Troy

"Why did you address this question to Cynique? Chris, if you must know it's 'cause the rest of y'all kneegrows don't know what the hail y'all takin' 'bout. Seriously, I knew if Cynique responded it would be a well thought out and crafted response, which is what I was looking for, so I was really interested in reading what she had to say. I also new she was old enough to be able to speak about the period from personal experience. Besides I knew if anyone else had something to say they would not hesitate to supply a response. I did not mean to preclude anyone else from responding. That was definitely not my intent.

Xeon, I hear you. But regarding vaccinations, you really can't ignore the fact that the US experimented on Black folks throughout our history. You have the administration of bogus treatment of Syphilis allowing Black to go untreated -- just to see what would happen. Can you blame folks for being a little skittish -- especially today when some scientists are running around saying Autism is being caused by vaccinations containing Mercury. And since you brought it up; Xeon have you ever shopped in a poor neighborhood? It is not all that easy to get good food -- fresh produce, meats and other things necessary for proper nutrition. One incident comes to mind. After visiting the Stax Museum (home of Issac Hayes, the Barkays, Rufus Thmoas, etc) in Memphis, TN a couple of years ago. My family and I went into a super market across the street. We went into the "supermarket" in a predominately black neighborhood to buy some bottled water. We could not find any! They had a big lottery kiosk near the checkout line. The had a whole section of gallon sized "juices" in every conceivable color -- we were like my God what it this?! I went into the meat section (now I'm curious), there was not "real" meats neck bones, chicken wings and feet, boxed sausage and hamburger -- nothing look fresh, no fish, steaks, veal, poultry. I travelled the entire country whenever I visit a city I go into the 'hood. The story is the same though not usually as extreme as the one I just mentioned. To get good food one would have to travel out the community and pay much more -- it is really not that easy -- especially if your are 3, 4 generations deep into poor eating habits, and everyone around you is doing the same thing -- you just don't know any better. People wonder why poor Black women are generally obese -- this is part of the reason.

Once again a fascinating perspective Cynique. During some genealogical research I'm performing. I discovered one of my aunts died of pertussis as a child. I had no idea what that was and had to look it up to learn it was whopping cough. I read more about it and learned it name came from the sound made by those afflicted. My close friend's grandmother was sent to a sanatorium for years after contracting tuberculosis. When her husband was sent overseas to fight in WWII their children (my friend’s mother and siblings) were forced to go to an orphanage -- can you image? I guess my generation's knowledge of such diseases being limited to label on a vaccine is truly a blessing. Coincidentally, there was a program on NPR yesterday which talked about the dangers of mercury use in vaccinations. The speaker argued that Autism which apparently was not chronicled in any medical journals before the 1930's now effects 1 in 100 children -- this is hard for me to believe, but I can certainly understand why folks without the perspective Cynique just related would refuse to take any vaccinations.

Xeon, assuming you were perfectly healthy able to learn and do whatever you wanted (sort of like a day walking vampire). Ultimately after say 1,000 years the other mortal humans would seem like retarded children. You would be alone in the world. No one to relate to. Relatively speaking, time would move so quickly for you that even the reltionships you could develop would be over as soon as they started -- the normal human life span would be flash in the pan compared to yours.

GhettoPhysics: Will the Real Pimps and Hos Please Stand Up! Film Review: http://aalbc.it/ghettophysics

A Poet You Should Know: Natasha Trethewey - Winner Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and the winner of the inaugural Cave Canem Poetry Prize for the best first book by an African American poet.

The Mosaic Literary Conference presents creative ways for keeping books and reading valuable sources of knowledge and creativity. This day of professional-development workshops will help educators incorporate literature into existing curricula to further explore course work that focuses on cultures, history, and social studies Ticket price includes: conference, one-year subscription to Mosaic Literary Magazine, lesson plan samples, gift bag, continental breakfast, and lunch http://aalbc.it/mosaiclitconf Location: Bronx NY Refunds available through October 31

Chris, don't mistake my open mind and willingness to entertain different idea for adherence to such positions -- especially those espoused by Bill Bennett. Indeed after speaking with Kam, it is not clear that the authors of Freakonmics stated anything African Americans specifically about abortions. I will let the review stand but I've added a comment. In fact, the idea that legalized abortions has reduced crime is disputed by other economists, who say that the Levitt’s (or Dubner, I forget who is the economist) methodology was flawed. But we also see that "right to lifers" are the ones opposing voicing the greatest opposition. Everyone has an agenda.

There has been a lot of talk about Polio in the news recently. My only experience with Polio was when I was a kid I had a counselor (white) that told me his older brother had polio and eventually died from it. It sounds like the threat of contracting Polio was a very scary thing back then. I heard somewhere that ice cream was suspected as a cause, because incidences of Polio increased during the summer when ice consumption increased. Was this a really that scary a time for us or did Black folks have more pressing things to be concerned with, like lynching, earning enough money to survive, etc... It is also funny I’ve spoken with Black folks who will not get the children vaccinated against Polio?! That is crazy; but given our country’s history of treating Black folks the way Dr. Mengele treated Jews I can understand the aversion. I don’t agree, but I understand…

These will fit her What was your nephew's involvement with the commercials?

When I was younger I thought I would always want to live forever. Now I can image that would be a living hell. Crazy? No. Probably very, very normal. You are just conscious of the change. I miss my children when they were at the toddler stage. The were fun to play with and really into their Dad. But I would not want them to stay at the stage forever. They have to grow up, move on. I'll always miss them at that age, but I'm also really looking forward to seeing become graceful, mature adults. Which will prepare them for whatever the next stage is... ... and I would no sooner hold them from that next stage than I would have held them going from childhood to adulthood.

