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Never in my wildest dreams (and yes I have wild ones) would I think a short observation would spur such a nourishing conversation! Thank you @richardmurray, @Troy and @Kalexander2 for you evocative perspectives!

I never heard this before, but it is a brilliant observation.

Thanks Richard. Of course spam on your blog has increased since i blocked guest posts on the forum… i honestly believe someone just wants to make my life miserable. @Pioneer1 would say it is an overt act of racism.

I would like to live in this painting (the house by the river) with someone.

Thank you, Mel. You have made my day. Yes, the text next to each picture gives ingredients, process, and an anecdote that includes a quote from my mother or a story that illustrates not only her philosophy about food, but, of course, about life. From the beginning, I make it clear that it is not a cookbook or a how to book, but a book that will inspire some to create their own culinary art, others to enjoy the art when they frame the perforated large format prints on their wall, and everyone to be touched by my mother's story. It is a companion book to the first book, An Extraordinary Life: Josephine E. Jones. The talented illustrator has created an elegant cover that is a work of art, just like the contents of the book. Now if I can get the emergency loan-grant to pay the publicist, I won't have to attempt to do it myself. Thanks again.

Okay, WOW! I am going to make a notebook to keep up with this information. Thank you @Mel Hopkins I am going to break this down and digest this. OMGOSH! I can understand this.

@Chevdove Thank you for asking!!! (I'm so excited)...ACCESS = LOCATION and refers to where people are most likely to get information about something that interest them. Example - If you are interested in creole cooking - you're are likely to show up to a location that either serves creole food or teaches creole cooking. You will most likely search for creole recipes and even find a creole history club to join locally or the internet. You may even show up here AALBC to look for books on the origins of creole culture or if experts post here. You might even start your own thread about creole culture. NOTE: business owners provide what customers need so the customer can get what they want. Your interest in creole cooking means either you or loved one wants to eat it. So business owners fills the need - by selling a cookbook, opening a restaurant or inviting you to take a trip to the source. So, someone who is promoting, lets say Louisiana travel tours, will make sure they share their information at all those access points where you are likely to show up. They will be at the places where you might look for information creole cooking. It may be advertisement or even information about authentic creole cooking spot on the tour - or even the best dish and include a recipe... Now they have your attention you may even jot down their information for future reference - and remember them when you plan your trip so you can get some good food. This is how the best marketers are getting noticed in today's marketplace. EDUCATION = A MOVEMENT A lot of independent authors think they don't know their audience. My suggestion is to start of movement of one. Ask yourself, "what do I believe needs changing?" I did something similar when starting this blog. I believe Marketing = Change. Marketing is a force that shakes up the status quo. I believe independent authors are unaware they use marketing in the course of their daily living. Therefore, my mission is to help authors realize they can create change through intentional use of the marketing techniques they unwittingly use daily. I was the first person in my "marketing is a four-letter word" movement. I was the first one in the audience. I'm so passionate about this topic, I just want to spread the word to anyone who will listen. I believe, "If you don't believe in your movement or are passionate about it - no one will be." Creating a movement of one is the first step. It will help you clarify what you intend to change. Then, you will be able to identify the people who are interested in your subject matter. You'll notice there are "followers" who will agree with your mission. (note: it might not happen immediately - that's why you have to be patient and passionate.) These people are your core audience. Don't waste your time trying convert anyone who is not interested. Focus on those who are interested. -These "followers" will become your ambassadors who will bring other like-minded people to the movement. How to start a movement: Now, the best thing about being a writer is ideas and words are our movement. We just have to educate others and lead them to the goal we he hope to accomplish. If we didn't believe in changing something we wouldn't write in the first place. And the best way to help others make a change is by sharing information (Education). So when you start your movement answer "Who, what,where, when, why and how." from there you will understand what information you need to share to build your audience.

@Troy The action is here! Some of Independent authors here seem to echo the same thing "I didn't know how to market my book." Except, they do. -It appears they're not strategic in their marketing practices. I was the same way with my first novel - I knew what to do but I didn't work my plan. I like how you call it a (book marketing )"clinic" because it is! We, independent authors, already know what's wrong - we just aren't consistent with our "outpatient" care. I'm writing this out for me too. I believe this is one the best places for original content on the subject. By the way, I like that I don't even have to repost it to my profile - the software keeps track of all my postings as long as I'm signed in. Oh! I'll check out @dtpollard. @Troy OMG @hen81 is my writing "hero"! He didn't come here to play with us one-book every 20 year folks !!! 65 titles according to his last post! 😀

You are giving a clinic now @Mel Hopkins. DT PollarUsed to posr here quiet regularly. He really was cranking the ebook several a year (or so it seemed).

