Mel Hopkins

If we're amid an African or even African American renaissance, it's our best kept secret.  A renaissance is usually marked by the resurgence of polymaths - and I'm hard-pressed to find any in this century.   Polymaths are identified by their ability of knowing a lot and doing a lot.  Further, those achievements are peer-reviewed.  I'll keep looking though because when it comes to identifying polymaths in our culture - black women and men are often overlooked.

@Pioneer1 , @Troy    Are your comments based in facts, local observation and/or is it just how you feel personally?

For example, I can't refute the way someone feels about a topic - we all have our beliefs and our beliefs and emotions mirror our observations of our world. 

BUT if you are purportedly presenting facts then...

There was a study done on marching and the number of marches on a single topic are in direct correlation to how legislators vote...(Protest and congressional behavior: Assessing Racial and Ethnic Minority Protest in the District by Daniel Q. Gillion The Journal of Politics  Vol 74, No.4 (Oct., 2012), pp. 950-962)

Or the Women's March wasn't just a big city thing - there were Women's Marches on all 7 continents - yes even on a ship in Antarctica.  For those women, Climate Change is real - and they want to be heard.  Several of the most conservative cities including some from Mesa, Arizona (the MOST conservative city in the U.S. according to The Economist)  held sattelite Women's March. It's documented - I even retweeted pictures from those unlikely spots.     Edit to add the Tampa Bay Area Tampa -St Petersburg boast 20,000 turned out for their satellite Women's March     

Also, here's the mission and vision of the Women's March - here's the link   . The overarching goal is to upend the more than 5,000 years of patriarchal rule and  return our culture to the egalitarian culture it once was.

On 2/4/2015 at 7:47 PM, Cynique said:

OK, here's my question.  How does my web page strike you? Should I keep it? Or let it expire when my 30-day free trial is up.  Here are my 3 numbers: 827.

 

conniediversbradley.simplesite.com

So glad you kept it up! I didn't know you wrote books too. (ok sometimes I'm in my own world. ) 

On 1/22/2017 at 2:31 AM, Cynique said:

To all my sisters out there demonstrating for justice and equality, this 83-year-old retread from the 1960s says "right on!"

Didn't take to the streets on Saturday but on Sunday, I gathered the names of all my legislators and elected officials (yep even the dog catcher)  and I'm preparing to send them all postcards to thank them for their service.  I will also add to the note: "I'll stay in touch."   If I need to get a clipboard, (#thanksobama)  I will.   Having President Obama in office did make a lot of us complacent.  Not that I missed any votes;  I vote in every election even if I'm new to the area.   But as soon as we heard folks were being dropped from the voter rolls we should have been out there registering or re-registering them.  I won't sit back ever again. 

On 1/22/2017 at 6:03 AM, Delano said:

Have you experienced and do you think it is possible?

yes

1 minute ago, Troy said:

you can easily hack your Amazon Fire to watch any movie even bootlegged movies that are still in the theaters for free.

oh snap!  Did. Not. Know. This. 

17 hours ago, Troy said:

 Most businesses have to give customers and incentive to return, but Amazon has turned that into a revenue stream.

The incentive is "first run movies television shows, indie movies, tv shows, music and free shipping" and that was what they offered  when I was a prime member.  For example, amazon has a huge  film/tv/ music catalog and the cost is $8.25 per month - whereas netflix is 9.99 and napster is 7.99 per month.   Plus with your prime memberships there are  a lot of freebies.  Before I left the service I received a free kungfu panda for download.    I'm not singing the laurels of Amazon but..I've enjoyed a lot of the perks. 

On 11/14/2016 at 3:32 PM, Troy said:

Even the commenting software requires you to login with Facebook

Yes, I was disappointed too. It must be really difficult to maintain a comment section. 

Thank You! Will do! 

On 11/12/2016 at 3:03 PM, Troy said:

It is a .png file with a transparent background.

Can you  tell me the significance of .png. Also why does a transparent background make a difference?  I ask because I think my logo has a opaque background and it shouldn't have been.

3 hours ago, Troy said:

Tony Brown's journal that provides platforms for conscious and intelligent Black women

www.tonybrownsjournal.com/blog/i-told-you-so

Mr Brown seems to welcome Trump Administration and also predicted his win.  

