About the Book
Prologue
Reflections
An Open Letter to a Father: Dear Dad
John W. Fountain
3
Dad’s Lesson: Life Is About Now, Not Then
Donald A. Hayner
6
The Truth at Last
Nichole M. Christian
9
Cutting My Son’s Hair: A Priceless, Intimate Moment
John W. Fountain
14
Through a Picture Window
Stephanie Gadlin
I Know, I Hope, I Wish
Mario D. Parker
23
Ode to a Southern Father: For Daddy Luther
John W. Fountain
29
Reconciliation
The God Who Embraced Me
John W. Fountain
35
My Leading Man
Hamil R. Harris
37
Open Letters to Young Black Men: A Plea for Life
John W. Fountain
42
An Open Letter to a Troubled Young Man:
Lessons on Manhood
John W. Fountain
47
Strictly My Father
Teresa Sewell
53
Never Too Late
Sylvester Monroe
58
I’d Rather Have You
John W. Fountain
64
Redemption
Lip Gloss, Hot Sauce, and a Father’s Loving Thoughts:
An Open Letter to a Daughter
John W. Fountain
69
Where Were You?
Vincent C. Allen
76
Absent but Always Present
Monica Fountain
82
A Presence in His Absence
Lolly Bowean
89
Flawed, Fallible, but Still My Hero
R. Darryl Thomas
93
Tupac Is Alive: A Father’s Angst for a Son
John W. Fountain
98
My Daughter, My Treasure
John W. Fountain
101
Revelation
A Letter to a Professor:
My Tribute to a Journalism Dad
John W. Fountain
105
Papí
Rosa Maria Santana
109
A Tribute to a Father Not-So-Tough-as-Nails
Joseph A. Kirby
115
An Open Letter to a Father: A Plea to a Wayward Son
John W. Fountain
121
Finally, Peace for a Son
John W. Fountain
129
Making Me Whole—Memories of Grandpa
Anne Valente
146
The Father in Me
Lee Bey
151
If I Had Had a Father
John W. Fountain
158
Afterword
Acknowledgments
