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Most people like to hang out in popular spaces whether in the real world or virtual. Same goes for consumption of things whether it's music, books, movies, clothes, shoes, cars, etc. It's has little or nothing to do with quality of content moreso than mental accessibility. Again, many people like to be in the crowd. Anything that requires a deeper dive or heavier lift mentally will be an acquired taste from an engagement or participation perspective. However, make content simple and plain or crass and vulgar; folks will eat it up like McDonald's food. Cheap entertainment. Brotha @Troy, stay the course. I know you've been rocking AALBC for a long minute now. The site will grow as it's meant to happen.😎

Blues Highway is a work of historical fiction based on black men who worked the railroads as Pullman Porters. Their story shapes a family's come up during the 1950s-1990s.While Pullman Porters were once widely popularized as symbols of American luxury and service on passenger trains, their contribution toward forging a layer of black middle class prosperity is even more remarkable. In many ways, the day-to-day lives of their children, Janet and Frank, reflect larger stories of success and independence derived from a bit of derring-do. Insightful readers will be drawn to the stories of Pullman Porters themselves, as well as the cities and black communities they help create. This book should inspire broader audiences following the launch of the Pullman National Monument in Chicago in 2020 and the explosive interest in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History & Culture in Washington, D.C. Synopsis Janet grew up with a talented mother, an inventive father, and a secret road to success on Chicago’s South Side. Frank excelled in basketball but he couldn’t escape obligations to repay a critical family debt. The origin story of the business and railroad ties of Sidney and Frank Sr. weave a complex web of invention, deception, illicit funds and forged identity. During Sidney’s flight from Jim Crow terror, he changes his name and fortunately finds Lula as a life partner, a bond sealed by the birth of Janet, their only child. Lula leaves her singing act, known as the Brown Sugar Sisters, and starts a pie making business in Chicago. In their bustling barbershop, Janet comes of age in the 1970s, leaving behind her mother’s small pie selling cottage industry. Frank Jr. joins them after learning that his birth mother was once a lover to Sidney, who funded his infancy in New Orleans. Frank Jr. gives up his basketball ambitions to help pay down his family debt to Sidney. He learns the barbering trade while at the same time, Sidney schools him in how to finance the business and keep its ties to a numbers running outfit that initially invests in the shop. America’s history of the black men who worked the railroads as Pullman Porters and their legacy is seen in their family saga, weaving between their roots in the South and their come up during the 1950-1990s. After my early career as a journalist at the Chicago Sun-Times, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Wall Street Journal and Ebony South Africa, in 2006, I began teaching History and English Literature in Oakland. I took up writing fiction and poetry with support from the Bay Area Writing Project at the University of California-Berkeley in 2013. Excerpts of this manuscript appeared in its Digital Paper. In 2019, an early manuscript was named as a semi-finalist in Hidden River Arts inaugural Tuscarora Award for Historical Fiction. Working with Marlene Connor Literary, the manuscript has been edited, expanded and retitled Blues Highway. The novel has gotten a hearing at book signings in Chicago and at Oakland events. Carla D. Williams ISBN9781669840961 August 12, 2022--publication date

Why I Became An Author A Hint It Sure Wasn’t To Make A Lot Of Money lol I’m a 77-year-old retiree who decided two years ago to try my hand at writing an African-American historical fiction story. I majored in Sociology at Tennessee State University, so I have no formal training in journalism or writing. Did I just wake up one day and decide to become an author? Believe it or not, that’s pretty much what happened! As you go through life, you never know what event or situation may take you in a direction you never would have expected or be a wake-up call. My wake-up call was the movie “Hidden Figures.” I had one thought after watching the movie: Why didn’t I learn about these smart trail-blazing amazing Black women in school, or did I miss a documentary during Black History Month? In response, starting with a thought, an African American historical fiction story developed to become “If Cotton Could Talk.” I’m honoring Hidden Figures by writing a story about how we have always been family-orientated, smart, and when pushed, feared. On a different topic, I’m thinking about something that might be fun. Can you create a situation, and a time period, pick a story suggestion, and write a short story? You authors may use this to help fine-tune your writing skills. Is anyone interested? If there’s enough interest, I’ll put something together.

Yes, and like everything else about this deceptive situation, Jada apparently didn't have alopecia. Although she still has her hair CUT short, it is thick not thin. There is no cure for alopecia so she has not miraculously recovered, she was simply a menopausal woman experiencing a little temporary hair loss. Along with their two weird children, the Smiths could be the poster models for dysfunctional families!

haha @Chevdove you have exposed yourself:) i know how you got through elementary school test:) @Troy I meant to you, not even close, many great scary films are absent:)

I was not aware of the eclipse—thanks @Chevdove! l also see there will be a total eclipse on my birthday in 2024 🙂