Troy

You know I sat and listened to the whole video yesterday, and see that I must have said "ummm" 30 times. I thought I got rid of this habit years. When I shot the video I was actually quite tired (and shows on my face), but it is funny I did not pick up on this when I was editing the video. If I did I would have edited the ummms our or reshoot the whole thing. It seems editing your own video is like editing your own writing; You have to step away from your work for a period of time. If you try to edit immediately, you'll miss errors that you would have easily picked up after some time has elapsed--and never writer or shoot video when you're beat. Your time would be better spent getting some rest :-)

I need your vote. Pick Troy Johnson as "Literary Activist of the Year." Please try to do it now, today is the last day to cast a vote--I know I've been lackadaisical in promoting this.

Elizabeth Nunez and W. Ralph Eubanks Lead Summer Workshops JOIN HURSTON/WRIGHT FOR WRITERS WEEK 2016! Creative Nonfiction: W. Ralph Eubanks, workshop leader The Art of Fiction: Elizabeth Nunez, workshop leader Dates: August 6-12, 2016 Location: Howard University, Washington, D.C. Hurston/Wright workshops are open to Black writers published and unpublished. Spend 7 days sharpening your writing during intensive workshops and craft talks led by acclaimed authors. Creative Nonfiction This workshop explores the challenges of memoir, biography and nonfiction narratives. Photo: Stacey Vaeth W. Ralph Eubanks W. Ralph Eubanks W. Ralph Eubanks is the author of the critically acclaimed memoir Ever Is a Long Time: A Journey Into Mississippi's Dark Past and The House at the End of the Road: The Story of Three Generations of an Interracial Family in the American South. He is the former editor of the Virginia Quarterly Review and the former director of publishing at the Library of Congress. A 2007 Guggenheim Fellow, he is the Eudora Welty Visiting Scholar in Southern Studies at Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi, for the Spring 2016 semester. Click here for more information on Ralph Eubanks. The Art of Fiction This workshop for writers of short stories and long fictional narratives focuses on the essentials of skillful storytelling. Photo: Leonid Knizhnik Elizabeth Nunez Elizabeth Nunez Elizabeth Nunez is the award-winning author of nine novels and a memoir, Not for Everyday Use, which won the 2015 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for Nonfiction. Novels Boundaries and Anna In-Between were New York Times Editors' Choices. Anna In-Between won the 2010 PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Award. Nunez also is a recipient of the 2011 Writers for Writers Award from Poets & Writers and Barnes & Noble, an American Book Award, and a NALIS Lifetime Literary Award from the Trinidad & Tobago National Library. She is a Distinguished Professor at Hunter College, CUNY. Click here for more information on Elizabeth Nunez. CLICK FOR GUIDELINES AND TO APPLY Founded in 1990, the Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation is a nonprofit committed to developing, mentoring, and honoring Black writers with workshops, awards and community. Learn more at Hurston/Wright Foundation Hurston/Wright Foundation | 202.248.5051| Email | Website

Of course, post your email address.

The fact that race is an artificial construct does not mean there are no differences between humans. Pioneer would you provide a definition of the word "race." I ask because you are using it as if it you are quite clear what it means. If would help if I knew what definition you are working from and were you pulled it from--Thanks It is difficult to judge what Beyonce looks like, given the makeup and fake hair. But now that you juxtapose the two images. It seems like they were shooting for the "Shakira look" for Bey.

Well I finally saw Straight Outta Compton It actually was a decent movie as far as films go, and I enjoyed it. But it's basis in reality was pretty thin. As far as best picture, I dunno. They really need to make a film about Suge Knight, that Brother.... I also watched Black Mass last night and I thought Johnny Depp deserved an academy award nomination and I enjoyed that film more than I did Straight Outta Compton.

@Pioneer1, Absolutely. Breeds, by definition come from, artificial selection. There are no "breeds" of humans, any more than there are "races" of humans. Sure all three people pictured here have different phenotypes, but generically they are virtually identical. So much so that there may be more genetic similarities between two people of different "races" than there are of two people of the same race.

