Obama's Speech

"A More Perfect Union"
Remarks of Senator Barack Obama
Constitution Center
Tuesday, March 18th, 2008
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

As Prepared for Delivery

"We the people, in order to form a more perfect union."

Two hundred and twenty one years ago, in a hall that still stands across the street, a group of men gathered and, with these simple words, launched America's improbable experiment in democracy. Farmers and scholars; statesmen and patriots who had traveled across an ocean to escape tyranny and persecution finally made real their declaration of independence at a Philadelphia convention that lasted through the spring of 1787.

The document they produced was eventually signed but ultimately unfinished. It was stained by this nation's original sin of slavery, a question that divided the colonies and brought the convention to a stalemate until the founders chose to allow the slave trade to continue for at least twenty more years, and to leave any final resolution to future generations.

Of course, the answer to the slavery question was already embedded within our Constitution – a Constitution that had at is very core the ideal of equal citizenship under the law; a Constitution that promised its people liberty, and justice, and a union that could be and should be perfected over time.

And yet words on a parchment would not be enough to deliver slaves from bondage, or provide men and women of every color and creed their full rights and obligations as citizens of the United States. What would be needed were Americans in successive generations who were willing to do their part – through protests and struggle, on the streets and in the courts, through a civil war and civil disobedience and always at great risk - to narrow that gap between the promise of our ideals and the reality of their time.

This was one of the tasks we set forth at the beginning of this campaign – to continue the long march of those who came before us, a march for a more just, more equal, more free, more caring and more prosperous America. I chose to run for the presidency at this moment in history because I believe deeply that we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together – unless we perfect our union by understanding that we may have different stories, but we hold common hopes; that we may not look the same and we may not have come from the same place, but we all want to move in the same direction – towards a better future for of children and our grandchildren.

This belief comes from my unyielding faith in the decency and generosity of the American people. But it also comes from my own American story.

I am the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas. I was raised with the help of a white grandfather who survived a Depression to serve in Patton's Army during World War II and a white grandmother who worked on a bomber assembly line at Fort Leavenworth while he was overseas. I've gone to some of the best schools in America and lived in one of the world's poorest nations. I am married to a black American who carries within her the blood of slaves and slaveowners – an inheritance we pass on to our two precious daughters. I have brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, uncles and cousins, of every race and every hue, scattered across three continents, and for as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on Earth is my story even possible.

It's a story that hasn't made me the most conventional candidate. But it is a story that has seared into my genetic makeup the idea that this nation is more than the sum of its parts – that out of many, we are truly one.

Throughout the first year of this campaign, against all predictions to the contrary, we saw how hungry the American people were for this message of unity. Despite the temptation to view my candidacy through a purely racial lens, we won commanding victories in states with some of the whitest populations in the country. In South Carolina, where the Confederate Flag still flies, we built a powerful coalition of African Americans and white Americans.

This is not to say that race has not been an issue in the campaign. At various stages in the campaign, some commentators have deemed me either "too black" or "not black enough." We saw racial tensions bubble to the surface during the week before the South Carolina primary. The press has scoured every exit poll for the latest evidence of racial polarization, not just in terms of white and black, but black and brown as well.

And yet, it has only been in the last couple of weeks that the discussion of race in this campaign has taken a particularly divisive turn.

On one end of the spectrum, we've heard the implication that my candidacy is somehow an exercise in affirmative action; that it's based solely on the desire of wide-eyed liberals to purchase racial reconciliation on the cheap. On the other end, we've heard my former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, use incendiary language to express views that have the potential not only to widen the racial divide, but views that denigrate both the greatness and the goodness of our nation; that rightly offend white and black alike.

I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy. For some, nagging questions remain. Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely – just as I'm sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed.

But the remarks that have caused this recent firestorm weren't simply controversial. They weren't simply a religious leader's effort to speak out against perceived injustice. Instead, they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country – a view that sees white racism as endemic, and that elevates what is wrong with America above all that we know is right with America; a view that sees the conflicts in the Middle East as rooted primarily in the actions of stalwart allies like Israel, instead of emanating from the perverse and hateful ideologies of radical Islam.

As such, Reverend Wright's comments were not only wrong but divisive, divisive at a time when we need unity; racially charged at a time when we need to come together to solve a set of monumental problems – two wars, a terrorist threat, a falling economy, a chronic health care crisis and potentially devastating climate change; problems that are neither black or white or Latino or Asian, but rather problems that confront us all.

Given my background, my politics, and my professed values and ideals, there will no doubt be those for whom my statements of condemnation are not enough. Why associate myself with Reverend Wright in the first place, they may ask? Why not join another church? And I confess that if all that I knew of Reverend Wright were the snippets of those sermons that have run in an endless loop on the television and You Tube, or if Trinity United Church of Christ conformed to the caricatures being peddled by some commentators, there is no doubt that I would react in much the same way

But the truth is, that isn't all that I know of the man. The man I met more than twenty years ago is a man who helped introduce me to my Christian faith, a man who spoke to me about our obligations to love one another; to care for the sick and lift up the poor. He is a man who served his country as a U.S. Marine; who has studied and lectured at some of the finest universities and seminaries in the country, and who for over thirty years led a church that serves the community by doing God's work here on Earth – by housing the homeless, ministering to the needy, providing day care services and scholarships and prison ministries, and reaching out to those suffering from HIV/AIDS.

In my first book, Dreams From My Father, I described the experience of my first service at Trinity:

"People began to shout, to rise from their seats and clap and cry out, a forceful wind carrying the reverend's voice up into the rafters.And in that single note – hope! – I heard something else; at the foot of that cross, inside the thousands of churches across the city, I imagined the stories of ordinary black people merging with the stories of David and Goliath, Moses and Pharaoh, the Christians in the lion's den, Ezekiel's field of dry bones. Those stories – of survival, and freedom, and hope – became our story, my story; the blood that had spilled was our blood, the tears our tears; until this black church, on this bright day, seemed once more a vessel carrying the story of a people into future generations and into a larger world. Our trials and triumphs became at once unique and universal, black and more than black; in chronicling our journey, the stories and songs gave us a means to reclaim memories tha t we didn't need to feel shame aboutmemories that all people might study and cherish – and with which we could start to rebuild."

That has been my experience at Trinity. Like other predominantly black churches across the country, Trinity embodies the black community in its entirety – the doctor and the welfare mom, the model student and the former gang-banger. Like other black churches, Trinity's services are full of raucous laughter and sometimes bawdy humor. They are full of dancing, clapping, screaming and shouting that may seem jarring to the untrained ear. The church contains in full the kindness and cruelty, the fierce intelligence and the shocking ignorance, the struggles and successes, the love and yes, the bitterness and bias that make up the black experience in America.

And this helps explain, perhaps, my relationship with Reverend Wright. As imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me. He strengthened my faith, officiated my wedding, and baptized my children. Not once in my conversations with him have I heard him talk about any ethnic group in derogatory terms, or treat whites with whom he interacted with anything but courtesy and respect. He contains within him the contradictions – the good and the bad – of the community that he has served diligently for so many years.

