Troy

Pioneer, as Del suggests a class in statistics, demography would be required. I'm not prepared give those classes right now, so I'm not going to give you a number. Shoot, I don't even completely understand the selection criteria you've used to draw the conclusions that Black and Italians are similar. Honestly the comparisons you've mentioned make you sound like the eugenicists who believed Italians were closer to Black people, not fully white. Perhaps this is where the stereotype, you've embraced, started. Del regarding sampling that would require a class too but consider the following; The straight line defined by the points x=0, y=0 and x=3, y=4 These two samples completely describes every point on the line. This is not a proof, but maybe if can help you think about sampling in a way that appeals to you intuitively. But our intuition is not always the best way to understand the way the world actually works. For example, on a quantum level it is not intuitive at all. None of the information we have about the way the world works in the macro world would help us on the quantum level.

Harlem Book Fair 1999 to 2007 Slide Show

Del it is a fact as simple as 1 + 1 = 2. Would you dispute 1 + 1 = 2? If so, then what I say, or what can be looked up in a first year college math text book would not matter to you. Again if a sound wave sampled at slightly higher than twice it's highest frequency (say 40K samples per second) you be able to faithfully reproduce the original sound waves from those samples. Don't get me wrong, to Pioneer's point, even with people, if you sample enough people you can make generalizations about the group. It is not prefect as in the math case above, but you can get the margin of error down reasonably low to make generalization about a group. My main disagreement with Pioneer is that individuals are usually not very rigorous in their observations and certainly don't make enough of them to be useful for drawing conclusion for a group.. So if is cool, and factual, to say "I've observed that American Italians and Black people have similarities", but then to make the leap to say is true for all (or even the majority) of other Italian Americans problematic.

2013 Harlem Book Fair Celebrates New Voices, New Vision Dear Book Lovers & Words People, The weekend of July 19 marks the 15th anniversary of the Harlem Book Fair and we are asking you to join us for a most signature event. Along with our outdoor celebration of books, authors, and exhibitors, our author main stage, indoor author panel discussions, readings and workshops will offer surprising and engaging entertainment for every type of booklover. Under the banner of New Voices, New Vision, we will celebrate theater, books to film, e-book authors and e-book workshops (I know you like to turn that page but trust when I say e-readers are seductive and here to stay. I have 5 two-hundred page books by my bed waiting to be read! How many do you have???) We can talk about it at the Harlem Book Fair. Leading up to the book fair are the Friday night Wheatley Book Awards at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Featuring the music of Atiba Wilson and the Befo Quotet, and the Harlem Book Fair Poets of the Dispossessed, the Grammy Awards will have nothing on this event. You can preview our awards nominees now (or nominate your own) at the Wheatley Awards Nominations page. Here is your link to your reservation to the 2013 Wheatley Book Awards Program. Reserve seats now or forever hold your peace (I had to look that one up.) Does it sound like I am having fun? Does it sound like I am excited by the 15th Anniversary celebration of the Harlem Book Fair? I am. And check out our hotel discounts from Aloft Harlem and Marriott Hotel partners! Books, Film, Theater, E-Books, Music, Poetry, Food, and Awards? File this one under Too Good to Miss. Here is your link to your HBF 2013 Exhibitor Application. A whole bunch of somebodies are going to want to buy your book! Please set your calendars and pass the Word! Words People, this is our event and we are going to fill the house! See you in July! The QBR Wheatley Book Awards The QBR Wheatley Book Awards will recognize the best African American books and writers in Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, and Children's books. Special awards will be also given for Publisher of the Year and Poet of the Year. Music and Entertainment by Atiba Wilson & the Befo' Quotet and Poets of the Dispossessed. Seating on first-come basis only. Join us for a stellar night of music, literary awards, and memorable entertainment on the night before the Harlem Book Fair (Saturday, July 20). Reserve your seat and visit QBR or www.harlembookfair.com to vote for the award nominees. (You need not attend to vote.) Max Rodriguez Founder, Harlem Book Fair

:-) I like the visual. OK Pioneer, I'll give up on trying to get you to see the problem with stereotyping people. Del, it is interesting to reject the mathematically proven fact that a finite sample can reproduce a continuous signal. But you have much less of a problem with the flawed process of using anecdotal evidence to describe an entire population. Of course Pioneer's observations are true for a subset -- the subset he has observed. Again, this is where we part ways; using his limited observations and extending them to entire population. I guess if Pioneer lived in Greenwich Village he'd assume the majority white men were homosexual.

Cynique my belief in predestination implies no such thing as "higher power is in charge". If does not exclude it either. It does not exclude much of anything including astrology, a multiverse, mental telepathy, none of it.

There is a book which came out recently that suggested the Black artistic out put of Chicago was superior to that of the Harlem Renaissance. Of course the northern migration of Black was true during most of this nation;s history, but the north is losing Negros to the south today. You'll find growing population of conscious Black folks in cities like Atlanta, the DC metro area and even places like Charlotte, NC. Michagan is a tough sell, in 2013, for people not from the region.