See that aalbc logo looks great!  How can we get one? 

On 10/17/2016 at 9:11 PM, Cynique said:

read somewhere that a black female historian was very critical of the film saying it was riddled with inaccuracies and out right falsehoods

This is the message bouncing around the black women "Enough is enough" social media echo chamber.  A faction of black women will not support the movie : because 1- rape charges (no conviction/allegedly no remorse for passing around a woman for sex) 2- black women have no agency in the film and are used as props to support the "black macho male" narrative.

https://www.thenation.com/article/the-birth-of-a-nation-is-an-epic-fail/   The latter isn't sitting well with Dr. Leslie M. Alexander who wrote the article I linked here.  Her bio reads: professor in the Department of African American and African Studies at The Ohio State University, where she specializes in 19th century Black culture and political consciousness. She teaches courses on slavery, resistance movements, and historical accuracy in film.

Historians such as Professor Alexander mentioned black women, especially, Nat Turner's mom played a role in waging war against slavery to the point where she attempted to kill Nat to prevent enslavement.  Unfortunately women are silent in the film (literally in the portrayal of Nat Turner's wife).   Further some say  Nat Turner had a "spiritual awakening" so to speak and refused to participate in the system. A holy ghost moment when someone finally stands up to the moral injustice is a powerful motif.    

Aside, I think that would have been a better inciting moment anyway, especially with black people claiming "stay woke" status today.  

Who knows, maybe this whole film is Nate Parker and Jean Celestin's $10 million attempt at absolution and we're just along for the ride.  Still, I don't pay to watch slave movies so I can't claim to boycott. After the reviews, however, I have no desire to see it anyway. 

On 10/15/2016 at 0:51 PM, Troy said:

Del and Mel are exceptions, but I have not seen either in a decade or longer.

I last saw you in 2010! That ain't no decade, man!!! 

"In 2015, community giving in South Carolina from Walmart stores, clubs, and the Walmart Foundation totaled $30 million."

@Cynique  how I missed reading your contrarian views! When you and Troy mix it up we get solutions!  

Boycotting Walmart would absolutely be counter-productive. (I can't believe I'm writing this lol) Walmart provides employment to folks who would not otherwise have jobs, vegetables  in food deserts, and they give back to the neighborhoods they operate in to empower those people who are inspired to go beyond the $10 per hour gig... http://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/2016/10/14/urban-league-awarded-25k-grant/91938268/  - #solutions

The more I move around the site and learn all it has to offer the more I want to petition the Library of Congress to back it up on their servers.  I got one of my associates in the LOC - maybe I can try for two! (smile). Congratulations Troy! I'm so honored to be have you in my network.  Speaking of Library of Congress, did you know the Librarian of Congress is a black woman, right? Carla Hayden is the 14th librarian and the first woman ever to hold the position in 214 years.  Hayden is also the first person of African-American descent to hold the post.   I thought of her when I read this entry because both of you are watching over our history.  

Thank you for all you do!

I noticed before, it had the period - I removed it and entered the correct address but when I go to the link I don't see aalbc .   So you're correct something malicious is underfoot..  If you have dropbox I will share with you the screenshot - so you can see what I see.  

Atlantic writers must have noticed the same thing I did... and also hat tip to @Sara because according the article slow suicide is not a thing either because mortality rates are also on the decline for black men while they are on the rise for white men... Check out the article, Black Americans are living longer. 

54 minutes ago, Troy said:

'll be looking into the Shopify software it will be cool if they also have an affiliate program that would allow authors to give others the opportunity to sell their ebooks and make some money. 

I've played around with Shopify and I really enjoyed how easy it was to set up a storefront.  The trial period was 30 days back then I see they've made it 14 days. 

EXCEPT they didn't have book store templates when I first tried it in 2012 or 2013!!! 

 There were a lot of templates to choose from or if you are good at coding you could do it yourself CSS - but now - wow!  It is best to prepare all your sales copy before so you can set up the shopify site in one day. This way you can really test out the sales features. 

 You can either use your own domain name or one with the shopify extension. When I tested it out initially it was $29 plus the percentage of sales. I signed up with  fetchapp  to download ebooks after purchase.  Since I was only selling one e-book  it was free. fetchapp doesn't offer the watermark though...  