I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother – a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.

These people are a part of me. And they are a part of America, this country that I love.

Some will see this as an attempt to justify or excuse comments that are simply inexcusable. I can assure you it is not. I suppose the politically safe thing would be to move on from this episode and just hope that it fades into the woodwork. We can dismiss Reverend Wright as a crank or a demagogue, just as some have dismissed Geraldine Ferraro, in the aftermath of her recent statements, as harboring some deep-seated racial bias.

But race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now. We would be making the same mistake that Reverend Wright made in his offending sermons about America – to simplify and stereotype and amplify the negative to the point that it distorts reality.

The fact is that the comments that have been made and the issues that have surfaced over the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country that we've never really worked through – a part of our union that we have yet to perfect. And if we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve challenges like health care, or education, or the need to find good jobs for every American.

Understanding this reality requires a reminder of how we arrived at this point. As William Faulkner once wrote, "The past isn't dead and buried. In fact, it isn't even past." We do not need to recite here the history of racial injustice in this country. But we do need to remind ourselves that so many of the disparities that exist in the African-American community today can be directly traced to inequalities passed on from an earlier generation that suffered under the brutal legacy of slavery and Jim Crow.

Segregated schools were, and are, inferior schools; we still haven't fixed them, fifty years after Brown v. Board of Education, and the inferior education they provided, then and now, helps explain the pervasive achievement gap between today's black and white students.

Legalized discrimination - where blacks were prevented, often through violence, from owning property, or loans were not granted to African-American business owners, or black homeowners could not access FHA mortgages, or blacks were excluded from unions, or the police force, or fire departments – meant that black families could not amass any meaningful wealth to bequeath to future generations. That history helps explain the wealth and income gap between black and white, and the concentrated pockets of poverty that persists in so many of today's urban and rural communities.

A lack of economic opportunity among black men, and the shame and frustration that came from not being able to provide for one's family, contributed to the erosion of black families – a problem that welfare policies for many years may have worsened. And the lack of basic services in so many urban black neighborhoods – parks for kids to play in, police walking the beat, regular garbage pick-up and building code enforcement – all helped create a cycle of violence, blight and neglect that continue to haunt us.

This is the reality in which Reverend Wright and other African-Americans of his generation grew up. They came of age in the late fifties and early sixties, a time when segregation was still the law of the land and opportunity was systematically constricted. What's remarkable is not how many failed in the face of discrimination, but rather how many men and women overcame the odds; how many were able to make a way out of no way for those like me who would come after them.

But for all those who scratched and clawed their way to get a piece of the American Dream, there were many who didn't make it – those who were ultimately defeated, in one way or another, by discrimination. That legacy of defeat was passed on to future generations – those young men and increasingly young women who we see standing on street corners or languishing in our prisons, without hope or prospects for the future. Even for those blacks who did make it, questions of race, and racism, continue to define their worldview in fundamental ways. For the men and women of Reverend Wright's generation, the memories of humiliation and doubt and fear have not gone away; nor has the anger and the bitterness of those years. That anger may not get expressed in public, in front of white co-workers or white friends. But it does find voice in the barbershop or around the kitchen table. At times, that anger is exploited by politicia ns, to gin up votes along racial lines, or to make up for a politician's own failings.

And occasionally it finds voice in the church on Sunday morning, in the pulpit and in the pews. The fact that so many people are surprised to hear that anger in some of Reverend Wright's sermons simply reminds us of the old truism that the most segregated hour in American life occurs on Sunday morning. That anger is not always productive; indeed, all too often it distracts attention from solving real problems; it keeps us from squarely facing our own complicity in our condition, and prevents the African-American community from forging the alliances it needs to bring about real change. But the anger is real; it is powerful; and to simply wish it away, to condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to widen the chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races.

In fact, a similar anger exists within segments of the white community. Most working- and middle-class white Americans don't feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race. Their experience is the immigrant experience – as far as they're concerned, no one's handed them anything, they've built it from scratch. They've worked hard all their lives, many times only to see their jobs shipped overseas or their pension dumped after a lifetime of labor. They are anxious about their futures, and feel their dreams slipping away; in an era of stagnant wages and global competition, opportunity comes to be seen as a zero sum game, in which your dreams come at my expense. So when they are told to bus their children to a school across town; when they hear that an African American is getting an advantage in landing a good job or a spot in a good college because of an injustice that they themselves never committ ed; when they're told that their fears about crime in urban neighborhoods are somehow prejudiced, resentment builds over time.

Like the anger within the black community, these resentments aren't always expressed in polite company. But they have helped shape the political landscape for at least a generation. Anger over welfare and affirmative action helped forge the Reagan Coalition. Politicians routinely exploited fears of crime for their own electoral ends. Talk show hosts and conservative commentators built entire careers unmasking bogus claims of racism while dismissing legitimate discussions of racial injustice and inequality as mere political correctness or reverse racism.

Just as black anger often proved counterproductive, so have these white resentments distracted attention from the real culprits of the middle class squeeze – a corporate culture rife with inside dealing, questionable accounting practices, and short-term greed; a Washington dominated by lobbyists and special interests; economic policies that favor the few over the many. And yet, to wish away the resentments of white Americans, to label them as misguided or even racist, without recognizing they are grounded in legitimate concerns – this too widens the racial divide, and blocks the path to understanding.

This is where we are right now. It's a racial stalemate we've been stuck in for years. Contrary to the claims of some of my critics, black and white, I have never been so naïve as to believe that we can get beyond our racial divisions in a single election cycle, or with a single candidacy – particularly a candidacy as imperfect as my own.

But I have asserted a firm conviction – a conviction rooted in my faith in God and my faith in the American people – that working together we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds, and that in fact we have no choice is we are to continue on the path of a more perfect union.

For the African-American community, that path means embracing the burdens of our past without becoming victims of our past. It means continuing to insist on a full measure of justice in every aspect of American life. But it also means binding our particular grievances – for better health care, and better schools, and better jobs - to the larger aspirations of all Americans -- the white woman struggling to break the glass ceiling, the white man whose been laid off, the immigrant trying to feed his family. And it means taking full responsibility for own lives – by demanding more from our fathers, and spending more time with our children, and reading to them, and teaching them that while they may face challenges and discrimination in their own lives, they must never succumb to despair or cynicism; they must always believe that they can write their own destiny.

Ironically, this quintessentially American – and yes, conservative – notion of self-help found frequent expression in Reverend Wright's sermons. But what my former pastor too often failed to understand is that embarking on a program of self-help also requires a belief that society can change.

The profound mistake of Reverend Wright's sermons is not that he spoke about racism in our society. It's that he spoke as if our society was static; as if no progress has been made; as if this country – a country that has made it possible for one of his own members to run for the highest office in the land and build a coalition of white and black; Latino and Asian, rich and poor, young and old -- is still irrevocably bound to a tragic past. But what we know -- what we have seen – is that America can change. That is true genius of this nation. What we have already achieved gives us hope – the audacity to hope – for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.

