Tag: google

Interpreting Me – Sunday Thought

My name is posted all over this blog (and on other people’s blogs). My name is also all over my social media sites and one of the first things you see on my author site. Google Yecheilyah and my name is all over there too.

When I say my name is Yecheilyah (e-see-lee-yah) Ysrayl, I do not mean Yecheilya Israel. I do not mean Yecheilia Ysrael or Yeceilia. I am not highly sensitive about the misspellings of names. I’m just not petty like that. My name is unique and it is understandable if people spell it wrong. But, to try and interpret how you think my name should be spelled is disrespectful. I just want the research police to know that I’m not Jewish and Yecheilyah Ysrayl is not a typo or grammatical mistake.

Additionally, when I started Literary Korner Publishing I intentionally spelled “Korner” with a “K”. I do not mean Literary Corner Publishing. This is not the name of my online book store. Literary Korner is also not a typo or grammatical error. Korner is actually what I intended for it to be. Grammar police, this means that you too can calm down. All is well.

***

As for the Sunday Thought thing? Yea, I think I’ve just found another blog feature “Sunday Thought”. What do you think? Yay or nay?

Underground

720x405-121715-celebs-underground-tv-show-still-macon-7

The season premiere of Underground aired this pasted Wednesday, March 9, 2016. The TV series stars Jurnee Smollett-Bell and Aldis Hodge and is about a group of slaves planning to escape a large plantation and will be helped by an abolitionist couple along the way. Underground is short for the Underground railroad, a system of secret routes and safe houses used to help slaves to escape to free states and Canada with the aid of abolitionists and allies who were sympathetic to their cause. Below is a synopsis of the show:

“Early in the premiere of WGN America’s slave-revolt drama Underground, a captured runaway named Noah (Aldis Hodge) is shoved into a decrepit shed on a plantation in rural Georgia. The year is 1857; the Civil War is still four long years away. The camera whips around 360 degrees from Noah’s point of view, catching glimpses of sick, malnourished black men and women, all of them shivering in makeshift bunks and slumped against unforgiving walls. And though he does not say a word, the sequence immediately establishes Noah as the show’s determined protagonist. At the risk of sounding crass given the historical atrocity the show unflinchingly deals with, it feels like the moment when this slave resolves to be something of a superhero.”

wgn-underground

I started looking into this show about a month before its premiere, watching interviews of the actors and the making of the show itself. I also follow Smollett on Twitter and she’s been very excited about it. My opinion of the show? So far so good. The premiere has a nice set up or rather introduction into how the show will play itself out. We can already see who the people are who will help the slaves to escape, those who will possibly create safe houses for them for instance, and those, both black and white, who will be their stumbling block. I love the determination of Noah to recruit others in their attempt to escape the plantation, that he has a plan and that, as he says it, escaping is not just about running but will require the slaves to work together in a strategic way. In short, I am so far enjoying the coming together of the crew and I look forward to the rest of the series.

Love Poem

love-couple

Wanted to jump into memory
and photograph pieces
of your smile
the only cracks worth seeing
on someone’s face
Didn’t know dimples ran deeper than wells
but every time you chuckled
my nerves melted underneath my skin
Is this
Is it real?
Could the pull of the wind
be the yearning for your laughter?
That always fell like diamonds at the base of my feet
Could someone tell me how a poor woman
becomes rich again?
For I knelt before history
and shackled your existence to my future
and when you laughed
The moon was missing that night
cuz I held it in your gaze
And the sun dripped hot from the gaps in my fingers
Cupped your chin gently against my palms
And when we kissed
Heaven cracked open its skies
and thunder praised our union

You Are Where You Are

You get what you deserve in life. As much as we complain and whine about why we don’t have and why we should, we never stop to understand that we are all where we’re supposed to be. If you have something great it is because you’ve earned it. And if for whatever reason you are not where you want to be, it is because that place is not ready for your presence or you do not deserve to be there at this time.

A five year old is not mentally or physically capable of handling a dangerous weapon. You will not give a gun or a sharp knife into his hands because he will think that it’s a toy. But here’s the thing: this does not mean he does not deserve to have it. He is not to be given this now because he is not mentally capable of handling it. Only when this five year old is an adult and is ready to be trained in how to properly handle dangerous weapons and obtain the proper certifications, should he be allowed to embark on what is his. Perhaps his destiny is to be an officer, trainer, or a merchant of ammunition. Nevertheless, right now he is where he is supposed to be. That is learning the importance of safety and the value of life. As a five year old, the only thing he has to look forward to now is increasing his understanding of the world around him and when he’s ready, he will be where he’s supposed to be. You are where you are for whatever reason. Perhaps things are not falling apart, perhaps they are just falling into place. This is not your destruction. This is your birth.

Wanted: #Book #Reviews – The Road to Freedom

Raised white with no idea he’s black too, Joseph is a young man of mixed ancestry with a deep passion for the state of Black America.

Featured Image -- 6797

It is the spring of 1960, and a fight with his brother Edward compels a young Joseph to leave his mother’s Louisiana home and join his friends for a trip to Atlanta for The Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee’s second conference. Excited to live life on their own, Jo and his friends have left school and the lives they were living for a chance to become part of “The Movement”.

However, the teens are naive. With no money, and essentially no plan the seven friends, both black and white, set out for the road when they are stopped by a racist cop who makes them exit the car and  already their journey is on to a rocky start. From the mob at the New Orleans Bus Terminal, to the Alabama gas station just shy of Montgomery, Jo quickly learns that the road to freedom is not as smooth as he had hoped.

20160226_150037
Stella Trilogy Book Signing 2-26-16, Atlanta, GA

I am seeking book reviews for those interested in receiving a free ecopy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Email ahouseofpoetry@gmail.com and find out more about Joseph and his friends. Will they ever make it to Atlanta? What obstacles will they cross to get there? Read this book free in exchange for an honest review.

**Special Guest Post Coming Soon**