REVIEW The Message: 100 Lessons From Hip Hop's Greatest Songs

When you reminisce over hip hop, where do your thoughts take you?
Do you think about the night you went to the roller rink with your friends and you heard NWA's "Express Yourself" pumping loud from the DJ booth, inspiring you to dance to the 70's beats in the song? Or maybe you think about the times you chilled out at the park in your car, with your boyfriend or girlfriend when L.L. Cool J.'s "I Need Love" played on the radio? If you're like me, you may reminisce about your college days: the parties in the student union, the walks with your friends across the bridge to the nearby store, the sorority and fraternity step shows. All of these memories have hip hop wrapped around them. We lived, loved and laughed, riding on the beats of songs by old school and new school hip hop artists. Within the pages of The Message: 100 Life Lessons From Hip Hop's Greatest Songs, author Felicia Pride shares similar memories with us and invokes our hip hop laced past. Not only does she break down the meaning of each of the songs represented within The Message, she also provides inspirational anecdotes from her life. As a self proclaimed hip hopper and journalist, Pride reveals the lessons she has learned, ranging from how to succeed in life, to knowing when to end a failing relationship. The author shines a light on what is positive about hip hop so that we too can absorb valuable insights from these songs. Readers of all ages will be able to get something meaningful from The Message.

Nov. 15th Rhymes, Views & News Radio Interview with Dr. Haki Madhubuti

On Thursday, November 15th I interviewed both Founder of Third World Press, Haki Madhubuti and Randall Horton, Editor of Fingernails Across the Chalkboard (Third World Press). I initially schedule to speak with Dr. Madhubuti for fifteen minutes or so, but he was quite busy earlier in that day preparing for his trip to New York. My interview on Thursday started off with Randall Horton, a poet, author, Ph.D. student and editor of the April 2007 Third World Press anthology, Fingernails Across the Chalkboard, a work centering upon HIV/AIDS in the Black Diaspora. Randall was quite interesting to talk to and he informed me that he began his relationship with Third World Press while he was an MFA student in Creative Writing at Chicago State University (where Dr. Madhubuti is a Distinguised Professor). Randall spoke fondly of Dr. Madhubuti, as he described how the Third World Press family supported his moving from Washington, D.C. to Chicago, so that he could pursue graduate student. Randall is now a Ph.D. student at SUNY here in New York. Toward the end of my radio segment, Dr. Madhubuti called in and I was able to talk with him for a few minutes and wish him well for the celebration due to take place at The Schomburg the next day. Dr. Madhubuti expressed that Third World Press has a number of new titles coming out soon. It was a great interview segment and I received some positive feedback from my listeners. For those who may not be familiar with Dr. Haki Madhubuti or Third World Press, the legacy of this publishing organization is vast! Third World Press has published the most highly revered African American poets, fiction writers, and intellectual thinkers since 1967. The authors on Third World Press' roster include: Gwendolyn Brooks, Tavis Smiley, Mari Evans, Gloria Naylor, Sonia Sanchez, Pearl Cleage, Sterling Plumpp and many, many others. Many poets, authors and independent entreprenuers, have looked to Dr. Haki Madhubuti as an astounding example of how to build a business and an institution while serving others and walking with dignity.

Dr. Donda West, mother of Kanye West has passed

I was saddened to hear of the passing of Dr. Donda West. I am sure that Kanye and his family are in deep mourning at this time. Our prayers go out. No one wants to lose a loved one, especially a mother! I felt a kinship to Dr. West knowing that she was an English professor and recently wrote a book about her life and raising Kanye. Also a former boss of mine, Dr. Brenda Greene, an English professor at Medgar Evers College (CUNY), interviewed Dr. West for Black Issues Book Review last spring. The interview was related to the release of Raising Kanye: Life Lessons From the Mother of a Hip-Hop Superstar. I always marvel at parents who are educators and artists, who raise their children to be literate and creative. And this is what Donda West did as a single parent. I have seen countless interviews of her on television with Kanye, I was routing for this highly educated black woman to have some time off after working 31+ years as an educator, to enjoy her life, and enjoy the fruits of her labor. Kanye achieved the dream that so many young people have, of being able to take care of their mother and give back to her the way she gave. I'm sure Kanye hoped Dr. West would live and be there for her future grandchildren and to achieve any other dreams she may have had after retiring from her post as Chairperson of Chicago State University's English Department. Although I do not know the West family personally, I wish them much peace and comfort at this time.

