Cincy Chic Shout Out

 

Kareem Simpson; Co-owner, Marketing guru of Cincy Staycate: With the increased interest in Downtown Cincinnati and Over-the-Rhine, we thought that we would help people find the "off the beaten track" approach to experiencing the aforementioned. What we do is take the blinders off of visitor’s mainstream tunnel vision and reintroduce (or introduce) them to the real culture in our backyard by offering discounted, celebrity level, Cincinnati travel packages that start with a one night stay in a 4-star hotel and can range up to an entire seven day get-away. These types of packages are just right for that special occasion or an entire week long vacation.

Read the entire piece here.

The Writing Lives On

OK fans, "Chronicles" did not get funded, but the story does not end there (no pun intended). I am still moving forward with self publishing the book and in the process of going over the final edits. Since I was not successful with kickstarter, I am still in need of an editor, so if anyone out there in social media land knows a good editor, and you think they would be interested in helping me to bring this book to reality, please send them my way. Thanks so much for all who belive in my books message!

You can still follow the progress on fb too.

Time is Ticking Away...

I only have a few more hours to get this project funded through kickstarter.

Can you help? Click here.

This book is a series of three "chronicles". There are three fiction "chronicles" all depicting the struggles that some gay African American men face or have faced living here in America.

I have had some trouble in editing and publishing the book because of the subject matter. In many cases publishers / editors have had difficulties dealing with the aforementioned subject matter because it deals with African American male homosexuality coupled with inter-racial relationships.

What complicates things is that this book transcends generations; depicting inter-racial homosexuality during the late 1800's as well as in present time.

Please take a look at the kickstarter project and if you believe in this messege, don't hesitate to donate.

Thank you so much in advance!

Cincinnati: A Place For Visitors Too!

With the assistance of the non-profit organization 3CDC, Cincinnati's famed Fountain Square has; for the past few summers, the luxury of being programmed with activities such as Salsa dancing and moving night, giving a reason for many suburbanites and out-of-towners to venture in to the city.

The organization has taken this winning recipe and transplanted it in the city's newest attraction Washington Park. Originally a graveyard, this park sits just east of the city's historic Music Hall. The park has recently undergone a multi-million dollar renovation; officially opening to the public just after the Fourth of July this past summer.

And what makes this match up that much more unique is that most if not all of the music was provided by local or regional artists.

Another great park is that there is something for everyone; anything from R&B and Hip-Hop on Fridays, to Bluegrass music on Wednesday and everything in-between. Over-the-Rhine has graciously made an appearance, celebrating its namesake, along with a very unorthodox but welcomed joint performance of the Cincinnati Ballet, Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, and the city's may Festival chorus and the Cincinnati Opera.

Not only is all of the aforementioned going on, but the park has implemented a great interactive Classical Music Walk of Fame project in cooperation with the American Classical Music Hall of Fame and InfoTrust. This lets visitors of the park to use their mobile device to play their choice of classical music pieces via the sound system of Washington Park.

To complement the aforementioned, Downtown Cincinnati will be opening its first casino in Spring of 2013. With most casinos, the design is conducive of keeping its patron's inside; offering them buffet, cocktails and not providing the benefit of having window or clocks located inside. Some are even designed where you have to walk through the slot machines to get to the bar.

Cincinnati's Horseshoe Casino is planning on turning this old fashioned way of gaming on its head. Because the 2009 ballot issue to bring casino gaming to the State of Ohio was extremely specific in the placement of its casino's naturally Cincinnati wanted to make sure that its downtown location for its casino was contributed positively to its resurging downtown night life.

Management at Cincinnati's Casino has promised to continue in the neighborhoods effort to create a livable community by committing to an urban design that will invert the traditional concept of Casino entertainment. Multiple entrances and a transparent exterior will be just a couple of the innovative inclusions along with the development's restaurants which will be accessible from the outside.

What it boils down to is that downtown Cincinnati is not the boring old city of the past and is not following in the old adage of Mark Twain; living twenty-five years behind the rest of the world. It is a great place to visit. There are many local business in Cincinnati which can plan a customized vacation when you want to visit, based on your interests. StayCate (www.cincystaycate.com) is one of those businesses. The next time that you are planning a trip to Cincinnati, make sure you contact them first!

I'm Back and I'm Proud!

The time is finally here!

I know that I have been abscent from this blog for a good while, but good things have been happening.

A new job that I love.

A new and brighter outlook on life.

And most importantly, I am almost completed with my book!

"Chronicles of a Boy Misunderstood" is a series of three "chronicles". There are three fiction "chronicles" all depicting the struggles that some gay African American men face or have faced living here in America.

 have had some trouble in editing and publishing the book because of the subject matter. In many cases publishers / editors have had difficulties dealing with the aforementioned subject matter because it deals with African American male homosexuality coupled with inter0racial relationships.

