Jump to content

Kola Boof

Members
  • Posts

    125
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    10

Everything posted by Kola Boof

  1. Dear Troy, I was so overjoyed to see you at my book event in Harlem last month. Since AALBC is where it all started for me in America, I wanted to share with you & everyone how my new book is taking off! Thanks so much for your support and understanding. SUNDAY BOSTON GLOBE Madison Smartt Bell, one of the nation's most respected literary authors, wrote a glowing review of "The Sexy Part of the Bible" in SUNDAY's edition of the Boston Globe. Book Review of Sexy Part BOOKLIST review of Kola Boof's "The Sexy Part of the Bible" REVIEW of The Sexy Part BLACK EXPRESSIONS BOOK PICK FOR AUGUST!! *Hardcover Version: Kola Boof Sexy Part of the Bible
  2. No, Cynique....the ARCHIVES....would not disprove shit other than you and Mzuri were hateful liars who had it in for me and along with other hateful two-faced BITCHES who know nothing about my life or my living room...such as Zane & the rest of the camp here....you all ROUTINELY lied on and backed up each other, rather than the facts. Sort of like when you claimed (insisted) that I didn't hold an event at the Schomburg Theatre in New York City. Want to go dig up THAT archive Cynique?? Never mind that Howard Dodson, Derrick Bell and countless others showed YOU CYNIQUE to be a liar. And not once did you back down from that lie. So your word...when describing my life & my living room...is about as good as a piece of 4th Century Toilet Paper. I have never claimed to be any Essence magazine executive on this board. It's well known that people posted on this board using my name who are not me. NOR have I lied about any of the shit you (FROM CHICAGO & nowhere in my radius) posted about my life or my bedroom. PHOTOS of how my house was decorated were printed in a magazine and Nafisa posted THOSE photos. Anyone can check the magazine & many have Cynique. So that fact right there..shuts you and aalbc.com down. I don't know why on earth I keep trying to be friends with the people here. You've slandered me and made it clear how much you want to hurt me 5 million times. I don't know why I keep trying to make amends. Goodbye.
  3. Cynique, I categorically DENY both the things you said (Essence Magazine & the layout of my home, which in fact, really was my home interior). I don't mind (and really don't blame you) for taking whatever I say with a grain of salt. But I was not caught in any lies as you say. I stand by BOTH the letter from Essence Magazine (which, if it's the letter I posted--I've had so many from Essence, indeed I PROVED) and the magazine photo layout of my home. It was Mzuri, yourself and others who claimed I made up dating Jamal Lewis (which I tried to go along with it as a "lie" because I didn't have permission to discuss it and had plastered his photo on AALBC.COM). But what do you know Cynique??....two weeks after I tried to cover it up....JAMAL LEWIS went on the radio and talked about our dates. Now it's public record. He even got me booked on Tiki Barber's show, remember? So much for your claims, sis. These are FACTS that can be checked. Kola Boof
  4. Excuse me Cynique, And I am very serious about this. There is a photo of Maya Angelou's "mother" (only it's not her mother, but an African Professor friend in Ghana)posted somewhere on the web. There is a photo of Terry McMillan with Nelson George from way back posted somewhere and they incorrectly billed him as her husband. I'm not surprised, nor do I think it's strange, that someone posted one of my ex-boyfriends and billed him as my children's father. The same thing happened to my WHITE AGENT and ME. And it was a Friend who wrongly assumed that Posar was White and posted the wrong photo. MANY PEOPLE post all kinds of photos of me; about me; create websites without my permission; fan sites---go out of their way to slander me. I am a very controversial person and I attract a lot of attackers. Fortunately, for me, the TRUTH always shines through, no matter how people try to twist things in the hope that I will be damaged or discredited. The fact that I AM so truthful is what always saves me, Cynique.
  5. LOL!! I didn't post that pic, Cynique. That's NOT Simon. He's another boyfriend of mine and the press posted the wrong photo. Once they post a photo, it goes from one place to the next and they think all black people look alike. I didn't post the photo that you're referring to, although, that is another boyfriend.
  6. LMAO!! Cynique.... The New York Post "outed" Thomas's real name....it's Simon Palacio. One and the same. Once they printed his real name, I just stopped saying Thomas. The guy who took that photograph of me behind my house is pretty well known. He works at the World Stage in Leimert Park, which is kind of the "Black Harlem" district of Los Angeles. His cousin is Jenoyne Adams (who Troy probably knows). It's a real picture.