@richardmurray Thank you! Happy New Year! @Troy LOL! You don't miss a chance to give facebook the boot LOL GOOD JOB!!! Facebook and anything it touches is anti-life...

Making money trumps (pardon the pun) serving the community everyday of the week. Johnson made it clear the "E" stood for "entertainment," not enlightenment or education. The reality is that it stood for enrichment, Johnson's personal enrichment, and that is the legacy of BET.

true @Troy Just today @Mel Hopkins the mayor to new york city, blamed trumps election or racial biases publicity in the usa on rupert murdoch or fox news. He blames someone whose role is to make money through the media for placating how white people raise themselves in their community. It is not murdoch's fault that he saw a mob and played to it, to make money, in the usa, where making money is the way to anything. Again, merit does not matter. De blasio today suggest a certain philosophical merit must come before fiscal profiteering when the fiscal profiteering is the philosophical merit. One note, when chernobyl happened the soviet russian government had soldiers pick up the waste, all those soldiers died of radiation sickness. Over 10,000 have died from the world trade center wreckage, but if we all recall, mayor guiliani let those people ,fiscally poor people or municipal workers,pick up waste just like the soviet government did the military at chernobyl... ah welll

The irony of this article dated May 7, 2018 appearing here as a post is that I believe it was inspired by awesomelyluvvie article - dated April 17, 2018 - 😐 Still, It drives home the point that unless a black woman's feelings are echoed by a woman of non-color - then those words are just another "fart in the blizzard." Further, tears of woman of non-color are assigned as the attributes of all women especially black women. And if we don't cry at the drop of a hat then we are labeled Angry black women. Or we're not women at all, or rather we're acting like "men"...because we don't act weak. When in reality women are not weak at all - but women of non-color just play men that way. Now, they've joined the me-too movement to kick men out of their offices all the while playing victim but getting the corner offices in the process. All I got to say is "well-played women of non-color; well-played. 😛

@richardmurray: Doubt sister Hopkins meant where that's going, but i'll leave it up her to check it up!

@Mel Hopkins true:) but, what separate a baby from a program is a baby while it is created at least physically through parents, its design is special. the parents can not determine what it will be, like all the rest created from humans. @Kalexander2 yes , the one key thing that black people must state or remember is that our vote would not had changed it. The presidential election in the u.s.a. is fifty elections. whomever get the majority vote in a state gain all their electoral votes, except for two states, where the votes are divided upon the percentage. Black people do not have a majority vote in any state in the usa, and the white vote this past election voted as a block for donald trump. The black vote voted against trump, all non white votes , voted against trump side carson, but none of them separately or together did and do have the quantity to win it alone, as the white vote proved.

@richardmurray ... OMG!!! this is true of everything we create. Understanding the creator reveals the creator.. I knew this to be true of my writing ... to read me is to know my heart - (good bad or indifferent). BUT now looking from your perspective I'd say this is true of what we consume. @Kalexander2., "It's not that I have something to hide. It's that I have nothing I want you to see." ~ANON (Netflix) @Kalexander2 If I understand this premise correctly, if the state is receiving the money - then why aren't officials distributing the HUD funds based on needs - rather than using the cash to integrate communities. One challenge, however, is to make sure millionaires such as Fox News Sean Hannity don't get the HUD money and then fix up buildings in areas - and charge exorbitant amount of rent for each apartment. https://www.11alive.com/article/news/sean-hannity-under-fire-for-allegedly-using-hud-money-to-help-buy-housing-property-in-georgia/85-548596246

Remember @Kalexander2 every machine purpose stem from its creator, not itself

The esteem commentary here is encouraging and I'm especially happy to hear Black folk speak this way. All too often people tend to hide from themselves, who they are and how they feel. While I'm no great admirer of anyone putting all their cards on any table unnecessarily, I do believe anyone with something to hide exposes everything about her/his self. Machine learning, AI, data mining, analysis, etc., does indeed seek to learn in efforts to control and manipulate to gain some advantage over others; to little avail, because there is no 'human' touch (or intimacy). There may be an advantage, however, when people, government advance programs based on such intelligence; what they think they see or know, because a person's true feeling, beliefs, and principles get ignored in all the excitement of so-call innovative technics of 'social engineering,' (use of centralized planning in an attempt to manage social change and regulate the future development and behavior of a society). Thanks guys, for giving me an additional way of seeing things.

