Black Teachers Play Huge Role in Later Success of Black Students

I posted this article on my social media pages when it first was published last month and had a few people respond by saying something similar to "duh." It was one of those things where they clearly only glanced at the headline and did not read the actual article. *Sigh* But such is life...!

In any case, the article touches on a Johns Hopkins University study that argues that black kids who have black teachers at a young age have a better chance at becoming successful, especially black boys. I Interviewed a staff at St. James and John Catholic School for their thoughts on the study based on their experiences.

Click here to actually read the story, published in The Catholic Review, and not just the headline...

Blakefiled Coach Doing His Thing, Despite Difficult Experiences

Had the opportunity recently to interview Anthony Zehyoue, head coach of the varsity football team at my alma mater Loyola Blakefield, about his experience leaving his native Liberia in the midst of a civil war. He spoke candidly about his memories of that time, as well as how he currently empathizes with those who recently experienced the wrath of hurricanes Harvey and Irma (Zehyoue was attending LSU when hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans). Check out the article here, which was published in The Catholic Review earlier this month.

Coach Anthony Zehyoue, enjoying a light moment during practice with us squad.

The Baltimore Times Reviews In Search Of...

Special thanks once again go out to The Baltimore Times for taking the time to put out a review of In Search Of... Check out their review of my book here. And if you're looking for a short, entertaining read, make sure you pick up a copy today!

In Search of... Book Review

Special thanks to the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder for doing a review of my book! Click here to check out the full review!

Summer Reading

My 2017 summer reading list. Some of these I've never read, some I want to reread with my current mindset and views of the world. I'm a deliberately slow pleasure reader since I take the time to digest the content, writing style, word choices, etc., so I doubt I'll finish all these this summer...but I'm still gonna challenge myself. In between the vacations, cookouts, and trips to the pool, I encourage you to take the time to read something and feed your mind as well! And feel free to add my books to your collection :-)

IN STORES NOW!!!

 Click the image below to purchase your copy today!

Historic Day at Morgan State University

Leader of the Catholic Church in Baltimore held service at my alma mater recently. First time an archbishop ever did so. Click the link below to read my article describing the event!

Archbishop Lori Makes Historic Visit to Morgan State University

Catholic Review Article Published!

Latest article I wrote that was published in The Catholic Review about two cousins who devoted their lives to service.

Third Cousins Continue Family Tradition of Religious Life

A month or two ago, my car broke down at an intersection. There just so happened to be two white cops there who saw my disabled vehicle. They literally stopped traffic going both ways and helped me push my car to the gas station across the street.


With all the tension that revolves around mostly white police officers shooting unarmed black men in this country, the question America needs to ask is this--how do we weed out the white cops who shoot a stranded black motorist, as the case in Tulsa, and keep the ones who'd rather help that same black motorist, like in my case...? How do we keep the white cop who pulled me over only to inform me my registration was expired and to get it checked out, and get rid of the white cop who pulled me over out Whitemarsh in Baltimore County and threatened to bring the drug sniffing K-9 to the scene because he saw on my license I lived on Park Heights, a neighborhood in Baltimore City that ain't exactly the safest...?


When we figure out the answers to questions like those, maybe then we'll begin to make progress as a nation. But until we all agree that a problem exists to begin with, we will be stuck on a treadmill, going nowhere fast.

Long time no update! My short story collection is almost finish. Just need to put the finishing touches on the final story. I forgot how long and exhaustive this process is. Writing, editing, proofreading...it's definitely not as easy as some think it is!

Thanks to all of you who have been staying on me to finish this project and supporting me. Between work, life, and everything else in between, this has been a long time in the works. Hopefully I can finish it up ASAP and put it out there in the universe.

-KT

Rekindling an Old Love

Cast of the greatest Final Fantasy ever...'cause FFVII is so overrated...

Like most men, I grew up with a love for video games. Some of my favorite games growing up include Battletoads, Mario 3, Street Fighter II Turbo, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Chrono Trigger, Metal Gear Solid, and Final Fantasy VI.

However, I stopped playing for awhile when I graduated from college. The systems started getting ridiculously priced...and I had to decide between spending that money on rent and groceries, or a PS3 or Xbox 360. Needless to say which I chose!

God of War 3...don't mess with Kratos!

I still followed what was going on in the industry though, and read up on critically acclaimed games on next-gen consoles I wish I could play. I got a PS3 a few years ago (finally!) and I've been playing catch up on those very games I used to read about and dreamt about playing. The PS3 games I've managed to conquer include the Batman Arkham games, the God of War games, and the first Mass Effect. So before you say "Kyle, those games are old, you're soooo LATE," please believe you're not telling me anything I don't already know! Yes I'm late and I'm playing catch up...but so what! Don't judge me! :-)

Right now, I'm in the middle of playing Far Cry 3. Great game thus far! But the list of games on my hit list seems to never stop growing! Still have to get to the last two Mass Effect games, the BioShock trilogy, the last recent Metal Gear Solid games (including MGS4), and a few others. And that doesn't even include Far Cry 4 and a few games on the Wii that I never got to play (like the Skyward Sword Zelda, and a few Metroid and Star Fox games).

So yeah, in between writing, it looks like my PS3 and I will be spending a lot of time together soon! :-)

This guy....

I'm Baaaaack!

It's been WAY too long since I've updated my blog, but I'm BACK! Things have been busy with changes in my life, mostly positive, that I put blogging to the back burner...so shame on me for that one!


Update: I plan on putting out my next work, a compilation of short stories, some time this Spring. So I'm not sitting idly twiddling my thumbs and not writing :)  Right now I am in the process of revising and proofing the stories, so please bear with me as I finish editing them with a fine-tooth comb. Here's hoping your patience will be worth it! Until then, if you haven't done so already, please check out the short stories I've published thus far The Water of Life and One Last Kiss, as well as my novel Fate's Destiny.

Until then, I'm literally like Kanye West working on The Life of Pablo...revising and revising until it's juuuussssst right :)

#CurrentMood

-KT

One Last Kiss in Stores NOW!!

My latest short story is available now!

A woman who believes she was scorned by the men in her past is willing to go far in order to exact her vengeance, moral decency be damned.

Click on the tab above for direct e-book retailer links where you can download your copy today!

Josephite Harvest Article Follow Up

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.

Josephite Harvest Fall Edition

                 

Baltimore Book Festival--Done and DONE!

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! :)

Baltimore Book Festival Weekend

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!

Hope to see you this weekend!

Awesome advice from Jim Carrey

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:

Latest Writing Project

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!

Hurricane Katrina Remembered and Local Church Helps Baltimore Recover

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!

Speaking at the Academy's Sponsors Luncheon

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.