  7. I despise Oscar Micheaux and his films because of their blatant COLORISM. They're more insulting than the Hollywood films of that era if you're a Black woman. I do like some of Spike Lee's work, but overall, I think Quentin Tarantino is a far more gifted & relevant filmmaker---Quentin is everything Spike was SUPPOSED to be. Without peer...is Senegal's Ousmane Sembene. Easily the greatest BLACK filmmaker of all time. His films starting with "Black Girl" (1964) to "Xala" to "Guelwaar" to "Molaade" and "Faat Kine" are astoundingly GREAT. Truly masterpieces. While others have Jesus Christ....I have Ousmane Sembene. I got to speak with him by phone to Morocco just before he died. He was almost 90. He wasn't too pleased with my public image, but was happy that I worshiped him so. Haha.
  8. Everyone who knows me, Cynique, knows that my Ex-husband owns this ranch and I've always talked about this place & him...since the day I first posted on Thumper's Corner. I have no money other than what my CURRENT man, Posar, gives me. Simon takes care of his kids. Not a single photograph of myself that I've presented has ever been Photo-shopped. OTHERS create hateful images of me (such as Marcia whatever her name is). But time will discredit all those who try to make dummy-fake pictures of me. HUNDREDS have met me in person and know that I'm the real deal; they've met my children; been to my home. Troy Johnson has been invited to my home. Which is why I can't WAIT to take a picture with you in person. There's nothing photo-shopped about me and my life.
  9. I thought this would be interesting to revisit on a Black Book site since I wasn't here when the fall out occurred. **SOME** huge GAY fans of Kola Boof were greatly offended by something I did & it became a big article on WomanistMusings.Com. For my reading at the National Black Theater last year, I invited some of the so called "Drag Queens" who impersonate me (I think I'm the first author to have impersonators--which is why I'm supposedly a Diva according to my friend Dream Hampton). Anyway, the behavior of the "girls" and our comedy routine drew a huge and resounding criticism. Photo of the REAL KOLA BOOF posing with Tamarrah, my good friend and Kola Boof impersonator backstage at my event. This is one of the letters of complaint (from Darren Carruthers) I received: “Dear Kola Boof…as an openly gay Black man and a long time fan of your books I was appalled to see your show in New York open with an image that degrades the gay, lesbian and transgendered community. I’m referring to the big drag queen that came out and announced he was you, then went on to berate the audience about who is and is not Black. I suppose you thought this was cute, but what I saw was a garish caricature poorly misrepresenting the only gay image of the night. As a gay person, I felt I was seeing a Minstrel show. It was a slap in the face. Black face anyone? Who are you (Kola Boof) to have your gay fans dressing up and impersonating you? For that matter, who is Cher, Tina Turner, Madonna and Diana Ross to be impersonated either? Why can’t Drag Queens be respected for their talent and presented as them selves? In your books, no other straight writer presents such loving and realistic portrayals of gay, lesbian and transgendered people. That is why I’ve always supported you and will continue to do so. But I would like to know why a brilliant progressive cultural thinker like your self is supporting this Minstrelsy?”---Darren Carruthers My Response: Darren raised a fabulous question for this new decade—why can’t so called Drag Queens with talent be respected as entertainers in their own right; without the “acceptance-marker” of having to impersonate iconic female images? And more personally, why would I—who just got finished lambasting “White Women” for not being sensitive to Black Women’s issues—turn around and feature a gay or lesbian person in my show in a “Minstrel” connotation. First of all, on a personal note, I can only say that I am ignorant, female privileged and didn’t even think about it from the perspective “Minstrelsy.” Justice Reign (aka Tamarrah Fox), a bisexual cross-dressing male in Seattle wrote to me as a “Kola fan” (we have now become good friends). Justice wanted to honor me by appearing in my show to represent the substantial number of gay-lesbian and transgendered people who seem to have become smitten with my work over the years. During that actual show—I talked about the support I receive from the gay community; how much they mean to me as human beings; and specifically, how much Justice Reign (Tamarrah Fox) means to me. I do not see Justice as a “Drag Queen” or even as a “sexual label” period.” I see him as a very kind human being and someone that I greatly love. As I said from the stage of my show—“He’s like a child that I wish I had given birth to. I love him; he’s my baby.” It’s Justice’s choice to be a Cross-dresser, but that state of action is not the total sum of what he is to me. To me, he’s my heart; a