@richardmurray , interesting perspective and one that makes a lot of sense - especially with the history of humans seeking to control each other.

I see @Mel Hopkins yes, one member in the masses at a time:) Nice line Data analysts can collect all the information in the world; sift through it and concoct part of our stories but it will never be accurate. It will always lack intimacy. For me, artificial intelligence will never be truly intelligent. Merely an illusion alluding to intelligence that serve the vanity in humans to be masters to something.

@richardmurray & @Troy I hadn't thought about involuntary ways we share our stories. I was thinking more about how we share moments, and events with each other. For example, I can tell a part of your story, Troy, that took place at Brooklyn Tech because it was my journey too. Or Richard, I can share a little of your writing journey as I know it from AALBC because both of us look for ways to get our words to the masses. But your responses allow my little observation to become so much more than I'd realized. Data analysts can collect all the information in the world; sift through it and concoct part of our stories but it will never be accurate. It will always lack intimacy. Humans are too fluid. We possess innate ability to connect with another human in a way that allows us to feel what the other person is feeling in that moment. This is one reason, Artificial Intelligence will never become the standard. It can never be intimate - because it doesn't understand vulnerability. Such as the intimacy of community. In a community, we allow ourselves to see others and " be seen" by them. Looking through our data and trying to figure out the human experience is as hard as looking through our excrement and understanding WHY we eat the things we do. To know WHY we eat, takes sharing a meal and feeling the nuances of the story we tell. Speaking of meal and stories, -Amistad author Michael W. Twitty, won the James Beard Foundation Award for his book - The Cooking Gene. But I digress. I happened to stumble on this early tedtalk yesterday and while the speaker rambles on, he expands on this concept when he said "emotional empathy, feeling with the other person" His talk reminded me of why it is a lot easier to turn humans into robots than it will be for Artificial Intelligence to reach the level of humanity. Humans will always have shared stories; AI, not so much.

That would pretty much be anyone with a smart phone. Even tbe senior citizen with all those plastic rewards card attached to their keyring. It is hard not to freely share your information.

I amend:) especially today:) I do not have the numbers but how many people had their informatios shared from others, given freely from others in the internet age.

@TSegal, those are some views you got there, brother! However, this mess goes a lot deeper than most people realize. For the sake of this discussion let’s say that instead of 400+ years for European White folks to get it together; they had over 1000+ years of planning. I must use caution here as all I say must be accurate, though ever so unpopular. Allegations of ‘anti-semitism’ holds must greater penalties than violations of civil rights. Here we go! Since before the Roman empire was established, Jews who separated from other European Whites were prosecuted by virtually every society on earth, they got tired and got smart. Really evil smart. More than 1000+ years developing the theory of ‘double entry (modern-day accounting); 1000+ years studying (sizing-up their enemies) habits, likes and dislikes; 1000+ years stealing (plagiarizing) ideas, philosophies, science, ways of ruling a nation, and medicine from Black Africa (there were more than 2000 Black/Muslim universities in Africa) while infiltrating the very government they were subject to. Gaining trust, even marrying into families of their taskmasters. How astute would that group be after 1000+ years trial and error, and what would they do to the people who looked down upon them? Yes, it has always been White on White crime before the phrase was invented. Never forget for one moment, or underestimate the resolve of greed and power, and how even innocent children are fair game in the name of maintaining that power and feeding that greed. NO! No sir, White folks are not hypocrites, they not fools; they have always practiced what they preach. What they preach are all lies, contrary to the theologian riddled metaphor “mixing lies with the truth.” They always lie and cause us to think it’s the truth. I’ll prove it to you, right here and now! How often do we hear Blacks (you and me) asset that we are entitled to the same rights as White folks? What are those rights, I might ask? Freedom of life liberty and pursuit of happiness. Freedom for White folks is ethnocentric related (right to marginalize anyone different from them), kill whoever they want whenever they want and; freedom to follow the hegemony, their own. SORRY, but I am not entitled to, nor want that kind of freedom. Happiness for White is living perversely. I don’t to be a pervert. Just look at the most basic insignificant ways of living in modern society today, from the substance to subsistence, from what is acceptable to what is looked down upon. What rules and social values would you ordain right and wrong? All on the one hand. On the other hand, it does cause one to think (again), and reconsider principles of theology, all of them, excluding none. You’re on the right track, brother, keep up the question asking!!