I watched Freakonomics last night. While the book may have stated or implied what I quoted from the film review; the actual film did present or even drawn the same conclusion (that crime would be “…reduced by sterilizing all African-American females”). All the film said was that legalized abortion had the biggest impact on crime reduction. Apparently, legalized abortions reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies. These unwanted children, who are typically the ones responsible for most crimes, were simply not born. The crime reduction was an inadvertent response to Roe v. Wade. That said, there were a couple of other places where the film grated on my nerves, because the way Black folks were depicted. Cynique, I read the book when it first came out. I don't recall reading the conclusion Kam wrote in his review -- but I chalked it up to simply not remembering. I'm going to ask Kam about the reference. I'll pull that line from the review if it can not be attributed directly to the book. Someone did post a link to an audio on my Facebook profile showing Bill Bennet running with the abort all Black babies conclusion: http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200509280006 but again Bill is drawing his OWN conclusions and not attributing them directly to the book.

Thanks Gwen! I also see I couldn't even spell the name of my own website correctly

"A more controversial conclusion arrived at by the authors and propagated by controversial pundits like conservative Bill Bennett was the notion that the U.S. crime rate could be significantly reduced by sterilizing all African-American females." From Kam's review of the film Freakonomics: http://aalbc.it/FREAKONOMICS

I recently saw Joan Rivers at a screening of a film about her life. She, like you Cynique, exhibits more life, and has more to say that most people -- regardless of age. We live in a culture that seems to only give a crap about what some 12 year thinks. The older I get the worse it seems to get. Middle aged women feel like crap unless they look like they are 18. More and more men are even beginning to act like kids. I see many dudes in their 50's and older, wearing pants below their butts, driving around blasting music, acting like ill-manner children. So I appreciate the class of a Diahann Carole and the firey independence of Joan Rivers, but I when a elder begins acting like a teenage it just looks silly -- even though other teenagers might think it is cool.

Hey Always_Lurking! Maybe you should change your name to "sometimes_posts" Believe it or not lurkers help too by creating traffic which drives advertising revenue, which helps support this super tanker of a website. Lurkers can always hit the twitter, facebook, digg or any ofther button under "share this topic" But as far a driving traffic nothing beats a great post. Be well and thanks for saying hello!

AUTHORS Click this link http://aalbc.it/ad092710 for a great advertising deal on AALBC.com - limited time only!

"Top Ten Reasons Why African American Bookstores Are Closing" by Gwen Richardson: http://aalbc.com/blog/index.php/2012/03/25/death-of-the-black-owned-independent-bookstore/ Gwen has actually been running an on-line book store Cushcity.com almost as long as I have been running ALBC.com. Her brick and mortar book store in Houston predates the website, though I forget how long it has been open. Gwen and I collaborate on advertising sales, and the National Black Book Festival. This list is complied from a series of post Gwen made on her Facebook profile. She agreed to let me share her thoughts with AALBC.com visitors. I think there are probably a couple of other stronger reasons why our bookstores are closing; including a cultural shift from immersive reading, and reading for pleasure.

lemme go find that post...

Cynique another wonderful slice of life from earlier time. I've never heard either of these songs. I really liked 60 minute man great tune and lyrics (today I guess they would say hey B--ch! I'll f--k you all night long!). I can't say that I cared for the first song. It was really slooooow. I listened to is three time, but I'm sure it won;t gow on me either. I hope that does not lower your impressions of me too much ;-) The four freshmen made me think of Take Six who I throughly enjoy. Thanks again for taking the time, and dealing with the technical difficulties, to share this with us!

Thumper's complete review of this collection has been posted here: http://aalbc.it/jamesbaldwin

I watched most of the 3 set DVD. It was really interesting to see how quickly the culture changed as depicted in the dress, hair styles (the women went form mostly natural to mostly relaxed) and even the commercials changed from the early to late 70's. The funniest commercial was one where Frederick Douglas came back to chastise a Brother on the condition of his 'fro. I also did not know that Soul Train broadcast until 2004 or 5. I stopped watching it in the late 70's, I'm not sure why. I think I was spending less time in front of the TV. But is may have been I did not care for the artists they showcased every much -- probably too much into rap, I'm not really sure. I liked seeing the Isely Brothers, Sly and the Family Stone (looks like they performed live too, while many of the performers lip synched). They interviews were really interesting too. James Brown had some really big plans for helping Black folks back in the day -- even saying that he was going to stop performing to concentrate on this work (if I heard correctly). Well worth watching.

Hey Jackie welcome back -- hope to read more from you soon! Congrats on the little one. I just sent my first off to college!

Hey Cynique, You made me go hunt for the video huh. I did not see it on your wall but I think this is it. It is quite a good and clever editting job: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEvNS5TzvwM Still, someone's tragedy is fodder for someone else's entertainment. I guess that was always the basis of "news"... b.t.w. I saw your tribute your grandson. We share the same middle name and I was a gymnast too. Did you create a group or fan page?

When we were younger we used to complain about a media that always seemed to be on the look out for the craziest sounding people to use as a sound bite for a news story. They did this so much it became a cliche. Over the years the media has taken this type of "journalism" to a new level with shows like Jerry Springer which are designed to profit by entertaining the masses at the expense of the most dysfunctional in our society. Now here is a story (that someone forwarded to me); covering a very serious crime -- attempted rape. However rather than being at least partonizingly sympatetic to the victim; the highlight of the broadcast was a rant by the victim's brother -- in all the glory of a character from a Morton Downy highlight reel. Is this what passes for news coverage today?