human being. Before I get into the second part of the question, I need to be clear. I do understand that there is a huge difference between people who are Inter-Sex (humans born with both sexes); trans people (individuals who sometimes require sex reassignment to live happily in their true gender) and cross-dressers (people who may or may not be straight, but dress up like the other sex for myriad reasons). I know quite a bit about what they are and I have no malice whatsoever for people who find themselves in those realities. Please notice that I’ve added Inter-Sex human beings, as I think it’s long overdue for humanity to recognize this group’s existence as yet another “Socio-Biological Reality.” One that is just as old as Amoeba and Y chromosomes. It is never my intention to ignore anyone’s presence or lampoon anyone’s identity. For the next part of the question, one that I’m not fully capable of answering—I would like to quote two close friends of mine. The first one is openly transgendered and well known Blogger Monica Roberts. Monica says: “Kola…the gay men making this complaint are either ignorant of their history or haven't been paying attention. People such as Charles Busch and Sir Lady Java have been recognized for their talent for decades. Sir Lady Java was a well known Los Angeles based African-American impersonator from New Orleans covered in JET magazine during the late sixties and seventies. Java was billed as the 'Prettiest Man on Earth'. Java's act consisted of live singing, impersonations and exotic dancing and was enhanced by her 38-24-38 curves she claimed were not surgically enhanced. Frank Marino used to lead the Las Vegas FI revue called 'A Evening At La Cage' that played the Riviera Hotel for 23 years before closing down. And that's before I even tap into trans history and mention people such as Coccinelle, who performed in a some movies and turned down an offer to perform with Bob Hope. Britain's April Ashley performed in those same Paris trans reviews with Coccinelle before becoming a model. The popularity of drag in the United States seems like it waxes and wanes according to whether we are in a conservative or liberal political cycle. Whether we're being run by conservative or liberal progressive administrations, talented people will always be recognized.” The bestselling openly gay author and Princeton graduate Timothy T.J. Williams saw things from a different perspective—one that I’ve heard some feminists complain about. He says: “If drag queens really are paying homage to famous women then they are doing so in an extremely peculiar fashion. Since I have so many transgendered and female impersonating friends (sometimes there’s overlap but there is a difference) I've seen many shows. The impersonation always goes straight toward the negative. Whitney is always on crack, Cher is always monotone, and Barbara has a fake Rudolph like nose. While I still enjoy the shows there is an element of satire that sometimes goes too far. I don't think this is meant to chop these iconic women (who could care less) down to size so much as it is to highlight the absurdity of the gay male audiences obsession with these women.” I can certainly see what Timothy is getting at—the fact that this cross dressing as famous women might be a signal about Self hatred. Something that is always present in minority groups, and in my opinion, is greatly under-discussed and rampant in the Gay/Lesbian/Transgendered communities. Either way, I am very sorry that I might have taken part in presenting a Minstrel image of gay/transgendered people. I have been writing a book about trans people for some time. The idea began to flood my mind after I was accused of being one (in a very serious way) a while back. I lost an important job in television because someone falsely invented said information to smear me (and it is a smear in most of America’s power sectors) so that the other person could get the job. By the time I found out what had happened, it was too late. But I did later become acquainted with a trans person in Los Angeles and found her so fascinating that I decided to write a collection of short stories that exclusively feature and explore the lives of men and women who’ve undergone sex changes (or want to and can’t afford it). Earlier, as a teen, I wrote a similar one about Inter Sex people, but tucked it away in a drawer. Who knows—maybe God, the Universe will change the world so that these sexual differences can be discussed seriously and not as comic relief; not as flamboyant freak parades for straight cisgendered people—not as scientific or academic fodder—but from a grass roots human living level. As a literary artist and Womanist, I would like to be a part of making that happen. So If and when my stories about trans people are ever published, I’m certain it will be a renegade breakthrough tome—mainly because the narrative is being driven by actual trans people and not just my poetic writer’s hand. That will be my small gift and gesture of love.