What complicates things is that this book transcends generations; depicting inter-racial homosexuality during the late 1800's as well as in present time.

I am currently attenpting to get this project is funded through KickStarter and if funded I will have the freedom of hiring an established editor and continue the self publishing of this piece so that I will not be persuaded to change the societal and historic relevance of the piece which makes it unique.

Take a look at the video that I have posted for the piece and if you believe in its messege, please donate to make sure that this project becomes a reality.

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 :)

Being A Triple Threat

Published on Associated Content on Feb 6, 2011 - Read article here

Generations have been generalized for the past few decades. There were the Baby-Boomers of the 1950's and the hippie generation of the 1970's; more recently, generation has been given a much simpler moniker, Gen-X and Gen-Y. Have we really gotten so lazy as Americans that we have to shorten the names in which we label things down to simply a letter? But I digress.

Harkin back to the olden days when the founding fathers of the United States of America were dutiful enough to bring into existence the Declaration of Independence, stating its emphatic separation from the evil English and their outlandish ways; declaring its vow to forge forward as a land where all citizens would be able to enjoy the fruits of their own labors, giving all who settle here in the United States the ability to live freely, enjoy liberty and pursue happiness without any equivocation. What if they were just as lazy as we are today, The Declaration of Independence would be nothing more than a few sentences saying "You are free to do as you want; just as long as you don't hurt no one else."

In some ways, brevity, for the sake of being quick is not always the best thing to have; which is why I am calling for the return of elongated titles. Being simply called Black is not cutting it anymore. The term African-American, though had taken awhile to become en-vouge, should stand for something again. Calling a gay person a fag or homo seems to be such a shortened term...don't insult members of the aforementioned by degrading their name. At least don't insult yourself by seeming dim-whitted or slow, if you really want to degrade them by showing how smart you are, you would call them "homosexuals" or better yet "a member of the GLBT community (for those who had to ride the short bus in grade school back in the 1970's and 1980's GLBT means Gay/Lesbian/Bi-Sexual/Transgendered).

Today I call for the term "triple threat" to have a brand new meaning. Our society has come to know a person with this term to be talented in acting, singing and dancing or a dynamo in three different sports. Not this inference. I call for the term to be used to describe, African American homosexual youth.

For many different reason's American youth have been ostracized and sometimes misunderstood or generations, mostly for their in-experience and dimwittedness, but also for their fervor. A recent example could be found in the way in which American youth rejected the lifestyles of their parents during the 1960's and 1970's.

Another term that should be elongated is the term Black to describe African American. African Americans have gone through a litany of horrifying trails through out American history. And we have gone through too much to be relegated to just a one word description. Not to discriminate, gays and lesbians need not to be left out of the mix either. Why should they just be called gay. Homosexual men should be called gay and their female counterpart are respectively deemed as lesbians.

Gay and lesbian issues, which have held an underlying presence in American culture for decades, have been recently pushed to the forefront due to debate on legislation pertaining to giving same sex couples the right to be married in the eyes of the Federal Government and about gay and lesbian soldiers being able to serve openly in the US Armed Forces. Though this segment of the population is less discernable than the previous two, their rights or no less important.

Never Too Far Away...

I know that I have said this in the past, but it has been soooooo long since I have written on this thing. I am surprised that most of you have not been checking the obits to check to see if a handsome Black gay guy was found lying in the gutters of Over-the-Rhine. No that was not me, but over the past I have been hard at work and you will see a resurgence of the Cincinnati NAMjA in the months to come.

One of the things which has been taking most of my time is re revamping of my personal consulting business, BookMark Online. Not only have I redesigned the website, but I managed to know out the first quarterly email newsletter. You gotta love MailChimp!

Due to all this hard work, both at my daytime job and my moon-lighting gig, I will be taking a little siesta in about a week or two. Not sure where I am going or how I will get there, but I will be taking 7 days to catch up on my writing. More on that to come. And I suspect there will be a few good blog posts to come out of that little adventure.

In running with the fashion of living downtown, I have usurped driving my car to work and opted to taking public transportation. Not only does it give me more time in the morning to catch up on my ZZZZ’s as I ride in to work, but at times it becomes my mobile office….and everyone loves to have a mobile office don’t they?

Not only have my transportation habits changed, but a 24hr gym has opend a few blocks away…my dreams have come true! No more driving 5 miles to the gym out in the suburbs or trying to beat the be-withching hour of the YMCA.

Needless to say the world of Downtown Cincinnati is changing and I plan to be a larger part of that change!

Back In Da Habit Again

Over the past few months I have definitly been lacking on my posts.

Mostly because I threw myself into a number of projects.

In the past week, there have been some starteling life changes that have forced me to reorganize my priorities and focus on personal and professional projects which have been on my Bucket List for quite some years now.

One of them being documenting the life of a Dowtown Cincinnati dweller in the midts of a complete urban make over.

