Troy

"I come to realize that I'm wasting way too much time on here. The real movers and shakers aren't on here, just us everyday working joes. I want to be a mover and shaker. It's time to get my hustle on, so I will only be checking my FB once a week to post any signings or dj gigs I might have. FB is keeping us from making any real moves, it's a drug and I need to stop being a junky." --Anthony L. Wallace Is he right?

http://runt.it/hbf2010guide Check out the social media seminars I'll be presenting!

Chris -- whatchu talkin' 'bout? 'Splain Brother. BTW didja find any records of Americans starving to death?

...I just re-read what I wrote. I'm surprised you could interpret anything I put down -- sorry about that Cynique, I would be willing to bet it is harder to raise a child, for everyone, today than it was 50 years ago. The negative external influences are far greater nowadays. What do you think?

All those books in 90 days Linda, impressive. I always recommend Standing at the Scratch Line to dudes looking for a good read. Chris who is Janelle Monae?

I'm listening to a Sunday morning talk show here in NYC, while trying to get a newsletter written (first one since late April). The radio hosts talking about the number of murders taking place in Chicago. In one recent weekend, 52 murders took place over a single weekend - including a 1 year baby! This past weekend 40+ murders took place. Virtually all of these murders are of Black people by other Black people... One Brother felt that Black men need to hit the streets and take them back -- policing our own communities. That sounds good, but it will never happen. Most Black people with money do not live in those communities and are not coming back to help. Working class Blacks in those communities are too busy trying to keep their own families running. The rest of the Brothers are contributing to the problem. Besides trying to stop gang activity can be very dangerous. What do y'all think is the cause of this problem? What are the solutions? Some say it is the "culture of violence" of the Black inhabitants of Chicago. Some blame the legacy of slavery. Some blame a lack of jobs, good schools, and community centers.

Bookfan your research, as usual, is sound. I would have never rememebered the conversation. Given what I wrote then I like the paper back cover even more

Cynique, nice. I LOVE hearing your perspective. I remember when the first McDonalds came to my neighborhood (Spanish Harlem) it was in the mid 70’s and is still open. I rarely had the money to do. We went after I graduated from Jr. High School – that was a BIG treat! Today I only go to a McDonalds if I’m on the highway and I’m hungry. They built an Applebee‘s in Harlem, right on 125th street. Like the Starbucks on the same street it is doing very well. I hate chain restaurants. I avoid them unless there are no other options. Increasingly, in many cities, there are no options. One of the things I dislike about 2010 is the increasing sameness of everything. I swear, I can be in a mall in Anchorage Alaska, look at the stores, and can’t tell if I’m in Dallas, TX, or Willow Grove PA. They will all have a Barnes and noble, a Wall Mart, an Outback, Radioshack, etc. And all of those cities will all have a Power 99 radio station playing the same, mostly mediocre, music. When they are not play bad music then tell be doing telephone pranks or dishing up dirt on some celebrity. I can see where one might like the idea of multiplexes, but it is like having a couple hundred stations to choose from on cable TV now. 99.9% of the stuff you don’t want to see and ½ the stuff you do watch is rarely turns out to be worth the time. And why does every Black actor today have to be a former rap star, singer or comedian? It has been so long since we’ve seen good acting I think most of us have forgotten what it looks like. I saw Denzel in Fences and he, and the rest of the cast, reminded me what good acting is... I remember going to the drive-in. When we visited my cousins in North Carolina, as kids, we would sit on the roof of the car. The last close to my home in NYC (I believe), closed in the 80’s. By then I owned a car and would take dates to the drive in. It was a cool date cause most NY Women did not have cars and had never been to a drivein movie. I remember when no one had AC too. I often wonder how we made it. We had electric fans. We would also play in the water blasting out of a fire hydrant. Few of us had cars, so that was not an issue. I do recall my mom putting on baby powder and just lying on the bed, under the fan, to stay cool.