  10. A fucking alligator next door to "Osama's mistress"! Guarding marijuana. No one would EVER believe this.
  11. This lake is the BACK of my house. This is where you see me Praying and Swimming nude in the videos I made. Now you can see how upsetting and dangerous this is--having him NEXT DOOR (though we're on acres). My sons could be attacked; I could be killed and eaten and no one would know WHERE I disappeared to!
  12. And that's another thing.... Your video "interview an author" thingy would be a hit by now if you conducted & promoted it correctly. Pick Sundays and have a SET time. People like to get into a routine and after about 2 years, you'd have a SIZEABLE "routine" viewing audience who turn up no matter who you're interviewing. If I lived in NYC, I'd do a book/celebrity video show for you. I know so many people to profile and how to make it interesting and get people to tune in. You could be a lot more creative and do a whole 30 minutes. You already know people like Tanunurive and Terry McMillan. Come up with interesting topics "does aging as a woman age your writing?" and get some women writers to talk on air about that. THIS SITE COULD BE SO HUGE!
  13. Troy, I've always wondered why you don't have some type of "Awards" show to solidify your place in the industry. The Annual Black Pack Party is a wonderful tradition; it's growing. But you should have an Award tie-in (not that crappy mess Yvette Naywood mis-manages either). Something very serious that will become "elite" over the decades...the Troy Pen in literature or something hooked into this website. (Get a snobby group of 10 Professors to pool their year end opinions--I guarantee they'd do it for FREE)....then throw in your Sales/bestseller's list Prize....hire a P.R. Firm and get some literary celebrities to hand them out. You'd be a smash! Your site is very popular, so are you, but you don't have the Landmark Signature elements that a "Sylvia's Restaurant" or an "Ebony" magazine have--you need an Award of some kind. Do you realize that Yvette Naywood's awards aren't even reported on GOOGLE??? She's got no idea what she's doing! No next-day P.R.; no nothing leading up but grass roots. My publisher didn't even know he had nominees and had never even HEARD OF that fucking award--and that was 2 days before the ceremony!!!! (Imagine if I hadn't told him) You could SO trump that and you really need to. You're already working your butt off with the traveling as it is. You might as well do something more concrete to CONSOLIDATE your brand and do it before somebody else catches on. You're in the heart of the Publishing arena, for all and sundry, you're in New York City!
  14. I live in Hemet, California. My next door neighbor made the news today with his pet alligator. I had no idea of all this illegal stuff was going on: My link My God. I'm just done. ~~ Here's a pic of me with my own animals.
  15. To the extent that Army uniforms are necessary.... That United airlines must mark its airplanes with a United airlines logo... To that extent that AALBC.COM has a logo making it possible to tell this site from BLackBooks.Com.... ....I have come to understand via traveling and living all over the world exactly why Human beings LABEL things and why they need to be able to identify their own. It has to do with trust and survival. Americans are not part of Tribes or Clans. I am. So I understand the benefits and negatives of having that cushion along with a family cushion. I understand how it protects us from invasion and outsiders. I especially notice that Black Americans don't stand for anything. Anyone can waltz right into your communities and open a liquor store; claim to be you; set up restaurants and sell you hair. No other group of people is like that and they ALL have "standard requirements" of identification and unity. EMOTIONAL mantras like "One Love" won't cause Thai people to call your half-Asian baby Thai----as Tiger Woods found out--no matter what you accomplish. Africans, Whites, Asians, Latinos will smile politely...but close ranks...on outsiders at a given point. This is not because they're evil or racist. It's because they understand the law of Physics and they understand that Lions and Cheetahs and Panthers don't hunt together and share food together and mate....just because they're cats. Because Black Americans saved my life... Because Black Americans are beautiful & special to me... Because Black Americans are VALUABLE to me.... I would like to see them be more discriminating and self-possessed and make outsiders EARN entry into the Black community more often. And before someone gets smart....I was BROUGHT HERE by Black Americans; I did not come on my own. I was brought here & indoctrinated into your tribe BY YOU. My criticism of Black America is because I hate watching African-Americans constantly DEFER to anything that is white, light or Non-Africoid...wrongly believing that you have a Stake in the establishment when you clearly do not and aren't even properly respected as human beings. No other people in this nation are asked to "transcend race" but Black Americans. No one else. Not even African immigrants! And you shouldn't stand for it. You NEED a uniform; you NEED to embrace your blackness and close ranks on outsiders and build up with an inter-connected Clan system that benefits YOU and YOUR PEOPLE. That's what you need. And cut out all this emotional Mr. Rogers Camel Shit about HUMANITY. Humanity doesn't give a shit about human beings and never has. If you haven't learned from Jews baking in ovens; Indians massacred on their own land or Africans chained & dehumanized like dogs for thousands of years...then you'll never learn. Black America is dying...because you refuse to have Standards & Cohesiveness that correlate around your Blackness.