The good news for those who follow this blog is that you will again get an insight of what is happening in Downtown Cincinnati that you would not otherwise read about from other traditional media.

Yeah there are other blogs that give their perspective on the change, but I feel that my take on things will come from a more organic place and show the real possiblities of the area both from a resident, a lover of urban design and as a gay African American man.

If there are questions that you want answerwed about area, feel free to drop you a line and I will do my best to give an unbiased answer.

Otherwise, I will continue to enjoy my cup of coffee from Coffee Emporium while reading the New York Times.

Taking Some Time For Me

Has it really been this long since I have blogged?

I guess that’s not a bad thing. Over the past several months, I had thrown myself into community initiatives and am now taking a little time for myself.

If you are one of the diligent readers of the sparsely commented-on blog, you know that I have a few different on-going life projects that I have been plugging away at over the past few years. After making my 2011 New Year Resolution, I vowed to finally take most of them off of my plate, and so far had done a pretty good job.

Now I am ready to make the final push to get it all completed, and the “it” that I am spaking of is finally completely at least one of the novels which I have been writing for the past 10 years. I was thinking about taking some time from work and taking some sort of self inflicted writing sabaticle, combining it with a mini-vacation; some place that I have been dying to go, but never seem to quite have to time do get away and do so.

Here are my top few choices:

Montreal, Canada - I have been to the gay Mecca once before and fell in love with its European appeal. Not only was I able to speak French without crossing any major ocean, but I was also able to use my Korean on a regular basis….who knew? There are a few beds & breakfasts there that would be perfect to stay, while completing my novel, and without breaking the bank. Toronto may be another place to look in to as well.

Barcelona, Spain – Never been, but I have a good friend that lives in this city and visits here in Cincinnati a few times a year. Most recently, he was here visiting family during the week of St. Patrick’s Day and emphatically kept taunting me with a free place to stay if I were able to flip the bill to make it across the Ocean. Bad thing is, I do not speak Spanish and never really enjoyed visiting a county which I was not fluent in the language. Spain still tops my list though.

The Netherlands - Similar circumstances as Spain, but I am sure that it would be a lot cheaper once I got there. In this county, I have two different set of friends who live in cities about 20mins from one another (by train…so cool) I would have inexpensive places to stay in two different great European cities.

Of course there are great hideaways here in the States, and even more here in Ohio, but even though Cincinnati is my love, the city is disappointing me right now. I may get over it once I take a little hiatus, but the sore spot that is sticking in my side is the amount of opposition to the city’s street car. I am sick and tired of living in such a conservative city, where even proven economic stimuli is considered too radical….but I digress…this post is about where I will be taking my next sabbatical.

I am sure that there will be more places meander on and off of the list as I do my research, but I would love to hear your thoughts about the cities that I have named so far.

Quote O'The Week

"I've always enjoyed going back to Cincinnati. When it's one of the places youv'e played, as a coach you say, 'I hope I can go back.' I was elated. It'a a good feeling to coach where you've played." - Billy Thatcher (Cincinnati Reds)

Take Back Your Mink

I have to take back what I said a few posts ago about my little brother.

I wrote that I was so proud of him staying in school and playing basketing ball for a privet college in Ohio.

As you know, I have my own business where I create resumes and cover letters for those who are otherwise challenged at doing so.

Just last week I get a text from him asking if I could create a resume for him. The first thing I think is great...he is being proactive in looking for a part-time job during the off season of basketball.

In the next text he dropped the bomb on me that he is no longer in school and is now back home.

He claims that his father (we have different dad's by the way) stopped paying for tuition.

To me there seems to be more to the story...I will let you know more soon!

What I'm Reading Now

by Paul Shipton

Gay Travel in Columbus, Ohio...Where to Eat, Stay and Party

For gay men, travel in the United Stated for gay men could be a bit daunting. Ever since the horrific events that took place at Stonewall in the mid seventies gay and lesbian issues have been brought to the forefront of the American consciousness.

Even today, gay marriage and other rights of gays and lesbians are being challenged in major political races across the country. Since Stonewall, gays and lesbians have made it a point to nurture and create communities that caters to their needs and wants. Most major cities have gone so far as to establish gay communities to help flounder this, Montreal being one of those cities which has created the largest gay district in North America.

The mid western cities littered though out the United States are starting to follow suit. Columbus, Ohio has a flourishing gay area and here are some places that gays and lesbians traveling to Columbus must see during their stay.

Read the entire article here.

I would love to hear from my readers if anything has changed...

Review of Another Gay Movie

Another Gay Movie, directed by Todd Stephens (and also the one who wrote the screenplay) and starring Michael Carbonaro, follows the line of Scary Movie films by spoofing, American Pie. This time, as the title leads you to beleive, it takes on a decidedly homosexual theme and does so by incorporating scences from other gay-themed films.

Read the rest of the article here.