Soul Sister, I truly appreciate you candor and honestly. Rarely does an overweight person describe themselves the way you did. I trust you will continue to take care of yourself and reap the benefits of striving for a healthier weight. I'm 48, I LOVE food too –- all the cuisines you mentioned and more! I'm also 30 pounds lighter than I was when I was 45. The single biggest factor in my weight loss was eating less. I eat all the same food – just less. I also try to get into the gym or do something physical 3 times a week. Sometimes I make it sometimes I don’t. The other benefit is just an overall sense of feeling good. My clothing fits better. I feel as healthy as I did when I was 30 (no exaggeration). Hypertension runs in my family. My father passed at 44, his bother passed at 36. This is terribly sad; so much so because it was so avoidable. (note: I also understand, as a 48 year old Black man, there were other things going on which led to self-destructive behavior back then. Perhaps we are seeing similar issues in Black women today?) Aesthetics is one thing, health is entirely different matter. Weight related health problems, in most cases can be avoided. Again, this is part of the reason why life expectancy is going down – more so in our community. Another thing that bothers me are the women who say it is OK to be a “Big Girl”, telling other women it is OK to embrace and love the extra girth. To me this is the same as glamorizing cigarette smoking, binge drinking or sexual promiscuity. A perfectly normal human being can, from time to time, engage in all of the above activities. However it is wrong to suggest there are no consequences if the behavior becomes a habit or a life style. We should all strive to maintain a healthy weight not for appearance sake but our own health and well being.

Hey y'all we have an empty Book Ad position on the AALBC.com homepage. I decided to auction it off on eBay! Get your book on AALBC.com for as low as $19 for one month (normally priced at $199). Auction lasts 3 days! http://runt.it/aalbcebay07022010

Cynique we folks as overweight back then as they are today (again based upon your observations). Have you seen this report on obesity in America: http://runt.it/fatamericans

I have a cousin, approaching 50 years of age that lives in Philly. He is always lamenting the derth of available women. His argument is that most of the women his age, that are available are simply too fat. The data seems to support his observations: http://runt.it/fasinfat In many ways this is sad. I've also read that this generation is the first one whose life expectancy will be LOWER than the orevious one -- primarily due to obseity.

I think I'll get a resident white guy tee short myself Bookfan, I'm not sure the board is exactly dead -- at least not yet. I can still drop by from time to time and find iteresting things to read. There are a few things working against the board right now: It is summertime. Summertime is ALWAYS the slowest time of the year for AALBC.com and website traffic in general.facebook is competing for folks time on-line. I probably spend an average of an hour a day on facebook. I have conversations on facebook that i used to have here. I still think this board (even the old board) is better for holding and preserving ongoing discussions.We only have 152 registered users now. More imprtantly active uses (always a small percentage of registered users) is way, way down. This is not likely to increase, on it's own, until the fall.We still have a lot of lurkers -- this is a good thing, and this is likely to increase over time.I have not make a big effort to promote this board. I'll do more of this going forward -- hopefully some of you will do the sameIt seems (let me know what y'all think) that online debating/arguing is waining. Sure people post triades' flames, outbursts and offer opinion, but they do not engage each other in debate as often.It could also be these types of discussion board are waining in popularity, are going out of style. Seems unless some celebrity controversy is involved people can't be bothered.

Even better than the first -- thanks! Interestingly, during a recent vacation I was speaking to a gentleman who grew up a few blocks from where I was raised; expect he is at least 30 years my senior. The most stricking thing was that his recollections of his childhood were very similiar to mine. When I contrast this with the differences of kids you came just 20 years after me... welll we may as well have been born 1,000 years apart.

I even read it it was a great book: http://aalbc.com/authors/bernicemcfadden.htm. I actually liked the paperback cover better (the larger image). If memory serves I believe Bernice prefered the original cover. Here is the chat transcript: http://thumperscorner.com/chatarchive/sugar_chat.htm (yeah it could be reformated but at least it is still on-line )

Chris I agree with you sans the lack of sympathy. As an aside, Bernice is quite "down" and I'm sure you'd like her as a person. That said, I know the publisher of her current book Glorious (AALBC.com has published two reviews of this book (http://runt.it/Glorious2) does not spend much on promtion and advertising. They publish excellent books, but that is not good enough in a world where you have competitors also publishing excellent books AND spending money to promote them. Sure you'll get some traction from favorable reviews, but you still have to promote the favorable reviews. In our society a half way decent book with bucks for promotion will do much better than a really good novel with $0 spent. If I listen to the agents I know many great novela -- especially from Black folks are not even being published... ..

Chris LOL! Thumper actually I'm not saying technology is "better". I am saying it is different and I'm not completely convinced that society is actually better off as a result -- what did people do before there were books? I'm don't know if people were less happy or dumber then than they are now. It does not look like America will not last 1,000 years. I'm virtually certain that nothing we've built, save the plastics we've dumped into landfills, will last that long. There are, however, civilzations and cultures that lasted much longer than 1,000 years. The pyramids are still standing and those folks did not read too many books...

