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Chev I see you're learning....lol.

Humm @Delano you may have shown me a feature I was unaware of, "Last Visited." I always assumed it was the last posting date. I can tell you one thing for sure, the software does not track visitors, by name, unless they have an account AND are logged in. So, Cynique can view the forums, without logging in, and all you will see is "guest." Now, I have access to ip addresses, so I could in map the IP addresses of guests to one that Cynique has previously used and get a better indication of when she last visited, but I don't have that kind of free time. Besides, if she wanted to make her presence known she would just post. @Delano you seemed to be overly concerned that @Cynique will never return. Why? Did you look at the number of posts that she actually made over a 9 years period -- winning the day 500 times! Those stats are far more interesting. That does not included the 13,874 posts she made from 2002 until 2010, when I moved the forums to AALBC from thumperscorner.com. Del, that is an average of three posts per day, everyday, for 17 years. She is 80+ years old. If she never posted another thing here in life, she did her part. I agree with @Chevdove in that fatigue -- both mental and physical played a part. Del think about what that means. She actively engaged in a substantive and often enlightening way here for the better part of 20 years! Most people her age don't even use the web -- let alone actively engage on it. Is your mom actively engaged on the web? My own mother has no clue what I do on these forums -- let alone participate in them. I know you miss her Del. I do too, but all good things come to an end and she really did her part to make these forums interesting. All of you who participate make these forums interesting (you lurkers help too). No one else has done it on the level of Cynique -- at least not yet ;-)

Hi Troy, Thanks for the response. My website is here: www.whitfrazier.com It's mostly an academic website, but if you click on "Research Projects" there's a pretty cool project on there that I've been working on charting African American little magazines from the beginning of the 20th century to the end of the Black Arts Movement, and looking at trends in African American author inclusion in the Norton Anthology of American Literature, and seeing what the correlations are. Preliminary results seem to suggest African Americans make the most inroads when they start to publish themselves. So my interest in the exclusion (actually, as opposed to inclusion) of black authors is something I'm pretty actively engaged in on an academic level. Lately the trend has actually been to highlight more African authors than African American authors because they're seen as "more appealing." The voices of African authors are vital and important, no doubt about that, but this kind of attitude of "more appealing black person" is vulgar and oppressive. And it's not even my language -- this comes straight from a 2014 New York Times article: ----- "Some professionals in the book world say that too many literary publishers would rather put out work by writers from Africa than work by African-Americans because in the current climate the Africans are considered more appealing for what is seen as a “black slot.” ... Publishers, not surprisingly, tend to disagree with the idea that African-American writers are being overlooked now. “Hogwash,” said Robin Desser, vice president and editorial director at Alfred A. Knopf and Ms. Adichie’s editor. “When the next Toni Morrison comes around I can say that publishers will go crazy.” https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/30/arts/new-wave-of-african-writers-with-an-internationalist-bent.html ----- There's actually a "black slot!" Not that this really surprises any of us, I mean we all knew it already, but then there it is in the New York Times! And then that quote about the "next Toni Morrison!" Really? Someone actually went on record saying something that tone-deaf? Naw, Robin, I'm not the next Toni Morrison, all due respect to a great lady, but I can't be her. I can only be my own unique black self, and I can only write the world the way I see it. White people are allowed to do that. But if you're black you have to be "the next Toni Morrison" -- whatever that means. Damn. Anyway, sorry for the tirade, but I had agents and publishers shutting the door in my face all day every day, and I went ahead and published my own work my own damn self, and it's good to see the work validated.

I forgot to sign in before posting the first time, so I'm reposting the link signed in. Whit https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-5399-6776-7

@Chevdove yes you can! All day erry day! You got this!!! I didn't see this one! Thank you for the heads-Up 🤣 @Pioneer1 I already failed at the gig because I agreed with you! Plus sorry, men are men... and although there is this one light skinned hazel-eyed brother that I'm crushing on - he scares me speechless so there's that - ok TMI TMI ... No, I already have a club here at AALBC that Troy, appointed me moderator and I'm working on getting folks to contribute there at readingblack.com ... So y'all come on over!!!

