Troy

Writegirl, twitter is for children (younger people). I can't think of a single reason, other than self promotion, why an adult would be on it. But that is my opinion. Many people use twitter like a sophisticated text messaging system and communicate with each other using tweets. For some Twitter is a more effective means of communication than email. Again this is benefit to youngsters. Of course in our celebrity driven culture many people are starstruck and follow celebrities. They derive a great deal of pleasure reading something a celebrity has written. To a lessor extent businesses can engage with customers, deal with complaints, promote specials, etc. Of course Twitter is not the most efficient way of doing this but it is used for this purpose, because so many people are on twitter. If it were not for AALBC.com I would not be on Twitter Twitter will need to figure out a way to make money are they will go away. I can't think of a revenue model that will work for them over the long term. People making the most money off Twitter are the consultants who tell people how to use it I agree tweeting can be a big waste of time -- unless you are a celebrity, self promoting The following graph is indicative of the relative impact I've realized using various method of reaching people for AALBC.com. Twitter is typically the least effective in terms of actions (in this case taking a survey). Twitter is fleeting -- you need to tweet the same message often to get the same impact as facebook. Many automate the generation of repetitive tweets. The vast majority who read your tweet are not going to follow a link. I just emailed my enewsletter so the full impact will not be realized for days the emails have a long self life,

Stop-n-frisk is a real problem -- probably worse that even the media makes it seem. Of course Stop-n-frisk is usually in reaction to high crime rates. The tactics used by the police under these circumstances always inconvenience law abiding citizens. Obviously the people in the most crime ridden communities can not control the criminals in their communities so they want and need the police to do something. They also want to tell the police how to allocate resources, how to deal with suspects and perpetrators, and which laws to enforce and how to enforce them. You can't have it both ways. I don't have an answer. It is like fixing the country's education system, or eliminating corporate ownership of politicians. The problems are so profound they can't be fixed with the current personnel involved because they are a fundamental part of the problem. Crime will increase in cities like NY City where stop-n-frisk is a problem.

AALBC.com's September eNewsletter is out! My latest eNewsletter http://bit.ly/books0912 is full of book and film reviews, profiles of writers, literary events, videos and articles created for anyone who reads literature written by, or about, people of African Descent (but you already know that). Help keep the conversation about books alive in the real world and online -- Please share the eNewsletter with a friend! I'm open to suggestions too -- any ideas to make the eNewsletter better post them here or on my Blog -- I appreciate it!

Don't sit down on THIS MESSAGE! Literacise™ Library Exhibit based on the book "Jonathan & His Mommy" Irene Smalls is an award-winning children's author. Her program, Literacy+Exercise=Literacise™, is competing in the Childhood Obesity Challenge. Literacise™ connects books, the brain and body with book-based exercises to fight childhood obesity. Help educate children, fight childhood obesity and do something good for yourself with just a flick of your finger. Vote for Literacise™. Voting is easy as 1 - 2 - 3. Click http://ajpmchallenge...ns/entry/id/104 to register to vote. Look to the upper right for the colored Login/Sign Up banner. Click there. To sign up: type in your first name, last name, your email and choose a password. You will receive a confirming email in your email mailbox to activate your account to login Click on the Obesity Challenge website in that email. Click the colored login/signup banner on the upper right. Type your email & password. Go to page six (p.6) in the Obesity Challenge Submission Gallery. Literacise™ is in the middle column, 3rd row. Or, click on the Literacise™ link http://ajpmchallenge...ns/entry/id/104 to login & vote.If you have trouble voting call 617 504-3050. Here's the health tip. Too much sitting is bad for health! So stand up! Researchers have found that prolonged sitting is linked to obesity, heart disease, weaker leg muscles, Type-2 diabetes, insulin resistance and higher concentrations of fat in the blood. Children sit in school for up to four hours a day. Scientists say, "too much sitting reduces the ability to learn". Literacise™ breaks up all that sitting and helps kids learn. Check this Sitting video: Reading and moving! By the way, reading and clicking on the link you are Literacising. Thanks for VOTING. Don't sit down on this message share it with friends.

