Mel Hopkins

See @Troy ! I know that was harsh but sometimes I just don't feel like sugarcoating my thoughts. Actually, I grew up in a household where we say the most inappropriate things - but for the most part, I play nice on these here internets :D

This comment caught me off guard LOL.. but men are crazy. So, really that's all the answer ever needed. The only time "life" is sacred is when a woman is carrying it in her body and a man gets to decide through his laws whether she's allowed to terminate. After that all bets are off. So, really if roe vs wade is overturned here in the states - all women have to do is give birth ...and then keep it moving. Some man will eventually kill the kid anyway.

Ali A. Mazrui, also wrote a companion book to his documentary "The Africans: a Triple Heritage" " Originally issued in connection with a PBS series, this volume by the Kenyan political scientist offers a stimulating introduction to Africa's peoples and problems. ""Throughout, Mazrui provocatively suggests remedies for Africa's malaise,'' PW wrote. (September) " The Nature of the Continent | Program 1| Link is in the above comment A Legacy of Lifestyles | Program 2 https://youtu.be/fByaUQppoGs New Gods|Program 3 https://youtu.be/zyZHhMtgDzM Tool of Exploitation | Program 4 |https://youtu.be/fNnN63hXLfo New Conflicts|Program 5 | https://youtu.be/sAxOGImWWF4 In Search of Stability|Program 6 |https://youtu.be/zdhp5JeZkKY A Garden of Eden In Decay|Program 7 | https://youtu.be/98DeZLWnkJg A Clash of Cultures|Program 8 |https://youtu.be/B3AGGHooJ6I Global Africa | Program 9 | https://youtu.be/Nf25hZe1ZhE

@Pioneer1 I agree! (damn!) And there's an actual academic studies authored by an actual African scholar Ali A. Mazrui, who also specialized in afro-linguistics that helped me to understand that this was the truest statement made on this board to date!!! Most African-Americans come from West Africa where the base language is bantu - which is the root of most swahili words - when swahili speaking cultures refer to the etymology of their words - they refer to bantu NOT latin...and etymology of those words form the culture to which many can refer to even though the british colonized a lot of Swahili-speaking people. In fact, when we look to the seven principles of Kwanza it's important to look at the bantu etymology of the word AND NOT the AMERICAN translation. So, when I first thought of this topic I was trying to make a point. African-Americans subscribe to the american culture. It is our language that dictates our culture. Most of the time, without even noticing it -we reinforced the dominate culture - because we only know one language -american english The things we do today would be virtually unrecognizable to a pre-colonized African.

@Del EMO is Ebony Media Operation. The new owners, CVG, LLC gave the media company ( EBONY & JET magazines) that name shortly after purchasing the media division in 2016. Johnson Publishing Company is the previous owner of EBONY and JET Magazines, the photo collection and Fashion Fair Cosmetics.

@Troy 50 % OF retail. I think with your experience in coding AND books, you can create a better model. - Lawd knows, I was thinking of something similar but this group created this model first. I don’t want to link to it. Look for | Every where store dot Zola books |

We black women straighten hair or we don’t. We color our hair or we don’t. Sometimes in the same week! Beyonce at the Lion King Premiere 2019, Serena Williams at the royal wedding 2018. Mary J Blige (undated) BUT Women worldwide change their literal body parts to look like black women. So, that makes black women the standard. There is no low self-esteem when the world wants to look like you.

From what I heard, the father was grooming the son to take over the business but the son passed away. The daughter went to business school but allegedly her “heart and mind” wasn’t into it. Also overheard in one of the editorial meeting “LJR didn’t care for the target market” that EBONY served. So, yes I agree it would be an excellent story!!!

@Troy Exactly! Apparently it is rocket science for some writers to figure out how to avoid getting burnt. Troy, I’m a writer and you could see my name in every publication out there but it’s not worth it, if I earn less than a $1 a word and I have to chase my paycheck. I would end up - broke with a portfolio filled with clips! Writers have to do better for the sake of the industry. It is our time (again)!and we still can’t figure out how to win. I agree but no one can get the parties on record. The closest is the press release from Linda Johnson Rice and the bankruptcy petition that names all the creditors. My source did say a lot reporters are calling with excellent questions that would reveal the truth of the matter but all the source can do is refer the journalists back to EMO. This whole affair is heartbreaking - the multimillion-dollar media company didn’t make it two generations. The irony is the top tier of 1% owns the prized African American photo collection archive.

