He's Not That Into You If...You Believe this Crap

He's Not That Into You 

This weekend I picked up the current issue of Essence--you know--the one with Will and Jada Smith loving the page. Anyway...I jump to the Essence best seller list, which is a quagmire for another debate, and notices that Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo's Oprah tauted self-help guide, He's Not that Into You is at the top of the list.

And now I am very concerned and hope someone can let me in on this book's fascination. Because of right now this phenomena tells me two things: (1) Our souls aren’t in the right place and (2) neither is our hearts.

We don’t have to buy a book to recognize that a man has no interest in us. Have we forgotten to you use our Sister Wit/Mother's Intuition/Common Sense or whatever you want to call it?

Moreover, we shouldn’t spend all this time on this mess any way. God didn't put in charge of bringing life into the world for us to spend most of our own lives concerned about a man that God had destined for us to presented to us in the first place. Did Eve run after Adam? No! God presented her to him.

Let men do their thing and let us do our thing. When we do what we're supposed to be doing we will attract more men then the law can allow. Get after it and put that book down.
Someone who shares my view of this book>

Runnin to see what the end gon' be.

Dee

New York Times Book Review Gets an UnderHaul

The Plot Thickens at The New York Times Book Review, an article written on Pynter Online discusses the changes that the new executive editor Bill Keller of the NYTBR will make. Lowlights of this change:

"Emphasize non-fiction books. Demote literary fiction. Promote more [potboilers]commercial novels."

Views from the Editors, Book Reviewers and Publishers

My thoughts:

As a book reviewer, I am saddened by these changes. The dumbingdown of American literature in the past ten years has finally taken its toll on a publishing benchmark-The New York Times Book Review. Somewhere, someone decided that great diction, superb writing, emerging and brilliant thought should take a back seat to daytime soaps in print. My daughter's mind will not be tarnished by this for I will read her the classics. Maybe by the time she reaches highschool in ten years, The NYT will have recognized their faux paus or maybe anothe paper will take the reins. Bookmark perhaps?

Falcons lose NFC title, but gain my undying Favor

Game Over 

Today the Falcons lost the NFC title and a chance to go to the SuperBowl to the very deserving Philadelphia Eagles in a 10-27 victory. Albeit I adore Michael Vick and have been a longtime fan of McNabb, I expected a major showdown. Instead I learned an important lesson: Learn to paint with the colors of the wind. Blistery blizzaed wind did not become a thorn in Vick's sided, his inability to adept to a passing game did. It's hard, but it's fare. The Eagles soared. Falcons we have risen from the ashes over and over again and we can rise again now. I look forward to 2005-2006 season. I can't wait to meet Vick face to face during training camp. And Jacksonville, send me some blue crabs to get over my melancholy.

Runnin to see what the end gon' be

DEe

Crushing on my Neighbor

I have a confession to make. I am crushing hard on my next door neighbor, who has a steady girlfriend. Albeit I have a fiancee. It's not that I want to be with him. I just think he's hot. That's Okay isn't it?

I'll keep you posted.

Dr. Bailey's Mission to Tsunami Torn Sites

Dr. Bailey's Mission to Tsunami Victims 

Dr. Patricia Bailey,author of Women RiskTakers
Harrison House Publishers

On Sunday, January 24, 2005, Dr. Patricia Bailey of Winston-Salem, NC will depart on a 1,000-mile journey through Asia for the sake of humanity.

She, along with a team of students from her Global Leadership Training Center missions’ school will take medical supplies, clothes and food to tsunami victims in Malaysia, Indonesia and Burma. This African American missionary has been conducting such missions for over 20 years. She and her team of students need your support.

Each Global Leadership Training Center student must raise a minimum of $2000 to cover their airfare and to help obtain supplies for families in need. Students have been participating in missionary training for the last 4 months. They have come from several countries, including: India, Malawi, Haiti, Senegal and Ethiopia to be trained in humanitarian missions by Dr. Bailey. What greater opportunity for them to realize what they have learned for the past 4 months than this mission trip to the tsunami victims.

For more information on the work of Global Leadership Training Center or to make a donation to this tsunami relief effort, contact 336-724-7300 or www.gltc.org.

The first of many tsunami relief mission begins on January 24, 2005 and a team of 10 students will accompany Dr. Bailey. Global Leadership Training Center P.O. Box 91 Winston-Salem, NC 27102.

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Thanks Pam for the info.

-Running to see what the end gon' be

Somali Pleads for Tsunami Aid

Tsunami Victims in Somalia Overlooked BBC Video

"The world is helping the tsunami victims generously, but not those who live outside areas of tourist attraction. My region is facing severe food shortage," pleaded Mohamed Said, the mayor of the Somali island town of Hafuun, a poverty-stricken Indian Ocean island about 42 kilometres off the Somali mainland.

The biggest problem for the lack of aid is that Somalia's ever changing government and safety is a huge issue.

If you would like to contribute to Somalia's relief, please contact Unicef Somalia .

More Links on the Tsunami's Impact on Somalia

Somalia's Forced From Home

Reuters in Somalia

The Pitt Quits-Marriage in Modern America

Mourning Brad and Jen Anniston Pitts 

Jennifer Anniston and Brad Pitt Separate after four and a half years of marriage. According the BBC, the couple asks "for your kindness and sensitivity in the coming months." Yet, the news of their separation was all over the place last night and this morning.