Cynique your unwillingness to consider predetermination is exactly why we make up stories (some quite elaborate and motivating) -- to explain what we do not understand or control. If I hold an egg, at arms length and drop it; most of us know the egg will fall to the floor and not remain suspended it mid air, or go flying into outer space. We don't know what the egg's splatter pattern will be. But with a sufficiently powerful computer and model, we include factors from your height to the gravitation force of the Moon to determine where every molecule of the egg will land. The seemingly random splatter pattern of a dropped eggs is not so random. The same logic goes into predicting the weather. But the weather is such a highly complex system we can't seem to do a very good job predicting the weather today. But as we learn more, build more powerful computers are ability to predict weather will improve Everything from the origin of life on this planet can be predicted if we have enough information. But life is infinitely more complex than the Earth's weather system, that it is effectively random. Man can will never have the computing power to model what any of us will do in the future -- let alone what we will do collectively. So we make up stories or collect data, to help us make sense of something we can never truly comprehend -- let alone predict.. But from my perspective it feels like I have some control over my experience and that is really all that matters to me -- otherwise if I knew what was going to happen and I did not have any control over it would would be the point of going through this exercise called life?

Triple Crown, the Black Motown of Publishing sure, potentially. TCP's brand was bigger than that of their authors (save Vickie herself). I wonder if Triple Crown really jerked their authors or if the authors had unreasonable expectations of what to expect from being published. Generally an agent would be their advocate but I hear about so many of the newer authors saying they don't need an agent. So I wonder how many had representation. In any case, the details are spelled out in the contract and if TCP did not live up to them they should be sued. I don't much about TCP's business practices. I do know they were pretty large a few years back and Vickie presented herself professionally, despite the harsh criticism generally leveled at purveyors of street/urban fiction (including myself on occasion). Strebor Books and Cash Money Content are pumping our a ton of books but they are tied to S&S (CBS) for distribution, marketing, etc. Of course their are many other truly independent publishers, Ghettoheat, Augustus Publishing, Melodrama Publishing, Amber Communications, Life Changing Books, and so many others. Perhaps they are among our best hope. The challenge is support from our so called Black media. I'll do an article about independent Black owned publishers and try to get it widely circulated.

Hey Del did you quote yourself or someone else in your last remark? In any case I like that.

Hey Del did you quote yourself or someone else in your last remark? In any case I like that.

Quentin Tarantino with actress Nichole Galicia who plays "Sheba" in "Django Unchained" from W Magazine (image courtesy of Marcia Jones). This was on my Facebook Wall. Facebook rare places anything "conscious" in my feed. It does not seems to matter what profiles, groups or pages I visit my feed skews to scandal. Google+ seems to do a better job of putting content in my feed that actually interests me. For now...

Cynique, OK I understand your feelings for Tupac. I did not know about Nikki's son. Maybe she does not know who the father is Pioneer, in the elaborated context I fundamentally agree with you. However I still do not believe Rap is the CAUSE of our problem -- more a REFLECTION of them. Your point "The beats and music was just a way to hypnotize your brain so the violent self-destructive lyrics can enter into it and possibly on to your subconscious". Is worthy of research. I believe there is something to this. I also believe a large majority of people to not listen to the words, the beat is everything. Ice-T and Salt had a conversation about how their own spouses don't listen to the lyrics. If the words were really important spoken word artists would be more popular. Now if the beat is indeed everything why then can't rap artists make more music with politically conscious, uplifting or otherwise positive lyrics? The reason is the misogyny and violence sells better -- perhaps it appeals to us on a very basic, primitive level. I remember being in my 20's blasting NWA's ganster rap in my car, driving without a shirt, drinking beer -- and loving it. Smart, educated, but behaving like child. I should have been somewhere reading a book. Today I seem MANY grown men still doing the same thing. I've had to leave my house to ask people to turn their music down. They blasting obscenity laden rap music from their parked cars...

Pioneer, Del, that may be true, but it still implies that we actually have free will; which is not something I'm not convinced that we actually have. There is an increasing amount of information about the way the brain works that suggests our conscious self is merely an observer and sophisticated story teller to rationalize our behavior

Well Chicago has a pretty rich literary tradition with very few peers. I would reach out to existing organization in you target area. Given the weather I think it might be tough to attract people from outside the area to build something.

Thanks for offering a few.Cynique. I agree all of these are important. I need to associate a date with each one. Was there a definitive moment for each? Maybe for; 1. the advent of the self-publishing boon (I'll find out the launch date of Iuniverse or whoever was 1st in this space) 2. the emergence of the street lit popularity (I'll use the publication of Terri Woods 1st novel to signify the ushering in of Street Lit) 3. the rise of the e-book venue (I could use the date of the Kindle's Launch. .Thanks!

Yeah Salt N Pepper, MC Lyte and right up there. In fact they and other were interviewed in the first video. The fact of the matter is men dominate Rap.. Now Cynique why would you call Tupac a "foul mouth punk"? I did not know Tupac personally but what I do know is that the young man we see presented, most often in the public, is not who he was, in reality. I based this upon what other who knew hum personally have written. Indeed Nikki Giovanni went as far as to replicate the tattoo "Thug Life" on her arm that tupac wore across his belly.