In the white community, the path to a more perfect union means acknowledging that what ails the African-American community does not just exist in the minds of black people; that the legacy of discrimination - and current incidents of discrimination, while less overt than in the past - are real and must be addressed. Not just with words, but with deeds – by investing in our schools and our communities; by enforcing our civil rights laws and ensuring fairness in our criminal justice system; by providing this generation with ladders of opportunity that were unavailable for previous generations. It requires all Americans to realize that your dreams do not have to come at the expense of my dreams; that investing in the health, welfare, and education of black and brown and white children will ultimately help all of America prosper.

In the end, then, what is called for is nothing more, and nothing less, than what all the world's great religions demand – that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. Let us be our brother's keeper, Scripture tells us. Let us be our sister's keeper. Let us find that common stake we all have in one another, and let our politics reflect that spirit as well.

For we have a choice in this country. We can accept a politics that breeds division, and conflict, and cynicism. We can tackle race only as spectacle – as we did in the OJ trial – or in the wake of tragedy, as we did in the aftermath of Katrina - or as fodder for the nightly news. We can play Reverend Wright's sermons on every channel, every day and talk about them from now until the election, and make the only question in this campaign whether or not the American people think that I somehow believe or sympathize with his most offensive words. We can pounce on some gaffe by a Hillary supporter as evidence that she's playing the race card, or we can speculate on whether white men will all flock to John McCain in the general election regardless of his policies.

We can do that.

But if we do, I can tell you that in the next election, we'll be talking about some other distraction. And then another one. And then another one. And nothing will change.

That is one option. Or, at this moment, in this election, we can come together and say, "Not this time." This time we want to talk about the crumbling schools that are stealing the future of black children and white children and Asian children and Hispanic children and Native American children. This time we want to reject the cynicism that tells us that these kids can't learn; that those kids who don't look like us are somebody else's problem. The children of America are not those kids, they are our kids, and we will not let them fall behind in a 21st century economy. Not this time.

This time we want to talk about how the lines in the Emergency Room are filled with whites and blacks and Hispanics who do not have health care; who don't have the power on their own to overcome the special interests in Washington, but who can take them on if we do it together.

This time we want to talk about the shuttered mills that once provided a decent life for men and women of every race, and the homes for sale that once belonged to Americans from every religion, every region, every walk of life. This time we want to talk about the fact that the real problem is not that someone who doesn't look like you might take your job; it's that the corporation you work for will ship it overseas for nothing more than a profit.

This time we want to talk about the men and women of every color and creed who serve together, and fight together, and bleed together under the same proud flag. We want to talk about how to bring them home from a war that never should've been authorized and never should've been waged, and we want to talk about how we'll show our patriotism by caring for them, and their families, and giving them the benefits they have earned.

I would not be running for President if I didn't believe with all my heart that this is what the vast majority of Americans want for this country. This union may never be perfect, but generation after generation has shown that it can always be perfected. And today, whenever I find myself feeling doubtful or cynical about this possibility, what gives me the most hope is the next generation – the young people whose attitudes and beliefs and openness to change have already made history in this election.

There is one story in particularly that I'd like to leave you with today – a story I told when I had the great honor of speaking on Dr. King's birthday at his home church, Ebenezer Baptist, in Atlanta.

There is a young, twenty-three year old white woman named Ashley Baia who organized for our campaign in Florence, South Carolina. She had been working to organize a mostly African-American community since the beginning of this campaign, and one day she was at a roundtable discussion where everyone went around telling their story and why they were there.

And Ashley said that when she was nine years old, her mother got cancer. And because she had to miss days of work, she was let go and lost her health care. They had to file for bankruptcy, and that's when Ashley decided that she had to do something to help her mom.

She knew that food was one of their most expensive costs, and so Ashley convinced her mother that what she really liked and really wanted to eat more than anything else was mustard and relish sandwiches. Because that was the cheapest way to eat.

She did this for a year until her mom got better, and she told everyone at the roundtable that the reason she joined our campaign was so that she could help the millions of other children in the country who want and need to help their parents too.

Now Ashley might have made a different choice. Perhaps somebody told her along the way that the source of her mother's problems were blacks who were on welfare and too lazy to work, or Hispanics who were coming into the country illegally. But she didn't. She sought out allies in her fight against injustice.

Anyway, Ashley finishes her story and then goes around the room and asks everyone else why they're supporting the campaign. They all have different stories and reasons. Many bring up a specific issue. And finally they come to this elderly black man who's been sitting there quietly the entire time. And Ashley asks him why he's there. And he does not bring up a specific issue. He does not say health care or the economy. He does not say education or the war. He does not say that he was there because of Barack Obama. He simply says to everyone in the room, "I am here because of Ashley."

"I'm here because of Ashley." By itself, that single moment of recognition between that young white girl and that old black man is not enough. It is not enough to give health care to the sick, or jobs to the jobless, or education to our children.

But it is where we start. It is where our union grows stronger. And as so many generations have come to realize over the course of the two-hundred and twenty one years since a band of patriots signed that document in Philadelphia, that is where the perfection begins.

I See Scary Black People...

So Reverend Jeremiah Wright preaches from the pulpit that 9/11 happens because American foreign policy has blowback and the American media has a fit. Funny, but none of them had the introspection to note that this is the same message Malcolm X said over forty years ago, when he made his famous "chickens coming home to roost" statement after the assassination of John F. Kennedy. That got Malcolm X a suspension from the Nation of Islam and lead to his ultimate death.

But instead, the media focused on how Reverend Wright "scared" white people. Well maybe if white people went to African American churches, they'd know how black people truly feel about this country and the policies that affect our community. It's so much easier to talk about crack cocaine laws in the abstract, but when you go into the black community, you get raw anger. When you talk to African Americans and see who gets bombed via American missiles, you can't help to notice that people with melanin get bombed on. And when you talk to African Americans about who in this world are expendable, and who get ignored, you can't help but notice that Darfur and Rwanda are on that list. But Kosovo isn't. Northern Ireland, isn't.

Barack Obama has to do what he has to do in order to remain a viable candidate. Bill and Hillary Clinton have done everything they can to make him the "black candidate" and we all know that if Americans wake up and recognize that this qualified, right and impressive man is just as black as the people they try to avoid, then they won't vote for him. And that's why I'll never, ever, in any kind of weather, vote for Hillary if she happens to backroom this nomination. In fact, I'll be in the front of the line of those who decide to abstain from this election. Yes, I would much rather have a McCain election win than have my vote taken for granted. I don't believe in the whole bigger picture being a Dem is better than a Repub. The bigger picture is that my vote and constituency must be valued. If you don't value it, then I don't value you. So yes, sometimes you cut off your nose to spite both your face and body. And if you think black folks were scary before, watch when nine out of ten Democratic voting black folks stay home in November.

Saturday Night Live...

