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What I am about to hip you to is perhaps one of the greatest secrets ever kept, and I humbly advise that you pay attention. Now, I will be the first to admit that I don’t know if there exists, anywhere in the world, any concrete, empirical evidence that suggests that regimentation causes a sort of emotional astigmatism where the control group empathizes more fully. However, observation and experience has demonstrated, (at least to me) that regimentation and routine induce a spiritual catharsis where the oppressed slowly begin to identify with each other, slowly breaking down the walls erected to divide them. And during this formative identification stage, a bond will emerge, tentative at first, but with plenty of room for expansion and growth. Now, let me explain what I just said. When you got motherfuckas locked up for very long periods of time, they suddenly realize just how much they have in common. When this happens, the walls of race, geography, religion, or gang-affiliation will become less dominant. What will then conclude is the consensus that since “we’re all in this boat together” that it would be infinitely more better for all of them if they worked together to save themselves. Once convicts began to more fully identify with each other, then one group will no longer sit back and idly watch as another group gets punished, During this initial period of the identification process, convicts will be able to discern the truth that “if it can happens to them, it can happen to us.” The bonds will grow stronger. I remember that on every bid I’ve done, there was a number of times during each bid where the guards would perform some act that was so atrocious that the entire “yard’ (population) banded together to protest it. At such times, race didn’t matter, and neither did geography or religion because all that mattered was that “WE ALL WEAR THE SAME CLOTHES!” Nothing in prison is more unifying than that realization. We All Wear The Same Clothes is so very immensely powerful that even now, on the outside, I tremble at the enormity of what that statement portends. It’s like all the convicts, standing as one, in defiance, yelling that WE ARE ONE! And, again, I must take a second to point out just how we got to this crossroad. Listen, it was you, America. It was never enough for this country to merely jail a man. No sir, that would have been too humane, too rehabilitative. The laws of this country required that you not merely break a man physically. He had to be broken spiritually as well. You yank him from the breast of his neighborhood, and plop his ass smack-dab in the middle of a man-made hell where everything is so homogenized and bland that he can’t tell if he’s coming or going. With no respect for his person, you incrementally strip and rob him of his humanity and dignity. You reduce him with your regimentation, and you destroy all vestiges of his individuality by taking away his name, replacing it with a number. Then you dress him up to look just like everyone else in the prison, a living, breathing, law-breaking mannequin. Soon, even he doesn’t know who the fuck he is. So, there you go. You have just effectively erased away another human being, but one day, these soulless automatons you have invented are going to break down the last of those dividing walls. Then, they will free themselves. May God be with us.

Nailed it! I started researching in the mid-nineties, and although I took a mini-break; the quest refuses to let go. And yes I agree, self-revelation is a powerful outcome! I've had my charts done in the past and it did uncover personal characteristics I kept hidden even from myself. By the way, pattern recognition and conceptual learning/thinking are two of my strengths. Maybe in my last incarnation, I worked with the stars...I remember a flight attendant telling me that she could see one of my lives as french royalty but in a dark dungeon -and something about divination. The reveal felt accurate - although I have no memory of it. Anyway, this conversation feels like we are reclaiming our birthright - thank you for the insight and the topic @Del

An author, literary agent, marketer, publicist, editors and booksellers talk about how race affects their careers — and the books you read. Clockwise from top left: Linda Duggins, Tracy Sherrod, Erroll McDonald, Cherise Fisher, Janifer Wilson, Kori Wilson, Kerri K. Greenidge and Ebony LaDelle. “The industry has long been criticized for hiring and retaining so few employees of color — according to a survey of the work force released this year by the children’s book publisher Lee & Low Books, only 5 percent are Black. But the calls to diversify have intensified in recent weeks, as Black professionals have publicly shared long-suppressed frustrations about how racial prejudice has affected their work. In publishing, that has included discussions of hiring practices, workplace microaggressions and publishing companies’ treatment of books by Black writers.” Read the entire article at the New York Times.

It's probably good if you are coming up and have the time and devotion to post once a day.

Isaac Newton is considered the Last Magician who was also a scientist. I think there have been a some since though. I have heard about the book although the author is not an astrologer. Despite what he states an Astrology chart never repeats. If you take one of the celebrities listed and enter the date of their chart the char have some similarities. It looks like he tried to find charts which put Sun Mercury Venus and Mars into the same relative positions around the Sun. Yet I can't see any consistent patterns for the Moon Jupiter Saturn Uranus and Pluto. However I have only looked at it for a few minutes. The Moon and the Ascendant are very important, as important as he Sun. Since all three measure different units of time within a chart. So I am not surprised that he hasn't found any correlations since he is leaving out six planets. Also as an aside in Hindu Astrology the Moon is more important than the Sun. @Mel Hopkins In the past week an idea popped into my head. If there is any activity that you are passionate about and engage in consistently for over a decade it changes you. For me it is Astrology, for Troy it is books, and perhaps for you it is research. @Mel Hopkins it also occurred to me that Astrology and Tarot can be also be used for self revelation and not just divination or rather fortune telling.