Finally got my Suzan Lori Parks/365 Plays Fix!

Well here I am the drama kid seeking drama - and I found it!
Yesterday, Sundary November 11th I finally got a chance to see 365 Plays
by Suzan Lori Parks here in New York at The Public Theater. And would you believe
it was FREE! Ask and ye shall receive, seek and ye shall find. I lived by it yesterday and it was great! I did arrive a few minutes late. The audience was laughing in an uproar. There must've been about 30 or so actors on the stage, all performing Parks' "Om" or "Ohm" play from 365 Days/365 Plays. The entire performance was about 1 hour. The funniest though was when one of the actors came out and addressed us, the audience to say "Thank you for coming to see 365 Plays, we have the playwright in the house to answer your questions..." The whole audience was aghast, it was something. It was like holding your breath and waiting to be told you're a lottery winner. We expected (secretly) that Suzan Lori Parks was coming out the stage, I know we would have giving her a standing ovation and perhaps rush the floor to hug her...well anyway it was weird because one of the female actors in the performance came out and sat in the "playwright's chair" as if getting ready to be interviewed, of course we all laughed. That's when we knew the joke was on us. For the next 15 min. the first actor asked questions of the "playwright" who was supposed to be playing Suzan Lori Parks, but the "playwright" kept changing. At first it was a male Asian actor, then a black woman with a bobbed hairstyle then a tall white actor with glasses - it was hilarious - the subtleties you. And they questions the first actor asked the "playwright" were all very funny, such as:

1) Did you ever cheat and skip a day (of writing 365 plays) and then double up and write 2 or more plays the next day? (The audience laughed)
2) What blogs do you read? (Very funny)
3) When are you able to do your laundry?
4) What is the one sound you just hate? (The playwright replied: "The sound of children playing, it's like 'can you give it a rest already?'" Truly hilarious)

Some of the scenes are hard to describe, but it was visually wonderful and there were 47 cast members in all. They weren't on the stage at the same time of course. Anyway I'm glad I finally dragged my behind to one of Parks' shows. It was food for my soul.

Read Out Loud! Was a Hit Yesterday!

I really enjoyed myself at the event I participated in yesterday: Read Out Loud! Family Literacy Festival. It was sponsored by Jumpstart, an organization for youth and Morningside Alliance. Both organizations produce community-based events and programming for schools and families. I found out about the event when my friend and fellow author, Jerry Craft asked if I wanted to take part in it since the organizers were looking for a poet. I was booked for the event to do a signing for my books, as well as to run a poetry activity table for the kids. It was a whole lot of fun. My table stayed busy with the cutest little kids! Little ones as young as three and four came to my table, crowding around me with their smiles, their stares and their little hands. I read several children's picture books of poetry to them, I guided them through a poetry writing activity and shared some of my own poetry with them. The children were quite attentive, well behaved and smart! For the smaller kids I didn't have them write anything. They primarily listened to me read, I asked them questions about what they heard such as "What was your favorite part?" or "What was your favorite line in the poem?" Also I gave the smaller kids corresponding coloring pages relating to the poetry I shared with them. The kids seemed to like that alot. Some of the boys weren't into the "Butterfly" poem I shared, so I read a basketball poem to them and then they did a basketball coloring activity. Along with my books, other picture books, my activity table had a heap of white paper, colored paper, copies of poems, activity sheets, crayons, and colored pencils. Some of the parents seemed happy to be there taking part in creative activities with their parents, others walked around seemingly in a daze because maybe they were tired. I saw some moms that appeared to be holding the hand of a small child in each hands, plus a tiny baby attached to one of those baby holders strapped to their chest. Just when I started romancing the idea of what it would be like to have a baby (hey I'm not planning it! not married yet!), I saw glimpses of motherhood that looking more draining than anything when I was at the event. There were many other activity tables and workshops for the kids going on. Including a comic workshop, painting, regular coloring, and illustration tables. I didn't have much of a chance to talk with the other authors or illustrators there except when we greeted each other when walking in, they were busy as I was througout the whole program which ended at 3pm. As result of the success of my poetry activity table, the organizers of the event told me that they'd love to contact me to work at some of the schools they partner with , as well as to feature at this event next year. I told them that sounded great! I don't mind doing creative arts workshops with kids, those types of activities are fun for me as well as the youth.

