Blue Bicycle Books

Join us for a special discussion with Lair Torrent, Thurs., Oct. 15, 5 – 7 pm, “That’s Just the Way It Is Down Here: Mindfulness, Racism and Our Children.” Having moved his family and business from the East Village of Manhattan to Charleston, Lair Torrent was shocked by the often unacknowledged racial divide that exists in our community. In the wake of the Emanuel church shooting, Lair, could no longer accept the excuse, “That’s just the way it is down here.” With the hope of stemming the tide of racism, starting with our children, Lair and Quenetta White, the principal of James Simons Elementary, introduced Mindfulness to the faculty of the school.

Mindfulness is the act of paying attention on purpose to our thoughts and feelings. Through mindfulness, we become more aware of our inner processes, taking us out of our natural reactionary states, and putting us in a place of being able to choose our reactions to our thoughts and feelings. The benefits of mindfulness practice are many, showing positive results with soldiers suffering from PTSD, pain management, to people dealing with anxiety and depression. The latest research with children has shown marked improvement in academic achievement and behavior. Mindfulness has also been shown to create more openness and sensitivity in practitioners, leading many to wonder about its effects on racism.

Lair Torrent is a psychotherapist, executive coach and speaker who works from a holistic perspective: mind, body and spirit. Blending Eastern-based mindfulness practices and Western clinical therapy models, Lair has created a powerful approach to healing. In his work with individuals, couples and in seminars, Lair helps his clients find healing and take control of their lives. He has been resourced/interviewed by NPR, The New York Times and Rolling Stone magazine for his expertise. Lair is currently in private practice in Charleston, but also works remotely with clients worldwide. To learn more about Lair, go to charlestonholisticcounseling.com or crucibleexecutivecoaching.com.

Join Brian Hicks, Tues., Sept. 22, 5—8 PM, The Mills House Wyndham Grand Hotel (115 Meeting St.) with special guests Clive Cussler, Glenn McConnell, Warren Lasch, and Ralph Wilbanks, for the official release of Hicks’ new best-selling book, Sea Of Darkness: Unraveling the Mysteries of the HL Hunley. For more information about the event click here.

Sea of Darkness: Unraveling the Mysteries of the HL Hunley reads like an adventure novel with twists and turns, great characters, terrifying tragedies, and plenty of adventures on the high seas and well below them. Readers will become transfixed by the tales of sea hunters and intrepid innovators; grand dreams and priceless finds. Twenty years after its discovery, Hicks’ deeply engrossing narrative effortlessly transports readers across the centuries and into the depths of the Hunley’s early failures and ultimate, if costly, triumph.

Brian Hicks is a metro columnist for the Post and Courier, and the author or coauthor of six previous books. He has written about Southern history and politics for more than 25 years, including turns as a statehouse newspaper correspondent in three states. 

Join us, Mon., Sept. 21, 5 – 7  pm as Lee Robinson, signs copies of her novel,  Lawyer for the Dog (Thomas Dunne Books, hb., 240 pp., $25). 

One of the sharpest attorneys in Charleston, S.C., Sally Baynard isn’t your typical southern belle. She’s certainly not what her mother hoped she’d grow up to be, especially since she divorced her husband, Family Court Judge Joe Baynard, and his historic family with their historic wealth and historic houses. Maybe Sally was never going to be a proper society lady, but her success as a public defender and family lawyer have been enough for her. She’s represented murderers, burglars, drug dealers and lately has taken on some of the thorniest divorces, all cases closed with her Sally Bright Baynard wit, charm and brains.

Lee Robinson practiced law for over 20 years in Charleston, S.C., where she served as executive director of a legal services agency and later worked in private practice, concentrating on family law. She was elected the first female president of the Charleston Bar Association and received the Bar Association’s award for her work in public interest law. She lives on a small ranch in the Texas hill country.

Join us, Sat., Sept. 12, 5 – 7  pm as Laura Lee Huttenbach signs copies of her book, The Boy Is Gone: Conversations with a Mau Mau General. (Ohio University Press, hb., 256 pp., $29).

A story with the power to change how people view the last years of colonialism in East Africa, The Boy Is Gone portrays the struggle for Kenyan independence in the words of a freedom fighter whose life spanned the twentieth century’s most dramatic transformations. Born into an impoverished farm family in the Meru Highlands, Japhlet Thambu grew up wearing goatskins and lived to stand before his community dressed for business in a pressed suit, crisp tie, and freshly polished shoes. For most of the last four decades, however, he dressed for work in the primary school classroom and on his lush tea farm.

The General, as he came to be called from his leadership of the Mau Mau uprising sixty years ago, narrates his life story in conversation with Laura Lee Huttenbach, a young American who met him while backpacking in Kenya in 2006. A gifted storyteller with a keen appreciation for language and a sense of responsibility as a repository of his people’s history, the General talks of his childhood in the voice of a young boy, his fight against the British in the voice of a soldier, and his long life in the voice of shrewd elder. While his life experiences are his alone, his story adds immeasurably to the long history of decolonization as it played out across Africa, Asia, and the Americas.

Laura Lee Huttenbach is an Atlanta native and graduate of the University of Virginia, has written extensively about her travels in Africa, South America, and the Middle East. Her essay, “Stuck in Bulawayo,” appears in the 2010 Best Travel Writing Anthology. Laura Lee has presented her work at annual conferences for the International Oral Historians’ Association, the Oral History Association, and the 2013 Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference. She is the founder of The General History Project, which seeks to record the life stories of aging community leaders in their own words, promoting cultural awareness, creating historical documentation and enriching the lives of all people, young and old. Currently she lives in Miami Beach, where she is working on her next book, the biography of Robert “Raven” Kraft, a legendary streak runner in Miami who has jogged through the ruination and rebirth of a great American city.

Join us, Thurs., Aug. 20, 5 – 7  pm as Priscilla Shumway & Chef Kimberly Brock-Brown signs copies of the book,  Real Women, Real Leaders (Wiley, hb., 208 pp., $35). 

Real Women, Real Leaders profiles women thought leaders who provide personal, useful insights into their leadership journeys. Using the 16 leadership competencies developed by Jack Zenger and Joe Folkman , the women leaders describe their own experiences and offer guidance on topics such as building alliances, mentoring other women, balancing family and career, and overcoming obstacles in a man’s world.

Priscilla Shumway is president and principal of New Learning Presentation Systems, a consulting company specializing in learning and development. As a senior national trainer for The Bob Pike Group since 1996, she has trained thousands of people nationally and internationally. An award-winning presenter, Priscilla has worked in a number of industries and has had numerous opportunities to observe the challenges and opportunities facing women in business. A former public school teacher and corporate trainer, Priscilla has specialized in staff development and training in the education, publishing and software industries since 1991. She has also consulted on sales training, meeting facilitation, marketing initiatives, project management, and business development.

Chef Kimberly Brock-Brown is a member of the American Academy of Chefs  (AAC), the Honor Society of the ACF, and founding member  of the ACF National Pastry and Baking Guild. Chef Kimberly is currently the Academy’s only African-American Female Chef inducted in its 30-plus year history and is the only African-American Female Certified Pastry Chef in South Carolina. In recognition of her dedication to her craft, the joy of teaching and helping others, and love of cooking, Chef Kimberly was awarded a Lifetime Professional Membership in the ACF in 2007. In her off time of running her own business and being a devoted mother, Kimberly has been a Culinary Arts adjunct teacher for Johnson & Wales University and The Culinary Institute of Charleston at Trident Technical College. Is a participating chef with the White House’s First Lady Michelle Obama’s initiative for Chefs Move to Schools program.