About the author
My life is a chronicle of contemporary Black America, its triumphs and downfalls…Got a minute to listen?
Claretta Street A Novel By Colette Barris
My life is a chronicle of contemporary Black America, its triumphs and downfalls…Got a minute to listen?
Claretta Street, my first novel will transform taking you the reader on a journey of incredible depth and monumental revelations. The road to Claretta Street as taken forty years and countless moments of unbearable joy and sadness in the process we call life. Historical fiction allows the reader to live through the four critical decades of the four hundred year African American journey in America.
At times I cannot believe my own journey to the completion of “Claretta Street.” Here I stand in the eye of the storm America deconstructing right before my eyes, and the story thirty years in the making prophetically timed. Empath clairvoyance allowed me to tell with indepth accuracy the story of ancestors refusing to transition in silence-and for that I am honored. I am so blessed for this privilege.
Claretta Street Excerpt
Chapter One - The Source of My Intimate Joy and Pain
My life is a chronicle of contemporary Black America, its triumphs and downfalls..Got a minute to listen?
I have always loved the sun and wind of autumn in Pacoima, a cozy little town in the East San Fernando Valley of Southern California. Dawn’s introduction to the day was a special occasion for me fall’s weather crisp, charged with Southern California’s famous Santa Ana winds, which gently stroked my face making me feel alive. Pacoima a refuge for Negroes or Coloreds, (as we were called then), was nurturing, warm and most importantly filled with love.
My home was a modern sixties tract style residence located on a little tree lined street called Claretta. Middle class Negroes moved to this Hamlet for its sense of community, beauty and protection. Claretta Street was picture postcard perfect all the lawns vibrant green and manicured; children played with endless energy and joy, traveling from one house to another surveying each other’s existence. Claretta Street will always be my home. When I feel sad, lonely or troubled, I close my eyes and remember…the joy.
Being five years old amongst a vast segment of what I can only describe as Africa was simply amazing. The neighborhood was a cornucopia of African shades and textures, possessing so many different family traditions, cultures and dialects that each home was a different experience. The fact that my parents were the youngest married couple on the block made me part of its Babies.
My father Lee worked on the assembly line of General Motors building automobiles. Working on the assembly line was a hard ass manual labor job, but it paid well and had good medical benefits important to a man with a wife, a kid and another on the way. That summer, my brother Lee Jr was born; Lee Jr was very quiet, but extremely intelligent, yet filled with unknown sadness.
Urban Village Podcast
Claretta Street Song By Elaine Gibbs
Claretta Street Song By Elaine Gibbs
Urban Village Podcast Highlights The Village and the lives of Black Women ages 35-70+ that hold, 'The Village' together. Urban Village explores popular Urban Culture from a historical, political and economic view.
Claretta Street Song By Elaine Gibbs
Claretta Street Song By Elaine Gibbs
Claretta Street Song By Elaine Gibbs
Claretta Street has over 5 million streams on Sound Cloud. Check it out today!
Claretta Street available on Audible, Amazon, Barnes and Noble Book stores.
Claretta Street Novel
Claretta Street Song By Elaine Gibbs
Claretta Street Novel
Colette Barris’ book “Claretta Street” puts a new shine on powerful Black family storytelling, as she narrates the tale of four girls, known as the “Babies” as they grow up in a politically tense era in 1960s Los Angeles. Grab a copy and dive into this fun and powerful dramedy!