Why? Is it because of their supercelebrity status? Or is it our fears that the institution of marriage is becoming a dinosaur in America?

According to the US Census Bureau Study on Marriage Longetivity Statistics:"About 52 percent of currently married couples had reached at least their 15th anniversary in 1996, and 5 percent of them had reached at least their golden anniversary (50 years)."

If you'r feeling stressed by the Pitt Quits then check out this
Great Site on Marriage Longevity Tips.

Love is still in the air...Who knows the lovebirds may not divorce. Let's Pray for them.

First Book of The Year...Heart of Devotion

Heart of Devotion 

Looking for a book to start off the New Year?

Well I have a good--holy--one. Tia McCollor's Heart of Devotion.

Synopsis:


In Bookstores January 1, 2005

A Heart of Devotion
ISBN: 0-8024-5913-7

Best friends Anisha Blake and Sherri Dawson have been inseparable for the last five years — until Anisha is swept away by Tyson Randall. When Anisha becomes the object of Tyson's affection, she believes her prayers for a knight in shining armor are answered. But as their romance grows, Anisha's intimate relationship with God becomes an afterthought instead of her first thought. With life crumbling around her, Anisha is faced with choices she was sure she'd never have to make. An inspiring and emotional journey through adversity and spiritual self-discovery.

“Tia McCollors skillfully tugs the heartstrings and delivers a moving read as she guides readers through layer by layer to a satisfying resolution in A Heart of Devotion. Her spiritual message illuminates God's hand in all situations.”

-- Jacquelin Thomas, best-selling author of The Prodigal Husband and Soul Journey

My thoughts...

McCollors writes with elegance, grace, and a girl-next-door appeal. Anisha Blake is experiencing the Christian single dating blahs when she meets Tyson Randall, a man she hopes is the man she has prayed so long for. Ladies, we know this situation all too well.

Since Heart of Devotion is McCollors debut novel it would be nice for us to ask our local Books-A-Million or Barnes & Noble bookstores to have it on stock. This is a great Valentine's read for a Christian Fiction Book Club or an African American Women's Book Club.

You can learn more about Tia through me.

Ha Ha. Just joking(But yeah...really)

Learn more about her and how to schedule a book signing at Tia's Site , Amazon, or Moody Publishers.

Lady Chisholm bids Adieu...for Now

Congresswoman Shirley Anitia Chisolm, (1924 - 2005)
 

Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman elected to Congress and an outspoken advocate for women and minorities during seven terms in the House, died Saturday near Daytona Beach, friends said. She was 80.

MSNBC Speaks on Congresswoman Chisholm's death.>

My thoughts...

Too many good people are going home early in 2005. See my homage to NFL's Reverend Reggie White. Tsunami's I can deal with but, the lady and the Rev within seven days--I shudder. I shudder. What's next? Locusts?

Let me just say that Shirley Chisholm is my superwoman hero--the person I aspired myself to become when I ran for highschool and college political office. She paved a way and we need to run through it now more than ever.

Never missing your spirit, we'll meet again in Heaven.

-Running to see what the end gon' be

BlackWords Bids Farewell into the New Year

BlackWords Press is closing their doors. This book publisher has been in existence for ten years, but no longer wants to continue publishing black books.

Kwame Alexander, the founder expressed:

This is simply the best time to get out of a game that has become mired in mediocrity. I love books, but I just don't love publishing like I used to.

You can read more behind the reasoning of the press closing at the link above.

My thoughts...

I understand completely, and, however, I fear a scary trend following. Although we[Black Americans] are publishing more books, we still are not making a huge dent in the industry. The books that get the most attention are the books poorly written, but selling out in black bookstores.

Some people tell me that they love these baby mama drama/street fiction books because they understand it better and that it is not as boring and long winded as a Toni Morrison novel. I nod my head, not because I share my sentiment, but because I empathize. Somewhere down the line our community teachers have taught us that being the best at your craft is no longer important, that the people who died so that we could attend public school and learn that good diction is imperative in English literature, Affirmative Action law, and reading the Bible, that a good education has far more less to fdo with inding a good job, then defending your right to be black in a black hating world. I shake my head that these poorly written books make the Essence bestseller list not because the people that read them don't know that the man that wrote the Count of Monte Christo was a black man or that William Shakespeare was mulatto, but that we[african american community teachers] have failed at our jobs or that there are better--more richer--books available. The moment we got a security clearance to work for the Coca Cola Company(my old stomping ground,) the moment we were accepted into ivy league colleges(my alma mater,) that we never in our wildest dreams would imagine that someone would fork over more than five cents to read a fifth grade gossip column turned novel.

I am saddened that Black Words Press is closing its doors. I shudder at the the thought that others will follow suit, tha they all will disappear before the next bright-read steps through their doors. What voice have we suppressed, because no one wants to hear great written words spoken at a library book reading? What voice are we suppressing that can tell us more about ourselves as black people? What voice are we suppressing because she writes about the world at large and not just the hood she grew up in? What dreams are we festering because we continue to accept mediocrity writing, good book publishers closing, and you never getting your chance to be heard?