What I am Reading Now

I have to say that we here in Cincinnati have one of the best public library systems in the area (aside from my former employer Kenton County Public Library of course).

I have always had a problem reading a traditional book without falling asleep or something and because of this; I took up listening to books on tape of CD's ever since I left college. So imagine my surprise when I happened upon the new choices that our library system has to enjoy our favorite read.

I have heard so much about "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" series that I had to dive in to this book head first. And I was even more excited when I had the option of either downloading the book to my Samsung Tablet OR using one of their new PlayAway devices.

The PlayAway device is essentially a portable book that you can plug your headphones into and listen away. The only thing that you have to do is to provide the ear buds and a AAA battery (it was my luck that there was already a battery in the device when I picked mine up last week).

I have to say that it's an awesome way to read a book! I am already on the fourth chapter of the 1st series and the plan is to have it completed this weekend...while getting all of my other errands done around the city.

Despite the fact that MidPoint Music Festival has been holding my top spot of "things to do" this weekend, I am kind of glad that it's a little crummy outside right now. Great time to curl up with a great book and take a long nap....that is before MidPoint starts up again tonight :)

What I'm Reading Now

by Paul Shipton

New Year's Resolutions - Revisited

It’s a new year and yet again we are all revisiting our life goals and re-evaluating the order of the bucket list that we have spent years comprising…inevitably having the list become just that; a list that is long forgotten until the next time that the ball drops in New York’s Time Square.

This year I fought the urge to create yet another set of promises that I will fail to make come to fruition. But then I thought, why should I for-go the time honored tradition of making promises to myself. Not only does it urge you to take an inventory of what you have done with your life and will help you put your life’s goals into prospective.

So I dug out the past several years of New Year resolutions and found that there was an outstanding theme that jumped out at me…and that was to finish a novel that I have been working on for the past several years. So I guess that will be my resolution for this year.

It’s not like I don’t have the problem of beginning from scratch. There are three particular works which I have been toiling over and are very close to completion, so this year’s resolution should not be that difficult to turn in to reality.

10 to 1 (working title)

With a newly unfurled college diploma framed and hanging above the mantle of a small apartment, mystery novel follows Jacob Thompson as he is about to begin his adult life in a major way. In trying to come to out as a gay man to his ultra-conservative, relatives during the midst of a family tragedy, Jacob uncovers a murder plot that has been over twenty years in the planning, and must save the last victim before it is too late.

Triple Threat-Misconceptions of being Young, Black and Gay in America

My first attempt in the realm of non-fiction, where I take on the trials and tribulations of being young, gay and Black in America.

1865 (working title)

Taking a page from history, this novel, originally planned to be a short –story, but has morphed in to a full fledged novel, follows that story of a white, small business owner in the late 1800’s in Northern Kentucky who falls in love with a Black traveling worker.

20+ cool points goes to the one who can predict which one gets completed and published first.

Book Review: The Vast Fields of Ordinary

2009 was not a big year for me in the reading department. Outside of blogs and online newspapers, I did not do much reading. But there was one novel that I picked up due to it being covered in Out.com.

Nick Burd's Vast Fields of Ordinary" is a light-hearted young adult novel for readers 12 and up, where high school senior Dade spends a good majority of the summer after his graduation either high or drunk in attempt to save himself from his mundane suburban life as the only gay teenager in his neighborhood, nothing like my own experience in the last year of high school, but non the less it was a great read.

By the end of the story, he finds out that there are greater experiences to be had outside of is small Midwestern town when he moves away to college. We all know that, but we most likely did not go through as many ups and downs finding out.

Read my entire review of the novel here.

What I Am Reading Now

I am not too big on mind tricks and other mumbo jumbo, but in finding ways to loose weight, I stumbled upon this book and I have to say that it contains some interesting things.

The "Beloved" Margaret Garner is Back In Action

“Beloved”, written by Toni Morrison and published in 1987, won the Pulitzer Prize and loosely follows the story of escaped slave Margaret Garner. Garner’s Medea-like heroics when she was captured in her attempt to escape from slavery threw the city of Cincinnati, OH to the forefront of the Nation’s attention.