"Rap music isn’t responsible for damn near single handedly destroy a generation" Well Nah'Sun I did not mean to imply all that. My analogy was an attempt to explain why doing a few good things can not eradicate the impact of so much harm. Like the emptiness of the act of an abusive husband who gives his battered wife a bouquet of flowers after a one of many beat downs. Perhaps it is one of the reasons you revere them today. But I'm not blaming the actual rappers, they were just easily obtained tools used to make money for record execs who could care less how the money was made, how we were portrayed and how we assumed the roles glorified in the lyrics. And while you wax poetic about the social consciousness of NWA Fuck da' Police. Lets not forget the types of lyrics that actually put them on the map. But I understand I got caught up in the shit too... Shoot a motherfucker in a minute I find a good piece o' pussy, I go up in it So if you're at a show in the front row I'm a call you a bitch or dirty-ass ho You'll probably get mad like a bitch is supposed to But that shows me, slut, you're composed to A crazy muthafucker from tha street Attitude legit 'cause I'm tearin' up shit -MC Ren Lookin' for the one they call Eazy But here's a flash, they never seize me Ruthless! Never seen like a shadow in the dark Except when I unload, see I'll get over the hesitation And hear the scream of the one who got the last penetration Give a little gust of wind and I'm jettin' But leave a memory no one'll be forgettin' So what about the bitch who got shot? Fuck her! You think I give a damn about a bitch? I ain't a sucker! -Eazy-E

Nah'Sun, I think Cynique likes you Yep, we will disagree on the age thing. The West Coast Allstars?! Easy E, Ice T, Dre, the most egregious gangster rappers of their day -- that is a terrible example of socially conscious music. That is like saying how benevolent a drug lord is who dispenses turkeys at Christmas in the neighborhood he has helped destroyed. I'm sure you are right about talented MC's being around. I just don't hear them and I definitely don't have time to wade through all the garbage to find them. They are apparently not being played on the radio -- but for the most part I've stepped listening to the Kisses and Power 99's fronting as urban radio.

Writegirl, you saw this on Twitter -- I told you Hickson is working it. Good luck with the film Hickson. I thought it would have been obvious Cynqiue was being her iconoclast self. Her comments reminded me of something Christopher Hitchens would say. Cynique, now you know you can't "joke" with people about their God. Writegirl maybe Nah'Sun was joking too? I hope Hickson takes your advise. Personally if the message is more than a paragraph in all caps I find my self skimming the rest. I still believe Hickson would be better served if he typed conventionally. Hickson here is something else to consider: I sometimes share information authors post here, I might copy and paste it in a eNewsletter for example. If the message is all CAPs I can't use it because I would then have to retype it.

The Longest Fight: In the Ring with Joe Gans, Boxing's First African American Champion http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbxmjmfzJoI Joe Gans (November 25, 1874 - August 10, 1910) was born Joseph Gant in Baltimore, Maryland. Gans was rated as the greatest lightweight boxer of all time by boxing historian and Ring Magazine founder, Nat Fleischer and was known as the "Old Master." He fought from 1891 to 1909. He was the first African-American World Boxing Champion, reigning continuously as World Lightweight Champion from 1902 to 1908.

The Hidden Colors: The Untold History of Aboriginal, Moor & African Descent Hidden Colors is a documentary about the real and untold history of people of color around the globe. This film discusses some of the reasons the contributions of African and aboriginal people have been left out of the pages of history. Traveling around the country, the film features scholars, historians, and social commentators who uncovered such amazing facts about things such as: *The original image of Christ *The true story about the Moors *The original people of Asia *The great west African empires *The presence of Africans in America before Columbus *The real reason slavery was ended And much more. Hidden Colors 2: The Triumph Of Melanin

