Special to the Tri-State Defender
Life has given Dwight Fryer plenty of opportunities to drown in a pool of sorrow.
In 1992, while coming home from work, a motorist driving under the influence hit his car, and the crash sent his body through the windshield. Eight years later, he was laid off from his job at an oil company. The next week, he learned he had colon cancer. As he was undergoing treatment, Adrienne, his youngest daughter, fell ill and died suddenly at the age of 16 on his birthday. She had meningitis.
Though Fryer, an ordained Christian minister, was badly shaken by the painful events, he clung to his faith and turned to writing as a form of therapy.
“During the last seven years, I have had a great deal of time to examine myself and to speak to God about who I am, where He wants me to go from here, and what I can do better,” as he explains on his Web site.
“I would never have volunteered for my ordeal; however, I would not have missed the special times alone with the Lord this situation provided. Away from the hustle and bustle of my always-busy schedule, I could hear him speak to me.”
The message he heard: keep on moving.
Two novels later, this Tennessee-based author/marketing executive somehow has managed to turn life’s lessons on adversity – those experienced by him and his main characters - into a successful brand, and a ministry that seeks to reach the walking wounded.
His website, www.dwightfryer.com offers motivational speeches for MPGs, including one on how to become a published author, and another on getting the culturally competent health care you deserve. Then, there are the novels, “The Knees of Gullah Island,” and “The Legend of Quito Road,” his breakthrough effort. A third novel is in the works.
Fryer’s intimate relationship with pain, coupled with his appreciation for history, has prompted him to tackle a difficult topic: the rise up from slavery.
His novels explore slaves and masters in recovery, the journey from chains, to freedom, to self-liberation.
“People can heal,” Fryer says. “You can overcome these things. You just have to fight through it as best you can.”
“The Legend of Quito Road” has earned Fryer a place as a finalist in the 2007 NAACP Image Award’s Debut Author category. Moreover, the book is a required text this year for the Forms of Fiction graduate-level class at his alma mater, the University of Memphis. The theme is historical fiction. He says other required texts include "Jordan County," by Shelby Foote, "The Dress Lodger," by Sheri Holman, and "Fever," by John Edgar Wideman.
The novels deal with an open sore in American history, an era where skin color caused members of the same family to deny their own relations; great power and fortunes were amassed from illicit and immoral actions; self-respect was a rare but valuable currency, and slaves and their masters struggled to escape their shackles.
Writing about such a dark chapter in history is difficult, yet therapeutic, says Fryer, a Tennessee native who lives in a rural area outside of Memphis. He is a descendant of a family of farm workers who lived on the historic twenty thousand acre Ames Plantation near Grand Junction, Tenn.
Many African-American authors visit book clubs to drum up interest in their books. As Fryer has spoken to these groups he has found a forum to discuss his personal challenges, and minister to those still struggling with despair.
The novels give him a chance to reach out to other parents and persuade them to get their children the meningococcal vaccines, which just might have saved his daughter’s life. They provide him with the chance to talk about the nice doctor who kept telling him he was okay, while his body kept telling him that he was sick. Fryer was so sure that he was ill that he offered to pay for additional exams and tests; only then, did his doctor discover the colon cancer.
Diversity sometimes serves as a barrier in healthcare delivery, and Fryer uses personal experience, born of tragedy to offer patients advice on survival in his tape: “The Patient in Room 3053.”
Fryer’s life, like those of many of his characters, has been a drama about self-liberation and faith. His novels trace the roots of contemporary problems, and explore the universal need for healing.
“I am blessed to be here in telling my story,” he says.
“My goal is teaching and preaching…Showing up at medical schools and making sure we look around at these culture shades...Talking to young girls, about how beautiful they are…I am going to walk over to these young boys…And I am going to tell them never put your hands on a woman in anger. I am going to show up at places where my grandfather was run out, and have them pay me to come back and make a speech. . .
“I truly want to help people find their way in life.”
