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BELOW IS A Q & A WITH TOTTIE LIMEJUICE OF READ, WRITE, REVIEW, DISCUSS BOOK GROUP, & HICKSON: CEO OF GHETTOHEAT®! THE Q & A WAS DONE, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2013 ON FACEBOOK! THE BOOK GROUP IS BASED IN EUROPE! TOTTIE LIMEJUICE: It's an electronic age. Everything is instant these days. Is there still a place for traditional books? HICKSON: YES, ALTHOUGH EBOOKS HAVE SOARED IN PUBLISHING, THERE ARE MANY WHO STILL, LIKE MYSELF, WHO LOVE TO TURN THE PAGES OF BOOKS IN PRINT! IF I HAD IT MY WAY I WOULD SOLELY CONTINUE TO PUBLISH IN PRINT, BUT IT'S A DIFFERENT TIME NOW & WE HAVE TO MOVE WITH IT, YET I DON'T SEE PAPER BOOKS BEING OBSOLETE, NOR ANY TIME SOON! THERE'S STILL A HUGE DEMAND FOR IT: & I'M STILL SELLING MANY UNITS IN PRINT! TRADITIONAL BOOKS ARE HERE TO STAY! TOTTIE LIMEJUICE: How important is it to encourage kids to read? How do you sell the idea of books to young people? HICKSON: IT'S EXTREMELY IMPORTANT TO ENCOURAGE KIDS TO READ, AS KNOWLEDGE IS POWER! I GO OUT OF MY WAY TO REACH THE YOUTH, ESPECIALLY WHEN PROMOTING LITERACY, AS MANY ARE PRONE TO WATCHING TV, OR SURFING THE WEB & ALSO PLAYING VIDEO GAMES! I INSTILL THE FACT THAT READING EXPANDS ONE'S MIND, & THAT ONE MUST DO IT OFTEN! I PERSONALLY SELL THE FACT THAT IT'S COOL TO BE SMART TO THE YOUTH & INCORPORATE THIS TO THEM WHENEVER ENGAGED WITH THEM ONLINE OR IN PERSON! TOTTIE LIMEJUICE: Does it matter what they read? Is any book a good book as long as it gets young people started in books? HICKSON: NO! I WOULD NEVER ENCOURAGE TEENS TO READ BOOKS OF ADULT NATURE, NOR DO I SELL ANY OF MY PRODUCTS TO THEM! THINGS MUST BE AGE APPROPRIATE! ALTHOUGH I LOVE THE FACT THAT A TEEN MAY BE INTERESTED IN READING, IT MUST BE APPROPRIATE! I'VE BEEN AT BOOK SIGNINGS WHERE PARENTS WOULD BUY MY BOOKS FOR THEIR CHILDREN TO READ BECAUSE THEY WANT THEM TO GET AN EARLY DOSE OF REALITY: I OFTEN CRINGE WHEN THIS HAPPENS, YET I UNDERSTAND THE PARENTS INTENTIONS! TOTTIE LIMEJUICE: What first got you interested in books and in particular in poetry? HICKSON: PERSONALLY, I'VE BEEN READING BOOKS FROM EARLY CHILDHOOD! I STARTED WITH DR. SEUSS, THEN GRADUATED TO NANCY DREW IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, YET BY AGE 7 I WAS HONESTLY READING JACKIE COLLINS, DONALD GOINES & SIDNEY SHELDON'S BOOKS: MY OLDER COUSIN'S BOOKS! SO I GOT MY FULL DOSE VERY EARLY ON! WHAT PROMPTED ME TO WRITING POETRY WAS MY OWN PERSONAL EXPERIENCE IN 2000! LIFE WAS VERY CHALLENGING BACK THEN: A ROCKY RELATIONSHIP, DEATH IN THE FAMILY, I HAD TURNED 30, WAS SEEKING A NEW CAREER: & QUIT MY GIG THE DAY BEFORE 9/11, NOT REALIZING WHAT THE AFTERMATH WOULD BE THE NEXT DAY! THE WRITING PROCESS ALLOWED ME TO NOT ONLY BE CREATIVE, YET HEAL! ALTHOUGH EACH POEM ISN'T ABOUT ME, IT'S VERY FAMILIAR TO MANY! WRITING ACTUALLY SAVED MY LIFE! TOTTIE LIMEJUICE: I hear you're thinking of writing your memoirs. That sounds interesting? In brief, what has been the highest and lowest point of your life so far? HICKSON: YES, I'M DEFINITELY WORKING ON A MEMOIR: DONE IN SERIES! IT'S TOO MUCH TO COVER IN ONE BOOK I FEEL! THE LOWEST PART IN LIFE FOR ME WAS LOSING MUCH IN LIFE, INCLUDING MY APARTMENT & BEING FORCED TO LIVE ON THE STREETS TEMPORARILY WHILE WRITING MY BOOK! THE HIGHEST POINT TO DATE WAS OVERCOMING IT ALL, STARTING MY OWN PUBLISHING/MULTIMEDIA COMPANY, GHETTOHEAT & NOT ONLY PUBLISHING MY WORK, BUT PUBLISHING THE WORKS OF OTHERS--I HAVE 15 WRITERS SIGNED TO THE COMPANY WITH MULTIPLE BOOK DEALS! YET THERE'S MORE TO COME! TOTTIE LIMEJUICE: It's coming up to Christmas. A book as a present for a young person - cool, or not cool? HICKSON: SO COOL! YES, A BOOK FOR A YOUNG PERSON IS AN EXCELLENT CHOICE, ACTUALLY I WOULD RECOMMEND SONZ OF DARKNESS BY DRU NOBLE! IT'S A WONDERFUL SCI-FI/SUPERNATURAL