Mel Hopkins

Your resort to ad hominem attacks tells me far more about your character than your repeated explanations tell me about the novel. I questioned a statement you voluntarily used to promote your book. Rather than answer the literary question in good faith, you called my impressions “facile,” my sentence “inane,” suggested that I need help, and then wandered into irrelevant commentary about my daughter. That is not a defense of fiction. It is an attempt to discredit the person asking the question because you do not like the question. I understand perfectly well that you write fiction. What you appear unwilling to understand is that readers are permitted to examine the assumptions expressed by fictional characters—especially when the author repeats and defends those assumptions outside the novel. You have now shown me how you respond to mild criticism. I have no further interest in discussing your book with you.

I do not perform analyses by sight. I look for evidence and run the numbers. Sometimes I am right, and sometimes I am not, but I do not turn personal observations into facts about an entire group. Now you're asking me to attend Printer’s Row, watch which Black men pause at a tent, inspect their T-shirts, determine whether they are “doing the fest” or merely strolling, and then draw conclusions about Black men and reading. That is not data. That is surveillance with a thesis already attached!!! A man may browse quickly, read digitally, buy books elsewhere, visit one author, accompany someone, or simply enjoy the festival. A university T-shirt does not prove that he reads, and strolling through a literary festival does not prove that he does not. In fact, my daughter has her Juris Doctorate and she had to read so much you won't find her with a book ever! Still, your experience of feeling vulnerable while reading on the CTA is your experience. It may even be useful character material. But your personal discomfort does not establish a general Black male sensibility, nor does it prove that Black men rarely read in public. I would never look at a handful of Black women in public and decide that Black women do not read. That would be absurd. Yet that is essentially the method you are defending here. Still, this is what I find most interesting: instead of simply acknowledging that your original statement was broad, you keep supplying more anecdotes to support it. Your first statement is what started this conversation in earnest. You have explained your characters. You have explained your commute. You have explained Printer’s Row. BUT You still have not explained why your personal observations should be treated as a meaningful conclusion about Black men.

We already have a viable and ancient system of mating rituals! I've gotten proposals from my cooking...In fact, one suitor ate all my almond-flour cookies after he said he didn't want any. Black men will PROPOSE something if you cook for them!!! 😆That's our courting. Because Black men will also cook for Black women and if they cant cook they will take her to a linen-cloth table restaurant. If Black man wants to take you to his family reunion you better get off your booty and go! If a Black woman wants you to meet our sister-girls Black man that is a huge hint! Those are our courting rituals. Stop watching Hallmark movies @Pioneer1 !!!

@Pioneer1 and I had a meeting of the minds about Black Gen X, and I'll add Black Gen Jones men (born between 1955-1965): either avoiding marriage or staying married once they say, "I do." Now, we've agreed on a lot of the points made in this video presented on YouTube. But here's where we diverge in our perspectives. (see the topic "Search Engines and Aggregation Websites LOVE AALB to read the rest of the exchange) From my experience, Black people have different mating rituals than those who established Western civilization. When Black families come together, from birth to death, it is often a proverbial Thanksgiving, cook-out, brunch, or some type of eatfest. That is usually how you know two people are about to unite—case in point, my response to Pioneer's observation. When I met my firstborn's father in college, it was at his insistence that I come to his house for dinner. It wasn't our first encounter, but by the time he was really interested, I knew he was bringing a brontosaurus steak to win me over. On the flipside, I've gotten proposals from my cooking. In fact, one suitor ate all my homemade almond-flour cookies after he said he didn't want any. Black men will PROPOSE something if you cook for them!!! 😆 That's our courting ritual. As I said, Black men will also cook for Black women, and if they can't cook, they will take their date to some linen-cloth table restaurant with waiters ready to wait on the table. And creepy as this sounds, they will do this for the woman they want on the side too, so she knows he wants to keep her too. Also, I've learned that if a Black man wants to take you to his family reunion, you'd better get off your booty and go! He is really serious about that woman. On the same token, if a Black woman wants a Black man to meet her sister-girls, that is a huge hint! Those are our courting rituals. So, stop watching Hallmark movies to get a clue and watch us, what we do naturally, and then see what comes next and how quick we connect. Ok, so, that's what happens in my Black tribe. Has anyone observed something different in their tribe?