Why am I not surprised that a show which doesn't have an African American actor who can portray Barack Obama (and didn't look for one during the strike)would suddenly take Hillary Clinton's side? Saturday Night Live hasn't mattered in years, but it does annoy me.

What I'm working on:

Halfway through a rewrite of The Bestsellers.

That's it. For those who've lost count, this is rewrite number 12 since March 2007. I wrote this originally in my boy Tim Albaugh's 434 class. We'll see if this version is better. I'm about tired of it and want to move on after it's done.

Back from the dead...

Finally, the flu has left my body. I'm still taking it easy, but for the most part I feel fine. I lost six pounds in five days. Wow.

Anyway, I'll get back to writing in the next couple of days.

The Flu..

Is kicking my ass. I mean, realy kicking my ass. I feel like I'm bleeding from my eyes. I ache from head to toe and my head is stuffed up. This is definitely the worst flu I've had in years. GRRRR

I feel crappy...

It's official, Langston has given me the flu. My head feels like a little man is banging a mallet in it.

Chuck E. Cheese...

My son had a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese, but we think that he's coming down with the flu. He was sluggish and then hot when we got home, so I hope we weren't Typhoid Mary for the kids who came. I still can't believe that my son is nine years old. Where did the time go?

My book proposal is in the mail to my agent. That feels good because it's been more than a year and months since my last book proposal, so it feels pretty good to get back on that horse. Next up, I complete my novel SLAVERYLAND. I'm more than halfway there and this story is more plotted out than any other novel I've written. Completely different and unique. And my editor is intrigued by it. So I'm going to knock this out, if I can stop playing Facebook poker during my writing hours. I'm finding myself looking at three Kings at midnight instead of my manuscript. Gotta change that.

So that's on my plate. Also, I meet with my boys about my script tomorrow morning. I'm ready to get all of these writing projects done so I can move on to others.

Finally...

Finally, my next book proposal is done. I absolutely hate doing book proposals, but they make you really think about what your book is going to be about. What makes them difficult for me is that I tend to come up with the general idea for the book, but proposal makes you sit down and get into the weeds in terms of details. You're constantly proving and disproving to yourself that there's a book in your idea or just a really long magazine article.

For this book proposal, I realized after almost finishing a few months ago, that my proposal was much too narrow for a book. It took some serious contemplation about what the book was ultimately about and whether or not it was important enough to be a book. I finally reached that point. Now, I'm going to get some really nice paper, print it out and then send it to my agent. He'll look at it and tell me he gets it or not. If he does get it, he'll point out the strengths and weaknesses. I'll probably have to do some adjusting, but after that, it gets shopped. But for now, I'm just happy to be done.

Close...

Ah, I'm almost finished with my latest book proposal. I've changed the title from JACKBOOTS & MONKEY CALLS to THE UNWASHED MASSES. The main bulk is finished and all I need to do is finish all of the table of contents, the marketing etc. I'm determined to finish that today and then send it off the first thing on Monday to my agent.

After that, I will knock out the final chapters of SLAVERYLAND. Kensington Books hired a new director of marketing and I'm absolutely ecstatic. She GETS it and after nearly ten years at the publishing house, I think this is going to be a new era. For the first time, I actually have confidence in my next books not needing a giant push from me to get them into the right hands. She's going to be particularly valuable for my DREADED BEAUTICIAN series.

The Hollywood writers strike is almost over and not a minute too soon. Every writer I know, including those of us who just graduated from film school, are chomping at the bit because no one has been able to do anything. It's not that we're going to go out there and immediately sell a script, but you want that possibility to be open and not closed.

I've put down my scripts for the minute as I finished my unfinished novels/book proposals. For some reason, I was pretty blocked in terms of focusing on them. My evenings were being spent actually reading (!) instead of writing. Hopefully, my main writing projects will be done by the end of the month and then I'll turn back to scripts.

BTW, something is happening to Money Shot. I don't know what because I haven't done any marketing, but my Amazon numbers have been really spiking. That's good because I've only had one out of five books not make back its advance (THE WAYS OF BLACK FOLKS) and the sooner you make back your advance, the fatter your bi-annual royalty checks. I like fatter royalty checks.

Just back from the Midwest...

Well, I just got back from the Midwest. I had to do a presentation for Iconoculture in Chicago, and then I headed out to Minneapolis. Chicago turned out to be pretty warm compared to the previous week. It was about twenty degrees. I got in about midnight and then decided to save the company a few dollars by taking the EL. That took an hour, so I didn't get to bed until around two in the morning, with a ten thirty appointment. But no worries, the presentation went off without a hitch.

Our company meeting in Minneapolis was pretty good. With the wind chill, it was forty below zero, but it was a dry cold. It was good seeing everyone and I did a mean version of the Commodores "Brick House" during our karaoke night.

Back to the crib. I still have some work to do for the company, so I will be doing some tonight.

No change on the rest of my writing. I know, it's nine o'clock right now, so I should be writing, but I think I'll just rewatch the Obama/Clinton debate. Obama's going to win this Super Tuesday deal, they just don't even know.

Part of the change up...

Instead of my normal 9pm to 1am writing period, I decided to get an early start and got up at 6am this morning and wrote about two thousand words on Slaveryland. And that was by noon. Not bad. I think I'll run some errands, got take my suit coat to the cleaners to get pressed, and then write some more. Feels pretty good.

Catching up...

Okay, been concentrating very much on the 9-5. We have our company meeting in Minneapolis coming next week and I have a presentation to give in Chicago. Plus, I'm in training to take over more responsibility at work. So busy, busy, busy.

Since the New Year, I've been decidedly unproductive when it comes to my writing. That probably explains why I have lagged on the blog. But I'm about to knuckle down and get somethings done.

I've always bragged that I wrote five books lying on the couch, and I think it's time to change up. My three white boards containing my writing objectives haven't been looked at in three weeks. It just ain't working, Esther, rock and roll.

I know I used to drone on about getting in shape, but I'm convinced that as I've gotten out of shape, my writing has gotten less sharp. Don't know if I can prove it, but I know I need to get in shape this year. A lot of things are happening and I need to be at my peak performance.

Okay, on to my writing. Writing the umpteenth draft of The Bestsellers. My boys Ben and Aram from UCLA are giving notes and they're good. Problem is that I'm writing it one line at a time. Right now, I'm on page 63 of the latest version and I think I want to get to page 75 by the end of the night. I'm going to stop grinding as much as I used to. Terrible on the sleep patterns, and basically makes me feel crappy.

Next on the docket is Slaveryland, my next novel. I did a bit more work on it, so I'm in around 42,000 words. I think I'm going to go for about five thousand words per week. A nice steady rate. This means I should be done with Slaveryland around the middle of March. More or less.

My Jackboots and Monkey Calls proposal needs to be sent to Manie. He'll vet it and I kind of expect that he'll see problems with it. It's pretty much written, but it still seems to be vague. And I know it. But I'll take a look at it this weekend and read it again. Boy do I hate book proposals. They're a pain in the ass.