  16. Well Cynique, I was rooting for Bernice McFadden to win the fiction award. She is VERY light skinned. Haha. We're on the same publisher and we chat from time to time. I really love her to death and Terry McMillan, whose writing I also admire, is not friendly to me, so I wanted Bernice to win. She deserved it (Read "GLORIOUS" folks!). But you do make a point that always irks me about America's "Black" community in general. Which is why I've now removed myself and only consort with "MY" Black American relatives. That way, I can be the "immigrant" and not feel that the IMAGE Awards is a reflection on me or mis-representing me. I used to take these images so personal and feel that I was part of a "traitor" class. But now I have come to accept that I will never really be Black American. It's what my family is and they love me and understand me.
  17. Oh definitely not. HUMANS base their trust upon Like-ness. It's a natural human instinct. We herd, gather with & trust those who look like us. So this is of major importance even if it's not spoken aloud. The Homer Plessy case is extreme. That, to me, was ridiculous, because he actually LOOKED white. But in Africa, we don't call our mixed off spring "Black"--we call them "Half Caste" and we have all kinds of Standards & Practices to protect our bloodlines; matrilineal harmony and tribal-clan identities. Africans deeply love their mixed children; they love mixed people for that matter. But they will not recognize them as the 'ancestral' marker out of self-respect. I remember feeling so angry and offended when Black Americans used to call Mariah Carey a "Black" woman. To me, it was proof that they hated Africa and hated blackness. A lack of respect for Black people's Phenotype. In North Sudan, I am considered Black. But in South Sudan, I am a Half-Caste person. Then, too, the word "Black" isn't used in many parts of Africa because everyone in that particular place is Charcoal black, so they don't speak about color...but tribe. When outsiders arrive, THEN we use "black" because now we have a visible contrast. Halle Berry said that she was very hurt that the people in Tanzania kept insisting that she was "White" and called her "White Lady" everywhere she went. But to Black Africans, the European in her face is loud; she has no African hair; so she is White. It's not just America. It's a human condition. But the more I've lived & seen the world, the more I understand and respect why it's necessary. And on some level, it is.
  18. Troy, I'm not surprised that they are---are YOU? That doesn't mean shit. I changed my passwords on here and on Facebook where my page was also broken into as you suggested in our email exchange. I don't understand WHY I would make a post calling myself a hermaphrodite. Do you or anyone else??
  19. SIGH. Here we go again with this mess. I didn't write that last post!! Who used my account to write that??? Troy is this the Skinheads again??? Please leave it up. Don't take it down. CHANGING MY PASSWORD NOW
  20. Bookfan, When you stop being interested in Transsexuals and get a thing for Hermaphrodites...call me, ok. You're so lame and defeated.
  21. HELP!!! Well from Carey to ChrisHayden to Cynique...I think just about everyone here is a WRITER to my mind. I've recently taken on a task that's quite challenging---writing a Murder Mystery novel and creating the Woman Detective lead character. The imprint I'm on specializes in murder mysteries; it's their main genre though they signed me as a literary author. Big HAM that I am...I insisted on penning them a murder mystery. The thing is....I hardly ever read murder mysteries and I've never dared try to PLOT and write one before, and no matter how good a writer you are, there's a special ambiance that pervades the best mystery stories, IMO. Now that I'm into writing my book, I worry that my lady detective might not be convincing. I'm supposed to be calling LAMBD on the telephone to get his advice on this, but we keep missing each other...so hopefully Carey, Chris, Cynique, BookFan and others can give advice on what not to do and how to make my character seem convincing as a detective. On the outside Cricket is a very beautiful black police officer newly switched to the detective's division (Wash. D.C.)...but in her private life is an amazing array of childhood secrets she's trying to escape. She's smart, but also vulnerable.