Garner made the ultimate sacrifice and instead of seeing her child be taken back into slavery, decided to take the child’s life with her own two hands.

Morrison’s fictional reproduction of this real life drama was so popular; Oprah Winfrey redeveloped it into a screen play in addition to a Michigan Opera house creating a theatrical stage production of the novel in the form of an opera.

I became interested in the story for two reasons; (1) it was a true story and (2) the story occurred in the part of the country where I was from. In my infatuation with the story, I spent years researching all the nuances of the story to even traveling to the farm where Margaret Garner lived (yes it is still there). I even gave seminars on this topic, going over the similarities and differences in the real life story and fictional adaptations.

I have decided to reprise the seminar this upcoming Black History Month. There are few new developments that I have found, and I feel that it would be cool to remind people in this area of Southern Ohio that the Nobel Prize winning “Beloved” came from a story from this area.

Totally Joe: A Book Review

Originally publishd Oct 5, 2006

Read the entre article here.

I first heard about this young adult book when I was looking over the list of books that won a Lambda Literature Award in 2006. This whimsical view into the life of a gay/questioning 12-year-old boy is conveyed by way of diary-like year long school assignment that called for the main character (Joe) to create an entry for each letter of the alphabet.

Without any pictures, one must use their imaginations to picture the purple hair, pierced ear rings and funky dress, bottomed out with checked shoes (well you do not have to imagine the checkered shoes, they are pictured on the front cover). You will also have to imagine the attractiveness of Joe’s on again off again pre pubescent love interest described in the book.

The cast of characters that surround Joe definite compliment his sometimes-degenerative appeal. A new age Rat Pack or Breakfast Club of the next generation is what I envisioned. A group of slumped over misfits who are bored with their current school situation and make fun of their teachers and classmates with witty banter and over analyzed rhetoric.

This whimsical account of adolescent life was written by James Howe, author of many other adolescently gay themed novels geared toward young adults, yet again brings to light the fears that many confused homosexual teenagers agonize over everyday the decide to walk out of their house and navigate through the world of high school, in this case junior high school.

Howe's previous written book, The Misfits actually inspired ‘No Name Calling Week’, a middle school and high school project for schools around the country sponsored annually by GLSEN and Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing.

Read the entre article here.

Kindred and the Spirit of Black Women

There are a couple of sayings that are prevalent in our society. “Black Americans are the backbone of our society” another is, “Behind every great man, there is a great woman”. Taking these sayings into consideration, it could be concluded that Black women have had a large part in the establishment of family life in this country.

Octavia Butler exemplified this in her novel, Kindred (1979), with just a minimal number of characters. By the introduction of the slave character named Sarah and Alice in addition to the main character of Dana, Butler showed the great strife that Black American women have went through to keep their family together.

Sarah, a slave on the Weylin plantation was a dominant figure in the novel, established as being the one who worked in the cookhouse on the plantation. Dana, a woman of the 1970's was introduced to Sarah on her third visit to the past when Rufus, Dana’s past relative and heir to the Weylin plantation, unconsciously called her back to the past in order to help him after he fell out of a tree. Despite the presence of Rufus’ mother, Margaret Weylin, Sarah made sure that the household chores were in order and did not take care of her master’s household out of love or kindness, but out of the love for her own family's well being.

After having two of her children sold away from the Weylin plantation, Sarah did whatever she could to try to keep her last child, Carrie, close to her and away from the auction block. Sarah tried to keep what was left of her family by being obedient to her owner, bringing the first example of how Butler shows how Black women went through strife to keep their family together.

The next example can be fund in the the character development of Alice who was introduced in the novel early on. It was Dana’s second visit to the past where she was introduced to her, then a free Black, while patrols were accosting Alice’s mother and her husband. As Alice grew, Rufus began to take a liking to her, and eventually bought her. Rufus had children with her, and even though these children were half white, Alice still regarded them as part of her.