@Troy He was a Raleigh North Carolina Police Officer and he basically said that many people have been misled to believe that once you sign up on Facebook, you can delete your account but that is not true. Then he said that if you post a pic or something that you later regret and try to delete it, however, this will not happen but, it will still be there no matter what. Then he said that if can affect you job in the future. So he advise students to stay away from facebook. @Pioneer1 LOL! I do NOT have what it takes to stay tuned in long enough to do what Cynique did! I have short attention span! And also, like MC Hammer said-- regarding @Mel Hopkins-- being First Lady-- She is polished and awesome imo and as MC HAMMER SAID, when it comes to MEL HOPKINS, "I" ... CAN'T TOUCH THIS!...

Bastids are you a native New Yorker? @Mel Hopkins

I hope you kept such good records that they find they owe you!! #dabastids

I guess I did. Email your email address troy@aalbc.com and I'll send you the address I use.

Mel You brought up Bear Sterns. I may be mistaken but wasn't Bear Sterns the firm that Chris Gardner (the man the movie Pursuit of Happiness was based on) worked for and eventually made him a success? Perhaps they chose people based more on raw talent than academic record. What Epstein, Weinstein, and Spacy were accused of doing is certainly nothing new but what I believe happened is the same thing that probably happened in the college admissions scandal and why so many wealthy and famous people ended up getting caught up in that......somebody got PISSED OFF because they didn't get PAID OFF and decided to blow the whistle on them. As soon as they "rectify" the situation the charges will likely drop or be severely reduced. They're not going to do them like OJ, Cosby, or Kelly. Troy You can correct me if I'm wrong but I remember you saying in one post that you didn't pledge a Fraternity. If you had YOU TOO would have had the connections to either escape an audit or atleast they would have eased any financial penalties incurred and give you a slap on the wrist. The Federal and even many of the State governments up and down the Eastcoast are FULL of well connected "Black Greeks" with the power to help eachother out. Actually I'm more like a Maroon......and far from the plantation, lol.

Man.... I heard about this the other day and could barely believe it. He was so young. May our beloved brother have peace and tranquility. Thanks for posting this Chev.

SWEET PEA WHITAKER--May he RIP What Happened!? I mean, what really happened!? Was this the first time he’d crossed that street or what? Aren’t we speaking about a professional boxer who probably was accustomed to jogging and crossing streets? Well, anyway, this is sad news. I met him years ago, and thought that he was so very nice. The reports say that he had just had a photo session the day before! And, reports also have 'exonerated' the driver of the vehicle that struck him already. No charges are expected to be filed. Oh well,.. I met Sweet Pea Whitaker back in the 1980s at the Scope during a CIAA Championship game and later at my college in Norfolk, Va. and that was how I came to know that he was famous. I was a CIAA ‘ball girl’ and went to take a break and sat down in the bleachers for the VIPs. At this time, I did not know anything about him. But he was sitting directly in front of me and he turned around and introduced himself to me. He had bodyguards all around him. Later during that time, he handed me a poster that said, “10” and asked me to hold it up and then he took a picture. LOL. It just occurred to me that he might have been flirting with me!!! OMG! Shoot! LOL. Just kdding. I still have that pic, but well, those dayz are gone! LOL! I am a different person now! Now I'm a 10 x 10 x 10... LOL. But, back then it took me a while to realize who I had just met! Man! Again, he was so nice. My husband grew up in Norfolk and recalled how he was recruited and trained to be a boxer and became a favorite, he said, because ‘he had a left hook’. But, he quit because, he said that it was too intense for him. He said, they worked him out so hard that after the next day, he could not even lift his arms. Well, anyway, this is horrible news. I just read that Sweet Pea had financial debt and drug problems. And, the news reports says that he died on the scene. I also just read that Sweet Pea was arguable the best boxer of all times! May he rest in peace. REAKING Former world champion boxer Pernell "Sweetpea" Whitaker struck, killed by vehicle in Virginia Beach · Staff report Jul 15, 2019 Updated 21 hrs ago Pernell "Sweetpea" Whitaker, a former world champion boxer, died Sunday night after being hit by a pickup in Virginia Beach. … Whitaker, 55, was a four-time world champion who grew up in Norfolk. He won an Olympic gold medal in 1984. Ring Magazine named him its 1989 boxer of the year. ... https://pilotonline.com/sports/other/boxing/article_f4e8d6de-a6fd-11e9-ac4a-db3b99f41acb.html Post Script: How does a pickup truck hit a person all by itself? I guess they meant, 'after being hit by a PERSON driving the pick up truck'...