Lastly, I'm pecking out The Dreaded Beautician. Not too bad. So far, I've got a lot of dreaded, but not too much beautician. I need to do a bit more research on the lives of black beauticians before I feel comfortable with my character. It's crucial that her profession influence her violent actions.

That's pretty much it. The writers strike looks like it'll be settled in a month or so. So this town will be back in business, which is good for everyone.

My son needed to learn a poem, so I taught him Langston Hughes' A Dream Deferred. He learned it in about an hour. Memorized. Last year, I taught him Invictus and he learned it in a snap. Just a smart kid.

So that's it. Look for fairly regular blog entries.

Will get back to regular posting soon...

Don't despair. I'll be posting regularly very soon.

BET Bob smears Obama...

Obama attacked by 'Big Bobcat'

by Frank James

The Big Bobcat tried to get his claws into Sen. Barack Obama today. The question is, did he draw blood?

The New York Times's political blog, The Caucus, is reporting that Robert Johnson, the billionaire founder of Black Entertainment Television, or BET, and owner of the National Basketball Association's Charlotte Bobcats, was campaigning with Sen. Hillary Clinton in South Carolina when he criticized Obama.

It was there that, as Katharine Seelye reports, Johnson made what appeared to be an allusion to Obama's use of illegal drugs as a young man.

It was Johnson's way of defending the New York senator and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, from accusations from the Obama camp and beyond that some recent Clinton comments were dismissive of both Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Obama.

At a rally here for Mrs. Clinton at Columbia College, Mr. Johnson was defending recent comments that Mrs. Clinton made regarding Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. She did not mean to take any credit away from him, Mr. Johnson said, when she said that it took President Johnson to sign the civil rights legislation he fought for.

Dr. King had led a "moral crusade," Mr. Johnson said, but such crusades have to be "written into law."

"That is the way the legislative process works in this nation and that takes political leadership," he said. "That's all Hillary was saying."

He then added: "And to me, as an African-American, I am frankly insulted that the Obama campaign would imply that we are so stupid that we would think Hillary and Bill Clinton, who have been deeply and emotionally involved in black issues since Barack Obama was doing something in the neighborhood - and I won't say what he was doing, but he said it in the book - when they have been involved."

Moments later, he added: "That kind of campaign behavior does not resonate with me, for a guy who says, 'I want to be a reasonable, likable, Sidney Poitier 'Guess Who's Coming to Dinner.' And I'm thinking, I'm thinking to myself, this ain't a movie, Sidney. This is real life.

Johnson has since tried to make his comments seem more benign, saying he was talking merely of Obama's time as a community organizer and that anyone who thinks he was alluding to anything else (read drug use) is "irresponsible and incorrect."

So he wants us to believe the invidious comparison he was making contrasting the Clintons to Obama was to say that Obama was a community organizer when the Clintons were advancing civil-rights? To borrow a phrase from Obama, that really does seem like the audacity of hope on Johnson's part.

Johnson certainly has a right to issue a "clarifying" statement. But the public also has a right to be dubious, to believe that Johnson was indeed making an allusion to Obama's self-admitted use of pot and cocaine as a young man.

Assuming that that's what Johnson, a lawyer by training who knows how to use language, meant to do is interesting on a few levels.

Johnson made his fortune through a cable channel known in black America for showing so many rump-shaking music videos (videos with scantily clad women shaking their derrieres in the camera) that many people over the years have come to apply the term "bootylicious" to the genre of videos his channel showed.

Furthermore, many of those bootylicious hip-hop videos shown by his channel featured young male rappers whose subjects tended to run the very narrow gamut of guns, drugs, cars and women. (Did I mention drugs?)

Watch long enough and you'd likely see a "gangsta" light up a blunt, a marijuana stogie. This was the fare many black kids across America grew up on as they watched Mr. Johnson's channel.

For that reason, even though Johnson became that rarest of rare creatures, a black billionaire after he sold his channel to Viacom, there's ambivalence about him among many black Americans who viewed much of the programming on his channel as adding to many of black America's problems.

So casting even veiled aspersions on Obama over his youthful use of drugs will no doubt make many people who know Johnson's story and BET say "Now, wait one cotton-picking, bootylicious minute."

As far as Sidney Poitier is concerned, how many young people in a college audience would get that reference to a 1967 movie?

Not only that; did Obama really ever say he wanted to be Poitier? Don't remember that one.

Wonder what Rep. James Clyburn's going to make of Johnson's comments? As many people know by now the lawmaker, the highest ranking African-American in the House leadership and a very influential man in South Carolina, didn't take kindly to the Clinton comments and now he's got a whole set of new ones to ponder, along with whether he should remain neutral or show his unhappiness with the Clinton's by endorsing Obama.

One thing that makes Johnson's comments more interesting in connection with Clyburn is that Johnson, the chief executive officer of RLJ Cos.,. has generously contributed to Clyburn, as he has to other members of the Congressional Black Caucus. For that reason, it would be a stunning thing indeed if Clyburn rebuked Johnson the way he has the Clintons.

As Obama Rises, Old Guard Civil Rights Leaders Scowl

As Obama Rises, Old Guard Civil Rights Leaders Scowl

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/11/AR2008011102000.html?sub=AR


By William Jelani Cobb
Sunday, January 13, 2008; B01

There was a time in the not-too-distant past when "black president" was synonymous with "president of black America." That was the office to which Jesse Jackson appointed himself in the 1970s -- resigned to the fact that the actual presidency was out of reach. In 2003, Chris Rock wrote and directed "Head of State," a film about the first black man to win the presidency. (It was a comedy.) And in the ultimate concession, some African Americans have attempted to bestow the title of black president upon Bill Clinton -- a white man.

In the wake of his strong showing in the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary, Sen. Barack Obama has already permanently changed the meaning of that term. It is no longer an oxymoron or a quixotic in-joke. And this, perhaps more than anything else, explains his tortured relationship with black civil rights

leaders.

The most amazing thing about the 2008 presidential race is not that a black man is a bona fide contender, but the lukewarm response he has received from the luminaries whose sacrifices made this run possible. With the notable exception of Joseph Lowry, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference veteran who gave a stirring invocation at Obama's Atlanta campaign rally in June and subsequently endorsed him, Obama has been running without much support from many of the most recognizable black figures in the political landscape.

That's because, positioned as he is between the black boomers and the hip-hop generation, Obama is indebted, but not beholden, to the civil rights gerontocracy. A successful Obama candidacy would simultaneously represent a huge leap forward for black America and the death knell for the reign of the civil rights-era leadership -- or at least the illusion of their influence.

The most recent example of the old guard's apparent aversion to Obama was Andrew Young's febrile YouTube ramblings about Bill Clinton being "every bit as black as Barack Obama" and his armchair speculation that Clinton had probably bedded more black women during his lifetime than the senator from Illinois -- as if racial identity could be transmitted like an STD. This could be dismissed as a random instance of a politician speaking out of turn were it not part of an ongoing pattern.

