A useful primer on the benefits of homeownership to low-income communities.
In this guide, a financial adviser points to homeownership as the key to increasing generational wealth in Black and brown communities.
With a Ph.D. in psychology, Brown is well aware of the motivations behind how people spend or save their money. In addition to this academic background, this work draws on her own personal and family experiences with homeownership, entrepreneurship, and financial literacy as an African American woman. Too many individuals, she argues, are plagued with “acid reflux” in their pockets. As the adage goes, most of what they earn burns a hole in their pockets. If people want to live the “Post Pandemic American Dream” of “Credit Cards, Cash, and Cadillacs,” the author emphasizes they must become financially savvy in researching investment trends such as cryptocurrency, attending college, and, most importantly, buying a house, which would “impact the generations to come.” Brown is the founder and owner of Fresh Community Development Inc., an organization devoted to providing affordable financial literature and services to low-income families; this guide is an important addition to her reference materials. At just over 100 pages, this concise volume provides practical advice on the benefits of property ownership versus rent as well as sensible, if basic, tips on how to save, spend, and invest, irrespective of one’s economic class. Though there is certainly a racial component to the narrative that emphasizes ownership as a key to assuaging generational poverty, the book does not dwell on the historical contexts or systemic barriers to the purchase of a home. While it offers crucial information to understanding American residential history, this volume is not intended as an indictment of capitalism or racism. Instead, the author is laser focused on individual responsibility and actions where “we all have a role to play” in alleviating poverty. Brown’s conversational prose style borrows heavily from the inspirational lingo of self-help books. In addition, the manual delivers ample references to pop culture, zodiac signs, and Christianity designed to motivate and educate readers to reconsider their spending habits and financial goals.
A useful primer on the benefits of homeownership to low-income communities.Pub Date: Dec. 31, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-73513-323-2
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Success Lockdown Group LLC
Review Posted Online: Jan. 24, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A conversational, pleasurable look into McConaughey’s life and thought.
All right, all right, all right: The affable, laconic actor delivers a combination of memoir and self-help book.
“This is an approach book,” writes McConaughey, adding that it contains “philosophies that can be objectively understood, and if you choose, subjectively adopted, by either changing your reality, or changing how you see it. This is a playbook, based on adventures in my life.” Some of those philosophies come in the form of apothegms: “When you can design your own weather, blow in the breeze”; “Simplify, focus, conserve to liberate.” Others come in the form of sometimes rambling stories that never take the shortest route from point A to point B, as when he recounts a dream-spurred, challenging visit to the Malian musician Ali Farka Touré, who offered a significant lesson in how disagreement can be expressed politely and without rancor. Fans of McConaughey will enjoy his memories—which line up squarely with other accounts in Melissa Maerz’s recent oral history, Alright, Alright, Alright—of his debut in Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused, to which he contributed not just that signature phrase, but also a kind of too-cool-for-school hipness that dissolves a bit upon realizing that he’s an older guy on the prowl for teenage girls. McConaughey’s prep to settle into the role of Wooderson involved inhabiting the mind of a dude who digs cars, rock ’n’ roll, and “chicks,” and he ran with it, reminding readers that the film originally had only three scripted scenes for his character. The lesson: “Do one thing well, then another. Once, then once more.” It’s clear that the author is a thoughtful man, even an intellectual of sorts, though without the earnestness of Ethan Hawke or James Franco. Though some of the sentiments are greeting card–ish, this book is entertaining and full of good lessons.
A conversational, pleasurable look into McConaughey’s life and thought.Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-13913-4
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet final word from an actor who leaves a legacy of compassion and kindness.
The late actor offers a gentle guide for living with more purpose, love, and joy.
Mixing poetry, prescriptive challenges, and elements of memoir, Heche (1969-2022) delivers a narrative that is more encouraging workbook than life story. The author wants to share what she has discovered over the course of a life filled with abuse, advocacy, and uncanny turning points. Her greatest discovery? Love. “Open yourself up to love and transform kindness from a feeling you extend to those around you to actions that you perform for them,” she writes. “Only by caring can we open ourselves up to the universe, and only by opening up to the universe can we fully experience all the wonders that it holds, the greatest of which is love.” Throughout the occasionally overwrought text, Heche is heavy on the concept of care. She wants us to experience joy as she does, and she provides a road map for how to get there. Instead of slinking away from Hollywood and the ridicule that she endured there, Heche found the good and hung on, with Alec Baldwin and Harrison Ford starring as particularly shining knights in her story. Some readers may dismiss this material as vapid Hollywood stuff, but Heche’s perspective is an empathetic blend of Buddhism (minimize suffering), dialectical behavioral therapy (tolerating distress), Christianity (do unto others), and pre-Socratic philosophy (sufficient reason). “You’re not out to change the whole world, but to increase the levels of love and kindness in the world, drop by drop,” she writes. “Over time, these actions wear away the coldness, hate, and indifference around us as surely as water slowly wearing away stone.” Readers grieving her loss will take solace knowing that she lived her love-filled life on her own terms. Heche’s business and podcast partner, Heather Duffy, writes the epilogue, closing the book on a life well lived.
A sweet final word from an actor who leaves a legacy of compassion and kindness.Pub Date: Jan. 24, 2023
ISBN: 9781627783316
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Viva Editions
Review Posted Online: Feb. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2023
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