So, Cynique can view the forums, without logging in, and all you will see is "guest." Which is what I suspect she's been doing.....lol. But since you brought up her age, I know a person can die at 20 or 30 if if you're in your 80s it would be nice to let people know that you're still around and doing alright from time to time. But if she's gone FOR REAL for real (which I never wanted because I liked bantering with her) then I say we should nominate Chevdove or....as long as she keeps agreeing with me and leave them white menz alone, lol....Mel as the new "1st Lady" of AALBC !

Yeah this fact jumped out at me too! It is not a surprise, because I saw this all the time. However, the fact that he is also a degenerate, convicted felon and it did nothing to stunt his ability to amass a great deal of wealth is a bit much... I mean the feds are auditing me -- even if they find be completely wrong we are talking about a few grand I'd owe. They have all the money in the world to go after chump change, from small businesses, but the wealthy get rewarded for their crimes. Blow up a bank and you not only get bailed out, but you get a huge bonus. This 2nd Gilded Age, we are in, is a mother!

AND they get hired (Epstein) to teach with ONLY a high school diploma allegedly from Lafayette High School... Now I ain't mad at him...I got a great gig and I hadn't even graduated from college yet _ BUT don't tell the rest of the world they can't ahead without going into debt to go to and graduate from college. Just be honest and advise that withtyout cronyism and a well-connected network, the best bet is to go to college so you CAN get into a well connected network. Dude even worked at Bear Sterns handling a lot of cash.. Most black men have to get a college degree and an MBA just to get an interview. Black women? Fugghedaboutit unless she's fly. Yeah, this society is full of crap but patriarchy strikes again. So, all I can do is laugh. I benefited from it too! When I was young, my body was slamming and that opened a lot of doors. Today, my daughters are young, gifted and gorgeous. So you've guessed it - They are living their best lives! One of my daughters just got her first corporate Credit card account - to wine and dine clients . (Still, I hate patriarchy. I for one am glad it's on its way out.) Btw, Judge dismissed Actor Kevin Spacey's sexual assault case. Dude wouldn't testify and prosecutors didn't push it as a crime against the state; which is standard operating procedure. smh

@Pioneer1 Cynique also ended with the above comment. So it was not about gender, it is was about the contributions the posters made. She appreciated many of the men who posted here over the years. @ABM comes to mind but there were many others. @Delano Cynique wrote she would be checking things out from time to time. So I guess that would make you wrong 😉 Sorry would have probably sufficed, but people rarely say I'm sorry and mean it. Even when contrition is expressed the recipient often does not accept it... This is so true. @Cynique and @Thumper felt indispensable, but they were not -- no one is indispensable. As long as someone pays the bills, maintains the software and hardware, as hard as that has been for 20+ years, I'm not even indispensable. Well @Chevdove well, what did he say?

Yeah @Chevdove they ticked every box with this creature...

Chev and Del We all appreciated Cynique's presence here, including myself. But like Troy said about the site's future....that's life. I'm sure you've had loved ones in the off-line world that have literally died.....passed away. You don't like it but life goes on and you continue to evolve because you don't have much of a choice. It's a similar concept with an "online" family or friendship. People stop posting or sites shut down for various reasons and people you've kicked it with for years disappear on you. I remember one site I had been kicking it on for 7 or 8 years and then one day the owner came on and announced he would be shutting down it in a few weeks...and I almost cried, lol. Some of them said they were going to facebook too, but I refused. I still wonder where some of the characters I used to build with are.