28th Day of ‪#‎BlackHistoryMonth‬ - Haki Madhubuti - Poet, Activist, Educator, Publisher

Sara, you make my point Homo Habilis and Homo Sapiens are different species. If you trying to suggest that these creatures could be called Black or white does not make sense. They are classified as a difference species because we can not interbreed with them. Cynique, while there is no way of "knowing," which cultural influences there are many clues. Indeed people who study this stuff make pretty convincing arguments. Some suggest, for example, that we can trace aspects of Jazz and gospel music back to Africa. If I used you argument, about bad food creating obesity the one would expect these rates to go down, nit that our food is "better." Also staples like Okra is not all about scraps and did not originate in America it came directly from Africa. While Xenophobia, may be "hardwired" human have the unique ability to behave in ways that may conflict with a genetic predispositions. So while I may fear people who look different than me, I can use reason and not be afraid of those you are different. Using your logic I should be afraid of 1/2 my family, including my mother who is light skinned. Again humanity has evolved beyond these primitive instincts. You can use culture to define a group of people in the case of Nigeria you be better our categorizing group in terms of being Hausa, Fulani, Igbo or Yoruba. Of curse these groups which are much older and have nothing to do with the boundaries of Nigeria.

What?! Sara and I agree on something out the box Well almost. Keep in mind humans did not evolve until about 200,00 years ago. So no one was Black "millions of years" before anything.

Hi Mel, I'm not sure what there is to disagree about. I'm also not sure what you mean by adapting to conditions of North America. If you mean genetically, we have not been here long enough for any genetic adaptation to have taken place. Would you believe after making my last post here, someone sent me an email about a movie they made discussing race: The Myth of Race and the Evolution of Skin Color.

Have you ever found yourself wondering why humans look different? Why some people may have eyes that appear to be slanted? Why some people may have light skin, blue eyes and blonde hair or why others may have dark skin, coarse or kinky hair and dark colored eyes. Well, the answer is called a mutation, which occurs in every generation when the sperm from a male fertilizes the egg of a female. Now mutations are not a bad thing, actually, they're a good thing because without them all humans would look the same. How boring would that be? This ground breaking documentary entitled The Myth of Race and the Evolution of Skin Color answers those questions by combining anthropology, paleontology and human genetics to show how that all humans, no matter what race, nationality or ethnicity you claim to be, share a common ancestor with a small population that lived in Africa around 200,000 years ago. This documentary is scheduled to be released in March of 2016.

Hi Guest B I'd encourage you to create an account so that your comments will display right away and not require manual approval. I also checked out your website and like the premise. But since the site has no content I won't share it others at this point. Of course keep us update on your progress.

@Cynique, I'm not saying Black American's should NOT be defined by our time enslaved here in America. I saying we should not be defined SOLELY by our enslavement. Our culture is informed so much more. Our collective propensity to diabetes and hypertension has more to do with our food supply and lifestyles than our cuisine. And of course some African people are not lactose intolerant as this has to do with genetic traits that have nothing to do with what we look like. If you want to put people into boxes because of physical characteristics; have at it, you'll be busy for a very long time. You should also appreciate the boxes you create are purely arbitrary and have nothing to do with science. Yes, I do want to put all people in one box, because technically we are in one box, the human box. Any differences in treatment we chose to apply to each other because of differences in physical characteristics are also done so subjectively. It would be like saying all left handed people are inferior because they are left handed, all men with red hair are inherently more evil, all slender men are smarter, etc. All of this would be considered dumb, because it is. Also you can't reasonably use Nigeria to define a group of people. Nigeria was made up by europeans; the boundaries they created has little to do with the people who lived there before Europeans carved it up. @Mel keep in mind that your mtDNA only tracks your mother's, mother's, Mother's, Mothers, After 9 generation we are talking about a single ancestor out of 1,024 who contributed to who you are. In other words you know less that 0.001% of you ancestry based upon that ancestor's mtDNA.

Funny Mel, your attitude about Men who can't make it in America, is the same one I held about White men who can't make it in America--I had no concern and little sympathy for their predicament. Then I traveled the country and saw whole swaths of the nation covered in white poverty. They are not covered in media, but they exist. Then I also realized when we pit men and against women, white against Black, we lose track of the cause of our problems, and we fail to work together to fix them. I have not read the articles yet, but it seems contradictory to suggest that Black women are surviving when Black males are not. But again it is the divide mentality of us against them, you against I. I can only win at your expense... Also I wish they really would stop issuing those bogus unemployment figures, because they fly in the face of the reality most of us see. They stop counting who have been looking over two years, they don't count the millions of recent college graduates who have not found a job. No wonder folks are embracing Donald Trump for president. Folks are desperate.