Nah'Sun I always used the word "different" when talking about perceptions relative to age. I never made a value judgement or said one was wiser, or better than the other -- just different. But the difference in perceptions I speak of is just a fact of life. There are perceptions that are common to those of the same generation based upon changed experiences -- especially when it comes to recent history when one lived it and the other did not.. Judging by your comments I'm assuming I'm older than you which I think explains some of our differences. You sound like me 20 years ago. See now, if it turns you are my age, or older, I'll really look like I don't know what the heck I'm talking about. :-) Back to the DJ's. Who is Jay Z's DJ, or Kanye's, Biggies or Tupac's? Why use a DJ when you can just play a recording and never have to worry about anyone messing up. In a minute, we are gonna ditch the MC too. I did not realize was we were all being gypped when the DJ replaced the musician. Now the DJ is gone. Today virtually ALL the music begin rapped to today was sampled from actual music recorded in the past. Virtually always, the entire original song that has been sampled is FAR better the digitized, repeatedly looped, smidgeon that is rapped over with wack lyrics. I have not purchased a rap album since the "golden years". No, Gansta Rap had not taken the country by storm in the late '80's but it had the same impact on me, when I heard it, as when I first heard a DJ mix Lets Dance, or Apache for the first time. "but him was real bop on the cover of the rap weekly baldheaded with a snarl of spit hanging from his lower lip financial secure synthetically angry his job was to keep blk boys pointed toward prison" --wadud This was written at least 15 years ago. Why do rap lyrics have to be so bad, when I can point to 20 relatively unknown spoken words artists who could slap something together in 5 minutes that is better than the popular rap lyrics now? That is one thing I will never understand. You are right Nah'Sun the Golden Age of hip-hop has past...

Age does matter when it comes to one's perception. Actually living an event or period also makes a difference in ones perception compared to someone who just read or heard about it from others. Of course you are right; Just 'cause one lived in an era does not mean they have a clue about what was going on -- and that could apply to me too. You probably have more factual knowledge than I about my own era when it comes to rap (I'm still assuming I have at least a decade on you ). But I think I have enough experience and knowledge of Rap and Urban lit to draw some meaningful parallels. I appreciate your thoughts though as you've given me a different way to see things and have filled in some gaps. That said... Straight Outta Compton by NWA is firmly in the genre of Gansta Rap. They were not playing this type of music on the east coast -- and Definitely not New York City. I also discovered Too $hort the same year. That may be why you don't feel it was strong until the 90's but it was strong in the late 80's -- certainly out west. Money has everything to do with the quality of the album -- it determines which albums get made and promoted. If you can get some teenager to rhyme over a synthetically generated beat. Why pay for trained musicians to write original melodies, song writers to craft lyrics and signers to sing? It is cheaper to make, faster to create and Black people cant buy it fast enough. Money drives everything. Now I know you were talking about the "quality of the music" has nothing to do with the money generated of course look at jazz, classical, opera, blues... Now PE was my group. Their shows were relatively weak, you could not really dance to their music, but they are one of my favorite rap groups of all time. Can they get an album made today? It Takes a Nation of Millions came out in 1988, Paid in Full came out in 1987, Straight Outta Compton in 1988 so I may be with you on the Golden age in terms of Albums releases. When I think of golden age I think of a time when the lyricist was secondary to the DJ. The DJ would discover beats, mixing them together and get the crowd motivated and dancing -- if he was sufficiently skilled. B-boy music was not on he radio, you could not buy it in stores. Mix tapes were passed around and you were lucky to get one to duplicate. I still have a tapes with Flash, Starski and others. I know this is more nostalgia than anything else. Speaking of Ole school I was at a party a few weeks back and Grandmaster Kas walked in rocking a thick rope chain and kagol brim. My boy used to spin for him back in the day.

