here’s another:

“People who will not help their friends, when they are confronted with a crisis, should not come around later to ask how things turned out.”

One of 16 American educators that Harvard University selected for a grant to study the Latin and Greek lyric, Cheatham has completed five college degrees: A Bachelor’s Degree from Morris Brown College; a Master’s Degree from St. Louis University; a second Master’s Degree from St. John’s College (Santa Fe, N. M.); a Specialist Degree from Georgia State University; and a Doctorate Degree from Walden University, in Minneapolis, Minn.

In 2006, Dr. Cheatham published her first book, “Give Your Teacher This Note—Parents Say the Funniest Things.”  She now is writing a documentary on “Growing Up in Memphis in the 1960’s.”

Former Sen. Zell Miller of Georgia honored Dr. Cheatham with the Governor’s Award in the Humanities for research completed on the city of Atlanta. That work is now in the archives at the Atlanta History Center.

(Big Mama is available on-line in paperback through Amazon and Barnes and Noble and at www.outskirtspress.com/bookstore for a maximum trade discount in quantities of ten or more.)

“Big Mama, The World is
a Playground – Enjoy It!”
Dr. Gwendolyn Jevita Cheatham
Outskirts Press
(Jan. 15, 2011)