Oh I though Ice-T said "the" greatest. In any case I don't think Ice-T heaped more praise on any other rapper. Do you Del? The other video is The Legends of Hip Hop. I watched it on a DVD from the library, but the entire video is on youtube (embedded below) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_cA_-SGhXY I have not gone to a rap concert since 1990, when I saw Pubic Enemy perform in southern Florida -- I think Miami. At any rate PE is one of my favorite groups, but I was disappointed in the concert. There stage performance -- even with the SW1's was pretty stock -- you know the pacing back and forth on the stage and the audio was not great... I have zero interest in paying to see a Rap artist group perform. Jay-Z performed in Brooklyn recently the thought passed my mind to see him in the new arena, but travel, cost, time -- it was not worth it to me... I guess if I was 18 it would be a different story. Pioneer while we share an enjoyment of PE you always lose me when you make statements like this: "Both of them [biggie and Tupac] share SOME responsibility for much of the thuggish lifestyle that has destroyed the families and even lives of so many Black people in America today." See, to me, this seems like a outlandish exaggeration. So I'll ask, why do you believe this to be true? I believe their combined contribution to the state of Black American families is so negligible that it can be ignored. If anything, the contribution of people like Tupac, one could argue, has been net positive. But destroying lives and Black families -- come on man you can't really mean that.

Self Published Authors Get Ready, You’re Being Dumped "If you’re a self published author, get ready for some disappointing news. Your usefulness is coming to an end. Yes, you have all worked very hard for very little return in building an empire to be exploited by multinational enterprises, but sadly, your job is almost done and it’s time now for you to be given the ‘boot’. " This is a pretty interesting conversation for you self-published authors. The articles comments are more enlightening than the original article, as if often the case. The problem with the comments is that you can't believe most of what people write you really have to research statements for veracity. But the issues raised are nonetheless interesting and worthy of consideration.

Kukujumuku by Wayetu Moore (Author) and Augustus Moore Jr. (Illustrator) One Moore Book publishes and distributes culturally sensitive books for children of countries with low literacy rates and underrepresented cultures. One Moore Book provides literature for children whose narratives are largely missing from the children's book publishing industry. The books will also serve as a key to unknown people and places for all kids who do not have access to cultures outside of their own.

1st Annual Bronx Literary Festival in Poe Park. Saturday, May 18, 2013 Learn more on their Facebook Page

Beautiful. ...just as I knew it would be. Thank you.

I saw another better documentary last night I'll get the name when I get home. The production was much lower in quality but they focused more on the Zulu Nation who obviously know a lot more about the origins of Rap a component of Hip Hop.

THE BLACK COMIC BOOK FESTIVAL Free and Open to the Public All Ages Welcome TOMORROW Saturday, January 12 10AM ● 4PM THE BLACK COMIC BOOK FESTIVAL FULL DAY SCHEDULE Pop-Up Exhibition | Main Lobby Black Kirby by John Jennings, SUNY Buffalo and Stacey Robinson All Day Black Comic Book Exhibitors | Main Lobby & Mezzanine 10AM Film Screening and Q&A | Langston Hughes Auditorium White Scripts and Black Supermen: Black Masculinities in Comic Books Dr. Jonathan Gayles, Georgia State University 10:30AM Workshop | American Negro Theater The Art of Making Comics <B Comic Book Writer and Founder of KidsComicCon 12PM Film Screening and Q&A | Langston Hughes Auditorium White Scripts and Black Supermen: Black Masculinities in Comic Books Dr. Jonathan Gayles, Georgia State University 12:30PM Workshop | American Negro Theater Family Cartooning Workshop Jerry Craft, Syndicated Cartoonist of Mama’s Boyz 2PM Panel Discussion | Langston Hughes Auditorium Moderator: Dr. Jonathan Gayles, Georgia State University Panelists: Comics Come to Harlem: Race and the Lafargue Clinics Case Against Comics Qiana Joelle Whitted, University of South Carolina Secret Identities and Mutant Minorities Marcus W. Singer, Howard University Representing Black Citizenship, or Why Understanding the History of Black Comics Helps Us Understand “Django Unchained” Rebecca Ann Wanzo, Washington University St. Louis Pride, Power, and Protest? Marvel Comic and the Black Superhero after 1970 Julian C. Chambliss, Rollins College 2PM Youth Film Screening | American Negro Theater Our Friend Martin: An Adventure Inspired by Martin Luther King, Jr. ___________________________________________________________ Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture The New York Public Library 515 Malcolm X Blvd at 135th Street New York, NY 10037 Directions: Train: or Train to 135th Street Bus: M7 Bus to 135th Street WALK-IN REGISTRATION Follow Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture on: www.schomburgcenter.org

I'm creating a "Black" publishing timeline covering significant events in black publishing over the last 20 years. What events, milestones or accomplishments do you think are important? They do not have to be actions taken by Black people. They could just be events that have impacted Black folks. Thanks, Troy