tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34770350.post4819444595900320459..comments2024-03-27T19:55:45.373-04:00Comments on Nat Turner's Revenge: Another blast in the culture warChristopher Chambershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16981041389119024155noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34770350.post-45189092884301472552007-07-18T11:37:00.000-04:002007-07-18T11:37:00.000-04:00When I'm on the Metro I check out what "we" are re...When I'm on the Metro I check out what "we" are reading. Usually nigglature like Thong on Fire (ouch)or Jesus help me.<BR/><BR/>If I see another Candy Licker poster I will tear it down. Is that ghetto or protest?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34770350.post-62914448465745757462007-07-11T08:59:00.000-04:002007-07-11T08:59:00.000-04:00I like the title "Thong Of Fire" better. Theres m...I like the title "Thong Of Fire" better. Theres more to work with there, lol.<BR/>LLola Getshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07058543308191117858noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34770350.post-779314897152425862007-07-11T08:46:00.000-04:002007-07-11T08:46:00.000-04:00"...whte authors can write a best seller about a m..."...whte authors can write a best seller about a mouse who dies and is reincarnated as a harried single mother cancer survivor's granddad, and they all live on a remote island off the coast of Newfoundland in 1942."<BR/><BR/>Too funny! And unfortunately, too true.<BR/><BR/>LLola Getshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07058543308191117858noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34770350.post-7756265025709511312007-07-07T10:30:00.000-04:002007-07-07T10:30:00.000-04:00Revelation: I am a white man married to a black wo...Revelation: I am a white man married to a black woman. I am revealing this because I want people to know I am not trying to offend anyone. However, when I see the current state of Hip Hop (I'm 34 and have been a fan since 15) coupled with this "Tyler Perry" syndrome and the Street Lit and of course Zane (who my wife reads, very true), perhaps African American tastes simply haven't caught up with the variety of art now out there. Like the Harlem Renaissance, black writers who are not penning true vaudeville and burlesque flavored works had to depend on the patronage of white wealthy people. When Zora was published black people didn't rush out to buy the books. You might say it's because they didn't have the money. Many did. I think Nat Turner touched on a side-view of this when hesaid white writers can do a book about anything. I think the corollary of this is that we have a higher chunk of our population willing to support this. Black people do not. Perhaps 10% of the adult population are being called upon to support this form of art. Those are not good odds. Accordingly, I would say the future lay in developing younger readers and appealing to white audiences. Sorry to say that may be the only workable strategem. I haveno problem with adults reading "street lit" but African Americans need to rethink this for teens and kids, just as messages for them in Hip Hop etc must be frankly addressed.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34770350.post-74268646474646159372007-07-05T15:32:00.000-04:002007-07-05T15:32:00.000-04:00Ahhhhh Dayyyyum, okay. I swear you are one bad mut...Ahhhhh Dayyyyum, okay. I swear you are one bad mutha...shut yo mouth, I'm talkin bout, CC. I'm scared of you. Thou shall not speak out about our masters. Thou shall not look the great publishing house negrahs in the eye. These are black editors buying these great works. The bottom line is real and we all need to eat. <BR/><BR/>I've taken the time to read some of these books with the booty slappin covers and I have to say, they're not all that different from the mainstream books of some of our esteemed black authors. We're all being judged by our bookcovers, (which is why Martha Southgate's trade cover is now a little saucier that the original hardcover) But the words are the same. Imagery is nine tenth's of the law. Slap a big booty on your cover and you too will be "one of them" I will admit there is more sex than a little bit, but that's what sells. If there wasn't a butt romping scene in the Kite Runner he wouldn't have sold a million copies, believe dat. So sex sells to everybody, not just black folk. As far as our black youth reading these books, so what. I used to read Danielle Steele in my teens just for the neck kissing scenes. Now kids are reading these books for the equivalent, which these days include rug burns. Times have changed is all. Now I've got to get back to my next literary masterpiece. Massah's watching. Keep your head low and start writing. Can't start a revolution by just talking about it. Get-r-done.