I was careful to distinguish between your novel, which I have not read, and the promotional comment you posted here, which I did read. My questions concerned the sweeping characterization in that comment and whether the novel ultimately challenges the character’s assumption. That was not an impression of the novel. I asked what kind of journey the character undertakes. Your response does not answer that question. I also noticed that your original post identifies him as the POV character, while your response now describes him as a non-POV character. This is exactly why clarification would have been more useful than dismissing my questions as “facile.” Yet you are surprised that I formed an opinion about the broad statement concerning Black men that you chose to quote while promoting Be White With Me. That was a mild critique. Are you sure you want people to read your book—or only readers who are likely to give you kind reviews? " You right!" I was thinking about that when I was watching the video. A lot of my friends are on their third marriage because their husbands were extremely distant. Even my ex -says he wished he could have connected with his uncle sooner. He believes we would have still been married because his uncle helped him work through a lot of issues.

My other "Twin" HeyGen AI-ed this one of our Flexx promotional photos taken in the 90s. She updated us I'm on the right. 😄

Yes I've made GPT agents and GEMS but not for Bible or Style books. I know you can but I've created those agents for other lifestyle areas such as Jennie Craig menu modification and another to help midlifers work through the pitfalls of aging out of the labor force. You're correct I could create one for writing and I've considered it to help me in worldbuilding. Then Anthropic' Fable 5 came out and now it can keep track of all the arcs, characters and worlds I buildfor my novel and memoir. Grammarly is just easy to edit and keep track of my short manuscripts. Agreed and that's how I use it when I checking my works cited sources...But we know how to use AI. I suspect folks get wrong answers when using AI as a search engine out of context of an actual project I believe LLM AI is such a personal use tool that seems to help people who already know how to use LLM AI to assist in their projects. When I see end-users post their results with screen grabs I just shrug. In fact, one person tried to challenge me with a screen grab about cloud data centers and AI data centers when I told tell him they work in tandem. -He admitted he couldn't find the information. So, I told him you have to think like an engineer and consider what they might call such dual data center that are a source of contention when referring to the data centers all the big tech companies are buiding now. -Then I told him how to find the information he was looking for. All this to say, we are not working with the same abilities when it comes to LLM/Gen AI. Because I write and read about deep tech every single day - there are very few who can work at my level. And frankly, I don't expect everyone to do so - There are other things they are doing with their time. I remember that thread! But like you've said it is the same as two dudes in my life who catfished me in real time -right to my face! It is call discerment and we all do it daily. I listen to a lot AI videos and I take what I need.. Just like I listen to Dr. Umar or anyone who bends the truth in real time. But as women who has had her share of dudes feeding me lines when I was younger, trust AI isn't the worst offender 😄

😚 I thought merriam-webster covered intelligence pretty well -and you know that doesn't describe you at all - but wait no 'spoken word' ability? Dang! Hello, @R. E. Hayes Interesting premise. I’m curious about why the protagonist in Be White With Me associates a Black man reading in public with vulnerability—or, implicitly, with behavior that is somehow outside Black life. Is the protagonist speaking from a particular Chicago subculture, neighborhood, or social world? Is that assumption something the character’s journey eventually challenges? AALBC published Kalisha Buckhanon’s Running to Fall, which delicately explores a racial and cultural chasm within Chicago. To my surprise, she took readers into a world I did not know existed. The novel is both literary and mysterious, but it never asks the reader to accept broad assumptions about Black people or Chicago culture. Buckhanon simply reveals a specific world through her characters, and the larger social statement emerges from the storytelling. I have read the description on the book jacket, but I’m responding specifically to the comment above. Perhaps readers would be more receptive if they were invited into the protagonist’s particular world without first being asked to accept such a broad characterization of Black men in Chicago. Speaking of Chicago, are you attending Printer's Row Lit Fest this year?