This book was worth the 2.99 just because it informed me of shopify's growth!  I agree the book is easily 30 pages max but I feel that it has more than paid for itself already.  Thanks for the heads up! 

I just purchased this book via your link... 1- I wanted to experience the process.  The link took me to the author's eCommerce site.. I could pay via paypal or a credit card. (Btw, the price was $2.99 not $.99) Once my purchase was complete, I could download it or put it in my dropbox.  For some reason the dropbox didn't work but I was able to download the pdf.  Each page is watermarked  with  my name and email address and a note that it is my personal copy.  (How did he do that?) I can tell you one secret to making money is purchasing the book directly from the author - if more people would purchase from author and/or through an affiliate it - authors/publishers can keep more of their royalties.    I plan to release my next publications directly from my website. 

On 5/7/2016 at 2:48 PM, Pioneer1 said:

I've heard from so many people that many of the state universities in California offered extremely low tuition back in the 60s and 70s and a lot of people today are stil benefiting off the good but low cost education they got from the U.C.'s and Cal States.

And college was free if you were a California resident...   

14 hours ago, Pioneer1 said:

. We need a statewide universal-type healthcare plan that isn't tied to one's employment.

Absolutely, in agreement here. There's an article, however, I read on care2care that indicates there maybe  disparity in medical care for African-Americans vs white Americans.  So I'd throw into the mix more financial aid for medical-school eligible black students.

Universal Healthcare definitely needs to go on the platform  - and the states have the power to make this happen.  Especially since a lot republican-controlled states refused to roll out the Expanded Medicaid program for adults living just below the poverty level.   Universal Healthcare-type program is available through the Affordable Care Act but the republican-controlled states refuse to allow it. 

For the last 8 years I've heard that President Obama hasn't addressed African-American Issues affecting the black community.  What are the issues facing 21st century Black America? If we were to draft a legislative proposal agenda to present at the state level, what would we demand?  

3 hours ago, Pioneer1 said:

We need to take a page out of the Republican's playbook and start focusing more on local politics and gaining individual and communal wealth and build from that we will be in a position to have some real power and influence over national politics.

Pioneer, yes! 

This has been my reason to vote since before I left Brooklyn in the 90s... EVERYTHING happens at the local level. Thanks to the Republican party in Illinois, I saw this from the field...They put me in the game. And that game is brutal and those dudes are gangsta.  I mean, drive-by gangsta too.  

It just so happen I was in the right place to be appointed a precinct committeemen for the Republican party..Precinct committeemen is an elected position but you can also be appointed by the State's county party chairman.  I was appointed to the position in 2006 and I held until I voted for President Obama in the 2008 primary.  (you cannot be a republican precinct committemen  and pull a democrat ballot :heavy sigh:)  In Illinois and I suspect most everywhere, as a precinct official,  you are responsible for registering the people in your precinct (right there in their homes)  and campaigning for the candidates you believe in..The candidates are beholden to you, (kinda).  In this position you can literally stop a candidate from making it to the ballot or even to office.  I made sure I did my best to make sure one millionaire didn't get on the ballot because he wanted to be involved in too many bedroom issues.  But I digress. That is how much power is in the hands of the precinct committeeman at the local level.  

It was a great learning experience and although I'm a swing voter who votes mostly on issues - I still appreciate the Illinois Republicans for giving me that opportunity.  

I'm a huge advocate for voting in every single election even those off-off year elections.   There are so many referendums on the local ballots that affect everything in our communities from how long judges can serve - to whether state workers can keep their pensions or have the state treasurer raid them (I voted on that one in Illinois before I left) to who sits on the school board to penny taxes that will put lights on our highways (commissioners discussed that last night in our local meeting)... I vote presidential simply because they are on the ballot when I go to vote.  

1 hour ago, Cynique said:

If a book is aimed at a certain audience, then it becomes a genre and it can be argued that a reviewer should have the skill to critique said book from the viewpoint of those who are fans of the genre. 

YES! YES! YES!!!   I hadn't noticed it until now but I usually review self-help styled books and my reviews are reviewed favorably...  those who had the best reviewed-reviews of  my book were  fans of the genre..  thank you @Cynique for that excellent observation!