Beat of a Different Drum: The Untold Stories of African Americans Forging Their Own Paths in Work and Life

By Dax-Devlon Ross

Book Overview

In a series of insightful, probing interviews, Dax-Devlon Ross gives voice to the less-acknowledged realms of the black experience and gives us all new role models of courage, iconoclasm, and creativity. Ross, an inner-city schoolteacher who eschewed a career in law, became aware of the need for a book like this one when he came to his own career crossroads. To write it, he criss-crossed the country and even traveled to Europe, talking to black Americans who have stepped outside their comfort zones and found lives that no one had ever imagined they'd lead. In Beat of a Different Drum, you'll meet: Lisa Stevens, the zoo curator who cares for the pandas at the National Zoo Johnathon Lee Iverson, the first black Ringling Brothers Circus ringleader Jair Lynch, an Olympic athlete and real estate entrepreneur James McLurkin, an inventor and robotics researcher Ray Hill, a brewmeister who left a lucrative career to start his own beer company Uchenna Smith, who, at 25, began running her own school with the KIPP-Sankofa program Jake Lamar, an expatriate novelist Mike Ladd, an M.C., producer, and professor Bill Collins, a former Principal turned sailor turned world-renowned chef Stacey Barney, a schoolteacher turned book editor. . . as well as many others, each of whose stories has something unique to teach us about the search for meaning in one's lifework, and the challenges that we must still face when we march to the beat of a different drum.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1401307841
• ISBN13: 9781401307844
• Release Date: January 2006
• Publisher: Balance
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.3" x 8.0"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Great Book!

I actually met the author is he is a cool guy. This book is very nice read that you can either read straight through or pick up and put down. Each person's story is interesting and makes up a chapter. This book would be an excellent gift for someone making career changes, someone out of college or just someone interested in human stories.

Read it.

I opened Beat of a Different Drum at a moment in my life when I had uneasily decided to follow my heart away from a job that fit within the career path I'd been crafting for myself, and toward an uncertain future. In my malaise of uncertainty about this decision, I began to read Beat of a Different Drum. Not only the stories Dax-Devlon Ross tells, but also his own act of seeking out these stories, comforted and inspired me. The tales of the people Ross profiles address our fundamental fears and ask us to examine why we make the choices we make; what we look for in life and what, at the end of the day, is truly of value. Ross' profiles invite the reader in almost as a confidante of the interviewee, and his easy but meticulous style engages the reader without trite or falsely inspirational notes. At the most fundamental level, Beat of a Different Drum is an exciting catalogue of life stories. To me, it was just what I needed at a moment when I was facing choices that left me confused and frustrated.

A wonderful book

I must agree with the first two reviewers of this wonderful. The stories and the writing are intriguing and inspiring. This book is not only for young people thinking about what they want to do with their life, it's for those of us seeking new career paths or looking for affirmation that our own "road less taken" is right for us. Though this book speaks to all audiences, I like how Ross also situates the lives of the people he interviews in the social context of our society. These are not just the "I have made it and you can too" stories. These are stories of people of African descent who didn't/don't take traditional paths in life. They are scientist, artists, political activists, inventors, filmmakers, models, book editors, etc. who chose paths in their life in which they were often met with many obstacles--both racial and personal--but yet were determined to fulfill their aspirations. I'm glad that Ross didn't choose a question-answer format for this book. Instead, he uses his skills and talent as a writer to tell stories so that we get to know his subjects even better. Plus, you get sense that Ross himself was on a journey himself and thus was able to bring a personal side to these stories, even though it's not a book about his life. I look forward to future and similar works by this author. One wishes that he turn this book into a talk show, so that even more people can discover what others are doing to move ahead in life and shape a path that that is not about money and fame, but doing something that you love and find fulfilling in your life. I will recommend this book to many people.

Truly Inspiring

Despite being white, I found tremendous inspiration in this book. Throughout my life I've always been a bit of an outcast, and as such wasn't able to completely fit in with any group. In seeking happiness, I found myself pursuing a great variety of interests from martial arts and Asian culture, to politics and history, to my current passion of producing hip hop music. Out of the 30 characters I found a number of people that I could relate to in various ways. Marla the filmmaker reminded me of how I was unable to fit in with just about any social group, and showed that someone in such a position could find her passion and follow it. On page 351, Azikwe Chandler says some things about the pressures of a materialistic society that I struggle with on a daily basis: when many of your friends are doing just that while you're trying to chase a dream in music, you often wonder "What am I doing with my life?" The whole recurring theme that "you don't have to do what society says you have to" further reinforces what my heart has been telling me for a while now - that there's no shame in being different, that the struggle for achieving something positive and special is worth every bit of insecurity, frustration and criticism the world throws at you. So far I've sent copies of this book to my friend in Trinidad who struggles with following her passion for art while being confined to a culture where traditional roles of women are encouraged from all angles; as well as a friend in the Bronx who deals with life as a single mother, raising her son to be a strong man amongst the reality of poverty and the negativities associated with it. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who has a dream; it will help you find the courage to follow it.

Where was this book when I was in school?

When he wrote this book, Dax-Devlon Ross gave power to an idea that is dear to my heart--that as African-Americans we don't have to settle for a role or for what's easy and comfortable. This a perfect book for anyone who is asking themselves "what do I want to be when I grow up?" This goes for high schoolers just about to enter college all the way up to those who are already in the working world and look for a career change. I love the idea that there is a book out there that tells us that we don't have to be limited. There are so many opportunities out there for us and all we need to do is open our eyes to them. It really let me know that I was not the only one who, even though there was doubt and insecurity, took the road less traveled and lived through the struggle and reveled in that choice. Sometimes we are under the impression that in order to be successful you have to be either an entertainer, in the medical field (preferably as a doctor), a lawyer, or a business person. All we have to do though is look at this book and the people it profiles to know that you can be successful just about anywhere and that success doesn't necessarily have to be financial. It can also be in the way you've lived your life, the happiness you've attained, and the influence you are able to have over others that might be in the same boat. This book has made me feel validated in the choices I've made and shows that we all can have these choices too.