Good question. I forgot exactly HOW I found this site but I was looking for some Black sites to kick it on and back in 2012 I was also running for local office at that time and wanted to get some support online. But as for now....... I like the vibe here. I think you're a good moderator because you pretty much gives people their space to say what they want and you also participate. I like being around intelligent AfroAmericans, not sites with crazy negroes cussing at and threatening eachother or swapping pornography in every other post. Not that I'm AGAINST pornography, but like I tell some cats on another site....I'm not a teenager anymore I'm a grown ass man and it'll take more than looking at a big greasy ass or pair of titties to get me going....lol. I'm at the age where I want INTELLECTUAL stimulation.

@Pioneer1 You are absolutely right. Well, just to be sure, I certainly do NOT want you to be shamed, ridiculed, suspended or banned! I look forward to reading you! Yes, I see this too and tend to get these vibes coming from some posters, but I don't know if it is a gender issue. I think a lot of you for this! @Delano Yes, I hope you are wrong.

I agree

@Delano I know I had grown weary of it. In fact, the reason I visited today was because of you and Feynman articles. When I saw those I thought of you and then I thought to visit the forum. Sadly, Pioneer’s comment up there - reminded of those times. @Pioneer1 you do realize President Obama was in charge (FOR REAL) and had a cabinet filled with black women. They seemed to love him being in charge! Most Black women have no problem working for black men - And there are plenty of black women who will follow black men anywhere. So maybe I’ve misunderstood your statement or its context.! But as it’s written it makes NO sense. Troy owns the website but he works for us, the visitors, members and contributors. In fact, I bet there are more women signed up than men. So why would anyone (but alt-reicht) be turned off by a black man owning a website? 🤷🏽‍♀️

I’m in agreement with you @Pioneer1 ! And I used to subscribe to James Clear too - but then I thought his perspective is no better than mine - and in fact, mine is far superior to his when the topic concerns MY life. Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about “facts” - and insisting something subjective is a “fact” does a lot of damage to those it seeks to subjugate. Case-in-point, I was having a discussion with someone about foreclosures and homes up for auction. The person said you have to pay auction.com $100 to see the property. Well, that’s not exactly “fact” Now it is a fact that auction dot com charges a fee BUT that’s not the whole story. You can see the house for free - if the former homeowner , the one going through foreclosure let’s you in. Because chances are they are still living there! Also it’s a fact that you can buy the property at auction. You don’t even need auctiondotcom in Essex County for example, because the sheriff handles the sale. But it’s also fact that you could save yourself aggravation and wait until the bank takes possession. You can buy it from them with financing and for less than you’d pay at auction. All this to say, ask yourself who do the facts benefit? Then you’ll understand why they don’t change minds. And in some cases rightfully so!

@Pioneer1 life is complicated man. Often it is difficult to make sense of it. For example, I would love for the larger Black community to embrace what I do here simply because I'm a Black man against struggling against massive corporations, who intend to exploit us, to support Black culture and people here on the web. I just does not work that way. I see people on Twitter, for example retweeting and commenting on 45's nonsense. Sure they mean well but they are only helping Twitter and counterintuitively 45. I wish these very same people would retweet my posts that are actually promotes their work, or writers that they want supported. Some even advertise on the site. So it is not that they don't support, but too much of what we do with our energy and time can undermine what we do with our money. @Cynique's contributions here were prodigious. I named the forum for her (though I honestly I was a bit sadden by her using a typo on this honor as a passing swipe rather than her just letting me know). However she spends time on Facebook not once sharing any of her brilliant posts here on the platform. Why? Maybe she wanted to keep her online lives separate. It really does not matter. The bottom line is that most people do this. They easily share trivial utterances made on social media but rarely share major coverage here. They'll gladly do it when asked, but it is not automatic. Right niw I'm too busy maintaining the site to worry about a succession plan. If the last 20 years are an indicator, the next 20 will be rough. I do recognize people do not live forever. The reality is most businesses fail and the vast majoirity don't outlive their founders. Mult-gereational survival is not in AALBC's favor, but you've all given me something to think about 🙂 Thanks

@Pioneer1 you've demonstrated your support for the site, in ways others can never know, beyond just engaging here. I would not be surpirised if @Cynique posted here again nor would I think less of her for doing so. My kids, like most people their generation, express liite interest in what I do here. That does not mean that they don't love me. It just means that they will not be taking over the site. If I were to keel over today, unfortunately, the site would die with me. Unfortunately, as Pioneer wrote, this is how we do.

