Leaderboard

Spike Lee's decision to make a movie entitled "Chiraq" created a lot of controversy in Chi-town, with many characterizing him as a carpetbagger, - a New Yorker descending on Chicago, capitalizing on an ongoing crises, and bringing more focus on this town's violent reputation. I tended to agree with this but Spike did have support from those who credited him with providing jobs for local actors with this "art-imitating-life" project, even as it poured salt on the wounds of those who have lost loved ones to gun fire. Spike did make a financial contribution to a local organization fighting black-on-black crime.

Sorry I don't have any constructive input. But I am not tech-smart, and if I knew what it took to be a successful author, - I would be a successful author. Good Luck in your endeavors.

Thanks guys for responding. I just don't want to wake up and find this site gone for one reason or another. I joined Authonomy@harpercollins a few months ago. No sooner had I posted my manuscript for The Peanut Butter Trap, I discovered that they were shutting down the site. I was sick. So far I like what I see here and I just don't want this to go away. Thanks for putting me at ease a little. I am a member of the SCBWI and they have the Blue Boards. OMG, there is participation to the point of it being overwhelming. I would love for something close to that kind of activity to happen with AALBC. It would be awesome. CDBurns, you are right, better to start slow rather than not at all. I will just keep telling people about this site--some will hear me, some won't Now as far as FB is concerned, I closed mine down because it really started getting on my nerves. I even had a business account. I know that I am going to have to start it back, but I am going to put some serious thought into how it is formatted for my benefit. Thanks again for sharing :)

Shirley, this used to be the most vibrant community on the web! I used to be a lurker, just hanging around and not commenting. Then I got into the shoe business and I kind of gave up on the idea of being a writer so I stopped visiting altogether. I then realized that I was contributing to the demise of the site by giving all of efforts to Social Media. I was always writing on my blog, but I needed to make sure there was a viable Black community I was contributing too. I told Troy that what I started doing was putting the information he had on my site. I always had a link on my blogroll on my homepage to AALBC, but I added the Power List. I started interacting because if I give social media time, I need to counter it with the support of an independent platform. I respect Troy's work and I think he is the type of influencer who can help me in the writing world and that is valuable enough that I need to support his work. I agree with you though, it would be nice to see more comments, but the people will come and start just like I did. What you need to know is that their visits are just as valuable as their comments. The way a website makes money is through ad revenue, selling services, selling goods, affiliate marketing and donations/subscriptions. Those people who visit provide impressions and possibly clicks on ad revenue and they may contribute in other unseen ways. It can always be more, but sometimes getting a little is just as good as earning a lot. Slow growth is better than no growth.

Everything has the potential to be lethal nowadays. Look at how all the automakers are constantly recalling models because they have defective parts that can and do cause fatal accidents, not to mention the danger involved in just driving a car in heavy traffic. Look at all the innocent bystanders killed by stray bullets, sometimes while they are in the privacy of their homes. Hospitals are actually hazardous to your health because they are hotbeds of air-born infections the many surgical and critically ill patients end up dying from rather than what it is they are being treated for. Drugs and alcohol continue to take their toll and STDs are rampant with new strains becoming resistant to anti-biotics, all of these afflictions making victims susceptible to deadly outcomes. Schools and workplaces and public venues can be targeted by dysfunctional misfits of society who spray them with the gunfire that results in mass murder. Airplanes can be shot down or hijacked at any time. The food we eat is dusted with noxious insecticides and fortified with harmful chemicals. The air we breathe is polluted. I could go on and on. What we think is safe, may not be. Poor black people smoke because they are stressed out. Death stalks poverty and racism.