Category: General Topics

So, what’s new?

How is everyone doing? I’m missing y’all! So, talk to me, how is life? I’m well. You may have noticed the blog posts have slowed. I think it’ll be like this for a while. Aside from not having the time to post like a crazy person, I think I like posting less…yea right! Not. We’ll see how long this lasts. So anyway, coffee?

If we were having coffee right now, I’ll tell you:

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  • I have a brand new nephew (or nephews rather). If you are on my Fb page you may have seen the cutie.
  • My other nephew just passed on to the 7th grade and he had a birthday yesterday …I feel old. My once little poo man is 12. I can’t.
  • The writing is going well. The manuscript for #TheRenaissance is moving along. I should be finished with the first draft by the end of summer. I’m also looking into adding more products to the store. What would you like to see in an online bookstore?
  • I potentially have a spot at a bookstore in Florida but I won’t get excited until the deal is finalized….wait for it.
  • The Play is moving forward. We’re having our 3rd showing of the black history theatre production Blakk Amerika next month in San Antonio Texas. Speaking of business endeavors, I received a blog offer to write for a blogging site online but I haven’t decided yet. Still checking into it, verifying its legitimacy you know, gotta do your homework on these things. More on that soon.
  • Hubby and I are looking to move which is exciting! I love the new apartment complex. This one is far more spacious than where we are now and will fit all of our things. There’s a lake in the backyard and I’m just hype but were still waiting. Hopefully everything falls through like we would like and we can get started with the long drawn out tiring, yet exciting, process that is moving.
  • Let’s see, umm…oh, I’m still beautiful! lol

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Don’t Compare

Let’s just be real for a moment shall we? There will always be times where you will feel inadequate. Times where you feel that your goals will always be too far to reach. Either your pockets are too thin or your faith just a few mustard seeds too small. In either event, we all have those moments were we second guess ourselves. Some people second guess their ability to be parents, some second guess that they are doing well at their jobs. Some of you even second guess your relationships. Will this last? Is it, is it real? That promotion? Maybe you second guess yourself there too.  Is this really what I am supposed to be doing? Am I supposed to be here? These times are bad enough, I do not need to explain. You’ve lived life. You understand. You don’t need my explanation of how doubt creeps underneath our skins and try altering our minds. What you do need is reassurance that comparing your situation to others is like slamming your head into the desk to try and heal a headache. OK, so maybe that was a violent example but it’s exactly what we do when we play the compare game. When I look at where I am in my life, personally, professionally, or otherwise I see  hope. But when I look at those who are where I am trying to go, personally or professionally, the colors don’t decorate the sky as much. And trust, I ain’t trying to reach for stars, but ain’t no rainbows either. We’ve all been here. The thing is, don’t compare. You can’t look at others to determine your growth because its yours. You’ve lived it and you’ve experienced it and unless someone somewhere know what its like to metamorph into someone else’s soul they can’t know what its like to walk in your shoes. Growth is the difference between who you are today and who you were yesterday. What can you see? It may not be a big rainbow people can see but I promise you there’s some lily’s and sunflowers down there some where, and some roses that grew from concrete. Always compare yourself up against yourself. Nothing more and nothing less. It’s the only way to win.

Keep growing.

Movie Night Friday – Love and Basketball

Its been a minute since I’ve seen this movie, but I had the opportunity to see it this week. I love, love, especially black love. So anything portraying black men and women relationships in a positive light is a winner for me. Firstly, Sanaa Lathan and Omar Epps are great actors, and together they brought it in this film.

Love and basketball is a romantic drama about two young people whose love for basketball and love for each other supercedes time, trial, and tribulation. Plus, they are super cute together. I think I fall in love with my husband all over again every time I watch this film. Lol.