@Mel Hopkins Pattern recognition and the ability to think conceptually are my main tools. I hadn't thought about it before your comment, but it explains why I like numbers and Algebra more than History. Astrology is an abstraction. It places myths upon the heavens and the Stars. You literally are taking time, space and speed and converting them in two dimensions. So it is like you are taking the second derivative of reality. (Reality is 4 dimensions a piece of paper is 2 dimensions). So Astrology can be an objective way to see people (including oneself ), places, events and relationships from another perspective. It is also an amazing way to categorize. You have the following dynamics, which occur concurrenly: Masculine Feminine; Day Night; Cardinal (initiating) Fixed Mutable; Fire (active), Earth (practical), Air (theoretical) Water (emotional); 10 planets (expression of energy) 12signs how a planet is expressed, house where it is expressed. The most concise way to express astrology is to use the analogy of a play. Planets are the actors, sign is the role, house is the field or setting. even though I do predictive work for others in order to help them plan for the future. I no longer do predictive work for myself. What comes up for me is more how to react to upcoming or current dynamics. As an aside I beleive there are patterns and even markers of moment in time and space. Since a planets positions in space cane be converted into time. There are three signifies of time in Astrology Solar - Year, the Sun takes a year to move through the Zodiac, Lunar - Month the Moon takes a Moonth to move through the Zodiac, Terrestrial the signs take one day to make a complete revolution.

O black woman, do you know who you are? It is you for whom the birds sing when the dawn opens itself for inspection. It is the glow in your eyes that the stars imitate when they sparkle. It is the color of your flava that makes the rainbow dull in comparison, and it is via your beauty that we can physically witness God’s artistry. • O black woman, do you know who you are? You are the secret that only reveals itself when a man is truly ready to experience the joy of having his dream transformed into reality. You are God’s private blessing to men who know what to do within the point between birth and death. To dwell within the kingdom of YOU is where heaven begins. • O black woman, do you know who you are? You are both the starting point and the finish line for everything I could ever aspire to be. You are a force of nature that has broken my shackles so that I can walk freely. You have erased my doubts so that I can think clearly. You have repaired my broken wings so that I can soar beside you. • O black woman, do you know who you are? You are the magic that awes the universe, the splendor that amazes the earth, and the glory that makes men heart beat with pride when they attempt to possess U. • O black woman, do you know who you are? You are the beautiful gift that God left on the doorstep of my heart. You are that special moment in time when nothing else matters but most importantly, you are YOU! Unmistakably YOU! • O black woman, do you know who you are? You are the sunshine that lights my life from within. You are the fire that warms every fiber of my being and that illuminates my path so that I am never afraid of the darkness. • O black woman, did u know that when I stare in the skies the stars spell your name? I feel your touch in the wind and I see your face in the clouds. And when I stand under the shadow of your smile, I find shelter from the storm. • O black woman, do you know who you are? You are that warm safe place where all roads lead at the end of a day when I have slayed all my dragons and find that all my strength comes from you. You melt on my life and I become complete. • O black woman, do you know who u are? You are chocolate, dipped in mystery, a specially-designed flava whose smile is brighter than the rainbow.

Who you telling? @Pioneer1 I know the American government spent a large portion of its existence engaging in genocide, the enslavement of Black people, and countless other horrors domestically and abroad. Suspicion is warranted -- needed when these devils are concerned, but why argue with climatologists about the causes of climate change or whether or not the planet is flat? Shoot you don't even have to go into outer space to know that the planet is not flat a clever person can not only determine the the earth must be round but they could come up with a clever way of calculating a goo approximation on the earth circumference, Since people argue these facts .. though I'd be hard pressed to come up with a moral excuse to defend the position of flat-earthers.

@Del I don't know of anyone in the U.S. who doesn't take Astrology seriously. In fact, I see it as a mainstream science (probably even more so than biology because people can relate to zodiac signs, transitioning of mars especially when its in retrograde to understanding how Sirius the dog star is prevalent in secret societies that folks believe rule the world. But anyway, I went to sleep with your comment on my mind - and because my mind was open to seeing, "Why Astrology Matters" by Michael Brooks was staring back at me when I opened up my firefox browser. An astrologer told him he was going to have two cars - and he just purchased one. It served as an omen that he purchased a lemon. I'm going to finish reading it now. But I am also interested in understanding how you use Astrology to sharpen your mind. I've mentioned to you, I thrive in chaos and if a tool can tell me of future events, then it's like kryptonite to me.