  22. Haha!!! Troi (pronounced Troy) is that certain lion cub out of a litter who wants TO EAT FREE and not be out in the cold. LOL! The name is also used to mean "teacher's pet" in school. The smart kid who always wants to sit up front and raise their hand gets called "Troi." Of course girls aren't allowed to do that.
  23. Haha!!! BTW...I don't like my children's names. Their father (a pure blooded Garifuna from Belize, Central America)named them popular Black Central American names--Arnofo and Wombe. I would have named them Cedric and Troy (which has nothing to do with Troy Johnson; I have always liked that name since I was a child because Troi in my birth mother's "Oromo" language means the lazy lion cub who chose to be our house pet). But they are extremely successful boys. Much like their father and me.
  24. Names like Bob, Meredith, Constance, Clifford, Alice and James only sound "normal" because you speak English. You live in...and are informed from the day of birth by a combination of White tribal affiliations be they Germanic, Greek, Victorian or Polish and Italian. This is the dominant White culture and all of us living here bask in "their acculturation." Though Shaniqua and ShaQuonda are not African names--they would sound far more organic and fitting to an African immigrant than "Jennifer." That's because the African (the natural Black person) speaks African languages. In Africa today, it's exotic to have Western names (Good Luck Jonathan, Jerry, Facebook and Exxon). But since the late 1950's, there has been a virulent continental revolution to depose all "Colonial" names and return to African tribal/clan names. In my case---as with many BLACK North Africans---I refuse to publicly use my Arabic birth name (Naima Bint Harith); though it's considered much prettier to many people than my more West African-sounding pen name. Many years ago, I wrote a 2 word poem "Kola Boof" and decided to take that poem as my professional name. The poem represented being "been-to" (an African who has lived outside Africa long enough to be acculturated by foreigners and returned home). Kola = (a)the most beloved snack by African children ( the supreme good-will Boof = The specific sound of drums made with elephant ear tops--BOOF! Comes the drums/Or in Nigeria the highest 'medallion' presented to warriors after war is the 'Boof.' Kola Boof = The poem is reminiscent of my childhood silent movie idols Clara Bow and Betty Boop; as silent movies became my only friends upon first arriving in America, because I couldn't speak English. NOTICE---if you take the words separately they are AFRICAN; but if you join the two words together (Kola Boof); they become WESTERN (in my mind like Betty Boop is Western). I have what is called a "Been-to" name and I write "Been-to" poetry as opposed to Haiku. But few African-American writer/scholars are able to appreciate or even notice these small but profound intricacies. ___________________________ (NOTE: There is a pediatrician at Cedar Sinai Hospital named Dr. Shaniqua and there's also a Dr. Kianna and a Nurse Tameko. All have tended my sons.) ___________________________ MY POINT: When we Blacks find ourselves disgusted by the name "Shaniqa" but not the Japanese name "Yoko Shimada" ---it is because #1--we compulsively reject 'perceived' overt blackness and #2--our dominant language is English. Our reaction is indeed (95% of the time), like Troy said, a form of self-hatred.
  25. LOL!!! What saddens me about reading your responses to these poor souls (and I seriously sympathize with their desires to succeed as published authors)....but what saddens me Cynique is that you are not an Editor in New York. We might actually get some originality, passion and some HIT BOOKS if they returned to having eagle-eyed people like yourself sniffing through the pages and critiquing so effortlessly. Believe it or not, whenever you go on these grammar checks, I hear the voice of Julia Child doling out the corrections. It's hysterical for me. I myself am untrained with grammar/punctuation and basically learned what I know devouring at least 6 literary novels per month and reading several newspapers daily. And that's after I learned English itself! I'm not dyslexic, mind you, I just write like I'm dyslexic at times. (I don't know the grammatical language laws; I write from sheer memory of how books & news print is laid out. I just 'feel' the structure; the difference between nouns and verbs is all I know.) They don't have many people like you in publishing anymore. I sincerely believe it's a significant reason for the breakdown. It's overrun with business people--few arts and crafts men. Something truly unconventional and experimental like Jamaica Kincaid's "At the Bottom of the River" could never get published today. Not by an African/African-American female author anyway.
×
×
  • Create New...