Last spring, Al Sharpton cautioned Obama "not to take the black vote for granted." Presumably he meant that the senator had not won over the supposed gatekeepers of the black electorate. Asked why he had not endorsed Obama, Sharpton replied that he would "not be cajoled or intimidated by any candidate." More recently Sharpton claimed on his radio show that the candidates' recent attention to issues of civil rights was a product of pressure from him.

Although Jackson is not entirely unfamiliar with the kind of thing that's happening to Obama -- Coretta Scott King endorsed Walter Mondale over him in 1984 -- he also got into the act. He criticized Obama for not championing the " Jena Six" cause -- the case of six young black men in Louisiana charged with beating a white classmate -- vigorously enough. After Obama's Iowa victory, Jackson demanded that the senator bolster "hope with substance."

Taken as a conglomerate, Jackson, Young, Sharpton and Georgia Rep. John Lewis represent a sort of civil rights old boy network -- a black boy network -- that has parlayed its dated activist credentials into cash and jobs. Jackson, a two-time presidential candidate, has become a CNN host; Young was mayor of Atlanta and sits on numerous corporate boards; and Lewis is essentially representative-for-life of the 5th Congressional District in Georgia. Sharpton is younger than the others but a peer in spirit.

To the extent that the term "leader" is applicable, these four men likely represent the interests of Democratic Party insiders more than those of the black community. Both Young and Lewis have endorsed Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton ; Sharpton and Jackson have acted ambivalent, alternately mouthing niceties about Obama and criticizing his stances on black issues.

It may be that, because they doubt that he can actually win, the civil rights leaders are holding Obama at arm's length in an attempt to build their houses on what looks to be the firmer ground. And there are certainly patronage benefits should Clinton win. She owes black pols, starting with Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.), who first suggested that the party endorse her for a New York Senate seat. Rangel has also lined up behind Clinton.

There is far more to politics -- even racial politics -- than skin color. Still it is counterintuitive to think that Lewis, whose political career began when he was bludgeoned in Selma, Ala., fighting for black voting rights, is witnessing the rise of the first viable black presidential candidate and yet opts to support a white machine politician.

One of the most telling aspects of Young's YouTube commentary was his statement that he'd called his political connections in Chicago about Obama and been told "they don't know him." There are certainly reasons not to support Obama, but not having friends in common isn't one of them. Young went on to announce that Obama was too young and should wait until 2016 -- a curious statement considering that Young was apprenticed to Martin Luther King Jr., who was 26 when he launched the Montgomery bus boycotts that eventually toppled segregation.

The cynical braying about Obama's prospects has not been confined to the liberal civil rights quarters of black America. The conservative commentator Shelby Steele argued in his book "A Bound Man" that Obama isn't perceived as "black" enough to win over African American voters.

In fact, Obama strategists have been struggling to convince black voters that Obama can actually win over white voters and be a viable candidate. Many blacks want to support a winner and hope that Obama will become more attractive to white voters, not less.

Part of this disconnect is a generational divide, one that is apparent in Jackson's own household. Following Jackson's criticism of Obama in the Chicago Sun-Times, his son, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., wrote a passionate defense of Obama's activist

credentials.

As polls show increasing black support for Obama, Jackson, Sharpton and Young begin to look like a once-wealthy family that has lost its fortune but has to keep spending to maintain appearances. Obama's tepid early showing among blacks in the polls had more to do with name recognition and concerns about his viability as a candidate than with Jackson or Sharpton withholding their endorsement.

Ignoring Sharpton or Jackson is not the same thing as taking the black vote for granted. It is a reasonable calculation that neither of them can deliver many votes and certainly not enough to offset the number of white votes that their approval could lose Obama. Jackson and Sharpton might be holding out for a better deal in exchange for their support, but with Oprah Winfrey and Chris Rock among Obama's list of supporters, they have little to bargain with.

If Obama makes a strong showing in the South Carolina primary -- the first with a substantial number of black voters -- it will become apparent that the black boy network has begun bouncing checks.

The irony is that for generations of black "firsts," the prerequisite for entering an institution was proving that you were just like the establishment that ran it. (Think of Jackie Robinson's approach to the major leagues, or the host of "articulate Negro" roles in Sidney Poitier's body of work.)

Obama has been vastly successful by doing just the opposite: masterfully positioning himself as an outsider. In the process, he's opened the door even wider for black outsiders. Too bad his predecessors refuse to help push him the rest of the way inside.

Jelani9@aol.com

William Jelani Cobb is an associate professor of history at Spelman College and the author of "The Devil & Dave Chappelle and Other Essays."


--
Now Available from NYU Press: To The Break of Dawn: A Freestyle on the Hip Hop Aesthetic

www.nyupress.org/books/To_the_Break_of_Dawn-products_id-4863.html

In a rut...

For the past week, I've been in a rut. I fleshed out the second act for The Bestsellers, but when I started writing it, I didn't like how it was going. Some of the scenes felt too long, too flabby and I needed to get in even later and leave earlier. So I decided to stop working on it for a week. I don't know if that helped, but I'm aiming to get it done by this weekend.

It's on now...

Barack wins Iowa. Historic.

More movies...

Watched Sherrybaby...unrewarding. Akeelah and the Bee...schmaltzy but uplifting. Art School Confidential...boring. Music & Lyrics...cheesy. The Good Shepherd...liked it.

More movies added to my viewing library...

Watched A History of Violence. Enjoyed it much. Then I watched The Cooler. Pretty good, not great.

Sent the rewritten first act of The Bestsellers to my two boys to see how they liked it. They liked it. So now, I've been carefully, carefully plotting out the second act. I've done an excellent job in the first act making these characters very human. We know what motivates them. Now I need to make sure I understand where the story is going, the motivations of the characters, the choices they're making and how these choices will create conflict. And at the same time, be funny. To be funny, I need to remember that cruelty is humor.

Me be a writing...

So I'm re-reading my novel Slaveryland, which I began before film school and I have to say that I really enjoy it. I'm about three weeks away from finishing it, but I can easily see it as a script at some point. Speaking of scripts, I'm rewriting The Bestsellers yet again. Got some notes, some interest and I think this version will be tighter, more focused and even closer to being a film. Right now, I've finished the first act.

I have to travel at the end of January to our company meeting in Minneapolis. This year, I need to remember to bring some real winter clothing. Last year, I froze my butt off.

Also, I'm rolling with the mantra that 2008 is the year. Everything comes together. BTW, beginning in January, I'm going to go vegetarian every other month. Writing has made me out of shape and I just need to get back in shape. Plus, I actually tried going vegetarian way back and loved how I felt. So January, March, May, etc. are veggie months. The goal: 195lbs and more energy by the end of 2008.

Script...

