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This comment would be perfect for "Why Black Men Cheat". I'm not saying you would @Troy but I've heard a lot of men gravitate towards women who praise their success and usually that woman' isn't the wife. I've made that mistake one too many times before I noticed the pattern. Now I just keep my opinion to myself - even though cheerleading is my default status lol. I think family see the ups and downs - so it's not as impressive to them as it would be an outsider. But yes Troy, soldier on - eyes are watching and you are inspiration.

Yes @Mel Hopkins, I can see your point as a reason for why men would cheat. Indeed it is "textbook." But I also understand that the people closest to you see the good, the bad, and the ugly. So perhaps their perspectives are naturally more tempered compared to those who know you only through your accomplishments, unaware of your failures and the jerk you can be... ...That or they could care less

Hold the presses ya'll. Mel thanks for sharing this, but I think it just adds another layer of complexity. Just because a Black man took the photo does not negative anything I wrote. Clearly, his sensibilities differ from mine as well, as pioneer's, and some of the survey respondents. This information it does not make one group "right" and the other "wrong." What I've learned from this conversation is that perception is everything and we can not truly know the underlying motivations of someone else's perspectives. Indeed the motivations for our own perceptions can even escape us. For example, there are plenty of Black people who are strong public supporters of Donald Trump. Just because they are Black does not negate the fact there is a strong discrepancy with the majority of other Black folks who feel the Trump supporter must be ignorant, stupid, or both. This photo is just a subtle example of of something that illustrates those differences, but it is no less revealing. Sort of like a Black Rorschach Test. Maybe the correlation is not gender, but frequency or intensity of racist experiences. If your experiences with white folks have been largely innocuous and pleasant, you like the photo. I think this whole conversation is fascinating on so many levels. I wonder if any of the people who replied to the survey would change their vote after reading this exchange. @Pioneer1 see what you started

@Mel. Your conclusions are very deep. There is also a quantum physics principle that something can be in 2 places at the same time and - this has some implications about the illusions of the past, present, and the future. Maybe?.

@Pioneer1 well yes he did know the "future" - and he predicted the time in 1 week accuracy and he prepared for it and prepared me for it too. But not in the way, that I could make sense of his babbling at the time - but when the time came his words made sense to me. My mom can also see the "future" and has altered outcomes by speaking it aloud. OMG... I just realized something by writing this lol - that's quantum mechanic principle! When you look at an atom you alter its behavior - when you claim the future you altered its behavior. Anyway - I don't believe in the future , past. I believe it's all happening in the now.

Miles Aldridge, hair stylist Yusef and Viola Davis on set for TIME 100. Courtesy Miles Aldridge https://www.instagram.com/p/BTJi-U5gHbt/?taken-by=yusefhairnyc A picture is worth a 1000 words... and the story we tell as a result reveals so much about ourselves.. Famed Fashion Photographer Miles Aldridge and Stylist Yusef , (a black man) collaborated on this cover... according to Yusef, he did her make-up and hair and seems to be quite pleased. Ms. Davis' s dress is green, think: chroma key to make it easy for Photoshop. It appears, however, that Ms Davis isn't re-touched. Here's time's article "The Story behind The Time 100 Most influential People's Covers" about why the photographer staged the look... "Color, courage and clarity are the key notes for the covers of the TIME 100 Most Influential People issue. Photographer Miles Aldridge, who created the portraits, knew immediately that they had to pop and clash with as much vitality as a Mozart concerto. “I wanted the pictures to be bright; bright being almost an adjective for sound rather than for image,” says Aldridge. “In a way, I’m talking about Matisse; the way his colors were always juxtaposed so beautifully. There was a sort of visual stimulation, that almost felt like music.” Aldridge, a seasoned fashion photographer, decided early on that color would be his unifying tempo, marking a clear departure from previous year’s more muted tones. But the people and personalities were still the beating heart of the photos. The pioneers, titans, artists, leaders and icons – of whom Riz Ahmed, Melinda Gates, John Legend, Jeff Bezos and Viola Davis made the covers – are giants in their field. It was important then, that they held their own against the boldness of Aldridge’s palette. Though his shoots are heavily constructed, photographing strong personalities such as Viola Davis, mean the subjects' energy becomes part of the stimulus. The result for Davis was an incredibly warm and joyous burst of laughter – sparked from a conversation about her Oscar win – which Aldridge then asked her to repeat over and over again. “[The smile's] essence is from the real world,” he explains. “But its actual construction is completely artificial.” Aldridge’s contact sheets are the antithesis of Cartier-Bresson’s ‘decisive moment.’ “It’s not like a lucky moment. It’s very controlled,” he adds. “But therein one can be expressive with the rules.... More at TIME”

