AALBC.com
eNewsletter - August 26th 2010 - Issue #180 (abbreviated)Celebrating Our Literary Legacy Since 1998
Aihttp://aalbc.it/ai-book
Author and fellow poet Robert Fleming shares: "When news reached me about the death of renowned poetess, Ai, I knew that I must write something about her and her unwavering lyrical examination of the human condition in America. Her last collection, No Surrender, will be released in the fall and it is an occasion to pay her tribute.
Ai was always a fierce and uncompromising voice. The author of seven memorable books of poetry, she earned the American Book Award for Sin in 1987 and a National Book Award for Vice in 1999. As the Mitte Chair in Creative Writing at Southwest Texas State University from 2002 -2003, she earned a United States Artist Ford Fellowship in 2009."
Known
to Evil (2nd Leonid McGill Mystery) by Walter Mosleyhttp://aalbc.it/cPvY0M
Known to Evil is a smart, fast paced, well written novel that is electric. As with The Long Fall, Mosley continues to be at the top of his game. The Lenoid McGill series may turn out to be the most captivating mystery series written this decade. If Mosley continues the series with the same quality writing that I’ve read so far, I have no problem stating that Lenoid McGill will be placed in the same company as Sherlock Holmes, Sam Spade, Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot as the best detectives ever written.
In
My Father's House by E. Lynn Harrishttp://aalbc.com/reviews/in_my_fathers_house.html
In My Father’s House is the first installment to a new series the late E. Lynn Harris was working on at the time of his death. I don’t know if this novel will go down in history as a defining moment in his legacy or not. I doubt it. Whatever hopes I had of it generating any excitement in me like the Juneteenth novel in progress that Ralph Ellison was working on when he died or The Cross of Redemption, the uncollected writings of James Baldwin, was completely and utterly dashed! While In My Father’s House had some of the old sparkle that made Harris earlier novels the talk of the town, it’s not enough to save this rehash of the Raymond Tyler-Basil Henderson relationship where only the names have changed.
The Presumption of Guilt: The Arrest of Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Race, Class and Crime in America by Charles Ogletree
http://aalbc.it/ogletree
Everybody remembers how
President Obama
then invited both Gates and the arresting officer to the White House
to bury the hatchet over drinks in a Rose Garden photo-op
subsequently dubbed Beer-Gate, but the nagging question left
unanswered was whether what had transpired back in Cambridge was
really an isolated incident unlikely to reoccur or merely a
reflection of a longstanding, racist police pattern of profiling
African-American males all across the country.
Shedding considerable light on the issue is Harvard law professor
Charles Ogletree in The Presumption of Guilt: The Arrest of Henry
Louis Gates, Jr. Granted, as Dr. Gates’ attorney of record, Ogletree
definitely had a horse in the race, so one might question his
impartiality when he makes mincemeat here of Sgt. Crowley’s
rationale for jailing his client.
The
New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by
Michelle Alexander
http://aalbc.it/newjimcrow
Now that bloom has fallen off the rose of the Obama Administration, most black folks are beginning to wake up to the fact that his election isn’t about to turn the country into a post-racial utopia any time soon. To the contrary, attorney Michelle Alexander argues that in recent decades America has increasingly, and ever so subtly, adopted a color-coded caste system where minorities are targeted, stigmatized and marginalized by the criminal justice system.
Tavis
Smiley discusses the Importance of Journalinghttp://aalbc.com/reviews/america_i_am_a_journal.html#video
Bow
Wow - The “Lottery Ticket” Interviewhttp://aalbc.it/Bow_Wow
At 13, Bow Wow released his first solo CD, “Beware of Dog,” which sold over 3 million copies. A hit single from that debut album, “Bounce with Me,” reached #1 on both the Rap and R&B charts. That achievement earned him recognition in the Guinness Book of World Records as the youngest solo rapper to hit #1. He now has a half-dozen CDs to his name, with a new one in the works.
Here, he talks about his new film, Lottery Ticket, an ensemble comedy where he stars as a guy who has to survive a weekend in the ‘hood before he can cash in a winning lotto ticket worth hundreds of millions.
Biracial,
Not Black, Damn It!http://aalbc.it/biracial
You know you’re watching a groundbreaking documentary when it not only forces you out of your comfort zone but also manages to persuade you to reassess your point-of-view without resorting to potentially-alienating polemic. This is the case with Biracial, Not Black, Damn It!, a poignant, thought-provoking and ultimately most-enlightening film directed by the brilliant Carolyn Battle Cochrane.
Social
Media Tip: How to track where & how many times your links are clickedhttp://bit.ly/9GVx78
How can you determine which web sites like Twitter, Facebook, discussion boards, or blogs that you post your website link are bring your the most visitors?
