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Hi all, I saw the initial message from Troy and opened it immediately. This is my first time commenting on any of the related posts, but I've been following every conversation since they began over in the How Can Bloggers Support Each Other? forum. And I suspect others are "watching" these conversations as well. Eight months ago, I would've jumped right on this initiative but this line from Troy's initial message,"I know many good writers who no longer blog, because they were unable to attract readers or effectively monetize their blogs." is exactly where I am at the moment. I'm on an unofficial hiatus and trying to determine if I will blog again at all. I don't know that I've ever been drained at anything but with the 5 years I've spent nurturing my blog, I can say that the return has not been worth it to me - honestly, there has been no return. I can articulate several reasons that I'm drained but this space was created for solutions not venting. It is in that vein that I have not contributed to these discussion. I am not mentally sharp enough to do so thoughtfully during this down time. That said, if you all roll out something, I may be willing to participate. Shannon/Reading Has Purpose

That's funny how the narrative remains the same from Cynique, to Troy, to my story. Except in high school most of my teachers were Black. This is in Memphis though which was over 70% Black at the time. However in college I had four Black professors: 1 at the JUCO I attended and 3 at SDSU. Had I taken Black studies courses this would have been different, but I didn't. The reason I stayed in the education profession so long was because I thought it was important that I be there to represent US. I have finally come to realize that as much as I didn't learn, I could have taken it upon myself to learn more which is what I did. My thesis consisted of novels that I chose. We very rarely read anything Black authors in my MFA program outside of the traditional Hayden, Brooks, Wright, Baldwin and Hurston short stories and poems. It would have helped to have more narratives, but I eventually looked for books on my own. I guess with Black teachers this process is sped up and we gain knowledge of self much faster which also empowers us. Those are the systemic issues that Troy discusses as preventing us from being as great as we could be. However, I was always aware of the various jobs and I actually saw the people in those professions because in the 70s the rich Black folks stayed in the same hood as the poor Black folks until they didn't anymore.