Yes Troy, afromerica is my site and we still around. We were on hiatus for awhile but came back last year. Google has filtered some sites but we started back in 2000 so the Internet has not spit us out yet.

Fear is tool that provokes are real-life response. Fight or Flight... Prolonged fear leads to mental breakdown. It's not easy to just resist because most people are approaching psychotic breaks. Most people of EVERY color. We are not just humans; we are human animals and animals all react differently when they're afraid. Some animals play dead, faint and poop when they're afraid and there are animals that make themselves bigger when they're afraid and if pushed to their limit, they will attack. This is where we are today - you can't use a weapon without expecting a weapon to be used against you. Use of fear has pushed everyone to mental instability. Danger is real and it also provokes the same response as those experiencing fear... Fight or Flight. There is another way to combat danger and its through the use of CHAOS... Clear Head Assess Observe Situation then respond. Response requires training. Those who are in imminent danger are usually not of the mindset to survive the danger... especially those who have experienced duress due to prolonged fear. So first we must learn how to respond to a situation. However I suggest first locating the fire (the danger) because fighting smoke (fear) is a waste of resources.

Happily ever after is the problem, in literary terms. I will reply to your personal query but after I speak on the problem with the entire modern relationship genre. The first problem is where happily ever after came from. It came from a change in european fairy tales. Originally fairy tales were meant to refer to tales concerning the magical. A fairy traditionally is not positive or negative, in literary terms fairies is a magical label, how the magic apply to humans or the human world depend on the fairies, the humans, the various natural aspects. Most of these fairy tales were variations on pre christian stories from various places in europe that were becoming or would become heavily christian, at the zealot level. The christian clergy to their part, maintained the original christian method, making non christian things negative. This is why the word villans means criminal or peasant is low class compared to urban, where the christian church started, in modernity.Originally fairy tales had many unhappy endings. Some meant to scare, some meant to educate, others cause the story was good. But, over time, as books were being created, some writers decided to omit the unhappily ending fairy tales and only include the happy ones, or convert the unhappy ending ones into happy ending ones. This was the way in the european literary world; that coincided to the european global colonial age. The funny thing is that many of the conquered peoples native to <using commonly used geographic nameplace, not appropriate ones>: Africa/Asia/America had their own fairy tales which reflected the same style that the original european fairy tales did; but, these non european or non white fairy tales were barely transcribed or remembered or recalled through enslaved or genocidal histories. This lead up to modernity, in the united states. The U.S.A. media traditionally likes an inhuman position. From davey croket <is that the correct spelling> to the founding fathers , whether referring to real or unreal history the u.s.a. puts a happily ever after spin on all tales. When, the world wars are ended, the USA through its relatively advanced media machine, spread the happily ever after style and embedded it in films or entertainment. Artists who tried to reject this had to be independent or their work was undermined in advertising. The original scarface black and white film/comedy shows on early television/tales from the crypt comic books are all examples of media in the u.s.a. where someone was telling a story that did not end happy ever after and in each genre rules were set up to enforce a happily ever after product. From the movie ratings to comic code to prewritten shows on television. The artistic goal was blocking unhappily ever after from being experienced. Now, in modernity, the film industries technological capability has allowed an audience to see some of the most fantastic written elements absent reading or use of their imagination. The non science fiction or high fantasy fiction genre's like relationships or biographies are where books are making the most money. And, with centuries of happily ever after saturating the media in anglo led ,u.k. then u.s.a. , humanity you get to the current scenario. Now to answer your query, I believe in being happy in the now and not expecting anything tomorrow. Time is a teacher, treasure each moment you live, hope for the better tomorrow, praise the best from yesterday. Expectation is the enemy to a happy life, cause humanity live in nature, not dominate it, nature will give sad days, unhappy days, and nature is no sinner for it.

thanks @TroyImagine if we can get aalbc to grow more:) wouldn't that be great @Mel Hopkins as the online black community, this should be our goal, to make a black owned website more popular:) Ok Mel:) private message me on here, we will work something out. I will say this, the promote or social share is not present on blogs and i think is not needed. let us be honest. more and more online people, spend their time with photo viewing or tweeting but very few of them spend alot of time with in depth looking at any level. So, social promotion is good but in the end of the day, we have to come up with ways to engender them to us. many people today have filters to their social experience that grooms it.