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34770350.post-22287138859893825902007-07-04T03:05:00.000-04:002007-07-04T03:05:00.000-04:00You stand your ground and fight for what you belie...You stand your ground and fight for what you believe in. I like that.<BR/><BR/>Your arguement reaches further than you realize when it comes to black writers in the various genres.BronzeBuckaroohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12536210616142873792noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34770350.post-56866721164160615082007-07-02T18:15:00.000-04:002007-07-02T18:15:00.000-04:00TheBlackList and BIBR (which, I'm sorry to say, lo...TheBlackList and BIBR (which, I'm sorry to say, looks like it's shrinking and it seems like we see the issues once a blue moon) are doing their part, but...<BR/><BR/>...I don't see this as a "bottom-line" issue. I see this as a cultural issue that bottom-line implications, and I see a sad complictity with Mr. Charlie's and Missy Anne's insouciance/cluelessness/arrogance by certain black authors, just as insidious as what we're debating in hip hop and sports. Clearly that paradigm of "at least we're reading SOMETHING" is a fraud, as, other than a few folk getting older trying to approach more complex stories and themes, the vast majority of these new readers, coupled with the old folk who happy buy the same crap day after day, written by the same people--no, we aren't advancing, broadening, evolving. Think it's bad in fiction--look at non fiction, professional/scholarly monographs, and of course poetry. We're fat as hell yet dying of starvation.Christopher Chambershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16981041389119024155noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34770350.post-69368580713042478932007-07-02T16:05:00.000-04:002007-07-02T16:05:00.000-04:00Shout-out to Eisa. What's the plan? Publishers res...Shout-out to Eisa. What's the plan? Publishers respond to bottom lines. Michael is right that tons of our writers are falling through the cracks. How can we better support our writers? What are our alternatives beyond PW and the NYTBR? Not to sound trite, but action speaks louder...<BR/><BR/>check out my post at thebacklist.blogspot.com. <BR/><BR/>FeliciaFelicia Pridehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15178995076189555170noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34770350.post-75272895021618570852007-07-02T11:55:00.000-04:002007-07-02T11:55:00.000-04:00as i wrote chris this morningthere are so many wri...as i wrote chris this morning<BR/>there are so many writers of color who are getting lost in the mix--it seems the only writers who are getting any press are the so-called hip-hop writers (i'm currently working on a manifesto of what i think a real Hip-Hop writer should represent) and the five blacks that are so-called literary writers. genre writers, including horror, comic books sci-fi and detective fiction are all but ignored. <BR/><BR/>not to come across as bitter, but the work my friend miles marshall lewis has put into the lit magazine "bronx biannual" (whose first two issues has published interesting fiction that is both Hip-Hop and literary) is as groundbreaking and important as the launch of "the paris review." <BR/><BR/>yet, so far no major articles in publishers weekly have appeared. i guess we're just not "niggerish" enuff or lit enough to matter.michael a. gonzaleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09639621894455376324noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34770350.post-10359477696688641182007-07-02T09:43:00.000-04:002007-07-02T09:43:00.000-04:00i was having this debate with a friend the other d...i was having this debate with a friend the other day. we were in the book store and i seriously had to dig through the shelves to find something worth reading. i mean, i don't mind eric jerome dickey...i actually like his stuff. mary morrison is fine too. i just have a problem with titles like 'baby mama drama' and 'thong on fire' and 'a hustla's wife'. i mean, geesh. it's ridiculous. her thing was, well at least they're reading. but i honestly don't think you can benefit anything from reading 'a hustla's wife'. for real.Muzehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02388312176758739005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34770350.post-7118330709256954482007-07-02T09:35:00.000-04:002007-07-02T09:35:00.000-04:00Amen, Eisa!Amen, Eisa!Pebbles Flintstonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09865422111601399569noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34770350.post-91339835721219357502007-07-02T08:49:00.000-04:002007-07-02T08:49:00.000-04:00Thanks for your comment on my blog, Chris. (www.Ei...Thanks for your comment on my blog, Chris. (www.EisaUlen.com/blog) <BR/><BR/>I do think Martha's essay and Nick's op-ed piece will be on the required reading list for future generations, as I said on my "Martha Southgate in The Times" entry, but this rave you've blogged might need to be on future syllabi, too. :)<BR/><BR/>I think you articulate our frustration. We're all mad; now, what should we do? I try to develop a readership for literary fiction as a professor at Hunter College and some time substitute teacher here in Fort Greene. Meanwhile, I think the sales of street fiction are heading toward a decline soon. Just as Hip Hop sales are decreasing as fast as the art disappears from our music, I think readers will tire of the poorly written Sister Souljah derivatives out there. But we can't just wait for this street fiction thing to self-destruct, so what else do you think we should do? What's the plan, man?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34770350.post-46969074031366552332007-07-01T17:27:00.000-04:002007-07-01T17:27:00.000-04:00http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/01/books/review/Sou...http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/01/books/review/Southgate-t.html<BR/><BR/>Cut and paste for martha's essayAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34770350.post-85431731757950376842007-07-01T16:34:00.000-04:002007-07-01T16:34:00.000-04:00Aw leave my Kevin Powell alone. I know what you're...Aw leave my Kevin Powell alone. I know what you're trying to say and you aren't atacking him but there's no need for your usual overstatements. I sincerely believe he'd agree with some of what you put in this post, and there's so much! LOL I LOVE Kevin Powell (since The Real World!)<BR/><BR/>I think your main points do require a lot of discussion. I think you should have added to the post with some of Martha Southgate's insights in an Essay published today in the New York Times. Trying to embed it:<BR/> <A HREF="http://http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/01/books/review/Southgate-t.html?_r=1&oref=slogin/" REL="nofollow"></A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34770350.post-12238200345706606632007-07-01T16:09:00.000-04:002007-07-01T16:09:00.000-04:00This looks like an "in the family" discussion (or ...This looks like an "in the family" discussion (or fight?) but I do agree with you that white authors seem to able to get away with the freedom of more topics and more outlandish ones.<BR/><BR/>Are you saying that white people force African Americans to have parochial or pedestrian tastes? Do African Americans have more parochial and pedestrian tastes? I think it's up to each person to decide whether you are a bitter elitist, or among a growing number of prophets who readers should heed! I'm not in a position to comment, but I've always liked your work and your blog.Chicama Vineyardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02556585419433991331noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34770350.post-29446371121681270982007-06-30T22:45:00.000-04:002007-06-30T22:45:00.000-04:00The Nick Chiles debate lives on, huh? But it seems...The Nick Chiles debate lives on, huh? But it seems no one wants to hear y'all's refrain anymore. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em I'd say. Look at what Omar Tyree is doing now. I can't see Chris Chambers writing sentimental tripe like his pal Mr. Eric Jerome Dickey or Mary Morrison mindless romances, but he better learn ROFLMAO. Heed, bruh. Now after my wife kicks my ass for saying this I'll tell you what I really think!<BR/><BR/>By the way do a post Captain America's death!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34770350.post-24450785482805570112007-06-30T21:46:00.000-04:002007-06-30T21:46:00.000-04:00I saw two 18 year old girls reading this in Border...I saw two 18 year old girls reading this in Borders this past week. The fact that adults are reading it is even more crazy.Lisahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08134554508117555404noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34770350.post-17057803080576951292007-06-30T17:55:00.000-04:002007-06-30T17:55:00.000-04:00HOLLA!(but no way I'm going to reveal my i.d.-- yo...HOLLA!<BR/><BR/>(but no way I'm going to reveal my i.d.-- you re a brave soul!)<BR/><BR/>with respect,<BR/><BR/>The Silent Majority of Folk Who Are Sick of this Ghetto Sh*t Too<BR/><BR/>"TSMFWASTGST"Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com