ADVENTURE, PLACED IN A MODERN DAY TIME SETTING! A PAGE TURNER INDEED! TOTTIE LIMEJUICE: What genre of books does GhettoHeat publish and what are your best selling books? HICKSON: I PUBLISH MANY GENRES AT GHETTOHEAT®: POETRY, CRIME/STREET LIT, URBAN FICTION, CHICK LIT, MYSTERY, LGBT/SEXUALITY, SCI-FI/SUPERNATURAL/PARANORMAL & POLITICS! I ALSO HAVE ROMANCE & EROTICA COMING SOON! THEY ALL SELL WELL, YET THE URBAN BOOKS SELL THE MOST! WHY IN MY OPINION? THEY'RE EXTREMELY RELATABLE! MY READERS SEE THEMSELVES WITHIN IN THEM OR SOMEONE THEY KNOW! YET, I HAVE WONDERFUL BOOKS AT GHETTOHEAT FOR ALL TO ENJOY! I EDIT THEM ALL, ALSO, SO THE HEART & SOUL IS DEFINITELY PRESENT! THE DISCUSSION CONTINUES, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2013 AS MEMBERS OF READ, WRITE, REVIEW, DISCUSS PRESENT QUESTIONS TO HICKSON, 2PM EST ON FACEBOOK! TO JOIN IN, FOLLOW HICKSON HTTP://FACEBOOK.COM/HICKSONHOTNESS & FOLLOW THE BOOK GROUP: https://www.facebook.com/groups/681565758544357/ PEACE & GHETTOHEAT®!

Yes, Nils, it can't have escaped you how times have changed. There are so many new venues where people can share their experiences and vent their aggravations that the competition for sites that offer a forum for opinionated debates have taken a toll on the original trail blazers in this field. What seems to be left now if just a dwindling audience of silent lurkers. The good ol days when all the fireworks that once occurred here are gone. But those times were fun and stimulating while they lasted. All good things must come to an end as they say. And so it goes... I miss all of my ol sparring partners and hope they are all well. Me, I'm just plodding along, callin things as I see 'em, and my old eyes are not wearing rose-colored glasses. This country is a hot mess.

Unfortunatley, no particular benefits come with being black in America. It is a status that ranks at the bottom of what anyone in this country wants to be. Blacks are the shadow figures in America society. Nobody seeks to emulate their trajectory. Understandable. Sports and entertainment are the only fields where Blacks enjoy great popularity. Being the exception to the rulis has not rewarded with wide spread admiration the individuals who make achievements in other venues such as the political and literary arenas. People like Oprah and Obama and Toni Morrison are aberrations. And black pride, such as it is, has mostly to do with the race having survived the adversity that is synonymous with not having white skin. In the real world, Blacks who have escaped the dead-end ghetto existences settle for safe professions that will provide them with enough income to acquire the tangible assets that the greater society equates with "having it made". Among the younger generation, underprivileged Blacks see becoming a super star athlete or rap musician as an escape from their circumstances . Like their role model elders, upper class black youngsters see education as a means of acquiring the jobs that pay enough money to acquire the materialistic symbols that will make them the envy of their peers. Blacks are primarily stuck in a mode of striving for the right to ape white people by having equal access to excesses of luxury and extravagance. Black athletes like Jim Brown and entertainers like Harry Belanfonte can't help but harbor jealous resentment about the exorbitant amount of money their latter day successors are earning, and this has to be one of the factors motivating them to criticize celebs like Kobe Bryant and Jay-Z for not giving back and being more pro-active in uplifting the race. More important, however, is that Belafonte and Brown have paid their dues and earned the right to chastise high profile figures whose dubious claims to fame consists of scoring points in a game or spewing obscene lyrics on a recording.