America Tonight with Kate Delaney features Carol Wilson-Mack, the author of Patchwork: Conversation Between Generations (ReadersMagnet, 2020).
Who is Carol Wilson-Mack?
Carol Wilson-Mack holds a master’s degree in Communications Arts from New York Institute of Technology (NYIT)and is a graduate of the Long Ridge Writers Group. She is also a Registered Professional Nurse, and works as an Educator in the healthcare industry, focusing on staff education. She has completed a Doctorate in Divinity, which enhances her inspirational scriptwriting abilities.
She has authored several stage scripts, which have been produced in New Jersey; Baldwin, NY; New York City; and the Bronx, NY. She has produced several CDs, one of gospel music featuring Ms. Stella Bobian, and one of poetry, in which she reads the words of poet/writer the late George Edward Tait. She was the writer and artistic director for the television show “Woman Of The Week”, which highlighted ordinary women doing extraordinary things. The show aired on cable television for more than ten years and received the CAPE (Cable Award for Programming Excellence) in 1994.
Carol is currently directing a stage play, titled “Sly Fox”. She is also the author of the fan memoir Fan Loyalty, a tribute to the late Brook Benton. Fan Loyalty has received five-star reviews on Amazon and is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
A book inspired by quilting and conversation
Imagine how an ordinary activity, or rather moment, can help build up a young black girl for a career in writing and the arts. Carol Wilson-Mack still remembers the time her grandmothers and other women in the rural community of Bamberg, South Carolina met to bond and share stories over quilting. She even published a book about that bond, titled Patchwork: Conversation Between Generations.
The book Patchworkis born out of quilting, which is somewhat a lost art in the digital age, and (the need for) conversation, which is now largely confined to social media sites. The book will somewhat make readers reminisce about the time when people met face to face and shared stories while quilting or doing other stuff. This left an impression on Wilson-Mack.
“Being around my grandmothers and hearing them talk to each other and seeing them interact with the other women, I thought about all the stories that I heard them sharing and I said, ‘Oh this would be a good thing to share with others,’” the author told her host Kate Delaney.
Tumultuous times
Patchwork represents the stories and lives of the God-centered women who created an atmosphere that allowed them to help their families. Quilting was their point of focus; however, this activity provided an opportunity to share their challenging stories. The stories in Patchworktook place in rural Bamberg, South Carolina between 1939 and 1959.
Wilson-Mack acknowledged that it was a tumultuous period due to poor race relations.
“Oh, yes! It really was. You know, there were perpetrations between the races. There were not good interactions. They were not as positive as we would like them to be, so that is part of what was going on during that period.”
Interracial relationships were frowned upon at that time. Some black and white were interacting sexually but such ties had to be kept a secret, lest inflame racial hatred.
Being where the stories were
“I was underfoot, always listening and sometimes maybe understanding a little bit of what the elders were talking about,” said Wilson-Mack, who sat on the floor, listening to the women speak. “But you know, during that period as a child, you were not allowed to say much. You just listen, you know… We didn’t have much to say but we did hear.”
The call to conversation
By publishing Patchwork: Conversation Between Generations, Wilson-Mack encourages readers to find a way to bridge the gap between generations. How? By sharing helpful information through conversation – conversations between generations. She calls on both young and old to converse with each other, not just to members of their own generation.
“I would like them to be involved and interacting with each other,” Wilson-Mack tells Kate Delaney, “not just to people from your own generation but also elders and youth.”
The author stressed out that society should allow youth to speak out because they too have something to say. Elders and youth have to listen to each other and learn from each other, especially in the realm of technology. Both groups – the youth and the elder – must be open to a two-way conversation. Being the elder does not mean they have a monopoly on teaching. They should recognize the youth, who also have something to say.
Order today Carol Wilson-Mack’sPatchwork: Conversation Between Generations today in print and/or digital format on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and the author’s website https://www.cwmackbooks.com/