LOL, "You from Nu Yawk" I think the last time you were broke - you could count your age with two hands. Maybe even one hand if I'm being conservative 😄

Twin, it is. A lot of times folks like me write the copy but use an avatar or a clone of our voice 🙋🏽‍♀️ to narrate the script 🙃. Yes, some folks you see in these videos exist in real life but they have cloned themselves to deliver a better presentation. Want to see?

Once again, funny but true! A few years ago a company endorsed by Elon Musk raised milions with their concept of Boxabl (housing in a box) So, I suspect that this new legislation will absolutely benefit that Musk-backed business because he actually lives in one that he set up when he moved to Texas to set up shop. Yep! That's how I uploaded the Warnock photo - but it doesn't work for me. @aka Contrarian has the magic touch! Cynique, please share the technique. Thank you! And also @ProfD has the magic touch because his photo is now the face of this topic. It fits though so thank you Brotha @ProfD ! I know right! I sure hope the people (not the billionaires) benefit from this surprising legislation!

This is a good point. In this case, I blame the educational system, not AI. Those who use AI shouldn't be using it as a Search Engine because it is not that. But some folks who use the LLM AI also aren't accustomed to challenging authority. I watched a video about Feynman and education that sent me down a rabbit hole. In it, the writer posits that most students accept answers without challenging the meaning. Whether this documentarian is telling the truth or not, I've also recognized this behavior throughout my years in school, business, and corporate America. People don't ask questions or challenge information. Obviously, you challenge the answers, so I'm really responding to your statement because most people are just looking for packaged answers rather than meaning, and that's the real payoff. Which will continue to separate the haves from the have-nots. (I'm not speaking about money here, but those who innovate because they can think beyond what the education system provides to the student. I always go back to our education at Brooklyn Tech - we couldn't skate on memorization, the teachers there taught us to think it through. Like the Feynman video I linked to in my response.

Oh yes, that is perfect for academic writing. But in this case, the subscription version allows you to share your Brand style guide, set it and forget it. So when you write your article, manuscript, or thought-leadership essay for a client —it reminds you of your style guide rules. Grammarly saves a lot of time when you're student or consult as a communications strategist.

Aside: @Troy I still can't figure out how to upload a photo for forum page of my topics. HELP!!!

I just checked my NvisiLink account today. I was surprised to learn that my investment shows a $26.60 increase. Your digital account is at startengine.com and the company is Espre Technologies, Inc. Also you're on the mailing list so I know you get the quarterly reports. I prepare them and send them out through mailchimp.com. If you'd like I can send yours through text tomorrow and the next quarter when I distribute again. OH! If you mean follow up $$$ - The product is at TRL 6 and is doing a private raise. Visit NvisiLink.com for more information. While LLM can edit too -Sometimes, I just want to write and check for typos. Grammar also have this new product called Superhuman AI Enterprise. I don't subscribe to it but they did get a large investment to grow the company. In addition to grammarly you can upload your corporate style guide so that it checks for grammar and does a style check. It also helps you strengthen syntax, structure, and make a stronger argument - especially if you lose your flow. But most of all I can't use LLM AI/Gen AI for class assignments. Remember I returned to school so I cant use Chat/Gemini.or Claude to write my assignments. We are allowed to use AI grammar tools. That's how I learned about Grammarly's AI detection feature that helps you to tighten up your essays so it won't be flagged for AI. I needed that because I got flagged on one of my assignments and it was my original manuscript. So I checked to see why I got flagged and learned it was because I'm an old school writer. I use em dashes, examples in threes, oxford comma, and active voice writing. In the end, I kept my original work and just complained to the instructor. Sometimes the AI detectors make you dumb down your work. I refuse to let AI hi-jack my writing style.