Troy

The relative mental health of people from different ages is interesting. I'm not convinced it is true -- at least not for Black kids. Ingoring the fact I came of age in one of NYC's ghettos when crime was rampant. I never had to go to war. I never really had to worry about getting lynched for looking at a white woman sideways. I never had to watch my woman raped or see my kids sold off by a white man who owned me. I never had to worry about shelter, where my next meal was coming from or being eaten by a wild animal. This high level of anxiety is not a Black problem. Most guys my age would much rather have their kids lifestyle than their parents -- am I lying?

Completely different physiques.

Some guys have man caves, but I don't spend a lot of time doing the things one would do in one. There are a lot of stories in this photo. It really it tells me how much technology has improved in 20 years. I still use the same desk. It is probably the only thing I still use from back then. The room is only about 9 x 12. Technically one of three bedrooms in the apartment I rented in NYC right out of grad school.

Hi @whitfrazier I just added your books to the website: https://aalbc.com/authors/author.php?author_name=Whit+Frazier do you have any videos or would you like to share an excerpt?

The lead actress in this film, Cynthia Erivo, is a very talented sister. I saw her on two occasions. Once; running past my apartment ,as a participant in the NYC Marathon and second in the Broadway play, The Color Purple, in which she sang her ass off. I'm sure this will be a feel good film. It will be interesting to see how white film goers embrace it. I'm sure it will be critically acclaimed and earn a few academy award nomination.

@Delano I reread the article and reminded me of the conversation we had about preserving AALBC beyond my life. If Johnson Publishing can't last two generations that is not a good sign. I wonder what is going on with the cosmetics line. I heard the photo archives is being auctioned off essentially the last major asset. Truly the end of an era.

I wouldn't wear a necklace with my name on it, but that has nothing to do with you. I suggest you "do you," and don't overthink it. I'm from New York and I doubt your wearing a necklace would draw my attention.

@whitfrazier. African writers themselves recognize they are the "model" minority and are, understandably, taking advantage of this -- indeed I'm helping. The ramifications of this are significant. When I talk about the marginzation of stories written by Black African-American men, people think I'm too sensitive or over reacting. I'm not talking about gay men, men or one with a white parent. I'm taliing about the absence of stories, like mine, in mainstream publishing. Still people wonder why Black men supposedly don't read. Self-publishing alone can't fill the gap. With Google controlling which content is discoverable, Amazon's monopoly on the sales of Black books, a few social sites dominating our attention on the web, and the lack of coverage of indie authors offline, these books rarely achieve even obscurity. The problem with PW is that it is a trade publication -- and not even all booksellers read it. I have a subscription, but I can't get through every issue and when i do focus on the bigger books. It is a good thing you posted info about your books here. You did this in 2018 too, so you have my attention and I will help promote your work. Please share more about what you discover over time.

Hey Whit do you have a website? If so, post the URL.

BTW, I'm unable to find a discussion forum on Blackvisions. The site does not use https, so chrome rejects the link you shared.

Yeah I responded to the audit, but they are taking months to respond. Way to go USA! 4th generation New Yorker -- wow! Virtually everyone I know, in NY, my age has parents who came from someplace else.

Hey Jessea, your mom is a 2-time AALBC Bestselling author (for the seminal poetry anthology she edited). Thanks for highlighting her children's book. I'll add a buy link on the page and send readers to your site. It may take a little while as this is part of a much larger effort to remove Amazon buy links from the website.

@Mel Hopkins I will start posting tips for authors/writers.

Well devotion2heart I guess I'll have to remove Lipstick Alley from my list since I'm unable to verify ownership... I'll checkout the other forum. BTW you can always participate here 🙂

Del you did not use the word "moron" until just now. Your reaction to Pioneer's statement to indicated that you got the words confused. Did I miss-read something? If you say you understand the difference between the words -- something I fully expect -- I believe you. No, the bugs bunny clip did not help clarify things.

I guess I did. Email your email address troy@aalbc.com and I'll send you the address I use.

@Delano you and bugs bunny are confusing the word moron with maroon. Bugs was being funny.

@Pioneer1 I was once a house negro, but while the analogy is far from perfect, I too liken myself to that of a Maroon as well -- independent and reliant on others like myself. The house negroes are too comfortable to join me and the field negroes are too afraid. I don't blame either group as the maroon existence is risky. Man being a Black "Greek" never saved anyone from the IRS. At the end of the day these are largely social organizations. Besides I can't afford the dues -- assuming I was even accepted as a member.

I don't think so either Del. When I named the book discussion forum Thumper's Corner I never conceived of naming it anything else after that. The url of this site has "tc" built into it for that reason. I may not rename these forum unless it is some major sponsor or something 🙂 I'll email Connie periodically to check in on her. Maybe I'll make her my sole Facebook friend to keep tabs.

Yeah this fact jumped out at me too! It is not a surprise, because I saw this all the time. However, the fact that he is also a degenerate, convicted felon and it did nothing to stunt his ability to amass a great deal of wealth is a bit much... I mean the feds are auditing me -- even if they find be completely wrong we are talking about a few grand I'd owe. They have all the money in the world to go after chump change, from small businesses, but the wealthy get rewarded for their crimes. Blow up a bank and you not only get bailed out, but you get a huge bonus. This 2nd Gilded Age, we are in, is a mother!

Humm @Delano you may have shown me a feature I was unaware of, "Last Visited." I always assumed it was the last posting date. I can tell you one thing for sure, the software does not track visitors, by name, unless they have an account AND are logged in. So, Cynique can view the forums, without logging in, and all you will see is "guest." Now, I have access to ip addresses, so I could in map the IP addresses of guests to one that Cynique has previously used and get a better indication of when she last visited, but I don't have that kind of free time. Besides, if she wanted to make her presence known she would just post. @Delano you seemed to be overly concerned that @Cynique will never return. Why? Did you look at the number of posts that she actually made over a 9 years period -- winning the day 500 times! Those stats are far more interesting. That does not included the 13,874 posts she made from 2002 until 2010, when I moved the forums to AALBC from thumperscorner.com. Del, that is an average of three posts per day, everyday, for 17 years. She is 80+ years old. If she never posted another thing here in life, she did her part. I agree with @Chevdove in that fatigue -- both mental and physical played a part. Del think about what that means. She actively engaged in a substantive and often enlightening way here for the better part of 20 years! Most people her age don't even use the web -- let alone actively engage on it. Is your mom actively engaged on the web? My own mother has no clue what I do on these forums -- let alone participate in them. I know you miss her Del. I do too, but all good things come to an end and she really did her part to make these forums interesting. All of you who participate make these forums interesting (you lurkers help too). No one else has done it on the level of Cynique -- at least not yet ;-)

Yeah this was one of the famously tragic stories that gets mentioned when people talk about police violence against Black people.

@Pioneer1 Cynique also ended with the above comment. So it was not about gender, it is was about the contributions the posters made. She appreciated many of the men who posted here over the years. @ABM comes to mind but there were many others. @Delano Cynique wrote she would be checking things out from time to time. So I guess that would make you wrong 😉 Sorry would have probably sufficed, but people rarely say I'm sorry and mean it. Even when contrition is expressed the recipient often does not accept it... This is so true. @Cynique and @Thumper felt indispensable, but they were not -- no one is indispensable. As long as someone pays the bills, maintains the software and hardware, as hard as that has been for 20+ years, I'm not even indispensable. Well @Chevdove well, what did he say?