http://centerforblackliterature.org/call-for-submissions-springsummer-2016-killens-review-of-arts-letters-deadline-feb-1-2016/ Call for Submissions: Spring/Summer 2016 Killens Review of Arts & Letters. Deadline: Feb. 1, 2016 Call for Submissions Killens Review of Arts & Letters Spring 2016 Embracing Difference Please send your submissions no later than February 1, 2016, to “Spring 2016 Killens Review” (in the subject line) to writers@mec.cuny.edu. The theme of the Thirteenth National Black Writers Conference, “Writing Race, Embracing Difference,” is indeed an engaging and inviting one. Writers of the African diaspora have worked in earnest for decades to compose text that represents African-American experiences in its complex and various conditions. As stated with regard to the National Black Writers Conference: “If one is to write what one knows, then that writing will represent their perspectives and points of views of racial, cultural, and geographical space in the world.” More recently within genres such as sci-fi, mystery, historical fiction, and biography, writers of the African diaspora have connected the experiences of Black America with a broader appeal. Pulitzer Prize-winning writer James Alan McPherson, author of Elbow Room and Hue and Cry, once commented in an interview: “I’m going to be called a Black writer until I die. But the point is that when I write at my best I try to look for the human situation….” The programming for the 2016 Conference came about as the result of wanting to examine how and whether Black writers “write texts” knowing they are creating works out of spaces that are constructed by race i.e. is race at the core of the works of Black writers, no matter how candid or subtle. For the Spring 2016 issue of the Killens Review of Arts & Letters, we want to continue that exploration of “writing race, embracing difference” in the works of Black writers. Under the theme “Embracing Difference,” we seek submissions of fiction, essays, poetry, memoir, and artwork in which writers and artists create works that embrace race and differences with regard to the aesthetics, belief systems, politics, sexual identity, and cultural heritage that are reflected in the narratives and texts they compose. The Killens Review of Arts & Letters is a peer-reviewed journal that welcomes Black poets, novelists, short story writers, playwrights, journalists, essayists, scholars, yet-to-be discovered writers, and artists whose literature and artwork speak to the general public and to an intergenerational range of readers represented throughout the African Diaspora. Submission of Material The Killens Review of Arts & Letters is published once or twice a year by the Center for Black Literature at Medgar Evers College, CUNY. The Killens Review seeks book reviews, essays, short stories, creative nonfiction, art, poetry, and interviews related to the various cultural, sociopolitical, and historical experiences of writers and artists from the African diaspora. The aim is to provide well-known and lesser-known authors as well as educators and students opportunities to create and expand the canon of literature produced by people of color. While the Killens Review of Arts & Letters welcomes unsolicited material, we prefer to publish original material, i.e. first-ever publication. Unless otherwise selected by the editors, we cannot run a piece that has previously appeared elsewhere in print or on the Web. Please submit to only one category at a time: essay, fiction, interview, poetry, prose, and art. We aim to respond to your submission within two months. Essay, Fiction, and Prose Please send one piece at a time. We have no set maximum length or minimum length for prose submissions. (The average word count is about 1,500–2,000 words.) Most submissions, however, are between 2,000 – 4,000 words. Please set up your submission in letter-sized format, with ample margins, double-spaced, using a standard typeface (e.g., Times New Roman, Helvetica, Arial) and font size (12 point is best). Include your name, title of the work, and page numbers on your submission. Also include a one- to two-sentence bio about the author. If the submission is an academic essay with references, please include your bibliography at the end. Please do not submit book manuscripts. Poetry: Please send up to three poems. Art and Photography: We welcome all types of image submissions. Please include a short note about the context of the images and title and/or caption information. Please include no more than six hi-res jpegs (at 300 dpi). Electronic and Postal Submissions Kindly e-mail material to writers@mec.cuny.edu with “Fall 2015 Killens Review” in the subject heading. Please include a brief introduction of yourself and of the work being submitted. On the first page of your submission be sure to include: 1. Your name 2. Telephone number 3. E-mail address Please make sure the pages are numbered. Or mail material to: Center for Black Literature Medgar Evers College, CUNY 1650 Bedford Avenue Brooklyn, NY 11225 RE: Killens Review Material will only be returned if the sender includes a self-addressed, stamped envelope (SASE). ----------------------------------- Submission of Materials: The Killens Review of Arts & Letters is published once or twice a year by the Center for Black Literature at Medgar Evers College, CUNY. The Killens Review seeks book reviews, essays, short stories, creative nonfiction, art, poetry, and interviews related to the various cultural, sociopolitical, and historical experiences of writers and artists from the African diaspora. The aim is to provide well-known and lesser-known authors as well as educators and students opportunities to create and expand the canon of literature produced by people of color. Please submit to only one category at a time: essay, fiction, interview, poetry, prose, and art. We aim to respond to your submission within two months. Electronic and Postal Submissions Kindly e-mail material to writers@mec.cuny.edu and CReynolds@mec.cuny.edu with "Killens Review" in the subject heading. Please include a brief introduction of yourself and of the work being submitted. On the first page of your submission be sure to include: 1. Your name 2. Telephone number 3. E-mail address Please make sure the pages are numbered. Please visit our website detailed submission guidelines at: www.centerforblackliterature.org/KillensReview