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In 1981 in L.A., Monica moves in next door to Quincy. They’re 11, and both want to play in the NBA, just like Quincy’s dad. Their love-hate relationship lasts into high school, with Monica’s edge and Quincy’s top-dog attitude separating them, except when Quincy’s parents argue and he climbs through Monica’s window to sleep on the floor. As high school ends, they come together as a couple, but within a year, with both of them playing ball at USC, Quincy’s relationship with his father takes an ugly turn, and it leads to a break up with Monica. Some years later, their pro careers at a crossroads, they meet again. It’s time for a final game of one-on-one with high stakes.”

And how can we forget the music? The soundtrack to this movie is off the chain. I think the movie is also well written. The timeline is divided into four quarters (to match the basketball theme) each section chronicling the couples coming of age and their relationship status over time. First quarter is their childhood for example and second quarter their high school days.

Movie Trailer

That’s it people. Thanks for stopping by.

MNF2

Why Do Authors Need a Copyright?

Excellent need-to-know information from Colleen. I’ve noticed that lots of people have been the victims of stolen work lately. It may be wise for all Self-Publishers to include copyright cost in our book launch plans.

Movie Night Friday – Cooley High

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Welcome back to another Movie Night Friday. It’s obvious you guys don’t like the movies I like but nonetheless lol, here’s another EC Fav: Cooley High.

Cooley High is a classic! First, its set in my home town of Chicago and I have a cousin whose name is on the bathroom wall in one of the scenes. In fact, everyone from Chicago probably has a relative who was in this movie. That’s because while the starring actors were pros, the extras were recruited right from the projects. Yup, many of these kids lived right over there in the Cabrini Green Projects.

Now, what is the movie about anyway?

Richard “Cochise” Morris (Lawrence-Hilton Jacobs), a local basketball hero, and Leroy “Preach” Jackson (Glynn Turman), who dreams of a career in writing, are likable Chicago high school students in 1960s Chicago. They’re into hanging out with friends, pretty girls and the Motown sounds so popular during the era. Each wants to make it big in his own way, but not everybody they meet is looking out for them, as they learn when a seemingly harmless outing goes awry.- Google

A simple film, Cooley High captured our hearts because of its realness. Though I wasn’t born in 1975 when it released, I too once lived in the projects on the city streets of the Chi. I too can remember growing up poor with a single mom. Movies like this are relatable and showcase the realness and often the struggle of inner city youth. The history behind the movie is also interesting:

The story behind “Cooley High” is even more dramatic than the comedy-drama that unspooled on the screen. It’s the story of Kenneth Williams, who, like protagonist Preach, left Chicago’s Cabrini-Green projects with dreams of becoming a Hollywood screenwriter. Having dropped out of high school, he hitchhiked from the Windy City to Hollywood with $5 in his pocket and no connections, and for a while he supported himself selling drugs. But the aspiring writer, who renamed himself Eric Monte, also befriended actor Mike Evans, who’d been cast as neighbor Lionel Jefferson on the groundbreaking sitcom “All in the Family.” Through Evans, Monte pitched the show’s producer, Norman Lear, a script introducing the characters of Lionel’s parents, George and Louise Jefferson. Lear bought the script and eventually spun off George, Weezy, and Lionel into their own hit sitcom, “The Jeffersons,” but Monte was neither hired as a staff writer nor given credit or residuals for “The Jeffersons,” which ran from 1975 to 1985.

– http://www.moviefone.com/2015/06/25/cooley-high-most-influential-movie/

Monte and Evans would go on to produce the sitcom hit Good Times.

Movie Trailer:

Since the movie is 41 years old, it was hard to find a Trailer that was clear enough and also interesting enough (Didn’t want to show scenes that made it look like a boring movie! It definitely is not). The one I found isn’t a trailer but just an excerpt from the movie. The only other option was from the old VHS and I didn’t enjoy that trailer. It wasn’t showing any interesting parts.

And that’s it for Movie Night Friday.

MNF2

Tales of African American History Found in DNA

Very interesting article. Check it out:

“The history of African Americans poses special challenges for geneticists. During the slave trade, their ancestors were captured from genetically diverse populations across a portion of West Africa. Adding to the complexity is the fact that living African Americans also may trace some of their ancestry to Europeans and Native Americans.”