Call for Submissions: BCALA Literary Awards

This sounds like a mighty fine award:

BCALA Literary Awards
Publishers Announcement

TO ALL PUBLISHERS:
The Literary Awards Committee of the Black Caucus of the American Library
Association (BCALA) is now accepting submissions for the annual BCALA Literary
Awards. The Committee will present two prizes of $500.00 each for books written
by African American authors: one in adult Fiction and one in Nonfiction.
Honor Book citations are also given in fiction and nonfiction. In addition, the
Literary Awards Committee will present the First Novelist Award for outstanding
achievement in writing and storytelling by a first time fiction writer and the
Outstanding Contribution to Publishing citation to an author and/or
publishing company for unique books that offer a positive depiction of African
Americans.

First presented at the Second National Conference of African American
Librarians in 1994, the BCALA Literary Awards acknowledge outstanding works of
fiction and nonfiction for adult audiences by African American authors. Recipients
of this award offer outstanding depictions of the cultural, historical or
sociopolitical aspects of the Black Diaspora and embody the highest quality of
writing style and research methodology, if applicable. Enclosed is a copy of the
BCALA Literary Awards Criteria.

Books from small, large and specialty publishers are welcome for review
consideration. Titles forwarded for review must be published between January 2007
and December 2007. Sets or multi-volume works are eligible. New editions of
previously published works are eligible only if more than 30% of the total
content is new or revised material. Inspirational and self-help books are in
eligible.

Please send one copy of each title to each member of the Literary Awards
Committee as soon as possible after receiving this letter. I have enclosed a list
of the members of the Committee and their addresses. Supply all available
information regarding the submission, including promotion material, author
biography and available news articles and reviews. Only finished, published books
should be submitted; galleys (bound or unbound) are unacceptable.

The final submission date to each juror is December 31, 2007. Decisions will
be made during the American Library Association's Midwinter Meeting in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in January 2008. The awards will be presented in Anaheim,
CA during ALA's Annual Conference in June, 2008. Publishers and authors will
be advised of the Literary Award Committee's decision in advance of the
conference.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at (202) 274-6030
(email: jpage@wrlc.org) or Joel W. White at (336) 703-3041 (email:
whitejw@forsyth. or Joel W. White at (336) 703-3041 (email: whitejw@forsyth.cc) and
our sincere thanks BCALA Literary Awards Criteria

The Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA) presents two
(2) $500.00 awards: one in adult fiction and one in nonfiction. These awards
acknowledge outstanding achievement in the presentation of the cultural,
historical and sociopolitical aspects of the Black Diaspora.

The Fiction Award recognizes depictions of sensitive and authentic personal
experience either within the framework of contemporary literary standards and
themes or which explore innovative literary formats.
The First Novelist Award Citation acknowledges outstanding achievement in
writing and storytelling by a first time fiction writer.

Criteria:
1. Must portray some aspect of the African American experience past, present
or future.
2. Must be written by an African American.
3. Must be published in the United States in the year preceding presentation
of the award.
4. Must be an original work.

John S. Page, Chair
BCALA Literary Award Committee
Washington, DC 20008
Email: jpage@wrlc.org
Voice: (202) 274-6030
Fax: (202) 274-6012
http://www.bcala.http://www.http://wwhtt