@Troy Luck had nothing to do with it! I get paid for my time - unless I volunteer. I never understand why writers don't get paid for their talent. Especially, when we know magazines are getting paid for those advertisements that run tens of thousands of dollars! Anyway, this is heartbreaking. I had a feeling EBONY Magazine and Jet were next. After following up on the Johnson bankruptcy and photo collection auction - it appears the EBONY Media Operations purchased the magazine through an partially owner-financed structured leverage buyout - (once you read the chapter 7 liquidation petition you'll learn of the creditors) Linda Johnson Rice is listed as a creditor plus she mentioned in her news release that the buyers of the media division failed to pay - which she says is one of the reason for the chapter 7 petition. So I'm not surprised. I followed up with the new owners for comment but they didn't respond. As for the photo collection it's reported a consortium of the known players purchased the archive for $30 Million. From theChicago Crusader. "Four foundations- the Ford Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, the J. Paul Getty Trust, and the MacArthur Foundation—came together to buy the archive in just a week to keep it from disappearing into private hands. They plan to donate it to the National Museum of African American History of Culture in Washington, DC; the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles; and other cultural institutions."

Thank you @Troy and Guest FAS! I can't speak for every black women but I sure don't share @Pioneer1 's opinion as it relates to black girls and women. I haven't met black women or girls who even look to Anglo women as the bastion of beauty. Throughout the ages, most women attempted to look Black -and were and are willing to pay to tan, get large butts, full lips, wide eyes, high cheek bones, be wrinkle-free etc. Even in the victorian age - large foreheads and wide hips were in fashion based on African women's natural... and let's not forget in the 50s and 60s perms to get curly hair were all the rage, From what I've witnessed growing up - there has never been a rush to look Anglo. Black women really like they way the look and in all sizes. Maybe some women lighten their brown skin but most of the time, it appears they do it to attract certain black men who fetish women with light skin. Nah, our looks are appropriated by women throughout the world, so no. We may have anxiety and stress but I doubt it's attributed to our looks.

@Troy I'm referring to Big 5 Publishing House direct to consumer sales - and as I posted (see below) D2C sales are definitely included in their revenue model. In fact, three of the big 5 have programs where they will give away books to consumers who buy direct. What you were referring to when you speak about discounts is included in their special sales and wholesale services... All 5 include those in their revenue model... In fact the two that don't sell direct to consumers make it quite easy to purchase through their special sales agents. I purchase the majority of my books from publishing houses or authors. Consider buying direct from those who sell and you'll see what I mean. In fact, it may help you devise a better book buying plan between authors and AALBC. I found a service that allows any website to sell books from all 5 publishing houses direct to their visitors and the website owner gets 50% of retail. I haven't participated in selling through the Everywhere Store but I do find the concept interesting.

@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!!!

4th Generation NuYawka!

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

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 lol! I can’t believe it! BUT on this topic - we are in agreement! And every day through the news it’s being revealed how folks and their halftruths have been cheating all these years. Btw Harvey Weinstein’s criminal trial is in September but he fired his legal team - I guess to get another adjournment. Except in Essex County (New Jersey)! The Sheriff sells foreclosed property. - The courts notifies the sheriff of the status of the court cases - and the sheriff post it on the sheriff’s website. Auctions are every Tuesday. - and unless the foreclosure case is continued anyone can bid. But if folks aren’t already following the foreclosure in the courts - they can see the update - online. In the north - everyone is crooked so they have even the playing field through the courts... now if someone is too lazy to follow proceedings they are SOL! Still, that’s just one county...

@Delano , I figured you had but maybe not others. @Troy exactly, But Scientific method is fallible. It doesn't matter to me how many years they stick with a result - methods are faulty or there would never be a reason to discard a result. It reminds me of religious folks who say god is unchanging - that's completely ignorant statement ESPECIALLY when you dealing with the INFINITE and unseen. Which of course, is how I view people who put their faith in modern science too. Modern Science is just another crutch to deal with uncertainty. Scientific method has value because it forces people to use data to make sense of things...people like absolutes and tangibles but it's still a crutch. The value however is found in "conceptualization" or using one's imagination rather than stopping at it's "god's will". I recently read a piece on cryptocurrency that mentioned we humans have gone through three stages of organization and explanation so far, -THEISM - HUMANISM- DATAISM... Astrology relies on all three - planetary gods; human understanding and tracking the movements of the stars relies on data. although I've never heard astrologists claim absolutes except for when they are discussing the movement of the planets constellations et al. But who knows maybe that's not fixed either...

