When Personal Becomes Powerful
In a time when we’re all thinking what it means to be an American, it is important to self-reflect on what these turbulent times mean, what change is happening, and what our values as Americans will be in the future.
Chanticleer Book Reviews wants to honor this moment by examining the work of an author we’ve had a relationship with for years. Janice S. Ellis, Ph.D. has been an author for more than thirty years, writing for newspaper columns and appearing on broadcast radio and streaming services regularly. Along with many other awards, her books have won the CIBA Grand Prize in the Nellie Bly Division for Investigative and Long Form Journalism Works and the CIBA Journey Book Awards for Overcoming Adversity. Her works address political, racial, educational, and socioeconomic news and issues.
At Chanticleer, we’ve had the honor of recognizing Dr. Ellis’s exceptional work. More importantly, her works have consistently earned five-star reviews from our editorial team for books including:
- Real Advocacy Journalism
- Shaping Public Opinion: How Real Advocacy Journalism Should Be Practiced
- Using My Word Power
- From Liberty to Magnolia: In Search of the American Dream
Inspiration from Dr. Janice S. Ellis
Dr. Ellis’ most recent contribution to the Missouri Independent is called “Longing for a State and Country I Can Believe In.” Her article has been distributed in publications across the country—and we want to share it with you as well! This column is a self-reflective piece that strikes a chord with what many of us are feeling today. Here’s an excerpt from the article:
This column is a major departure from how I have written columns for nearly four decades.
It is personal.
I have avoided using “I’ and have endeavored to remain objective and impersonal as I have addressed and analyzed myriad social, educational and political issues across race, age, gender and socioeconomic status.
That has been my practice, whether writing for radio, in print when I wrote for The Kansas City Star and other newspapers, or online writing for The Missouri Independent the last four years. Even in my own blog.
Maybe the “I” in this column is a “collective I” that tugs.
I have a hunch that many of my fellow Missourians and Americans may be feeling as I do as we live through unprecedented, tumultuous, and unsettling political times.
What are you longing for?
Discovering Voices That Matter
This is exactly why Chanticleer exists—to discover, celebrate, and amplify the voices that help us understand our world and ourselves. Dr. Ellis represents the kind of author we’re proud to champion: someone whose work combines rigorous journalism with deep humanity, whose perspective is informed by lived experience, and whose willingness to evolve keeps her relevant across decades.
As Dr. Ellis reminds us, “E pluribus unum”—out of many, one. It’s a motto that speaks not just to our national identity, but to the power of diverse voices coming together to create understanding.
Celebrating Juneteenth and the Stories That Unite Us
This Juneteenth, we encourage reflection on the stories that have shaped us and the voices that continue to guide us forward. Dr. Ellis’s journey from objective journalist to someone willing to say “I” in service of a larger “we” reminds us that the most powerful writing often comes when we’re brave enough to be both professional and personal.
Want to learn more about Dr. Janice Ellis and the books she’s written? Here are links to our interview with Dr. Ellis
and a Chanticleer review of her book—
We hope you all have a joyous Juneteenth!
More about Dr. Ellis
Janice S. Ellis, M.A., M.A., Ph.D., a native daughter of Mississippi, grew up and came of age during the height of the Civil Rights Movement and the Women’s Liberation Movement.
Dr. Ellis has been an executive throughout her career, first in government, then in a large pharmaceutical company, and later as a president and CEO of a marketing firm and a bi-state non-profit child advocacy agency. In addition to those positions, she has been writing columns for more than four decades on race, politics, education, and other social issues for newspapers, radio, and online. Her commentary can be found at janicesellis.com. You can follow her on here on Facebook.