@SpeakHerTruth yeah, dungeons and dragons is a game built for escapism. People when they play the board game are imaging themselves other things in other worlds. It is literally for the fun of adventure so if the film focuses on that it will probably do well. The only worry is the lack of logic, dungeons and dragons players like rules, the game has rules. the film, if it doesn't break rules it makes itself, then I think the global fanbase to the board game will be satisfied. I never heard of one night ultimate werewolf, thanks for sharing, please post in the group your expanded thoughts to ONUW in a post:) cool, i like monopoly too

"Who does this chun-li fight in the street against? pooh bear?:) " No, but for real😂😂😭 too funny

I watched the local news yesterday and when I look at the photo all I can see is a forest fire consuming me and all of my belongings or that river over flowing it's banks an washing everything I own away... More seriously; I guess were are in the midst of autumnal equinox. Here in Florida that is usually heralded by a drop in the humidly, the end of the afternoon thunderstorm, and the arrival love bugs. Since the tree leaves don't change color and die here it is like the springtime. @rosa "...with someone" is the important part. That experience would be goo alone, but great with someone. 🙂

An autumn wind speak this morning. It speak that the autumn is here for good, until the winter wind come. Let me boil some syrup. I need to get the wood, give me a moment. <Sniffle> I remember when I came here. The tantalum rush was amazing. Can you imagine a stream of automated vessels, frozen bodies inside , risking fate, between harvested body parts to raided goods to slavery on an A.B. hideaway , streaming from the spaceport in Addis Abeba to Beijing2 on Europa. I recall viewing it,nightly, with my ElectronMacroscope, from here on Titan. Few of those brave travelers made it here; the terraforming of this moon was the last initiative of the United Nations before the fall. But, millions came to this moon for the Tantalum. I worked my way here: a labor ticket to the moon from Earth, thirty years serving Senor Quetza who is still a lunar lord, paid my way to the graneries of mars for thirty years of overseering the self-automates, then enough money to take a long arc frozen trip around the AB and the battles of Jupiter. From out of my mother's womb to Titan took ninety one years. At seventy-eight I was content. I never found a woman on the way who wanted eternity with me or likewise. I helped a few people become mature. But, I just wanted to reach this place. Took me five years but I found this little enclave between mountains, no Tantalum, but everything I truly wanted. Some place to rest after a life lived. I hear something. I am getting dressed to go out. Sometimes my fellow minors lose themselves in their depression. <creeeeek> I don't see anyone. ... I hear it again. Let me check the river. Ahh.... The Autumn Deer is looking at me from the frozen mist down the mountain in the nearby wood. Amazing how the deer evolved here. "Hello Friend!" Ahh, he is going into the ice blue mist. Enjoy life my friend, as I have. If anyone find my audiorecordings this land is in your caretaking. The tantalum can not be mined forever. And the beauty here can not outlast the dying sun, but will last longer. Thank you for reading, if you want to read more of my work read below Poetry or More https://www.kobo.com/ebook/poetry-or-more-1 Bookbub https://www.bookbub.com/profile/richard-murray-16885e64-6c28-459e-bf5f-45c7d458ce49 AALBC https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/blog/29-richard-murray-hearth/

I love your cute graphic:) will share:)

@Mel Hopkins I like the name, bittersweet soul I concur that soul is a secular version of gospel. All black music is from gospel from slave days/blues from the earliest days free/jazz from new orleans.

