In the early 1950s, legendary baseball hero Jackie Robinson literally “tested the ice” for his kids who so eagerly wanted to skate on the frozen lake near their home. Testing the Ice is a stunning metaphor for Robinson’s remarkable racial breakthrough.

This book review is based on a promotional copy provided to me thanks to Scholastic. I was immediately drawn in by Kadir Nelson's compelling illustrations and found myself imagining the rural descriptions contained in the book. Through this storybook I was able to relive moments of Jackie Robinson's life and piece together tidbits and anecdotes I've been told over the years by people who personally crossed paths with this sports pioneer. As my sports-enthusiast son is in high school I had the less than enviable task of testing the book out of my princess, fairy, Dora and Diego loving daughter. Although at the age of three, she wasn't able to grasp the full content of the story but she sat attentive as I read to her and waiting eagerly for me to turn each page to see what picture was coming next. By story's end she understood the overarching theme of not being afraid to do things that need to be done.

The Giveaway:

In conjunction with Big Honcho Media, Makes Me Wanna Holler will be giving away four (4) beautiful hardcover copies of Testing The Ice. This is just in time for the holidays and will make a great gift for a young one who loves to read.

Entries can be one or all of the following:

1. Leave a comment about why you would like a copy of Testing The Ice for your child(ren). (This doesn't have to be long and drawn out. The simpler, the better.)
2. Leave a comment about your love of baseball or Jackie Robinson or a Jackie Robinson anecdote.
3. Tweet about this contest and include my handle, @MakesMeHoller, in your tweet (please leave a comment here to let me know you've tweeted).

You can do any or all of the above as many times as you like. And of course I'm always open to you, my loyal readers, spreading the word about Makes Me Wanna Holler (but this isn't a requirement for this giveaway).

Winners will be chosen by Random.org.

This contest will begins today Friday, November 13, 2009 at the time of this posting, 12:15 p.m. (EST) and ends at 12:15 a.m. on Friday, November 20, 2009. You must be either: a US citizen or have a US mailing address to enter. No purchase necessary to enter.

This contest is now CLOSED. The winners will be mentioned in a blog post on Monday, November 23, 2009.





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This is a Dad I've been itching to feature. Because he's a particularly busy man I had to be patient as I waited for him to have the time to be interviewed. His name is Lamar Tyler he is the co-creator of Black And Married With Kids and Happily Ever After: A Positive Image of Black Marriage. He and his wife, Ronnie, have been instrumental in utilizing the Internet and social media to promote the very obvious fact that there are good African American men out there who are wonderful fathers and husbands. The Facebook fan site for his recently released documentary, Happily Ever After: A Positive Image of Black Marriage, currently has 22,700 fans and is expanding at an exponential rate. If that isn't a testament to fact that better manhood, fatherhood and husbandry isn't (and always has been) alive and well in communities of color, I don't know what is.


Where do you live?
LT: DC Area

What's your occupation?
LT: IT Manager for a Broadcast Television Station

How many children do you have, how long have you been married?
LT: 4 Kids 4 Years

When did you start blogging and what inspires you to blog?
LT: December 2007. The desire to challenge stereotypes about marriage and parenting in the black community.

What does being a dad mean to you? How does being a man of color impact this?
LT: Being a dad means being the one the entire family leans on. Being the backbone of the family and setting the vision for my wife, my children and myself to share. Being a dad of color means I have to ensure that my children understand that anything is possible regardless of how they see their culture portrayed around them.

What has been one of your most memorable moments as a father? As a husband?
LT: Definitely the birth of my children on the larger scale and that was memorable from both the standpoints of a husband and a father. On a smaller more regular basis coming home to a loving family that bum rushes you at the door is memorable even though it happens every night.

What advice/recommendation would you give to someone about to become a father and/or husband?
LT: Be responsible, take the approach that if not you then who? You are the final stop gap for your family and that responsibility weighs on your shoulders. Also the relationship that you have with your wife and directly with your children will directly shape how your little boys or little girls relate to their spouses and children years from now.

If you could accomplish anything through your blogging, what would that be?
LT: Generating more awareness of the balance that exists within the black community instead of just the negative that's always portrayed. Also making it known that marriage is a possibility to those who live in communities where they may not see successful marriages on a daily basis. That is the total goal of Blackandmarriedwithkids.com and the Happily Ever After documentary.

Lamar Tyler


www.blackandmarriedwithkids.com


www.happilyeverafterthemovie.com


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No one was injured or taken seriously during the taking of this photograph...