Big Five Publishing House – Direct to Consumer SALES Penguin Random House https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/faqs/#shopping (YES) HarperCollins Publishers https://www.harpercollins.com/corporate/customer-service/ecommerce-faqs/ (YES) Simon Schuster https://www.simonandschuster.com/c/help-shopping#checking-your-order-status (YES) Hachette https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/ (NOPE) Holtzbrinck/Macmillan UShttps://www.holtzbrinck.com/ https://us.macmillan.com/ (NOPE) U.O.E.N.O. #readingblack.com NOMO !!

@Troy the challenge here is the critic is comparing two things, Natural Philosophy vs Modern Science, that are held to different standards. It's like comparing home birth to hospital births -and then trying to determine why mothers recover faster when having children with only a midwife present or none at all. (I think that's an accurate analogy lol) But the same came be said for empirical testing. "True" in modern science is based on varying levels that we agree upon. And the scale is always sliding. For example, "smoking kills" but my mother is nearly 80 and is healthy (no lie). She really is AND she goes to the doctor regularly - yet she's been smoking since her early teens. Recently, (2015) Mark Zuckerberg awarded Dr. Helen H. Hobbs, a geneticist, the breakthrough award for isolating a gene responsible for low LDL cholesterol found in African-Americans. The finding- could help others who suffer from the alleged heart disease causing high bad LDL... But my point is all you ever hear is African Americans are at the highest risk for heart disease meanwhile there a quite a few of us walking around with a gene that prevents it... I haven't come across any absolute truth in science yet. Have you? (that's not a challenge - I'm really asking because although I read a lot I know what I don't know)

@Troy , I really enjoy Amazon! I'm an Amazon associate. I like its gadgets and how they showcase the many different ways to market products. I like its ease of use. I like media content streaming and availability of some films, television shows and sometimes music - BUT I would never sell a book on Amazon ever again! And full disclosure, I do promote amazon books on my websites, I do my best not buy books from the site either. Amazon is a master of information and I locate the book there and if I find that the author isn't selling it. I'll buy straight from the publisher. Amazon is usually the last place I will buy books and here's why. It is NO secret that Amazon monetized its business on books - it was their entry into the marketplace. It was never going to NOT "giveaway" books. So any author that can't see or understand that, isn't very good at business. And unfortunately that is what Amazon counts on. Thank you Troy. Keep up the good work. I hope you post or link this in readingblack.com too.

@Troy , I'd say yes but I don't know enough about astrology to even share an informed opinion. But CONSIDER ( etymonline : from Latin considerare "to look at closely, observe," probably literally "to observe the stars," from assimilated form of com "with, together" (see con-) + sidus (genitive sideris) "heavenly body, star, constellation" (see sidereal).Perhaps a metaphor from navigation, but more likely reflecting Roman obsession with divination by astrology.) this, astrology hails from a time of Natural Philosophy - which predates modern science. This is one of the reasons why some of the words in our language (latin) are star-based. I mentioned the scientific method didn't come into existence until the 17th century but modern humans (i.e. "Africans", kushites, Aksumites, Romans, were dabbling in Natural Philosophy long before Anglos took the "scientific" reins. So, while Astrology isn't recognized today as a hard science maybe that too has to do with politics. Aside: I did a quick search to see if anyone ever got a PhD in the field of Astrology and it appears "Patrice Guinard was awarded the first PhD in astrology in 1993 from Sorbonne University" Here's some links if anyone wants to do a deep dive http://cura.free.fr/histo.html http://www.astrology-and-science.com/p-guin2.htm

Don't worry Troy, your sex is not getting in the way here - I'm a black woman and I often find myself out of step with my sisters. In fact, I think you understand most black women better than I do! Which is another reason why you've been in business for over a score. Anyway, I think we are socially conditioned to support black men. I hope I misunderstood Pioneer's comment. I rather be wrong on this one.

@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!