Your experience is not that uncommon. A lot of famous people are known to have said they had to leave their hometown or even their country in order to gain recognition or be taken seriously and appreciated. i admire and appreciate your dedication to helping and promoting blacks authors. Just so you know.

Recently, an author wrote me to confirm that she was an "AALBC.com Bestselling Author." I assured her she was and directed her to her page. (One of the benefits of the new site design is that this info is managed in real time and is so much easier to manage.) She thanked me and told e she just wanted to be sure before she used the fact to promote her next book. I told her I wish every AALBC.com Bestselling author share her insight and enthusiasm for the accomplishment. We both reflected that AALBC.com is the only entity that maintains a regularly updated bestsellers list. The is the 20th year I've maintained a list. The first Bestsellers list was published in 1998. Back in 1998, There was the Blackboard Bestsellers list, which was taken over by Essence who ran it for a few years, and dropped it a few years later. Black Expressions Book Club also had a bestsellers list, but all of these have been defunct for years. I even worked with a few other booksellers to produce a brand new list called the Power List, but after 2 1/2 years and a failure to gain any real traction, we abandoned the project--it simply was not worth the extra effort required to maintain it. She suggested that I create an AALBC.com seal. If was like a light went off and I said to myself--why did I not think of that sooner? In fact, I recall just prior to launching the Power List a publishing industry veteran suggested that I just do an AALBC.com bestsellers list. I continued with the Power List simply because I wanted to try to leverage the collaboration of multiple sites. Well, that is some of the history of Black Bestselling Books lists. In fact, the story is far more interesting, but those are stories for another day. These are the finalists for the AALBC.com Bestselling Book Seal Please let me know which one(s) you like the most and why. Personally, I like two of them, and two of them I'm not even considering.

Get ready for the New Orleans Literary Takeover! Meet the World Image Solutions is proud to host literary moguls Victoria Christopher Murray and ReShonda Tate Billingsley as they finally return to New Orleans! The dynamic duo will join six local and nationally known authors for a mega book tour throughout the city. Join them as they sign their bestsellers It Should've Been Me and A Blessing and a Curse. Victoria will also be signing her bestselling novel Lust! Other featured authors will be:Charron Monaye, Stop Asking for Permission and Give Notice: Guide to Living UnapologeticallyDr. Scharmaine Lawson-Baker,Nola the Nurse children's seriesChristine Penn,Girl, Stop Trippin' Diana Riley, Cooking on Purpose: Life Lessons Learned From the Kitchen Kristina Eaton W.O.M.B. Sister Chronicles Vol. 1; 20 Beautiful Women Vol. 4; Delayed But Not Denied: 20 Inspirational Stories About Life and Resiliency Malena Crawford A Fistful of Honey The weekend will kick off June 29 with an exclusive meet and greet social at the uber beautiful and historic New Orleans Drink Lab. Your $50 admission includes free wine and hors d'oeuvres, a live band, a swag bag, and a free autographed book! All other events during the New Orleans Literary Takeover are free of charge. Join us at: June 30, 11 am - 3 pm, The Home Fest at Community Book Center June 30, 3:30 -6:30 pm, Sip and Sign at Second Vine Wine July 1, 11 am - 2 pm, Brunch and Books at 14 Parishes Restaurant July 1, 3-7 pm, Shop and Sign at the Riverwalk Mall Don't miss your chance to meet eight bestselling authors! Contact us at meetrhonda@gmail.com for more information, or visit our website at www.mtwimagesolutions.com. See you there!