MLK jr day 1/20/2020 Many presented videos or text concerning M.L.K. junior today, the twentieth of January. As a point of note, Martin Luther King junior's birthday is on the fifteenth of January, not the third Monday of every January. I am not interested in trying to rewrite the legend of MLK junior. MLK junior like most other historical figures in the USA was made legend after doing legendary things by others, not themselves, by those with agenda. It is more important to change the message in current media than to try to change the influence of past media using current media. My issue is ownership. Martin Luther King junior, asked a simple thing to the black statian, the black community in the USA. Do not use the ways of whites on the path to ownership. It may sound simple but, it is not, historically the ways of whites have never been undone concerning ownership. Comprehend a simple historical fact. People of white European, white is a phenotypical label while European is a geographic, descent are not the majority owners in the united states of america based on positive merit, or decency, or any positive angle. Every inch of land in the u.s.a. today is owned or controlled by the u.s.a. government, itself ranked mostly with whites, or in private white ownership, through various transfers after it was originally taken by killing native americans. Absent land how many firms will exist in the USA? What will the banks or the agricultural firms be in the u.s.a absent slavery? For all the technological modifications by usa based agricultural firms or investments in Silicon Valley in the stock markets, where will any bank or agricultural firm be in the usa without their original fiscal activities involving slaveholders accounts or slave labor for growing produce. Notice I did not refer to an individual person. I am speaking to the white community. The white community in the usa used negative means to become owners and then become financially successful owners. Martin Luther King junior spoke to Black people, grow, be strong, become owners of your own community and beyond; but don't kill another for their land, don't take another person's land, don't enslave another, do not do for yourself, your bloodline, your community by harming others. This is the reality of ownership in the u.s.a. White people help themselves, their community, built on their forebears originally harming others or themselves continuing to harm others. Martin Luther King Junior did not want black people to develop a negative character, a negative legacy, to be unmerited while trying to help their own. He asked a very challenging thing. Martin Luther King junior once said, it is a crude jest to tell a bootless man to lift himself up by his bootstraps. But he also felt the bootless man should not lessen his character by stealing another man's boots. He felt the bootless man should be strong enough to merit his boots through craft, labor, or another's kindness. As a black kid growing up, in a black community, incorrectly labeled but widely labeled, the black mecca, I realized how little the black community in Harlem owned. And in parallel, I knew how much various white communities in New york city owned, more importantly how they owned them. What would the Irish or Italian or white Jewish communities be in new york city absent their mobs, correctly glorified in constant movies. It was the white jewish, italian or irish mobs, the gangsters, the rum runners, the extortionists, the thieves, that had a largest or initial role in the development of ownership in those communities in New York city. I end, with a simple truth, the Black community in Harlem, a cultural district in Manhattan in new york city in new york state, in the united states of america, owns little to nothing in Harlem, yesterday or today. The history of the u.s.a. proves all ownership in the u.s.a. comes from those who were willing to negatively, or through negative actions, earn it. MLK junior asked black people to reject that historical truth, even when we own so little. If the Black statian can keep that hope of MLK jr. alive and one day exist in a u.s.a. where Black people own more than all others, or at least enough to not need another community. It will be a testament to MLK junior’s faith. And make the Black community have a pride, worth more than all the years whites owned far more. https://youtu.be/RnKP__N7MNI Poetry or more audiobook series https://www.kobo.com/us/en/search?query=Poetry or More&fcsearchfield=Series&seriesId=06baba96-5af5-5d24-9b8a-f06360287dc9

ethiopian post apocalyptic film enjoy @Mel Hopkins @Troy

Who is the best mother in fiction? any phenotype/religion/genre/language/age/species apply. @Mel Hopkins @Troy @Cynique @Kalexander2

my pleasure @Mel Hopkins Well, I was thinking a set of us aalbc writers can each submit something and then get it translated into portuguese. I know some native portuguese speakers. @Troy I do think an aalbc story book will be good for this community

@richardmurray thank you for thinking of me and thank you for bringing this project to my attention. I barely make enough time for my current writing projects so for now I have to pass. By the way, I don't write or speak Portuguese, lol.