For me, the one difference in writing a script in film school versus out of film school is that I don't particularly feel the need to hurry up and finish the script. For me, it's much more important to make sure the story is tight, the scenes make sense and the characters are well defined. I found that when I was writing a script every ten weeks, I pumped out the script, but everything was really two dimensional. I'm taking my time on description, feeling my way between being spare and getting a good, rich description on paper. Right now, I'm writing A WOMAN OF GOD and almost finished with the first act. That's cool, but what's different about today is that I'm looking forward to the second act. I think like a lot of young screenwriters, my second acts tend to need the most work. But I'm getting better because I'm taking my time.

The WGA Strike...

I have a funny feeling that this WGA strike is going to last a long time, at least until June. I'm not a member of the WGA yet, but the strike affects me also. It pretty much means that I couldn't sell a script if I wanted to. It would be the equivalent to crossing a picket line and one of the things protecting writers in Hollywood, and what doesn't protect authors, is the power of the union.

But I have been struck by the weirdness within the WGA. My thought is that when you go on strike, you go on strike. You stay together and don't air your beefs in public. But there are some websites where the writers are airing their dirty laundry, and it can't help with the unity within the union. Now, I'm not opposed to speaking out during a strike, but concerns when negotiating a contract, should be done behind closed doors. But alas, with blogs and the Internet allows ego and the need for a voice to reign over the long view. Anyway, I'd like them to get the best deal possible as soon as possible. But my gut says, don't hold my breath.

Back...Sorry for the lack of posts

Sorry for the hiatus, but I was busy writing. Right now, I'm back to writing The Dreaded Beautician. It looks like my evening hours will produce about three thousand words per night. And since we're about to head into the Xmas season, my productivity will get a LOT better.

As for scripts, I'm working on my A WOMAN OF GOD script. This is a slowly but surely script as I swear that I know this script more than I've ever known a script. But I want to take my time.

Been watching a lot of movies. Half Nelson which I half liked. An old school Bad and Beautiful with Kirk Douglas. Elizabethtown, which I really did like, but I think others hated. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Enjoyable, but like cotton candy, not very memorable or long lasting. Tried to watch The Departed, but I was so damn bored that I turned it off. And I have not an iota of curiosity about how that film finished. I think Martin received an Oscar for that in the same way Pacino got an Oscar for Scent of a Woman.

Anyway, I'm still not under any type of deadline, so I'm free to write as much as I like and when I like. So I shall write a lot in the next three weeks.

Clearing out book stock...

Hey all,

I'm clearing out the books I have in stock. If you want to buy a copy of my books, I'll take a PayPal payment and send it to you. I have the following in stock:

1. Hardcover Divine Nine: $33 plus $5 shipping
2. Paperback Skin Game: $14 plus $5 shipping
3. Paperback Money Shot: $16 plus $5 shipping

Email me at alpha1906@gmail.com and I'll PayPal you a request for payment.

Sorry for the wait...

Nothing much to report. Been writing. That's all.

Computer was down...

My computer was down all week, so I'm terribly behind on work. I'll get a post up before I take off for Thanksgiving.

Changing my writing schedule...

Since my wife was on pregnancy bedrest back in '99, I've written from around 9pm until around 3am. The house was quiet and it seemed like the best time to write with a clear brain. No more.

I realized that over the past year, I would stay up and write, but I wasn't productive. I was becoming not tired, but exhausted by keeping that schedule. But I was reluctant to change it because it was a habit. But then, I said too hell with it. I'm going to bed at a normal hour and wake up at 5am. And guess what, it's worked like a charm. I feel more refreshed and I'm getting more stuff done. So the next script/book/etc. will be written in normal hours like a normal person.

Doing a polish...

I'm now working on a script polish for a producer. It should take me around a week or so to finish.

Why I'll never enter another script contest...

In the past two years, I've only entered two script contests. One was at UCLA and the other was the Hollywood Black Film Festival. My UCLA script won honorable mention. Solid. But my script for the HBFF didn't place. Honestly, I'd even forgotten I'd entered the thing because the festival ended about three months ago. But I received the evaluation of my script yesterday. Here's my beef. No one identified the criteria which the script would be judged before submitting. If I'd known, I wouldn't have submitted. Here's the first criteria: Does the script portray a positive portrayal of black life or characters. Out of ten, my script received a two. Why? Because (and I want to yell this like University of Colorado football coach Dan Hawkins) it's a GANGSTER script, brother! The people in the script are nasty, mean and psychotic. Of course they're not positive role models! Who knew this could even be a criteria for judging a script? The ONE note I received talked about how the script "reveled" in violence. Well...uh...yeah. Unfortunately, some folks believe that every black script or film has to be a "positive" depiction of black life. I believe that there needs to be a plurality of scripts depicting black life. But that's an argument for another day.

My 434 teacher Dave Johnson said something at the end of my first year that was the ding dong moment in my film school experience. He said that he had a friend who won every contest and had yet to sell a script. That doesn't mean one can't sell a script after having won a contest, but if you want to be a professional, you should begin to focus on the business versus the contest route asap. I sent my Yardies script in during my last quarter before graduating and I think it's a nice end point for my film school experience. Maybe (after a dozen or so rewrites) someone in Hollywood will like a good, bloody gangster flick that has a bit of violence. They've made a few in the past.

Sick...

I could feel the flu coming on Sunday and it hit today. I REALLY hit today. Yesterday, I tried to sleep it off, but to no avail. Today, I had waves of nausea that hammered me, along with that eye ache that only comes from the flu. We had a meeting with a client last week who said he had the flu, and I'm sure I caught it there. Anyway, I shut it down early today and I'm hoping things go better tomorrow. I have a bunch of work to do.

Please Vote For Me...

If you get a chance, check out a documentary called Please Vote For Me. It's an absolutely mesmerizing, hilarious and fascinating look at three Chinese third graders who are running for class monitor. Now, you first have to understand that these kids don't know what the heck "democracy" and "voting" means at first, but when they learn, you won't be able to take your eyes away from the screen. You'll be amazed at how fast they learn oppositional research, negative campaigning, debating skills and lobbying (ie bribes). And you'll also wonder if our school system is falling behind when you listen to these eight year olds. You can find it on PBS' Independent Lens series.

So...

I'm back home from Miami. I got a lot of rest today and that was good. On the writing front, I'm writing my novel THE DREADED BEAUTICIAN (I know, it sounds absolutely crazy, but I swear that it works)right now to the sounds of a This American Life podcast. I've made the decision to concentrate on two writing projects over the next month and two only. I will write the script MISS IRRELEVANT and TDB. Nothing else. I'm trying to de-stress and clarifying my writing goals is the first thing on the list. So, it's 2:10am and I'm writing the first draft of TDB. Talk to you tomorrow because I have a feeling I'll be blogging more often in the next two weeks.

Lost Writing Week...

I didn't really get a lot of writing done this week because of the Miami trip. I leave here this afternoon and get back home late tonight, but for some reason, I was jet lagged for the greater part of the week. And I'm never jet lagged. But combining my bad sleep habits, writing until 3am and no chance for naps meant that I was thrashed at around 10:30p last night.

