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Pocketbook Lady produces expo highlight

by Toure Muhammad

March 2006

Informative, entertaining and funny are some of the words that describe The Pocketbook Monologues, which debuted with a live performance Saturday, March 4 at An Expo for Today’s Black Woman.

WVON Radio personality Sharon McGhee, aka "the pocketbook lady" previewed excerpts from her upcoming book and stage performance of The Pocketbook Monologues, the black woman’s American answer to The Vagina Monologues.

Despite the conversation being below the navel and above the thighs, the discussion was rather conservative, classy and non offensive.

I (Toure Muhammad) talked about the upcoming show with Sharon on our regular Friday morning radio talk the week Feb. 24. Sharon was excited.

"We talk about everything from menstruation to menopause and everything in between," said McGhee.

"You will learn something and we spark conversation. Everytime there was a study in the news about health, as far as African American women, we were always on the short end of the stick," she added. "There’s a new face for HIV and AIDs and it looks like me. Breast cancer, ovarian cancer, we have a lot of issues (that we need to talk about)."

Judging from the applause, the people in attendance loved it. Gracing the stage with McGhee for the adults only staged reading was black radio icon Ladonna Tiddle, former radio personality Deborah Crable, and V103’s Troy Tyler.

"Finally, something the sistas can relate to," said Bean Soup contributor LaShawn Williams who attended the event. "Sharon’s funny and thought-provoking Pocketbook Monologues was right on time; it completely embodied the uniqueness, spirit and depth of black women."

The Pocketbook Monologues follows the blueprint established by Eve Ensler, author of The Vagina Monologues, but with the Black female perspective front and center. It is a collection of stories from women of color that reveals their heartfelt emotions about intimacy. The women’s brutally honest, funny and poignant recollections will take the listener on a roller coaster ride of joy and pain, as they are engaged in never-told stories about women’s connections to their "pocketbooks." The publication and stage production of the monologues will be featured in several major cities throughout the country." I can’t think of a more appropriate place than the Expo for Today’s Black Woman to preview excerpts from The Pocketbook Monologues," says McGhee. "These monologues reflect the innermost feelings of Black women about their bodies."

McGhee first conceived of the idea for The Pocketbook Monologues while attending a performance of The Vagina Monologues. "‘Where are my stories,’ she asked herself. "These are important stories, but they’re not mine," she said. That’s when she decided to write The Pocketbook Monologues, so named because the phrase, "pocketbook" was used by older African-American women to describe the most private parts of the female anatomy whenever the subject of sexuality was discussed.

‘A subject normally taboo’

She spent about six and one half years researching the topic and interviewing women from across the country. "I found many women with the courage to discuss, in vivid detail, a subject that is normally taboo in the African-American community," said McGhee.

"I talked to woman all across the nation. From CEOs to crackheads and everybody in between," she said.

The collection of monologues comes from women that are at the top of their professions in Fortune 500 companies as well as the woman that walks the streets at night trying to find the next hit for her crack pipe. "The women discuss their stories with energy and gusto and I am blessed to share their stories through The Pocketbook Monologues." said McGhee.

McGhee recently signed a letter of agreement with noted literary agent Al Zuckerman, founder and chairman of Writers House, a coup for a first time writer.

Originally from St. Louis, Sharon McGhee is an award-winning radio journalist and former host of the top-rated morning talk show, "Good Morning St. Louis."

Presently based in Chicago, she is an on air news personality at WVON 1690AM.

Steppenwolf Traffic Presents
By Sharon K. McGhee (WVON 1690am radio)
Featuring ensemble member Ora Jones with Ramsey Carey, Deborah Crable, Sharon K. McGhee and La Donna Tittle