Troy

Kanye compares himself to poet, Maya Angelou. Kanye West is stepping back into the limelight — and bringing his ego, too. The "Heartless" rapper took to his blog Monday and announced his return to the studio, reports People.com. West, who has laid low since hijacking Taylor Swift's acceptance speech at the MTV Music Video Awards in September, promised to "bring you the best I have to offer with the same dedication that Kobe [bryant] has on the court." The star continues, "It's funny how so many rappers get worse as their careers stretch out, but true poets get better." West writes that he wants to follow in the footsteps of giants like Maya Angelou, Nina Simone and Gill Scott-Heron (whose name West misspells "Herron"). In his usual style of all capital letters, West also wrote, "Their work improved with time. They documented what was happening in culture." The rapper, who is nominated for six Grammy Awards, adds that "modern day poets and artists" have a responsibility to represent what's happening, so that "when the powers that be try to rewrite history you can always look at our works and find truth." At the end of the post, West also took aim at the media, encouraging fans to "soak in positive forces and look down upon those who masquerade as truth tellers… Look past the headlines and deal with just a bit of reality." The 52nd Annual Grammy Awards air live on Jan. 31 at 8 p.m. on CBS. Related Topics Read more

Yeah the learning curve on the admin side for the new board is pretty steep too. Fortunately the support supplied by the vendor is pretty fast; which was a primary factor in choosing this vendor. Click here to learn more about Dolen.

I'm glad you found registering to be easy. Looking forward to some interesting conversations!

Though I have not formerly annouced it yet (still working through some issues); this, the new Thumper's Corner discussion board is ready for use now! I hope that; The people who regularly posted on the old board continue to post on the new board Some new blood will be injected in the conversation People will take advantage of the new features benefical; including the Social Network capability, Events Calendar, Blogs, Facebook Connect, Gallery, etc. People can now sign into Thumper's Corner using their Facebook accounts. However you can still create your own login if you want to posts under alter ego. Before the end of the month (perhaps with in the next week) I will lock the old discussion Thumper's Corner Discusision Baord down. The old posts will remain, but new Thumpers corner conversation will have to be made here, on the new Thumper's Corner. In a day or two, I will email everyone (about 650 people) who has an active account on the old Thumper's Corner and invite them to join us here.

ABC News "investigates" why Black Women can't find a Black Man to Marry This was the most popular conversation from the Legacy (old) discussion boards last week. (read the conversation)

Wench: A Novel by Dolen Perkins-Valdez I had a feeling that even though we are educated enough in the institution of slavery, there are still aspects that take me by surprise. Dolen Perkins-Valdez debut novel, Wench, is about one of those little surprises. The story takes place in an 1853 Ohio vacation resort which serves as an intersection of time and place for a group of the slave/mistress and their masters. The novel delves into the relationships between the women and their masters, and each other. Wench is a graceful, unassumingly powerful novel that was infectious. I loved it, a highly impressive debut novel. Read the reast of Thumper's review