How do you know if an online advertisement you've placed is doing as well as you expected -- or even as well as you've been told? The answer is easy: Read the article to find out how.
This article is the first of a series of articles at AALBC.com's Social Media 101 website: http://socialmedia101.us/
Well
Considered by Richard Morrishttp://aalbc.it/wellconsidered
With on-target commentary or race, sex, crime, family, social and gender issues, and mob violence, Well Considered is a profoundly memorable and affecting novel of an African American man trying to come to grips with the hate-filled past and the poisonous divisive present.
Goony
Goo-Goo and Ga-Ga Too! by Kia Morgan Smith
http://aalbc.it/goony
Drawing inspiration from her own children, author Kia Morgan Smith has written a fun picture book about the trials and triumphs of siblings getting used to a new little one. Goony Goo-Goo and Ga-Ga Too! (AuthorHouse, 2010) opens with sisters Selena and Celeste complaining about their baby brother. “He looks like a pickle. He looks like a prune.” From spitting up to crying and smelling bad, the baby gets on their nerves. Then Mom beckons them closer and the girls invent a special language to communicate with him. Wild imaginings ensue until Mom and baby turn the tables and the girls see their little brother in a new way.
An
Outdoor Screening of the documentary film Abraham's
Children http://aalbc.com/events/abrahams_children.html
Hosted by AALBC.com, Harlem, New York
Saturday August 28th 2010, 7:30 PM
Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world and in America. Every 10th child in the New York School system is Muslim. Abraham’s Children tells the stories of some of these children through their own voices.
The event is free, but donations, of any amount, are welcome. Director & Producer: Nina Froriep will be present to answer questions after the screening. Beverages and snacks will be provided.
The film will be shown on a large screen outside, in a private backyard. Always a nice event with interesting discussion and people.
http://aalbc.it/b3iTbG
While my title might imply that I believe equality for women is the cause of the problem; I don't believe this. I do however believe, while we were sorting out ways to empower women we forgot that the same effort still needed to be directed to empowering our young men. In this regard, we have failed abominably.
Why is Black Literary Fiction Languishing?
http://aalbc.it/crL1Vl
Most people read fiction for pleasure. They do not have nice cushy jobs at a college. They work awful boring jobs and do REAL work and don't want to come home, tired and have to work some more looking up every other word in a story.
http://aalbc.com/book_industry_news.php
Moving
'Beyond Katrina' Through Poetry And ProseNPR Wed, 25 Aug 2010
http://aalbc.it/Beyond_Katrina
On one of her trips back to the Mississippi Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Natasha Trethewey noticed a sign in front of a Baptist church emblazoned with this command: "Believe the report of the Lord. Face the things that confront you."
Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Natasha Trethewey grew up in Gulfport, Miss., a coastal area that suffered some of the heaviest damage from Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Trethewey holds the Phillis Wheatley Distinguished Chair in Poetry at Emory University. She received the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for her collection Native Guard.
Win
a FREE copy of Ernessa T. Carter's Debut Novel, 32 Candleshttp://aalbc.it/ernessa
Ernessa tell the story of Davie—an ugly duckling growing up in small-town Mississippi—is positive her life couldn't be any worse. She has the meanest mother in the South, possibly the world, and on top of that, she's pretty sure she's ugly. Just when she's resigned herself to her fate, she sees a movie that will change her life—Sixteen Candles. But in her case, life doesn't imitate art. Tormented endlessly in school with the nickname "Monkey Night," and hopelessly in unrequited love with a handsome football player, James Farrell, Davie finds that it is bittersweet to dream of Molly Ringwald endings...
Win a copy by writing something good about AALBC.com on your Facebook profile page AND getting 10 of your friends to "like" or post a favorable comment to your post. Once that is done email me at troy@aalbc.com
The first three people to email me a link to their Facebook profile satisfying the above conditions will win.
This contest is only open to contestants with an United States mailing address.
Place
Your Video on AALBC.com -- Embed it on Every Page!http://aalbc.com/advertise_on_aalbc_video.html
For $249 (38% off) your video will be shown all over the AALBC.com website (including the homepage) for 1 full month! The image shown in the left shows how you video will be displayed
The video will play directly on the page (embedded). The link underneath the video may be used to send viewers to any website you like.
You've spent the time, energy, and money to have your video created; why now place it where your audience will actually see it. Hundreds of thousands of visitors will have the opportunity to view your video.
Act now! This Special ends August 31st 2010
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Peace,
Troy Johnson
President, AALBC.com, LLC
Toll Free: 866-603-8394
Email: troy@aalbc.com
