I wrote a number of articles in the Summer edition of The Josephite Harvest, one of which detailed how one church in Baltimore City helped its community recover during the unrest that followed Freddie Grey's death. In the Fall edition of the Harvest, I wrote a follow up story of that church, and what has taken place in the neighborhood since then.
Click the link below to check out my article on pages 18-19.
I had a good time at the Baltimore Book Festival this past weekend. I was able to sell some copies of my book (always a good thing!), but more importantly, I was able to do a lot of networking. Meeting other authors and us being able to share our knowledge and experiences writing and publishing was invaluable.
The first day of the festival was a bit slow, at least in the area where the Author's Tent was located. For some reason we were away from where most of the crowd was--I unfortunately didn't realize this until the event was winding down for the day since I couldn't leave my table. Hopefully this is something that will be noted by the organizers when they recap the event!
The following day was much busier as expected since it was Saturday. I was only there for about four hours, but was able to do more in that time than I did on Friday frankly, likely due to the bigger crowd and also because I was in a different location with the Black Writer's Guild.
All in all, it was a good experience, meeting other authors and having complete strangers take a chance on me by purchasing copies of my book--encouraging and humbling at the same time! I was a bit shy about it all in the beginning since it was my first book festival, but I got comfortable by Saturday. I'm definitely looking forward to the next one! :)
I'm excited to say I will be participating in the Baltimore Book Festival this weekend!
Taking place down at the Inner Harbor from Friday, September 25 - Sunday September 27, it will feature local authors and authors from around the country. There will be forums, activities for the kids, and food galore.
I will be in the Author's Tent on Friday all day, and in the Black Writers Guild tent between 3 p.m. - 7 p.m. on Saturday. Stop on by and grab a copy of Fate's Destiny or just drop in and say hi!
Jim Carrey spoke to a graduating class at Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa a few years back, and gave the dopest life advice ever to the audience. He told them to chase their dreams and to never settle because of fear. He told them how he learned this from his father, who had to ability to be a successful comedian as well, but instead settled for a secure job. The family had to struggle, however, when his father was laid off from that secure job.
Check out the short video below to see his inspiring message:
I wanted to try something different before fully investing my time in working on my second novel, so I plan on publishing a few short stories until then.
First one up is "The Water of Life," about an archaeologist searching for the fabled Fountain of Youth. Click the tab above to learn more about it and find out where you can download it!
A number of articles I wrote, including the feature article, were published in the Summer 2015 edition of the Josephite Harvest magazine, the official magazine of the Josephite order of priests. Many of them are about the upcoming 10 year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.
I interviewed priests and residents who were in the area at the time and got firsthand accounts of what it was like experiencing one of the worst natural disasters on U.S. soil, the chaos in the days following it, and what the city of New Orleans is like now. The fallout from the disaster has been mostly forgotten by most of the country since then quite frankly, and the city is in fact still recovering from it.
The feature article, however, is about the unrest that happened here in Baltimore following the death of Freddie Gray while in police custody. St. Peter Claver Church, located in the Sandtown neighborhood where Gray lived, became an instrumental location for the clean up and recovery efforts in the immediate days following the unrest. In the piece, the parish's pastor Father Ray Bomberger recounts what he saw that day and recalled his personal memories of the riots he witnessed in Washington D.C. following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968.
Check out the articles by clicking on this link to the Josephite Harvest! The articles I wrote regarding the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina can be found on pages 14, 17, 18 and 19. The feature article about the Baltimore unrest starts on page 24. Enjoy!
Last week I got the honor of speaking at my old middle school's annual Scholarship Sponsors Luncheon. I was able to say what that school, St. Ignatius Loyola Academy, has meant to me over the course of my life. So many of us that went there are like family to one another, whether they be former classmates or teachers.
The recent events taking place in my city has only made me further appreciate how lucky I am to have gone to St. Ignatius. All of us that were fortunate enough to attend the school were given opportunities that many kids in the city don't get. Many of us were able to go to some of the best private high schools in Baltimore such as Loyola Blakefield, Gilman, Mount Saint Joseph, and Boys Latin, get a quality education, and further our education by earning our degrees at different colleges across the country.
Please believe that it wasn't always fun and games however, and nothing was handed to us. Just like how many of us were not used to be surrounded by white kids, they weren't used to being around black kids from the city. Though it was rare, I sometimes heard white students saying we were only there on scholarship "because we were black." That made me personally want to earn my stripes and prove I belonged at Loyola and was as smart as everyone there, if not smarter.
Father William Watters, founding president of SILA and a parent.
But without St. Ignatius there's no way I would've even gotten such an opportunity. Most kids in the inner city simply are not given those same opportunities for success as their counterparts in more affluent areas--they're just not. I have a lot of people to thank for that but I'm not going to name them all because I'm sure I'll forget someone! So many people gave me hope and the encouragement I needed to keep going when I wanted to take the easy route and just coast by or simply give up and quit. I just hope that I was able to be a positive example to the kids at the luncheon by telling them of my accomplishments since graduating from the school, and letting them know the importance of the school in my life.
Thanks to everyone who showed up to my first ever book signing for Fate's Destiny!! It was definitely a successful event. Special thanks to my alma mater St. Ignatius Loyola Academy for hosting it and to MTD Bakery for providing the food!
Click the link below to see all the photos from the event. Thanks again to all of you who came and and made that day special...
Meet me at St. Ignatius Loyola Academy for my first book signing! Get your signed copy of Fate's Destiny and be sure to bring someone with you who may want a copy as well! Looking forward to seeing you :)
Just when you thought he was gone for good, Dame Dash is back in the public eye. Dame has gone and set the internet and social media on fire with an interview he did on The Breakfast Club morning show that's already turned into a classic.