I don't think it should be labeled as a comedy. Should be more of a psychological thriller more than anything because it's very much psychological. They just want to downplay the veracity of the matter @richardmurray

@richardmurray , I haven't seen Get Out but from the clips I've seen and the reviews I've read, it appears to be satire comedy. Not comedy in the traditional sense where the protagonist prevails and has a happy ending. The type of satire comedy that looks at the absurdity of the situation and accents it with humor.

No the film is certainly not a "comedy," despite the comic relief that you described. I had no idea the Academy called it a comedy, I don't really follow the awards. I just ran a few queries, but i don't see any indication that it was described as a comedy. Can you share a link.

my favorite trigger is "unmasking"

Me too! And I was also referring to the your response to the literary angle too. Many fairies in various parts of the motherland (Africa) had different powers too - some would bring happy endings especially to young girls... and there were other fairies that would act as shapeshifters and their outcomes would depend on if their spirit and the spirit of the story. My stories tend to be bittersweet. I've tried my hand at writing HEA romance but it tends to turn dark. I do like reading /watching HEA romance. As for my own HEA , I haven't had one but I have lasting friendships and wonderful experiences.

I finally listened, your voice is so sexy, if i ever do a read for a female character, you will be one of the fertile ones:) @Mel Hopkins

I'll check it out...

Great post and awesome collage! Thank you for the link to my article :-)

East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention From Tuesday, May 17, 2016 there are 4 days left until ECBACC. http://ecbacc.com/wordpress3/ecbacc-2016/flyers/ KIDS’ LIBRARY ZONE {11AM – 3PM} Bring your young creators to this fun-zone, brimming with activity! Young participants will be challenged to think creatively as they are guided through fun projects and games that allow them to draw, color, write and imagine! THE BIG DRAW {11:15AM – 12Noon} This one-of-a-kind workshop shows young artists how make big, fun and impactful artwork that can be used for book covers or even splash pages in your very own comic book! Facilitated By: N. Steven Harris DIGITAL ARTISTRY 1 {12Noon – 1PM} ECBACC will hold an amazing and timely workshop that teaches participants how to create art using the latest technology and computer techniques. Facilitated By: Mshindo Kuumba I. WRITING CHALLENGES & HOW TO BREAK THEM {12Noon – 1:15PM} Professional creators invite you to join in or listen to a discussion that examines the most common writing challenges and how to conquer them in creating your very own work! Facilitated By: Alex Simmons CARTOONING 101 {12:15PM – 1:15PM} Interested in breathing life into your story characters? Come and join our youth workshop that will instruct you on how to create exciting, energetic and related character designs for comic books, strips, and animation. Facilitated By: Jerry Craft AFRICOZ 5 CONTEST {1:15PM – 1:45PM} Every winner represents the heroes we want to see. So who will it be at AfriCoz5!? Help the judges review the best in AfriCozplay today! Cheer for your favorites and support those who gave their all to make AfriCoz5 amazing! Remember “Many May Coz but only a few will AfriCoz!!” THE GRIOT ZONE! {1:45PM– 2:30PM} Educator and storyteller extraordinaire, Mrs. Carla Wiley delivers fun activities where participants, sing, dance, and tell stories! CREATIVELY ILLUSTRATED {1:45PM -2:45PM} Often illustrations are judged not only on the skill of the artist but also the creativity and imaginative concepts the artist brings to life. Professional illustrator Eric Battle will show participants how to make those important illustrations creative and imaginative! Facilitated By: Eric Battle CREATING INSPIRATION {2:45PM – 3:45PM} We all know that creating images and stories is no simple task. Participants in this panel will discuss their solutions for low creative days and what gives them the inspiration to create their masterpieces! Facilitated By: Jerry Craft AFRICOZ CONTEST RESULTS {3:45PM – 4:15PM} The votes are in! Having tabulated the judges’ votes, ECBACC will be announcing the winners of the 5th Annual AfriCoz contest! Come celebrate all 2016 participants! DIGITAL ARTISTRY 2 {4:30PM – 5:30PM} ECBACC will hold an amazing and timely workshop that teaches participants how to create art using the latest technology and computer techniques. Talented artist Sheeba Maya shares her experiences, new work and projects with fans. Facilitated By: Sheeba Maya IMAGINATIVE FORCE {5PM – 6PM} Join the talk as many of our headlining guests discuss how the creativity of our professionals are changing the landscape of comics, films, and storytelling! Facilitated By: Prof. William Foster III http://ecbacc.com/wordpress3/2016/ecbacc-2016-programming-schedule/

Copied the link and I'm sharing it today!