If you haven't already, let the veteran(s) in your life know you're thinking about them today.

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Last week I was interviewed by Kimberly Allers, the dynamic, Mommy Lifestyler behind the Mocha Manual bestselling book series and its companion website. She wanted to know if and how I did my daughter's (pictured left) hair. They also got the thoughts of my good buddy, MochaDad, on the subject. Just in case you didn't catch it over there, I brought the full interview over here to Makes Me Wanna Holler for your reading pleasure...

Daddy Talk: Doing My Daughter’s Hair

My wasband can't seem to get it right. We wondered how other dads were faring in doing their daughter's hair. The answers were tangled and knotted!

Every Monday when I wait at the bus stop, I face my Dad-does-Kayla’s-hair fears. After a weekend with her father, how my daughter’s hair looks when she goes to school on Monday is anybody’s guess. How she looks when she steps off the bus after school, is my greatest fear. (Read my blog today on my Monday Fright Fest)

So I started wondering if my childrens’ father is the only father who can’t master two simple ponytails. The man speaks fluent French and does freakishly complex math permutations in his head—but a almost straight part and two barrettes—not so much.

So we set about asking some of our favorite Dads about their hair experiences. In this age we were thinking Dads are doing it all. Or are they?

Eric who writes the blog, MakesMeWannaHoller resides in New York and has been married for 2 years, has two children one of which is a 3 year old daughter. Eric has this to say:

Mocha Manual: How often do you do your daughters hair?

Me: Typically once or twice a week when my wife isn't traveling on business. When she's out of town I have to do it every day.

Mocha Manual: Do you find it difficult? If so what do you find difficult about it?

Me: My daughter has enough hair for me, my wife and my son, so if there is any difficulty in doing her hair it's the sheer amount of it that is required to be detangled, then combed, then braided, unless I leave it loose. But because of the amount of hair she has it's more manageable if it's braided and my braids don't stay tight the way they do when her mother does her hair.

Mocha Manual: Do you find it to be fun/ a good bonding experience ?

Me: I wouldn't call it fun, it is time consuming for sure. I definitely feel that we were able to bond in a different format. There are even times when she prefers me to Mom, but those times are rare.

Mocha Manual: How did you learn to do hair? Did you learn by trial and error?

Me: The experience will always be trial and error for me, since hair isn't something I have any skill in (other than barbering in college) and personally don't concern myself with since I shave my head. I'm pretty good at learning through watching. My wife does our daughter's hair in the evenings before her bedtime and from the very beginning I was fascinated by the process and watched intently. Eventually it began to click for me, but in the beginning I had my daughter looking like she had been in a cat fight.

Mocha Manual: What advice would you give other fathers who have to do their daughters hair?

Me: Be patient! Find distractions for her that will require her to sit still and shift her focus to something besides her hair and remember pulling on hair hurts, especially when a man is doing it.

Mocha Manual: Do you get your props?

Me: People are always surprised when they see my daughter's hair looking decent and I announce that I did it. No one has ever not believed me, but more times these people are women who are surprised that I would do my daughter's hair. But she's my daughter. If there's anything I'm not going to allow it's for my daughter to go outside looking like "Who did it and ran?" My pride in my daughter's appearance far outweighs any pride I might have had at some point in my life about being a man doing a girl's hair. She's not just a girl, she's my daughter and that overrides everything. Every daughter should hold the same level of importance in their father's lives.



Fred, an African American father who blogs as MochaDad.

Mocha Manual: How often do you do your daughters hair?
MochaDad: I rarely do my daughter's hair because she doesn't think I'm competent enough to touch her hair.
Mocha Manual: Do you find it difficult? If so what do you find difficult about it?

MochaDad: The actual hair styling is not all that difficult. The most difficult part is having to listening to my daughter berate me because of my subpar styling skills,
Mocha Manual: Do you find it to be fun or a good bonding experience ?

MochaDad: Fun is definitely not the word I would use to describe my experiences. If you've ever bathed a cat, you can understand how my hair styling sessions go.

Mocha Manual: How did you learn to do hair? Did you learn by trial and error?

MochaDad: It was definitely by trial and error. I can't say that I've completely learned how to do hair. Definitely not in my daughter's opinion.

Mocha Manual: What advice would you give other fathers who have to do their daughters hair?

MochaDad: One ponytail is the key to success.

So how about you? Do you (if you're a dad) do your daughter's hair? Have you had any success; is it a horror story of epic proportions or are you somewhere in the middle? Moms, what say you about Daddy's hairstyling skills?