AALBC.com and Mosaicbooks.com Founders discuss social media http://runt.it/troyron

Black writers in a ghetto of the publishing industry's making by Bernice McFadden http://runt.it/bernicemac My debut novel, "Sugar," was also published by a Penguin imprint. Set in the 1950s South, the story line deals with racism and celebrates the power of friendship and acceptance. The original cover depicted a beautiful black woman standing behind a screen door. "Sugar" was marketed solely to African American readers. This type of marginalization has come to be known among African American writers as "seg-book-gation." This practice is not only demeaning but also financially crippling. When I looked into why works by African American writers were packaged and marketed so differently than those by their white counterparts, I did not have to search far for my answer.

Chris, I've listened to the music. I'm sorry but I don't agree with your assessment of Ms. Monae. Give me the titles of your favorite cuts, I'll buy them from itunes, an listen to them again to see what I may be missing. Sometimes I buy music to play for others even if I don't particularly care for it (for parties and the like). But I did not hear anything so revolutionary that would get me to buy a single cut even for the enjoyment of others...

Cynique perhaps that is why Lil Wayne is one of the most popular rappers recording today. Though my youngest said the last album did not do too well... Sure many, perhaps most people can not sit still long enough, for a host of reasons, to fully engross themselves in a long article let alone a complex literrary work. Thumper reading, as you enjoy, it will go the way of letter writing and the horse and buggy. Sure some will people always enjoy it but most folks will not be willing to spend the extra time and expense of particpating in those antiquated activities. The will send a text of hop in their car. If we are to thrive, survive even, we will need to find new ways to relate, acquire, tranfer and build upon information. While books have served us for the last 1,000 years, I'm not convinced that they are the only way, or even the best way to accomplish these things. Man created and maintained great cilivizations all over the planet before there were books. I think we will continue to do so long after the last one has turned dust.

No Chris, you do the research: If you provide me a me a single example of someone dying from starvation in the US in the last 50 years, from a reliabl,e documented source I'll buy your next novel. The person you find can not have been lost in the widerness, restrained against their will, an abandoned child or insane. I'm talking about a person with so little access to food that they actually starved. This is not the first time you've challenged my starvation statment. Here is your chance to back up your challenge with facts rather than hyperbole. Again speaking from my own experience. All of us kids, in the hood, had access to at least two meals a day, provided by the school or local centers during the summer, for free. Often I was drink the juice and threw the rest of the food away. There is SO much food thrown away in NYC, at least, no one is starving. Sure some folks my be really hungry from time to time, but starvation -- negro phulese!

Yesterday I published a review written by Robert Fleming of Three Days Before the Shooting. Thumper it looks like you'll be in for a real treat!

Cynique thanks again for your thoughts. I know many people from your generation, including my own mom, but rarely do I get this level of insight and observation. I often ask my mom what Harlem was like before I was old enough to remember. All I know is that Sam Cooke gave a great show at the Apollo and folks you to dress up on Sundays. Chris I hear you. There have been studies to support what you say about recollection. Often folks recollections have little to do with reality. When I think about the Harlem I grew up in my impressions are positive. I would play all day with the kids in the neighborhood. We played all types of variation on the game of tag, hide-n-seek, dodge ball, stoop ball, basketball (often using a trash can as the goal). I had a lot of fun. But when I really look at it gangs were a big problem -- my family was robbed at gun point once. Almost everybody's mom was mugged at least once. More and more of us were sent to jail, murdered, dropped out of school, had children as a teenagers, became addicted to drugs. It was a bad in a lot of ways... Looking at it objectively Harlem is much better place to live now. Though I suspect, in many ways, it was even better in the 50's and earlier. While poverty was prevalent when I was younger, it was not crushing as it is in a 3rd world country (no one was starving). Plus everyone was pretty much in the same boat and we were not bombarded by images of the rich and famous, as kids are today. Our plight, relatively speaking, did not seem so bad. I think technology while making things better also exposes people to what they don't have or what they think they need. Easy access to credit, has made it easier for people to immediately get things they could not otherwise afford. Saving is unnecessary. Why wait when you can have it now -- especially when the entire culture is geared to facilitate and encourage this behavior. While yearning for a "simpler time" today would be fruitless. We can simplify our lives... something I have lately been striving to do.

Zane's latest novel The Hot Box is out (almost) the hardcover is available for pre-order at $15.59 (a 40% discount) now.