Writegirl the hope for a child who grows up in an environment I described using quotes (actual quotes, so often used they are almost cliches), are slim. Even those who make it out are scarred. It seems it is more difficult to escape today than it has been since the Jim Crow era. Nah'Sun I suspect I have you by a few years and I think my perceptions differ because of our age differences. I grew up in NY City during the birth of hip-hop. When you say the Golden Age of Hip started in 1987 I think of it as the beginning of the end as Gansta Rap was going strong and hip-hop was completely co-opted by then. Being a conscious rapper basically meant you were not making any money. Sure the analogy between book and hip-hop is not perfect but there are certainly some interesting parallels. As far as a Kick Ass cosign being required, yeah you are right. But you usually do get the co-sign untl you've made a name for yourself. If you look at all the urban authors signed by all the Big Six publishers, or Cash Money Content, all of them made a name for themselves first. Speaking of age, Cynique did Rap music ever resonate with you, in such a way that you related to, purchased it, and really enjoyed listening to it? I was dogging Gasta Rap earlier, but I remember when I first heard NWA in 1986 I was like damn this is the shit!

Cynique I think you would be the antithesis of a lurker and if you were a spambot (we have MANY of those), You would have been banned from jump street. Writergirl friend me on Goodreads (I'm basically aalbc on any social media site) I don't really use Goodreads very much maybe, I'll start. Have yo noticed if authors and other have begun to use Goodreads to promote themselves and their businesses?

Cynique, when I come here I go to http://aalbc.com/tc then I click the "View New Content" button. When I click on the links returned (if any), I'm taken to the top of the conversation. Give that try. I just approved an account for an old school poster. Hopefully they will surprise us with a contribution.

I thought about modifying for our boards Bu I'm falling behind with site updates...

by Jennifer Dancy on Apr 12, 2012 http://www.flowtown.com/blog/the-many-faces-of-the-internet-user

I think more importantly -- even despite the ALL CAPS -- Hickson knows how do self-promote his use of these boards illustrates that. And yes if you been here more than 5 minutes you've heard of HICKSON .

writegirl, the discussion board software is much better, from my perspective, that the old boards. There is more functionality. It is even optimized for a cell phone access. It has more functionality that Facebook in terms of sharing (Authors could actually take a page out of Hickson's playbook and learn something). I occasional have conversations on Facebook, but this software is so much better for that purpose. Here you can post pretty much anything you want with a copy and paste video, photos, links in your posts. On Facebook all you can post is text. Finding a conversation is very tedious and as a result fleeting, so you have little incentive to write a lot because it will effectively disappear in a few days. You are also at the whim of whoever wall you are on. Here I make every attempt to preserve everything. To this day I will reference posts or conversation from 5, 10 years ago. Will your content on Facebook have that kind of longevity? Facebook's main advantage is that users can control who will interacts with you. If you are an author you will get people singing your praises. Here you are just as likely to get people singing your praises as you are to get people trashing/critiquing your work. The same can happen to anyone who shares their ideas or opinions here. In my mind this is a disadvantage. This is why you have people posting the minutiae from their daily lives on Facebook -- because there is no one there to tell them it is uninteresting.

Vladimir this was interesting -- thanks for sharing it.

Writegirl I'm surprised you understood what I wrote I had to go back an rewrite it Sure the appeals has to do with the reinforcement of stereotypes, as most people I encounter don't like to experience unfamiliar things -- let alone read about them. But it is more complex. I truly believe if it were just Black people making the purchases Wahdia Clark would outsell Toni Morrison. There probably is enough data out there to substantiate my statement, but anecdotal evidence points in this direction. What people appreciate is a function of what they have been educated to appreciate. The education does not have to be in the classroom, but what people are exposed to by their parents, and what the community and society values. It does not even matter how smart you are -- if you are ignorant and unsophisticated you can't appreciate complex things -- indeed you may be highly critical of them! Have you ever heard someone say, "Jazz (or Morrison) is for snotty people". Or how about some of these other gems ; "I don't need no man to raise a baby". "School is for suckers". "I ain't gonna work for that little bit of money". "Why you always got your head buried in some stupid book". "Whatchu always doing in front of that computer". "I already did a nickle and I don't mind going back". "Man try some of this it will get you f-ed up"

writegirl, would you provide link to your book? I often hear the rise of hip-hop being compared to the rise of Urban lit. I agree with only in so far as that they both grew because they were very profitable. Hip-hop, like urban lit, is very profitable because they both appeal to a broad audience and are relatively easy to produce. Hip-hop is to Jazz as Urban Lit is to literary fiction.

