I know I’ve made this promise before, but I am going to post more. Much more. I know I don’t have your faith or your trust, but I do have your children. That’s right, I have your kids. They are all locked up and the only way they are going to be released is if you read my stuff. So if people don’t start reading my stuff I will assume nobody is thinking of the children, which means the terrorists are winning. Egad! Maybe they have already won!

Regardless of the outcome of the war on terror, my stuff must be read. Done. I may not post one blog a day, but I am going to shoot for four to five  a week. Nevermind. One a day until Blogger Idol starts again next year. Now do yourself a favor, sit back, and read.

Jam Donaldson, author of Conversate is not a Word

Why two new black self-help books don’t get it right. No, conversate isn’t a word. And yes, there are some things that black folks need to stop doing. But there’s a difference between enabling and empathy.

on Jam Donaldson’s Conversate is not a Word and Karen Hunter’s Stop Being Niggardly

by Felicia Pride, TheRoot.com

“Too much romanticizing, however, leads to oversimplification and underdeveloped solutions. Our realities are complex. Once we begin to untangle them, we’re better equipped to develop holistic action plans. Telling a cousin to ”just say no, get over it, get off your ass, and be a role model” may not be adequate. You may have to discuss mental illness, spiritual growth, self-love; support may have to include a therapy group, job skills training, a journal, anti-depressants.

We shouldn’t pimp our situations as excuses, but we need to use them as starting points to analyze and understand how we got where we are. That’s not to say we can’t be productive while healing. Our illustrious history shows how we’ve kept on keeping on in times of severe pain, but the silent suffering that was passed down through generations, needs to be at the forefront of the growing process.”

Read more here at TheRoot.com