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In New York,
Concrete jungle where dreams are made of,
There's nothing you can’t do,
Now you’re in New York,
These streets will make you feel brand new,
The lights will inspire you,
Lets here it for New York, New York, New York...

It's the city that made me Man, Dad and Husband...



Congrats to the New York Yankees! Enjoy your parade. Be safe out there New York.

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Last week, after being handed their first defeat all season, my son claimed a W for his last football game of the season. Because the team had been previously undefeated, his coaches lobbied the school for a night game and got it...on a Tuesday. Last night the team won a decisive 28-14 victory and finished the year with a 6-1 record. I shot 115 photos. Half of them were a complete and utter disaster. I'm not even going to bore you how many stupid mistakes I was making with the Canon Rebel XT I was shooting with. I was fussing with it when my son snatched a Hail Mary pass out of the sky and crashed back to Earth in the endzone for his first touchdown of the season. I won't let that happen again.

Finally, I figured out my settings and the other half came out nice. So nice, that I now know I need a better camera. Here are my favorites from my son's Tuesday Night Lights experience.



In the huddle. My boy (#15) and crew figuring out what to do.


Awww...yeah...


The blur is #13, the scoringest running back on the team. I spent the entire season trying to catch him with my camera. Clearly it's not happening.


Going in for the kill...


I love this photo. It's so rugged.


My son's newest and growing fan.


Standing by while Coach observes.


The game is coming to a close.


Good sportsmanship...always necessary.


My little boy is no little boy...anymore.

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Last Thursday the wife went to New Orleans on a business trip that would keep her out of town until Sunday. She was pretty busted up about missing our daughter's first, definitively self-aware Halloween. I was too.

It meant I was going to have to do everything by myself.

As the Dad in this operation I take the pictures, I drive, I do the lifting (literally), I pick up the rear. I typically don't initiate activities and from what I understand many fathers don't. On the docket was a Halloween Party in my building, Trick-Or-Treating in my neighborhood and somehow figuring out how to keep my son reigned in.

Yippee.

It's not that I didn't want to experience this with my daughter but I don't initiate conversations. I don't attend children's events to make connections. My focus is solely on my family and their enjoyment. Of course I make nice with other kids because as a father I've now learned how to talk the talk and kids can smell the father on me the same way pets smell animals on humans that own pets, but I'd be lying if I said I eagerly anticipated these events. I honestly think it hails back to my days of being a shy young man from Chi-Town. Beyond that, I have a 14 year-old I had to keep out of trouble and entertained. And attending a kiddie party wasn't going to work for him.

I'm happy to report that I was saved from the apartment building Halloween party thanks to the kindness of a fellow-father-acquaintance who invited me to the Halloween Celebration at the American Museum of Natural History. I rounded up the kids, snagged a teenage niece (by friendship on my wife's side) from Yonkers to come along for the ride and headed to the City.

The streets were teeming with little ones and their parents in costumes. I was most impressed by a mom and pop duo who were dressed as Han Solo and Princess Leia and had their son covered in faux fur as Chewbacca.  And then there was my fairy princess...

She and I spent our time in the City as an inseparable pair. She was the star of the show and I was her handler/PR person. I was on hand to repair one wardrobe malfunction after another, to hold her hand when she got scared by the darker rooms at the museum and to just realize that besides being the most challenging and rambunctious 3 year old I know, she is the very breath I breathe. And where was my son during all this love? After taking all my money to buy a bunch of food he didn't even finish at the food court, he and his cousin took off running and I didn't see them again until the museum closed.




By evening's end I was still tending to my baby, trick or treating back in my rain-soaked neighborhood. I walked behind her with my umbrella over her head while I kept pace one step behind her, stinking of wet wool thanks to the sweater and pageboy cap I wore. And where was my son and my niece? Running the streets of my new suburb with about 30 other teens having the most boring Halloween ever in the pouring rain.

That night my lil' bit and I baked Halloween cookies, carved a pumpkin to look like Dora the Explorer (something I proudly did by freehand), and I went on to single-handedly toast some of the nastiest pumpkin seeds ever in the history of pumpkin seeds. Oh well. It was my first time.




As the weekend came to a close, I realized once more how much I love my job as Dad. But it's not my job. It's who I am and what I do. No matter the challenges nor what I don't want to face nor what I might actually fear, I do it because I love them. Not because I'm supposed to (I mean I am actually supposed to) but because I love them and I need them just as much as they need me.




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