A novel manuscript from author Claude McKay has been discovered: http://aalbc.it/claudemckay The Jamaican born McKay is often cited as initiating what would later be known as The Harlem Renaissance.

This message from our friends at SmileyBooks: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmBMBOCgswY Dear Reader, It's been a very busy summer! In June, I graduated another class of coaches and ministers. In July, I hosted workshops and classes. In August, I took my granddaughter off to college. That would be my daughter Gemmia's baby girl, all grown up and out of the nest. And, as you have probably heard, I have been taping the upcoming episodes of my new show on OWN, Iyanla Fix My Life. I have met some incredible people and participated in some incredible healing and awakening. I am truly humbled and honored to be able to serve the world by doing what I love -- teaching universal law and principle. Iyanla Fix My Life is about to premier on OWN and I am excited and nervous and really, really ready to embark upon a new phase of life. Don't be fooled by the title! I am not doing the work in these shows. It is the guests; the courageous people who have stepped forward to ask for help and demonstrate what is possible who do the work. I am the facilitator, the supporter, the teacher and I am very proud of the work I am able to do in the name of healing. As I stated on the "Sneak Peak" show back in June, this is not television, it is a workshop. It is an opportunity for us all to take a look at ourselves, our issues, our challenges and the healing opportunities that exist when we are willing to simply, "tell the truth." The issues we tackle exist in every city, on every block, everywhere in the country today. They are the issues we talk about, struggle with and often wonder how to resolve. Iyanla Fix My Life will hopefully offer some answers and possibilities for resolution and healing. Please consider this my personal invitation for you to watch and to participate in each episode of Iyanla Fix My Life. The way you can participate is to take notes, share what you glean from each show and put any useful information to use in your own life. I encourage you not to get stuck agreeing or disagreeing with the story line but rather, look for the issues that may be present in your life or the lives of someone you know and love. If there is an issue or challenge that is familiar to you, do your work! Tell your truth! Forgive yourself and someone else! Commit yourself to be better, do better and live better. To "fix" means to restore to an original state of health and wholeness; to return to original purpose. Each of us was born to fulfill a divine purpose. As we open our hearts and minds to a new way of being, the purpose of our lives unfolds organically. Iyanla Fix My Life is in many ways, an invitation to wholeness, healing and purpose. I hope you will watch and in-joy! Be Blessed!

I hate to admit it but I'm the typo master. My own PC betrays me by auto-correcting my spelling errors and inserting the wrong word. My brain even conspires against me by failing to catch the errors until after documents have been sent to the printer or emailed to 20 thousand people. I really appreciate when people point out mistakes on the website. I'm updating the price list and am find an error on every page -- it is a wonder I can stay in business Milton, here is a short link to Amazon http://bit.ly/boafrika if you think one for B&N would be useful let me know. These links will generate revenue for AALBC.com and count toward my bestsellers list (the author get the same commission, and the reader pays the same price win-win-win.

Below is a list of the top contributor to our discussion boards prior to January 2010. Click here for a complete ranking of every you posted 10 times or more. I come in at #15. Thumper, who one of the boards was named for, comes in at #24. If I ranked folks prior to Kola Boof's (who I need a board for too) participation. Thumper would have been number #1. Rank - Name - # of Posts cynique 13,784 abm 10,259 chrishayden 8,455 tonya 6,391 mzuri 5,471 kola_boof 4,952 yvettep 3,756 ntfs_encryption 3,705 a_womon 2,545 renata 2,541