I was living in a shared house. With about 8 other people. I read them all and even made timed predictions. One guy was like i don't believe it's possible I told him he had car problems. He said no, then he said yes. I said your rear right tire has s leak. And I told him what date (within a week) that he borrowed a woman's car. He said it was al correct. Then said it was a lucky guess. I asked how do you guess the date. He said he didn't know. @Mel there's alsoalso remote viewing. Which can be either past present or future.

Yes i heard a really good scientific description of time and events. You may find it by searching the Absolute Elsewhere + two lines of light. Yes Mel and I come from the same place. It makea sense that you are a writer. You can paint pictures with words or write conceptually

@Cynique I went to Miles Aldridge website (Dude is fixated on boobs, a lot of color especially pubis hair string bikini lol) and Yusef's Instagram and saw what he did to Rihanna's hair for a shoot in Paris and I got such a tickle; I... all of ranting - and none of us included the "Art" angle. But then again, Art is what will get a rise of folks. Kudos to @Pioneer1 for noticing.

I've done this once with great accuracy. The other person was also concentrating. She was in Ireland - I was in West Virginia, another friend was in Wisconsin (I think). I can't remember what messaging system were were using - I want to say icq) I remember just sharing the mental images - the images weren't coming in whole form but pieces... so I'd shared it one at time sort of like putting a puzzle together, while I was constructing what she was thinking of ... then I got the picture and I told her what I saw. Here's the kicker though I didn't receive what she said she was thinking of... I saw Viennetta Ice Cream Cake . She confirmed she was indeed eating viennetta ice cream cake while playing along... it was the most bizarre experience because I didn't think I would ever receive a mental image from someone else. Especially something as specific as the type of ice cream. lol. I think the key here was she was open to sending - but just didn't realize what really had her attention lol. Now I just act on the "Something said" and "hunches" but I'm confident even if it's a big ole miss. I agree doing it independently of someone's awareness maybe difficult and even unethical. I suspect , however, we do it all the time and receive mental images from anyone anywhere.

LMAO THANKS, MEL! This clears up a lot of things. And the finger should be pointed directly at 2 men for any negative reactions to this picture. Their rationales for creating Viola's look are a lot artsy BS. I wonder if her black make-up man is gay. I think this is kind of a cruel ironic joke. I was wrong about most of my assumptions but i was right when i perceived Viola as being happy about something. What TIME should really be chided for is selecting Leslie Jones as an influential black woman when the only influence she wields is how she reinforces white people's view of black women as loud, brazen sexpots.

Black Women In Mississippi ,Plan To Sue The State Of --,Mississippi Because Of Poor School. Conditions .Think -The,School Their Children Go To Is Majority Black. They,Need --,Toilet Paper ,Paper Towels,Among Other Things,Also --.Experienced Teachers. Also In Mississippi, 3 Black. Male _-,Teenagers Murder A 6 Year Old Black Boy .I Said Black -People Help Racist White With Black Genocide .. The -Idiot,Speaks Again. Dr. Ben Carson Says Poverty Is A State Of -Mind. Has The Housing Secretary Done Anything Yet?Visiting,Poor Communities And Poor Schools?No..

I just want to know if that picture which appeared on its magazine was taken by a TIME camera man specifically for the 100 most influential entertainers' cover. If this is true, then the point Kalisha is trying to make has validity. But i still think that that picture is not a recent one. I really believe that is an old picture taken at an event and because Time perceived it as displaying a woman who was surprised and pleased, thought it was befitting of someone who had just won something, and they used it. I also think that just as TIME read something into the picture, that many black people are also reading something into it, creating a whole scenario, convinced that TIME had her pose for this picture and tampered with it to make a caricature of black women. I certainly don't think Viola would be a willing participant in something that could be considered degrading. She's a big enough star to reject this. BTW, Where did Jamie Foxx get his inspiration from the over-the-top character, Wanda? Is this art imitating life? If you guys want to think that a dark-skinned black woman smiling broadly, wearing red lipstick is offensive and something to be ashamed of, then so be it. I stand by my point that though it is not a posed picture of Viola looking her best thanks to being groomed and made over, the Time picture picture is one of her looking the way she did and millions of black women do look. It is, what it is. i would sure like to get Viola's feed back.