I hadn't noticed that book, but I'm not surprised as I had stumbled across a sista a few years ago who was a coach who mentored black women in the fine arts of how to love a white man. And, she had a large following which, undoubtedly, may have increased by now. Brother Troy, as you should know, I jumped all over it and wrote a book about it and during my superficial research, what i did find was that 'black women harbored an unconscious desire to be with white men due to his assumed power'. I found the assumption disturbing, but I have no earthly idea what sistas feel so I won't attempt to offer an opinion. But I do know that every living organism is caught up in this never-ending journey to survive and any intelligent individual will do best to promote its interest in staying alive by attaching itself to something or someone more powerful than itself. That may be a unwritten law of nature, but does it fit the human equation? Sure, it does. POWER protects. And who can blame anyone from wanting to feel protected. Anyway, none of this means that sistas seek from white men the one thing a brotha could never pamper her with-----power! Anyway, could it possibly be that this so-called desire to be with a white man lurks within a sista's consciousness like a cancer just wanting on the right trigger to expose itself? Hollywood sure the hell is pushing the agenda for black woman/white man relationship. In fact, it is so prevalent that a few years ago a friend of mine in the publishing business helped spark an entirely new genre of novels called BWWM (black women/white men) which is exclusively what he, as well as others, writes about. Someone is reading those books. Now, back to Hollywood, You see the commercials. They are everywhere. Sistas and white men. The reason for this proliferation of such content, Hollywood states is not to push any agenda on mixed relationships. Rather the ads are business-related. With a sista and a white man, they can target the best of both worlds----powerful white men and black women who like to spend money. Just saying. And now this is from my personal reference and i spoke on this on this very site years ago. It bears repeating. In 1976, I was permitted to read a classified document from a Think Tank which was concerned with The Growing Threat of Black Males. It presented a long laundry list of things it was going to do to contain the brothas, but for interest here is what they said about sistas. Keep in mind that this was 1976. They said that by the year 2000, in an effort to disrupt the black household, they would fling open the gates of corporate America to black women in droves to cause economic dissension in the home once sistas started to make more money than her man. The thinking was to separate us through economic disparity knowing that the higher the sista went up the corporate ladder, the less black faces she would see and therefore in order to marry within her 'station' would kick a brotha to the curb and marry white. THE END

lol! Offended? I'm honored. It would be presumptuous to consider myself an initiate or a member of the mystery schools - but if someone else defines the topics as esoteric - I won't argue. It is cool that you realized that a concept that should be eyebrow raising and be skeptical about; is actually as normal as breathing. I've actually done the sleep thing too - and I always wake up about 10 minutes before wake up time. No sure why ten minutes but it works. And no I've never had trouble sleeping either. As I mentioned before I believe the subconscious is like a web-browser that we program or someone else programs for us to determine how we filter information. something as simple as reading another perspective allows us an update to see what is possible instead of impossible. As a journalist, I learned early, it wasn't my job to convince anyone of anything. I was only to make them aware that "thing" exist. So yes, consider it is always consent from me. I'm curious about the world we live in. And while I understand there is a certain risk in considering other perspectives, I welcome them. @Del ,Twin, thank you for adding emphasis to my theory - it helped me to reread what I wrote. In doing so, I got a better understanding. I don't always think about what I write. I just write and when I get stuck on how to express myself - I just stand aside and let the spirit communicate for me. So that was a message for me to contemplate too.

The article is pretty interesting, not because there were any revelations for me, but the Times spoke with a great mix of people. Professionals that have about 200 years of experience in the world of books. Janifer runs the only Black-owned bookstore in Manhattan, Sister's Uptown. In 20 years of selling books, she admitted that she has never profited from the sale of books until this June (AALBC made more money selling books in June of 2020 than we did selling book in all of 2019). Tracey Sherrod's Amistad is a sponsor of AALBC. AALBC is the largest platform dedicated Black books in the history of the web. It is because of Tracey that AALBC sponsorship from a major publisher. It is not charity, because we provide great exposure for books, but don't have to explain this to Tracey. Linda Duggins is an old friend, we first met during the Harlem Book Fair over 20 years ago. She has cohosted the Black Pack Party with me since it's inception. In fact, Cherise and Ebony have attended the several Back pack parties in the past. This years celebration was cancelled for obvious reasons Actually there was one revelation; I was previously unaware of Kerri Greenidge's work, however I was familiar with William Trotter, the subject of her most recent book. Erroll McDonald is the most senior person, both in position and age, in the group. Indeed, he is probably the most senior Black person in all of publishing. We have never met.