So I guess mulattos like Colin Kaepernick and Aeshya Curry are going to be among the new spokesperson's for AfroAmerican issues. Or better yet.....the KARDASHIANS can also be spokespersons! When it comes to AfroAmerican isssues, Trump seems to be paying more attention to and granting favors for KIM KARDASHIAN than even Kanye, Jim Brown, Steve Harvey or any other AfroAmerican jockying for his attention.

Chev Well, if you give her some space, then maybe she will offer some input. The floor was hers all along. What I post and my presence shouldn't impact her ability to express herself. And she said on numerous occasions that it didn't matter to her whether I stayed or left. (yeah right....lol) I hope you don't get offended at this as a female, but like I told Troy....it's been my observation that most female posters like being on sites where they can point their fingers at certain people and get them punished by either being shamed and ridiculed or suspended and banned. I understand that most females tend to be more sensitive than males and it's hard for them to ignore the presence of certain individuals so the concept of "live and let live" and the concept of a place where EVERYONE (including those they don't like) have the total freedom to express themselves makes them feel uncomfortable. I don't think YOU are this way because you post your ideas and do your own thing but many females I know can't stand to be on the same site with someone they don't like whether they are communicating with them or not. Personsonally I don't think it was my presence that made Cynique angry this time but my expressing my belief that she found some of the men on this site attractive and got sexual energy off of her exchanges with us that perhaps made her feel "funny" or embarassed. I would have taken the statement back if I knew it would have gotten this reaction from her. Troy If I had the money, not only would I invest a lot of it into this forum but I'd also invest in your abilities to do other things like networking with and building more AfroAmerican book stores both online and physically. Perhaps even take things to another level like tarting an on-line independent film clubs for AfroAmericans similar to what you're doing for authors. You don't talk about your children on here much but if none of them are going to carry on your legacy then you need to find intelligent young minds whom you can trust to safely and successfuly transfer everything you've built and all the knowledge you've gained to. The Nation of Islam teaches that the concept of "godhood" is passed down from one man to the next as he takes everything he knows and passes it to another and then the next man not only possesses that knowledge but BUILDS upon it with the knowledge he accumulates and it goes so forth and so on generation after generation. Too often in this society individual AfroAmericans have to start from scratch because their parents and elders left them nothing to build from AND when they finally do build something and die, unless a White man steals it from them - what they know and build doesn't get passed down but just passes away with them.

@Pioneer1 You may be right. Black discussion forums are rapidly becoming a thing of the past. I revisited a post, not even two years old, where someone who ran a discussion forum ranked a few others. Half the forums have shut down -- including the one run by the person who made the post. Connie summed it up best she has more fun on Facebook. The part about typos on posts here, while true, is also true on facebook. That really is the bottom line. For the vast majority of social media users I observe in real life - who pass me their phone to share something funny they saw on some social site. Of course these sites are designed to highly engage folks and they work very well. Fast growing platforms like TikTok are completely driven by entertaining videos. Facebook's mobile feed attempts to mimic this but they can't... ultimately people will leave Facebook too. During the peak of this forum, I would regularly laugh out loud by something I read here, but I could also learn something. There was humourous posts, serious ones, and everything in between. Most importantly, at least to me, is that this platform is Black-owned and independent. I'm a child of the 60s, who grew up in the segregated northern ghetto of Harlem. So Black independence is a thing I find to be important. This is a sentiment that is dying along with indie Black focused and owned websites. One reason independence is important is that businesses like AALBC provides opportunities for people. The writers, editors, and others I pay are not being paid by the likes of a Mark Zuckerberg. Of course AALBC's ability to do this is adversely impacted the dominace of Google, Amazon, and social. Fortunately, individuals whether they are sponsors, site vistors, or contributors to this forum are the people who keep this site alive. If you are reading this thank YOU for helping to keep this site alive! Also, thank you on behalf of the writers whose work you support, but who will probably never fully appreciate your impact.

Thanks! It looks like I have the infrastructure in place and now I just need to be smart about how to use these tools.