I never thought of this photo of Viola as racist until I saw this survey asking if it was. But I definitely see the concern that bigots who laughed at such racist images will compare it to this one, and how Blacks stigmatized by these images could see them suggested here on this cover. My first impression was that it was just an awful picture of Viola. There's something trippy about it. They are taking this whole poster child of Black poverty thing way too far with her. She may be succumbing to it because so much has happened for her so fast and it's hard to manage it all the way premiere public artists can when the pace is slower. It just looked to me like the picture was trying to make her look way too overjoyed about her success and Oscar win, as if she was nearly high on ecstasy that Hollywood saved her from starving in the backwood. So, you have the more mature and confident Viola on the ESSENCE covers Troy uncovered and posted for comparison. That is because Black people just respect her work and her brilliance. We appreciate her for our awe of her talent and what she can do. We do not care where she came from or what she overcame to get where she is. We do care, but it's not some do-gooder feel good story for us. We can see and recognize who she is naturally as just a person and human being we'd love to go to dinner or shopping with. But, the mainstream media wants to turn her into this clown or "Different Strokes"-like story. She is that little colored child who can make others feel comfortable that America does work for everyone, if only they work hard enough and have genius. I think that is more where they were going with this, and failed. They put all these bright colors around her and on her. They are unbecoming of her as not just a dark brown woman, but as a mature and sophisticated (and wealthy) woman. She looks silly and childish, as if she's just soooooo happy to be invited to the party. The truth is Viola has been at the party for nearly two decades now. So, she's past this. Their pictures of John Legend and Colson Whitehead are more of what I would have expected for Viola Davis, but such a photo would not have made a cover to fly off the grocery store shelf or go viral. At the most, they should have positioned Viola as they depicted Leslie Jones- full of life, boisterous, happy and styled for her age. But at the end of the day Mrs. Davis is doing her thing, living her dream and finally wielding the influence she deserves to wield. I am sure she knew TIME wanted to slap some ugly lipstick and an ugly dress on her for that same old vision of what a Black woman like her should be and feel. She let them win that battle so she can keep on winning the war. I think we are going to see some cool and brilliant stuff from her for a really long time, even in the director's and producer's seats with more stories we can be proud of, so the joke's on TIME.

i just noticed this post. i like #6 best because it has everything including a banner that catches the eye and clues that this is some kind of an award without even reading the lettering.

The left hand writing and feeding the unconscious are Magickal techniques that were told to me 18 and 11 years ago. I met one other person that knows without knowing. They are one of the best all around psychics and magicians o ever met. They also just thought they made it up. The xray vision i know nothing about it .

Troy that's how it is. Paul Simon said his father never acknowledged his success. So he just earned s gold album. He's like yeah I got Dad now. So he calls his Dad and proudly says. My album went gold. His father says you'll never be a Sinatra.

