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Talk about an entrance. Lanita Lightfoot was born in a little corner store during the thick of the Watts Riots in southern California. Her untimely entry into the world saved the place from being sacked by looters–and the shop owner showed his gratitude by giving her mother, Aretha, a decade of free rent. But when the reward dries up and her single mother takes to the bottle and a no-good loser boyfriend, Lanita's life becomes drastically altered.
Forced to live in a cramped, dingy apartment, she longs for her biological father to rescue them. Lanita, now thirty-eight, shares this and many other dramatic twists and turns to her life's story, from 1965 to present day, to a hairdresser and a host of colorful characters in an upscale black salon. Lanita embarks upon the journey of becoming a woman while the world evolves and as historical events impact her corner of the world, the black race and the United States. She encounters historical popular culture icons such as Michael Jackson, Todd Bridges and others who transform her perception of her own life. She turns sweet sixteen during a time when the world was engrossed with "Who shot JR?" and attends Howard University when Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday had just become a national holiday. Lanita later finds herself in a West Hollywood strip club. It is not until the new millennium that Lanita finally walks across the stage to receive her diploma. Follow along with her salon audience and witness her life's constant knockdowns and ironic turns-of-luck.
Reader's Guide (coming soon!)