Synopses & Reviews
The true story of an African-American man who found, through faith and the self-assurance it provided, the strength to break free of the cycle of poverty and despair that had once characterized his life. John W. Fountain grew up on some of the meanest streets in Chicago, where drugs, crime, decay, and broken homes consigned so many black children to a life of despair and self-destruction. A father at seventeen, a college dropout at nineteen, a welfare case soon after, Fountain was on the verge of giving up all hope. One thing saved him--his faith, his own true vine. True Vine is John Fountain's remarkable story--of his childhood in a neighborhood heading south; of his strong-willed grandparents, who founded a church (called True Vine) that sought to bring the word of God to their neighbors; of his mother, herself a teenage parent, whose truncated dreams help nurture bigger dreams in him; of his friends and cousins, whose youthful exuberance was extinguished by the burdens they faced; and of his religious awakening that gave him the determination to rebuild his life. Today John Fountain is an award-winning reporter for The New York Times, based in his hometown. His return to Chicago marks how his story has come full circle, this time in triumph. True Vine is an inspiring, moving, gripping story of one man's American dream--a dream that all of us can share. The air inside the narrow storefront church felt like hot maple syrup. Grandmother's brown hands reached up toward the high white ceiling, the glowing globes and the cobwebs, as if trying to pull down heaven and touch God. Praise yo' name Je-sus! one church mother shouted. Hal-le-lu-jah, intoned another. Glo-raaaay! It was Sundayservice at True Vine Church Of God In Christ, a weekly spit-spewing Pentecostal revival on the West Side of Chicago, sometime in 1982. After six days of enduring one thing or the other among the travails of life in the ghetto, the saints sought rejuvenation through these teary testimonials and spirituals. I once branded the whole business as snake oil, being of the mind that the spiritual powwows were no better than smoking weed or drinking cheap wine. But this was before my teen marriage and a time on welfare and three children to feed by age twenty-two led me to seek the intoxication of the Spirit. Standing in the sanctuary, lifted up by the uh-HUHs and amens of my grandmother and the little old ladies of the church, I testified: Giving honor to God, to the pastor and his wife, to all the elders, saints and friends... The congregation urged me on. I-I-I don't know how I made it this week... Tears streamed down my face. Truth was, I couldn't see how I could make it through another. I can still hear Grandmother's soothing voice, Hoooold on my darlin, hold on... I was nineteen when I first began to gravitate to the small black congregation of mostly relatives at True Vine, whose flashing neon sign lit up the strip of liquor stores, drug dealers and occasional men in drag, some as big and muscular as professional football players. My grandfather, a robust, gentle man with a round face and gray mustache, was pastor. True Vine was housed in a tidy renovated storefront in the 3900 block of West Roosevelt Road, which us church folk had nicknamed the Jericho Road because of its peril. As a young deacon. I often stood guard at the door during offerings. I was unarmed except forthe sword of the Lord (my Holy Bible) and the good sense to call the police should the devil or any of his disciples in the form of the local assortment of thieves, murderers or stick-up men ever rear their ugly heads.
Synopsis
John W. Fountain grew up on some of the meanest streets in Chicago, where drugs, crime, decay, and broken homes consigned so many black children to a life of despair and self-destruction. A father at seventeen, a college dropout at nineteen, a welfare case soon after, Fountain was on the verge of giving up all hope. One thing saved himhis faith, his own true vine.
True Vine is John Fountain's remarkable storyof his childhood in a neighborhood heading south; of his strong-willed grandparents, who founded a church (called True Vine) that sought to bring the word of God to their neighbors; of his mother, herself a teenage parent, whose truncated dreams help nurture bigger dreams in him; of his friends and cousins, whose youthful exuberance was extinguished by the burdens they faced; and of his religious awakening that gave him the determination to rebuild his life.
Today John Fountain is an award-winning reporter for The New York Times, based in his hometown. His return to Chicago marks how his story has come full circle, this time in triumph. True Vine is an inspiring, moving, gripping story of one man's American dreama dream that all of us can share.
Synopsis
The true story of an African-American man who found, through faith and the self-assurance it provided, the strength to break free of the cycle of poverty and despair that had once characterized his life
Synopsis
John W. Fountain grew up on some of the meanest streets in Chicago, where drugs, crime, and broken homes consigned so many black children to a life of despair and self-destruction. A father at seventeen, a college dropout at nineteen, a welfare case soon after, Fountain was on the verge of giving up all hope. One thing saved him-his faith, his own true vine. True Vine is John Fountain's moving memoir of his childhood and of the religious awakening that gave him the determination to rebuild his life. It is an inspiring story of one man's American dream-a dream that all of us can share.
About the Author
John W. Fountain is a national correspondent for The New York Times, based in Chicago. A graduate of the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, he was previously a reporter for the Chicago Tribune and The Washington Post before joining the Times in 2000. He lives in Olympia Fields, Illinois.