I was just thinking about my oldest son this morning while puttering around the kitchen. On my way back to my "cave", there was a knock on the front door. Guess who it was? My son. Twice last week i was either deciding to call one of my kids or was wondering something about them and right after these thoughts, they phoned. For me, this is a common occurrence and i know we all experience this type of telepathy from time to time. It's commonly called "thinking somebody up". I would consider this proof that ESP does exist but, as we have all concluded, it is something that has to be developed and that certain people have a better facility for it than others. ESP that is more fine-tuned would be about sending a specific message to another person. This would involve getting on each other's wave length and concentration on the part of the 2 parties. Trying to communicate with someone independently of their awareness of your doing this is a real test. But this does occur and we refer to this as the "something told me to" phenomenon. This is in the 'hunch" category. The human mind is a computer. in my dotage, i am experiencing dementia. I have a terrible time remembering the names of people and places, usually familiar ones that i see on TV. But what i do is feed into my subconscious mind, all of the "data" i know about the thing whose name i've forgotten and then let it go. Within a half hour the name will pop into my head. Something else i've started fooling around with for some unknown reason. i am right-handed but i will write something on a piece of paper, backwards with my left hand. i'll write a whole phrase backwards with my left hand. Then when i look at what i've written with a mirror, or turn the paper over and hold it up to the light. What i see is perfectly written. What's interesting is that what i see, looks nothing like my regular handwriting. I've always been somewhat ambi-dextrious but now i pretty much am. i recently had my eyes tested for a new pair of glasses. My right eye is "weaker" than my left one. When i wake up in the morning, i put one hand in front of my left eye and look at something; then i do the same thing to my right eye. Things look different between my different-eyed view of them. With my right eye, it's like i have x-ray vision and when lying there looking at my foot with my left eye covered, i can see the skelectical bone structure of my foot with my right eye. Maybe i'm an alien. Anybody else have similar experiences?

Del, maybe if those closest to me, family and friends, people who are not part of the publishing industry saw it that way--or at least told me they did; maybe it would see it that way too. I guess in a way it is kinda sad that the emotional support and appreciation for what I do comes from people like you, not the folks that I'm related to or see every day Thanks man. I'm surprised you never saw the site--it sell a service very close to what you provide. I was actually familiar with the site (maybe that is why I presented with the ad, that and it is related to the page's content).

You grew uo in the ghetto. Went to Graduate School. Own yiur home. And work for youself. And yiu give voice to Black writers and you have a few forums forBlack people. You cant see yourself. What yiu have accomplished is impressive and inspirational. Never heard of the site.

I believe ESP works in a way comparable to how the wireless internet works. Signals are transmitted to and from the mind from great distances whether those signals are visual, olfactory, or auditory. For centuries if not millenia many people doubted the existence of this type of ability. In my opinion, the wireless internet and even radio and television proves the fact that people can indeed receive information over great distances without the aid of a physical connection. The question is how does one TAP IN to those abilities............. This reminds me. I read about the great kings and sages of ancient history and how they would often go into temples to receive information. I often wondered did they secretely have some sort of radio or televison that they received informatoin from while the masses were kept in a state of ignorance.....lol.

#4 because it has history -and if "bestseller" written out across the badge like it was on "the power list"... #s 6, 1, 3 (in that order of preference) makes use of the AALBC colors which promotes the AALBC brand wherever anyone uses the badge...

In order, I like 1, 3. 6. 4, 2, and 5 I'm partial to blue and simplicity is elegant. 1 has a bold, standout element in the black BESTSELLER wording. 3 calls attention to AALBC and is very clean. 6 has that banner across it, which makes it seem more official. I hope this helps.

@Elva D. Green, that is EXACTLY why this site is here. I used all caps because you expressed the situation perfectly and that is relatively rare. Reaching this audience does not come at the expense of reaching readers in the white mainstream, one can reach both audiences. This site is used as a resource by many schools and libraries. Now this demographic does not participate in the forums and make their presence known, but I see the traffic from their domains, I see the 1,000s of backlinks from their sites, and they tell me what a resource AALBC.com is for them when I attend or speak at their conferences. Now I could do a better job of helping authors appreciate these advantages, but I too am resource constrained. Part of the problem, I think, is that there is just so much attention paid to social media by the media; one would think sites like AALBC.com don't even exist. But the media are lazier (or under-resourced) than ever so unless it is on social media it does not exist for them. Many authors are no different, and don't understand anything outside of social media or Amazon. As a result, they don't maintain a website, a mailing list, take advance of sites like AALBC.com, or do any of the other very basic things an author needs to do online to reach a large auidence. The net result of this situation is that indies sites find it very difficult to attract traffic. AALBC.com does FAR better than any site of its kind, that I'm aware of, but if authors do not embrace and utilize resources like AALBC.com are growth is constrained. Ultimately an author's only option is Facebook and Amazon--who only care about your work insofar as they can profit from it. Which does not serve authors or readers very well at all.