Growing Up Mad in the South

<p><em>Growing Up Mad in the South</em> is set in Atlanta GA during the 1950s and '60s when racism sexism and personal salvation were lurking behind Well bless your heart. Diagnosed with schizophrenia at age 17 the <em>Mad</em> narrator struggles with both her aberrant senses and righteous anger at a society that fails to value everyone. From a toddler learning language to an adolescent trying on love she flowers into a creative adult who finds grace writing for a literary magazine in an all-girls college. With a widowed Methodist mother and a protective Hard-Shell Baptist Granny the narrator's upbringing is shaped by the lyrics of gospel music. Bonnie Schell manages to confront Should Keep Quiet and White Only with lyricism and laughter.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p>