Cynique

LOL I hear ya! I think you get me.

Streeeeetching and yaaaaaawning, snuggled in my woman cave, still immersed in the allegorical mode that grants me poetic license and inspires me to characterize myself as a bear in hibernation, and my cliché-spouting detractor as a pesky rodent skulking outside my den. . I wasn’t moved to bestir myself enough to watch the last Republican debate sans Donald Trump. The GOP presidential candidates fill me with so much disgust that I refuse to subject myself to their lies and racism and evangelical zealotry. Unfortunately, it looks like Trump's hot air balloon is not going to be deflated but - maybe the surreptitious Hiliary will win by default because her experience can’t be denied. If it’s anything this country needs, it’s a pragmatic bitch, eager to clean house and fix things up. Trump’s insipid mantra of “making America great again” promises nothing that can be described as an improvement. A wakeful interval on Saturday night, however, did lead me to check out the televised Screen Actors Guild (SAG) award show, where I watched Uzo Aduba, Queen Latifa, and Viola Davis, beat out their white rivals, and emerge winners for their stellar portrayals of strong black women, - naturally. Idris Elba also copped 2 trophys, a good thing even if I have trouble relating to a brotha with an African name, who speaks with a British accent. His tongue-in-cheek reference to the show as “diverse TV”, however, was spot on. The cast of “Straight Outta Compton”, not surprisingly, was passed over for the trophy awarded to the best ensemble. But they looked really cool in their formal wear, and unfazed by their loss. Comedienne Carole Burnette received the Lifetime Achievement award. Because we are the same age, I’ve always followed her career. It’s like we grew up together and I appreciated how much of a trail blazer she was in a male dominated field. And her parodies always struck a note with me because if there’s anything I like, it’s a dismantling of the absurd. Thankfully, my intermittent naps have been restful and refreshing. Stimulating, too, because my subconscious mind has been ripe with contemplation, for some strange reason revisiting the words of Marcel Proust who advised that the real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes, and it is with another set of eyes that a simple verse reverberating from my childhood sends a metaphorical message that has taken on new meaning for me in the twilight of my years... Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream. Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream… Ho Hum. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ....

A perfect description of YOU. A perfect example of how you try to manipulate things in your favor.

LMAO. I can't believe these words coming from someone whose whole modus operandi is to launch verbal attacks on anybody who doesn't take a back seat to her pontificating. This is the person who thinks age is a liability and that old people are fair game for her tantrums. This is someone who is seeking an audience for her lectures, not an open discussion. Woe to anyone who dares to challenge anything she spouts, and if we are to believe what one of her recent sparring partners observed, she is an angry woman who lies. I'll testify to how devious she is. SMH.

Yawnnnnnn. I thought that obnoxious critter would scurry away, but she returned, blatantly personifying the old truism about "youth being wasted on the young", - her playground mentality hoping that her false taunts would ring true. Not! What a sorry wanna-be she is, so insecure in her need to control discussions, lest her transparency be exposed. Oh, well. Maybe Troy and Harry will humor her. Meanwhile I'll cat nap. zzzzzzzzzzzzz

Then why are you responding, Dummy? And what is so unusual about people engaging in discussions on the internet? And just because you are frustrated in the real world, doesn't mean I am. And where did you ever get the idea that you're somebody worthy of my respect????? Git outta here! LMAO Yawnnnnn. I'm going back into hibernation, There's a skunk loitering outside of my cave, creating false scenarios and ranting about a pissing match. Hopefully it will go find a ground hog to hook with and engage in its favorite pasttime of sucking. PHEW ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Thanks, babe. Your recognition warms the heart of this old broad.

Your ad hominem retorts reek with desperation and once again expose how much weight you give to your empty words. You can't get past that age thing can you? tsk-tsk. You obviously think you're an expert on things that suck. Put your tongue back in your slack mouth and move away from the mirror. And you'd probably do well to get on meds yourself to cure your pathetic delusions about somebody being jealous of a nonentity like you. LMAO.