There was a point in the story where Alice had the impression that Rufus had sold her children away, causing her to become so distraught that she took her own life before she found out the truth that her children were still close to her. This example shows the ramifications that are brought on to a person when their family is broken apart. Alice saw that her duties as a Black woman had been usurped with the “selling off” of her children, becoming so heart broken from this that she thought it best to end her life rather than to continue living.


The next example of Black woman cherishing their family structure that Bulter gave to her reader is brought to light with the character of Dana, a Black woman living in 1976. She is a modern woman and is married to a white man living in California, making her living as a writer. All of a sudden Dana started to be snatched back to the past and the reason of this displacement, Dana soon realized, was to ensure the survival of her heirs.

Dana was repeatedly compelled to save the life of Rufus, a white plantation owner, and also her relative, despite the repeated mental and physical abuse that was inflicted on her by him and his family. Bulter used Dana as the ultimate example of the way that Black women have been a major factor for keeping their family together. Dana endured the physical and mental abuse from the Weylin family when snatched back to slave days, not because wanted to, but because her entire family's survival was dependant on her strength.

Amy Does Davey

Children and Youth in America: A Documentary History, Volume III, 1933-1973: Vol. 1 Parts 1-4; Vol. 2 Parts 5-7 (Children and Youth in America)

Children and Youth in America: A Documentary History, Volume III, 1933-1973: Vol. 1 Parts 1-4; Vol. 2 Parts 5-7 (Children and Youth in America) written by Robert H. Bremner, John Barnard, Temara K. Hareven, and Robert M. Mennel was a great informative read.

As the title states, it chronicles the way that youth were perceived and treated during the years of 1933 through 1973. A bit too laden with correspondence, I think it is an OK source if you are researching the way that children were perceived during this time period in American, which is what I am doing for my upcoming book, Triple Threat: America's Misconceptions of a Misunderstood Society.

Though a good resource, I would not take it on vacation if you are in search of "light reading"

Book Review: Raising the Bar: Integrity and Passion in Life and Business: The Story of Clif Bar & Co.

As a rule, I usually do not pick up self help books. i tend to think that they are filled with feel good attitudes that do exactly that, make you feel good, but giving little information which I could not figure out on my own.

I am still convinced that the secret of life will never be found located between bound leather, but after speaking with friends, I have come to realize that some insight to life issues can be found printed in Black and White.

Still sceptical, I set out to locate a published work that would live up to my friend's promises.

Raising the Bar by Greg Erickson was the first book that jumped out at me. Bar was writtten by the owner and creater of Clif Bar & Co., a line of fitness bars and energy drinks which came out of nowhere and took the industry by storm.

Bar caught my eye for two reasons:

1. This book documents the success story of a small business who's healthy and eco-friendly business practices is the main readon for its prosperity

2. It documents a product that I have grown to love over the years, The Clif Bar.

If you are interested in learning how grow your business WITHOUT worrying about the economic bottom line, I would definitly recommend this book. Though containing some business theory and accounting mumbo-jumbo, it is still light and jovial enough to take on vacation with you or being considered a "light read".

NAMjA's Rating=======3 points (Rating based on a scale of 1-5, 5 being the best)

Jews & Blacks: Book Review

Jews & Blacks: A Dialogue on Race, Religion, and Culture in America, by Michael Lerner and Cornel West chronicle the similarities of and differences in the struggles that both Jews and African-Americans have faced here in the United States.

Chapter by chapter, these two academic leaders in their perspective societies take on specific issues that have been of concern in both societies and give their unique and collective perspective of the societal concern. In addition to introductions of the two intellectuals, some of the issues covered in this book include (but not limited to) Black and Jewish Nationalism, Jewish Racism/Black Anti-Semitism, and economic conflicts hindering/helping the two societies.

As an African-American, I have always known the struggles of the Jewish in the United States have paralleled those of Blacks, but this book gives me a greater perspective of the similarities and differences in the two society’s struggle for equality and inclusion.

This is not light reading and I would not take it if I was going on vacation, but you are giving a speech on either two societies, I would definitely use this as a reference.