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A summit with Troy and Cynique? Nice...!!!

“maybe because he transitioned in May i am missing Oscar Brown Jr. not sure because i miss him at other times as well. sometimes i think of him and cry. i think of his children and know they still miss him and can't image. he loved his children so. he carried within his very fiber a memory of our people and our journeys, our struggles, defeats and victories. and no one could summon that past and future energy and share it in the present like Oscar. he remains our master of all master story tellers. i had the privilege of his friendship for close to 30 years and knew of and appreciated his work long before that. i miss you brother. but i am so thankful for the gift of your words, music and your life energy that still is here. i celebrate you this day and beyond.”—Paul Coates …found of social media, and shared 'cause I know he won’t mind

Someone sent me this in a direct message, because they know I refuse to consume (or publish) content directly on Facebook. But it looks interesting and since facebook allows you to embed content, I share this here. Chris is a smart Brother who has done well for himself in corporate publishing. I think you will find his perspective interesting.

Social media knows I have no love for the Huffington Post (mainly because they, unnecessarily exploit writers), so in their incessant mission to share things with me that reinforces the my world view (the thing I want the least), I was presented with this message on every social media platform I visited the other day. I contribute to the echo chamber that is now the WWW, and share it here was well, because after BEA this shot also reminds me of mainstream publishing in general. HuffPost is typical. Most of the events I attended at BEA in Chicago last week were dominated by women.

I just published a poetry book on Amazon called Harlem Nights and Footstep Blues. The paperback version is available only on Amazon. The ebook version is on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Apple iBooks, Smashwords, Kobo, and Blio. Link below: http://www.amazon.com/Harlem-Nights-Footstep-Julius-Jamaal/dp/0997172606?ie=UTF8&qid=&ref_=tmm_pap_swatch_0&sr= Harlem Nights and Footstep Blues is a poetry collection consisting of 65 poems. The poems are separated into 11 distinct sections that tell their own story while still fitting into the overall story of the collection. Although not limited to African American influences and content, the collection is very much inspired by the work of African American poets and writers like Langston Hughes, Paul Laurence Dunbar, James Baldwin, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Frederick Douglass and from the black cultural, social, and artistic revival that took place during the period known as the Harlem Renaissance. Harlem Nights and Footstep Blues is about encapsulating the Harlem Renaissance state of mind and encouraging young black minds to express themselves and “catch a glimmer of their own beauty” as Langston Hughes urged his young black contemporaries to do in his essay "The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain" (1926), albeit with modern flair. The creative license that black artists had to express themselves and their art during the Harlem Renaissance is the blueprint for the poetry and artistic expression in the collection. Harlem Nights and Footstep Blues is rooted in a modern sense of black cultural, social, and artistic rebirth while paying homage to the artistic foundation laid by the great pioneers of the past.

Hi Julius, Congratulations on your first book! Also check out this article about linking to Amazon (point #3). Do you have a website? Here is Langston Hughes’s story essay “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain“ Hard to image it was written 90 years ago. It could have been written today One of the most promising of the young Negro poets said to me once, “I want to be a poet—not a Negro poet,” meaning, I believe, “I want to write like a white poet;” meaning subconsciously, “I would like to be a white poet;” meaning behind that, “I would like to be white.”

"No one will ever receive a check, or any other form of compensation, from the U.S. Government for compensation for the enslavement of our ancestors. White people don't even want to pay for educating, housing, or providing medical care for each other. Anyone who thinks white folks will pay Black folks for something that ended a century and a half ago is out of their mind" Your point is accurate and realistic. I've never understood this silly pipe dream that will never happen. To debate or argue the subject is intellectually embarrassing and pointless. E'nuff said.....