The high priestess has spoken! Stand back in awe, everyone! Hold your words and keep your silence because this self-appointed oracle is the only one who can make irrelevant statements in response to what was said by others who spoke before her. Feel the earth tremble beneath your feet. See the lightning bolt across the sky. Wipe the grin off your face and suppress your laughter. Know that you are in the presence of unmitigated self-importance. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

So what if the black church is the only institution AAs have?? What does this have to do with on the current sorry state of black affairs? To claim that the church is the only institution that Black America controls is not only a sad commentary on how uninspiring the church is, but a denial about how much white-controlled politics infiltrate black churches. And the monumental 1963 civil rights March on Washington that spawned MLK's sermon about a dream was, after all, not the brain child of a preacher, but of Bayard Rustin, a brilliant homosexual, and A. Philip Randolph, an atheist and union organizer whose goal was to secure equal employment opportunities and an end to segregation in the military. I agree with Troy and Harry that black unity is an elusive entity, and that the black church has become irrelevant and is too often a sanctuary for false messiahs who worship materialism. Nobody is disputing that the black church is a cultural institution. But today its main function is to provide kleenex for weeping communities rampant with the murders and injustices that prayers have failed to prevent. Yes, forsaken black folks need a place of fellowship and ministries, and somewhere to channel the holy ghost and groove to a rockin' choir and celebrate the homegoings of deceased members and, between passing the collection plate, an outlet for idolizing a surrogate Jesus in the pulpit, spouting verses that justify casting stones at others. Is their Church the only institution that Blacks "control"? Maybe. Does this generate power for the masses? Not so much. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

With news of an impending blizzard disturbing my intermittent hibernation, before dozing back off, I will set my body clock to bestir myself so when it comes on TV, I can watch the Hollywood whiteout a/k/a the Academy Award ceremonies. I am an unabashed pop culture vulture and a fan of live TV and have no intention of boycotting the televised airing of an event that will bestow an Oscar on whichever nominees got the most votes from the overwhelmingly white academy membership. I'm depending on the scathing wit and insight of my guy Chis Rock, social critic extraordinaire, to put all this bullshit in perspective, and that includes the reprimands of a pouting, flag-waving Will Smith preaching about Hollywood representing an American Dream that anybody should be able to aspire to, Being the Prince of Bel-Air and a celluloid hero has apparently led the "man in black" to believe he is somebody to be taken seriously. Puleeze. In spite of the self-importance exhibited by him and his wife, Jada, the other member of the "Smith Egos Matter" movement, in pleading their case for white validation, Hollywood is not what they proclaim and demand it to be. It's a white-run private industry that revolves around money, insider politics, and institutionalized racism. Political correctness is out this year so get real, Will. Your last 2 movies bombed and your overwrought emoting in an African accent during the last one was more mimicry than acting. Black Englishman Idris Elba has a more legitimate gripe when it comes to the faux American dream. Diversity in Hollywood? What's the bottom line? Will it fill box office coffers more than Medea's latest outing or Ice Cube and Kevin Hart's "Ride Along" buffoonery? Will it dilute the creative edginess of "Straight Outta Compton"? Black audiences present an award every time they buy a ticket to such movies. I don't need others to tell me what I should or shouldn't watch. So on Oscar night, my TV will be turned to the appropriate channel so I can glance at its screen from time to time and be amused by what's going on as the parade of "make-believers" stroll the red carpet in all of their one-dimensional designer-clad shallowness, preening and posing, chatting aimlessly about themselves, fawned over by gushing, vapid network interviewers, cheered on by gawking fans from the sidelines, ultimately providing fertile fodder for my ridicule! I wouldn't miss it. And once the ceremonies open and the real life drama begins, there will be the awkward unfunny banter between the presenters, the close-up views of the losers trying to smile away their disappointment as the "speechless" winners fake surprise, quickly finding their tongues to tearfully deliver their sappy life stories, boring everybody with their endless acknowledgements, reminding the audience what the booze-sipping, wickedly snide Ricky Gervais, who hosted the Golden Globe Awards show, said about this ritual. Eventually, nobody but those who win one really care about these useless awards. How true. Who even remembers the names of last year's winners??? Ah, but like millions of others I will indulge my guilty pleasure. A fascination with the superficial world of celebrity is as American as apple pie, and a yearning by the minority to be included in the mix is as lip-smacking as a sweet potato one. Undoubtedly The Academy will take notice of black hunger and do better next time. In post-racial America tokenism has to be learned all over again. Meanwhile, on January 30th, I will interrupt my malaise to check out the upcoming award presentation of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), a group which was more liberal in its nominations although, Will Smith was still passed over. But at least Carleton, Will's sidekick from Fresh Prince, recently won a Silver Ball trophy for Dancing with the Stars! How's that workin' for ya, Aunt Viv? Sleep, don't fail me now. Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z

An interesting observation, Del. The poor aren't the only ones who play the lottery. One motivation for players from all walks of life is "you gotta get in it, to win it" and "somebody has to win". And, not all players are losers just because they didn't win the big jackpot. Me and a lot of other people got our initial investments back because of the smaller amounts paid out for having fewer than all the winning numbers. Bottom line, for just a moment in time, it was fun to fantasize about what winning a billion dollars would allow you to do! Glad it doesn't cost anything "to sleep, - per chance to dream". Z Z Z Z zzzzzz