I believe we are one race. We are all descended from one male (y-chromosomal Adam) and one woman (Mitochondrial Eve), and are therefore family. It would be nice if we looked out for each other they was a family would, but we have to operate in the real world... That said, the issue I would take with your perspective Cynique, is that it is unnecessarily limiting. Why should Black culture be defined by what happened in the last 150 years? We know from our cuisine, our way of practicing religion, our speech, music, and a whole host of other things are influenced by Africa. Everything was not striped from us, indeed it is part of our core being. Part of the reason some embrace a so called "Afrocentric" perspective is that we see where the European perspective mindset has gotten us, hundreds of years of enslavement and 2nd class citizenship. People--even white folks-- are desperate for something different, something that would them better. Pioneer, any African that would fail to embrace an African-American as his Brother is simply a victim of the same colonial mindset we are. Pan-Africanism is better than the fractured, powerless, state we are in today. "Pan worldism" would serve humanity better, but I'm happy to go one step at a time. Oh, the middle east, is clearly on the African continent. Mesopotamia, Egypt, the birth place of Christ, and the Great Pyramids are all in north east Africa.

Cynique considering the board is named for you, you know I'm not about "political correctness," shoot all the stuck I let slide from Kola Boof should have proven that. More recently I even let the likes of an Unkel Rukus post here until he went crazy with the spamming. I would have hoped you would know it is not about being politically correct. We'll be here when you get back. Pioneer, you would not have anything meaningful to contribute if you did not have better things to do.

Sorry @Cynique and @Sara I decided to exercise my rarely used moderator authority to prune this conversation and remove the back and forth name calling. I can't remember the last time I took an action like this. It was not that what you two were doing was particularly egregious, it just was not advancing the conversation at all. More importantly I think the protracted back and forth you two were engaged in would turn people off who might otherwise have contributed to the conversation. Now I also appreciate that there are some people who love to see two people go at it, and it hat could be good for traffic, but honestly I'm not interested in that type of traffic. I think, for the sake of the discussion forums, I need to more actively moderate these conversations. Something I really do not have the extra time to do, but I'll have to find it. As always I'm open to your comments and thoughts.

Women, with a better than a high school education, are this site's largest demographic. Opinionated adjective: (1) conceitedly assertive and dogmatic in one's opinions. (2) having and expressing very strong ideas and opinions about things As far as opinionated I guess it depends upon the way you are using the word. I tend to find you often more characteristic of the first definition. This is based upon our interactions, For example, when you asserted Black girls are the largest demographic of college students (factually inaccurate), and was presented with a simple question which would make the truth plain, you resorted to Sarainistic replies, rather than simply conceding you made a mistake. Now it is great to have strong ideas and opinions, as in the second definition of the word--in fact this forum would be boring without people who have them. Of course you fall into this category as well. But often there is a thin line between strong opinion and dogmatism. I guess from time to time we are all guilty of it; but rarely does one who is called on it back up and say, "you know you are right, I need to rethink my position." Instead they generally dig their heels in deeper--which defeats the biggest benefit participating in these forums growing by learning from other.

Great line up! Many are firends of the AALBC.com website. In fact Zetta Elliott just guest blogged for us: “Who Will Write a Story for the Children of Eric Garner?” I have already added this event to our events calendar.

There have been many books written n the subject of technology and one's feeling of "disconnectedness" I blogged about some of the more popular book in his vein here. One of the books, Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other by Sherry Turkle get deep into this.

@Pioneer1, that is exactly why I choose that particular word. There probably aren't many places where few places I could use it where folks would "get it."

sa·ra·ian: adjective: Hyperbolic, unsubstantiated conclusion fueled on emotion, ignorance, or desire to obfuscate an issue. Typically utilized when facts, reason or logic can not be applied.

Thanks for sharing the additional information. Once Facebook opens the floodgates does anyone one, for a split second, think their Blog posts will be seen as many times as a big corporation's content? Sure we have to compete with corporations on the World Wide Web, but the web, even with Google's dominating search, is far more democratic that Facebook. Where else can you quadruple your fan base and see your reach drop by 75%? Whats next promoted (paid) Facebook Instant posts? I don't serve a lot of Ads on AALBC.com. This discussion forum only has two. I could very easily quadruple the number of ads and even embedded them in the posts (like Facebook), but I hate sites which inundate you with advertising. Facebook also recognizes too many ads spoil the experience, hence the limit. But again Facebook can afford the limit the ads because they are not paying for the content creation. I hear you Mel regarding the selling of advertising, but here is the trade off. I'm giving content to Facebook for a marginal increase in reach, which will likely come at the expense of reach that I would have gotten directly. All content producers should boycott this Facebook "service." Then what would Facebook do? I guess Facebook would have to create content and compete like everyone else. Which would not be a bad idea for them since they have the platform and already know how to control people. They could run the HuffPost Okie Doke and get people to write for free--just for the privileged of being on Facebook. Indeed many of us do this already...

Cynique, you touch more people than you may appreciate :-) Your stories are important for they are a historical record. I will do my best to ensure they, as well as everyone else's thought are preserved.