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Hello. everybody! I'm a first-time indie author, and my book, I'll Take You there, is available on Amazon (published April 2018): The book is a quick read-- 80 pages (soft cover) with 50 poems. 

I’ll Take You There is about butterflies and bugs, relationships, choices, and growing old. It’s about familiar things imagined in new ways and unspeakable things given voice. The poems are pithy and layered, infused with plain talk, and deal with a myriad of personal and topical issues, not least among them, racism, which is dealt with in each of the four sections of the book (Discovery; Snapshots; Choices; Memories). Feelings predominate in Discovery, where the author rummages through heart and mind to discover self. Snapshots include whimsical, reflective poems of brief, indelible connections with both man and nature. Misinformation, disinformation, greed, sin, and social pathology are dealt with unflinchingly in Choices. Growing up in the 1940s and ’50s is the theme of Memories, with each poem beginning with “I remember.”

What is probably unique to I’ll Take You There are the text references (to the back of the book), where foreign, colloquial, and made-up words are defined, some verses expounded on, and some poems given historical and cultural context. 

I am very much interested in AALBC considering I'll Take You there for one of the free book reviews. Like I say, it's a quick read, but a deep dive.

Here's one of the shorter poems:

BLACK PEARL

You forced me into your house

and I became an irritant.

You tried to smother me

and I became blacker,

more beautiful, more precious.

When you were shucked

I was free to be me,

my value on display

for the whole world to see.

 

  • ISBN-13: 978-1732091009

Here is the link: https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1/131-3277931-2216451?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=verdelle+lambert

Author Profile: I earned a master's degree in magazine journalism from Syracuse University. With the exception of writing for Jet magazine, I spent my entire professional career writing and editing employee publications for major corporations (including IBM). After retirement I published the now defunct biennial Christian magazine, The Gift Is Free, which I distributed gratis to local churches from 2008 to 1012. My hobbies are photography, gardening, designing greeting cards, and watching  well scripted movies. 

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Very well presented. 

 

I'm curious why you discontinued the magazine.

 

Speaking of magazines do you think Jet Magazine's business model was no longer viable?

 

Please email troy@aalbc.com a head shot. Do you have a website? Post the link.

 

I'm not sure I get your poem. I understand how pearls are formed in nature. But obviously this is a metaphor for something else. Is it a woman living with the man who is overprotective?

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Hi, Troy,

Thanks for asking about the magazine. It was basically a one-person operation, and I wasn't good at getting ads (just one ad the whole time). And some pastors thought I was honing in on their territory.  As for Jet magazine, I worked there in 1966-67. We did original interviews but the mainstay was rewriting/summarizing articles from the main press for a black audience. Now, what else-- no, I don't have a web page (little too advanced for me. Don't forget, I'm a retiree; I'm still learning my way around the Internet.

Yes, you do get my poem. Don't overthink it. It's a metaphor for slavery, segregation, white supremacy, systemic racism, etc. We gotta shuck that-- get it out of our head.

I think I answered your questions, Troy. Don't have a photo. Hope one is not required. So, it's been nice talking to you. I'm gonna browse now--  also check out your profile. By the way, did you write a book?

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You wrote for Jet in the 60's wow!  That sound like Jet's hey day.  It seems to me -- I'm to young to really know -- that we have lost so much culturally.  Not even Jet survives and it was designed for the masses. Ebony which had great articles is not what it once was.

 

It also seems that so much of what we have left is designed for young adults and geared to towards celebrity, scandalous gossip, and entertainment. 

 

Are there any magazines let where one can read serious content for Black people from a Black perspective.  I maintain a list of Black owned magazines, and I don;t know of any.

 

I spoke about an article in Ebony  the great John A. Williams wrote.  As far as I know there is no widely circulated magazine creating content like this today.  Now there are magazine create content like this for white folks every day of the week.  The best we can do is hope that they cover us -- which is shameful. As result we have not control over what is covered, who is elevated, and how it is presented. 

 

We get the ramblings of a Kayne West regularly, but no one knows who John A. Williams is

 

ebony1963-3.gif

 

 

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Yes, Troy, the '60s was a l-o-n-g time ago. :) My first assignment at  Jet was a fluff piece: To your point, black mags and black colleges share the same fate for the most part, finding it hard to survive. What we really need in the era of Trump is a political mag for blacks that provide background info (context) to show how actions by Congress and the Administration will impact the black community. Should be a mag that's easy to read-- like Jet. Do you know of such a pub today? 

Just got off Twitter. What's up with Kanye. He just said 400 years of slavery was a choice. I'd contribute money to send him to Montgomery, Alabama, to tour the Memorial to the victims of lynching.

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Sure it was a fluff peace, but who else would cover a meter maid -- make a cover story one it no less. Who knew they were trained in judo? The focus on her attractiveness seems sexist, but that is by today's standards.

 

Today I'm sure, we don't even see them as human, just a tool of the state... Again, we have lost something important. 

 

The magazine you are describing the covered politics was Emerge, but they died at least 10 years ago.

 

I not interested in kanyes tweets, and only know of them because every is taking about them, even a buddy of mine who is not active on Twitter asked me about it

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Hi @Verdelle Lambert I just added your book to our website: https://aalbc.com/books/bookinfo.php?isbn13=9781732091009 I was think about adding your article from Jet to your profile page: https://aalbc.com/authors/author.php?author_name=Verdelle+Lambert  I think it would give potential readers some interesting insight into your background.  What do you think?

 

Unfortunately It is not likely that I will be able to do the review of your book.  But it is on my radar.

 

I attended Syracuse too 😉

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