This poem is ambiguous, to say the least, an exercise in mixed emotions, even making reference to being vicitimized by the inadequacy of the word "love" to describe what is taking place. I find it curious and presumptuous that a man would even write a poem about rape from the perspective of a woman. His inability to be objective would of course, lead him to perceive rape as a secret desire of women - thereby creating his own truth. Then, there's always the possibility that this work is about a homosexual encounter between 2 men. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr. it's cold out. ZZ ZZZ ZZZZ....

Hummm. Just goes to show how we do create our own truths. This poem struck me as a lover's metaphoric reminiscence, more about unleashed ecstasy than painful violation. Oooooh, well back to my napping ...z z z z z z z z z z

Well, it's that time again. Winter is full blown and the Leo lioness who my birth date entitles me to emulate is now in retreat. Ensconced in my woman's cave, drowsy and weary, I am now shifting into my bear mode, ready to hibernate. Slowing drifting off, I rest assured that the world will take care of itself without my advice, and the future will outlast the present without my prompting. My winning Power Ball tickets, safely tucked away, will retain their value, and my stored body fat will keep hunger at bay. Full of eager anticipation, my subconscious is ready to luxuriate in the freedom to muse without the distraction of overt reality. Yes, from time to time, I will stir and stretch and yawn and cup my ear for any news worthy of note. But, as a faithful disciple of Morpheus, the god of sleep, I will again close my eyes and rest until Spring rouses and rejuvenates me with its promise of a new beginning. Easing into its state of suspended animation, one of the many ideas my mind will feed on is a quote that has whet my appetite for wisdom... "Quantum physics tells us that nothing that is observed is unaffected by the observer. That statement, from science, holds an enormous and powerful insight. It means that every one sees a different truth, because everyone is creating what they see"... ,

In the lifetimes of you 2, has there ever been a president who you liked and admired??? Are you still idealistic enough to believe that the POTUS will be a perfect leader who everybody loves and is satisfied with. All you can ask for is that a president does more good than harm. Bill Clinton balanced the budget, introduced family leave and kept the country out of war. Women's issues will be among Hillary's priorities. That's what I will hitch my wagon to because i want to participate in history by voting for a women for president even if I don't particularly like her. Bernie will never be able to pull off his radical reforms. The Republicans aren't even worth mentioning. I don't think Hillary at her worst is as bad as any of these clowns. Is there someone not running who you think should run? I said in another post that the young heroines of such futuristic movies as Twilight, Hunger Games, Divergent, all based on best selling series and embraced by the Millennials, were a trend that black authors should buy into and begin creating books of this genre with black female protagonists.

Speaking of ads, Did you get may e-mail Troy?

Marlon James' remarks certainly resonate with me. I have never become captivated enough to finish any of these acclaimed books written by angst-driven white women in the throes of some personal crisis. One in particular comes to mind was the award winning "The Year of Magical Thinking" by Joan Didion, a book about the period following the death of her beloved husband. It was so boring to me that I never finished it. My latest book is a novel about the main character coping with all that comes with the territory of being among the most misunderstood and least appreciated creatures in the pecking order: black women. Because sistas are so capable of handling this situation, they don't sweat it; they just roll their eyes at white women stifled by what comes with their esteemed status. In my opinion black women's challenges tend to be more compelling and interesting than those of hand- wringing white women seeking escape from their frustration. When the feminist movement got underway back in the '60s, conspicuously absent among the rank and file were straight black females. Most of them were so tired from the burden of already being liberated women that they were more interested in handing over the reins to black men in the hope that they would step up and cherish and protect their women the same as white men did theirs. Today they are still struggling to gain respect. Poor suburban middleclass white women. Especially the ones who are driven to write books about their "plights".

No, Troy i still don't see the option to add images...