Known for speaking his mind and not biting his tongue, Dame spoke at length about a number of topics. His most controversial and biting remarks, however, came when he spoke about being an employee versus being your own boss. Dame more or less quoted Sonny's "the working man is a sucker" speech from A Bronx Tale, saying that there was no pride in coming to work everyday and having to answer to another person. Dude essentially gave the entire morning show a lesson in how to start a business.
He definitely lived up to the perception people have of him--fair or not--of being arrogant, and came across as condescending at times as well. But the underlying message he was striving to deliver was a good one. Now Damon Dash has been called a lot of things in life, no doubt, but no one can ever call the man stupid. While his delivery could have been better, Dame essentially wants to see black people put up their own money and own their own businesses and companies, working together while doing so. I couldn't agree with him more! There's nothing wrong with wanting to see people take ownership and become their own boss. He wants people to take the lumps and bruises that come with starting a business and veer away from the safety of a 9 to 5 gig, so they can have something to give to their future generations. It just boggles his mind that others don't want the same for themselves.
This is in fact nothing new for Dame. Just peep these excerpts from an interview he did with Vibe Magazine months ago:
I can't necessarily agree with him wholeheartedly however. Not everyone has the luxury of being able to up and leave their job and start their own business. At some point, we all have someone to answer to. A person with responsibilities to those dependent on him, such as children, a spouse, elderly parents, etc., can't be expected to simply put themselves out there when the risks greatly outweigh the reward. And frankly, some people simply don't want to deal with the hassle that comes with owning a business. I see where he's coming from when he pushes for people to be their own boss, but at the same time I can't knock someone who has no desire to go down that route. But that's just me...
He later states in his Breakfast Club interview that there is in fact nothing with having a day job and generating a source of income for yourself--he just wants black people to want more for themselves. After you get the money that you work for, take that same income and then flip it by investing in something that you own so that eventually you can become your own boss.
The interview in its entirety is below. It's a bit over an hour long and has some tense and hilarious moments, but definitely a good listen.
Special thanks to the crew of The Mississippi Link for the review on Fate's Destiny and introducing me to their readers in Mississippi! Just might need to take a trip down there myself :-)
Click on the link below and check out the review on page 15 of the e-Edition of the paper.
I forgot to post this, but here is the most recent article I had published. It was published in The Catholic Review newspaper here in Baltimore on February 12. I wrote a feature on three people who were chosen by their parishes to receive the Mother Mary Lange Award. If you care to read the feature article, the link is below!
As many who know me can attest to, I am a HUGE Kanye West fan. In my opinion, he's one of the few rappers who has consistently put out good music throughout his career, all while taking risks musically in order to grow as an artist. As far as I'm concerned, the man has yet to put out a bad album--his two polarizing albums, 808s & Heartbreak and Yeezus, showed that you couldn't pigeonhole him as a typical rapper. 808s featured his best overall work as a producer and his most emotionally honest and vulnerable lyrics; Yeezus was nothing short of a canvas eloquently painted with his creativity.
And yes, I know I'm a bit late with this (more like EXTREMELY late with it lol) but Kanye's crashing the stage at the 57th Grammy Awards was seemingly done in jest...that is until he explained why he did so afterwards during a post-Grammys interview with the E! network. Kanye lambasted the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences for its lack of respect towards hip hop artists and the music they create. He initially criticized Beck, who won Album of the Year over Beyonce, but later clarified those remarks, saying they were meant for the Academy, not Beck. His words and actions predictably caused its fair share of backlash. But that's because many don't see where he's coming from.
Talented artists or culture vultures?
Ironically, the same people who ridicule the Miley Cryruses and Iggy Azaleas of the world for profiting off of black culture and not respecting it don't see that that's what Kanye is truly upset with. It's like the powers that be that is the Academy says "y'all can win a Grammy in your own category, but that's as close to the table as you're gonna get." Think about it--when was the last time a hip hop album or song won a major award at the Grammys such as Album of the Year or Song or the Year, or Record of the Year, despite the fact that hip hop dominates the airwaves and pop culture itself?
Sam Smith and Adele essentially sing R&B tunes...but the Academy will categorize it as "pop." That's where the man's beef lies, in the Academy not respecting hip hop as an art form nor its artists. And frankly it never has. Kanye's problem is his message always gets lost in his over-dramatic delivery. He has admittedly stated in the past that he's not the best at getting his points across in a diplomatic fashion. Be that as it may, that still does not change the fact that what he's saying is true. He wants the powers that be to give the artists their just due. Maybe he's asking for too much and is overly ambitious in his desires, but you can't fault the man for wanting his genre to be respected, especially with all of its undeniable influence and indelible thumbprint on society.
Kanye's Shakespearean tragic flaw just might be his ambition.
Now, I am by no means a Kanye West apologist--I don't agree with everything he says and does the same way I don't agree with everything my friends and family members say and do--but I often understand where he comes from when he goes on his "rants." It's so easy for people to dismiss someone and what they say when they don't say it how we want them to say it. It's much harder to discern the root issue, and gain understanding of a person and why he/she feels how they feel.
Special thanks to The Baltimore Times for publishing a write up on my novel Fate's Destiny! Check it out here: Local Author Pens Book About Fate.
And if you haven't already picked up a copy, what are you waiting for!? Click the "Fate's Destiny" tab on this page for direct links where it can be purchased.
Thanks again for all of your support!! I'm just getting started... Until next time!
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