Saturday, September 5, 1998

Local author spreads Christian message

By LORETTA FULTON

Senior Staff Writer

Nisha Jackson is fat, and she doesn't mind saying so.

It's for all those "overweight" people who do mind saying so that Jackson has written a humorous book on the subject titled, Thoughts From a Fat Woman.

Abilenians will best remember Jackson, 40, from her days at Abilene High School and as a member of the choir at Bethel A.M.E. Church. She also hit it big, so to speak, when she won the "You Can Be a Star!" contest sponsored by TNN in 1988.

"She has a beautiful voice -- she really can sing," said her mother, longtime Abilene resident Lula Mae Jackson.

Winning the star search contest brought Jackson a recording contract with Capitol Records, and her release "Alive and Well" broke Billboard's Top 100 singles chart.

But Jackson didn't let her fame go to her head. She currently is a master level social worker in Nashville, serves as a big sister to a 13-year-old girl through the Big Brother/Big Sister program, and is active with her church, Born Again Ministries and Christian Outreach.

She also uses her talent to write and perform in Christian plays through Worship Arts Ministry.

Jackson's good humor shows forth in her book from the opening chapter titled, "Pardon Me, But Are You Fat?"

Jackson's observations are humorous and true to life.

"I have always found it interesting whenever a movie about a group of kids is made, there is always a female, a black child, and a fat child represented," she wrote. "I wonder what that means. However when the kids grow up, the fat one apparently loses weight."

Jackson obviously inherited her sense of humor from her mother, and perhaps her father, Hartzell Jackson, too. When someone remarked that her daughter didn't look fat in her photograph, Jackson quickly replied, "Yes, she is too!"

Jackson confided that her daughter "has kind of been overweight most of her life" and even lost 100 pounds at one time.

But no doubt her friends at Bethel A.M.E. will remember Jackson for much more than her size. She graced the church with her voice, singing in the choir and performing special music.

After graduating from Abilene High School, Jackson earned a bachelor's degree at Lamar University and later a master's degree at Tennessee State University.

Jackson has lived in Nashville since 1987. In 1995 she won the prestigious National Association of Social Workers award for Outstanding Social Work Student of the Year for the state of Tennessee.

Jackson currently is working on a second book and plans to launch a line of Christian T-shirts.

Books may be ordered from the website www.angelfire.com/biz/fatwoman or by calling 672-1750.