Thanks for sharing your mermaid adventure with us, Shirley! I have heard nothing but negative things about these vanity publishers. My friend, who could trace her lineage back to Thomas Jefferson's black descendants, decided to write a book about her search and this is the route she went. The book was was about 80 pages long and had a few old photographs in it. The vanity publisher she settled on soaked her for a lot of money for extras and proofreading and priced her book at $17.98, a price she wasn't happy with. Another friend's son was in an automobile accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down. He decided to write a book about his battle with depression; This was also a short book and he, too, went with a vanity publisher who gouged him. His book was also $17.98 and he ended up stuck with a lot of unsold copies he had been convinced to order. I hesitated to discourage these people when they embarked on their publishing ventures because i didn't want to deflate their enthusiasm and come across as a spoil sport because these vanity publishers do, indeed, play on the vanity of their perspective clients, making them think that their books have been "accepted" for publication when, in fact, the companies never reject anyone who has the money to pay their exorbitant prices. After I retired, I decided to write my first book and self publish it. This was back in 1992, the days before such conveniences as simply e-mailing pdf files off to editors. I bought a little Canon desk top word processor and with the instructions from the book printer I contacted, followed his guidelines and typed up the book in what was referred to as "camera ready", a format which meant the recommended 5x8 dimensions, the headers, footers, margins and font would be reproduced just as I had typed it. I next became a publishing company of one, complete with a logo I created, I also designed my own cover, a xeroxed copy of which accompanied the hard copy manuscript I shipped off to the printer. I was quite pleased with the final perfect bound product. I started out with a short run of 100 units and the total price for all of this was around $1,000, payable in installments. It took me about 2 years to unload all the copies of the 120-page novel @ $5.00 each, selling them to friends and at all kind of little generic venues, placing a few of them in small black book stores and local libraries. But it was fun because I obviously wasn't profit-driven and this was one of the most fulfilling projects I'd ever undertaken because I did everything myself, including the proof reading and revisions, not to mention figuring out how to use a word processor.The last book I wrote I went with LuLu, one of the companies Chris recommended in his helpful video, and I was pretty satisfied with their professional services. Sorry your experience was different from mine but as you say, you learned your lesson.. Still, your dream did come into fruition and young black girls everywhere will benefit from your vision. That makes it all worthwhile.

I wasn't able to access the third installment of your mermaid project, Shirley. ( My browser may need upgrading. ) When i clicked on to the link you provided, what came up was that there were too many "redirects". Maybe you can just copy and paste the text directly on a thread here.

Hey Del! Happy New Year to you, too. What kind of year do you see for 2016?? I'm not getting such good feelings about it...

The setting of stories like my little vignette are, indeed, examples of the distinctive culture that is unique to America's black diaspora, as opposed to the Afro-centricism that others want us to claim and adopt. These latter day, self-styled Afro centric grios always lecture Blacks about not knowing their true identity. Maybe we don't know our past. But what we do know is what we have become after being transplanted in a country that forced us to adapt to a hostile environment. Our bodies may have been enslaved but our souls transcended this and we evolved into people who learned how to make the best of the worst. And this included finding ways to enjoy ourselves in spite of our travails. A select few black female authors have capitalized on this, their sistagirl books inured in black culture. And, as usual, TV has provided an alternative to such books because black folks would rather watch than read. So the black-flavored art imitating life soap operas and sit-coms and reality shows that appear on BETand OWN enjoy great popularity. But I've noticed what's now trending in the publishing world are the bestsellers and the subsequent movies based on them, books that fall under the futuristic/fantasy genre, and include series like Twilight, The Hunger Games, and Divergence, all featuring strong young female heroines and aimed at the audience of Millennial readers, If some black author could come up with a black version of one of these type of books, this might be the way to go. . .

Your mermaid odyssey brings to mind a growing trend that has stirred controversy on social media, Shirley. It started with the negative reaction to the idea of casting black actor, Idris Elba, as the next James Bond. About the same time, protests emanated from the nerdy comic book community over the changing from white to black the race of Johnny Storm one of the original superheroes in The Fantastic Four movie. Close on the heels of this was a lack of enthusiasm among a segment of Star War devotees over the hero in its newest incarnation being played by a black actor. The latest buzz is how nonplussed Harry Potter fans are about a major stage production based on this series selecting a black actress to play the popular Hermione character.. . Also along these lines is how the remade black version of the popular film "Annie" drew white criticism as did the all-black "Oz", a holiday TV special based on the Wizard of Oz, its critics clueless about this musical having once been a Broadway hit and later a movie starring Michael Jackson.There have also been rumblings about bi-racial Zoe Saldana playing dark-skinned Nina Simone in a movie coming out about Simone's life. Traditionalists obviously have a problem when their favorites are tampered with and racial undertones frequently figure into their resistance to change. I am looking forward to seeing how you fared in your endeavor to be color-blind.

2016 is starting off on a sad note what with the passing of singer Natalie Cole and now Frances Cress Welsing. Farewell to these 2 black legends who made their mark in different fields of endeavor but will both leave behind an impressive body of work.