But my company conference is mad cool and I really do enjoy my colleagues. They're damn smart and every time I go to one of their presentations, I want to start a company. We only meet twice a year, unless you are in the Minneapolis headquarters where about 60% of our employees live, so it's like a family reunion each and every time we get together.

And I can see why our clients like coming. We had chef Anthony Bourdain as our speaker today and Ze Frank yesterday. Both were entertaining as hell and media immersed which provided an added benefit for me.

On the pitching front, after three hit or misses, we're finally going to pitch our shows to BET and A. Smith on the 23rd. I need to find out if another show idea I sent my boy David at William Morris has caught the fancy of this icon I want to attach to it. The icon's agent had been out of the office until the 12th, so we'll see.

That's all until this weekend. In my never ending waffle on what fiction project I'll write next, I finally made a decision. And my agent liked it. Remember, I write about stuff I like, while understanding that there are horses for courses. I think my readership will like this new novel. And by the way, I'm going to have to get in the ass of my publishers because they're supposed to have a publicity plan for my books, but they've been lagging. So it's time for the caustic call.

Gray skies in Miami...

I just landed in Miami for my company's annual Iconosphere conference. For those of you who don't know, for the past year, I've been a senior director for Iconoculture. Iconoculture ID's consumer trends, and we're damn good at what we do. Iconosphere is a conference where we invite clients to hear our latest insights and I must say that I'm always amazed at what I learn. I'm doing a presentation, but I just watched one on eco clothing and it made me want to start a label.

Anyway, the skies are gray, but no hurricane in the offing. I'm on PST time right now, so I might get some writing in before the clients come in tomorrow.

Blood Diamond

Just watched Blood Diamond on HBO, and I swear it made me go into my son's room and thank God he won't have that experience. As a little black boy in this country, I know the terrors he has to navigate, and most of it revolves around the abnormal closeness of death in my community. It's what every black father at his Catholic school and his martial arts school talk about. Getting them through childhood unhurt. My job is to prepare him for those possible experiences and make sure he doesn't fall victim to it. But the pure terror in Sierra Leone is just hard to imagine. When I was in Ghana, I talked to an African American woman who'd lived in Liberia during their civil war, and she was just as calm about the situation. But it's a damn shame that war is such a constant presence on the continent. Away, I'm rambling because I haven't slept.

On a roll...

My son Langston is on a roll. He just got his progress report and everything is outstanding. From religion (no thanks to this lapsed Catholic) to math, he's knocking everything out. And he's also been excelling at his martial arts class. He goes three times a week and this is not some suburban style kids class. This is hardcore inner city martial arts and he's been putting in a great effort. He sparred today and fought some really great matches.

Okay, tonight I'll write a bit on my Black College Days novel. It's 1am and I'm tired, but I'll see if I can write about one thousand words. My chapters tend to be around 3000 words each (I don't know why, I think it goes back to when I wrote feature articles for Rap Sheet and those would be around 3K), so this will finish the first chapter.

Busy Week...

We're prepping for our big confab for Iconoculture, so I've been working on that mostly. Decided to kill some of the dead links on the blog. Also, I have lecture dates and appearances coming up, so I updated those.

Decided to update the progress bars of the scripts and novels I'm working on. You can check out their titles.

I'll write more later.

Second Act...

I was writing the vomit draft, got to the second act and got stuck. And I'm glad I did because my second act was beginning to suck. Like most folks, my first act tends to be well thought out and my second act less so. But the second act is the entree to the first act's appetizer. The second act is the meat of the story and if you don't have a solid second act, really what do you have? So I stopped and reexamined my second act to make the conflicts stronger, more drastic and I think I've made my characters make harder decisions. So even though I have to go back thirty pages, I think it's for the better.

Speaking of meat, I watched Fast Food Nation and I swear, it's made me think twice about eating meat. But the movie itself was a bore to me. It was all over the place trying to tell too many stories.

12:45pm...

I'm continuing to vomit out my script pages. Right now, I'm in the middle of the second act of my sports script. For some reason, I have the Black Dahlia on television. Don't know what that means. Anyway, I'm going to see if I can write ten more pages before going to sleep.

Served nachos at my kid's school last Friday. Fun as hell. The principal learned that I wrote books and so I got the obligatory 'how can I write one' question. But she's so sweet, I'm thinking about offering a basic class on becoming an author, but only if it will kill some of my Catholic school community service hours for the year.

Okay, back to the script.

The Vomit Draft...

The best thing film school did was completely erase the notion that writing a script was simply about getting a draft complete, spell checked, and then sent out to be read. It's almost ridiculous to even think a first draft can be anywhere near ready, but most film school students think in that manner, mainly because of what I call the brilliance factor. If you get into a top film school over other applicants, you like to think of yourself as being pretty brilliant. Well, you ain't. And if you don't know that, you'll send out crap that shouldn't be read by your significant other, not to mention someone who will judge you.

That all said, I hadn't been inspired to write much lately. Yeah, I started work on my book proposal, but that's more drudge work than anything. But then I thought about the very first script I started writing at UCLA. I sat down and thought about the story, adn suddenly it became completely clear. Where two years ago, the plot was so damn complicated that it didn't make sense, now I made it very simple and it works. Now I'm writing what I call, and probably others call, my vomit draft. I'm not worrying about whether things work, I'm just vomiting out scenes and dialogue. After I finish, I see what I have. It's like a crazy man babbling about something and someone transcribing everything being said. Maybe it'll make sense at the end or maybe not. But you have to get it out. So this is my sports script and with a few crucial changes, I think it works. I've written twenty pages and I'm going to keep flowing until I'm done. After that, I'll see if I can use this draft as the basis for my real script.

Money Shot is Pornolicious according to reviewers...

Here's a new review of Money Shot, which is officially in stores on Friday.

From Booklist
Although pornography is pretty mainstream nowadays, there's been little serious popular inquiry into it generally, less into its subgenres. Enter Ross with this investigation of blacks in American porn that, he warns, isn't the "sanitized version" but doesn't aim to titillate, either. Aside from describing the hydraulics of what happens onscreen in pornographic movies featuring black performers, Ross considers the broader implications of race in this form of entertainment. Early on "there weren't a lot of black men doing interracial; interracial was a fetish," says one industry vet, who cites Sean Michaels as one of the first prolific black smut actors. And race cuts differently for porn actors than for porn actresses, as Ross notes and discusses. Vitally augmented for the benefit of neophytes by a handy and lengthy "Porn Dictionary" of such terms as the book's title and fluffer (one may never again casually mention fluffing a pillow), this is essential for thoroughgoing pop-culture collections. Tribby, Mike

Reading other scripts...

In film school, you read a lot of scripts. From other students, from movies that you admire, etc. But I'm not a natural script reader. I have to force myself to read, mainly because I've had to force myself to watch movies. But I've learned to really like movies, and sometimes reading script is fun. Right now, I'm reading a film school buddy's script and it's a delight. For one, I get out of my narcissistic need to work on my own stuff and give back a bit. Anyway, I read the first act and I could see the movie. That still amazes me. The script is written in a professional manner that allows me to imagine the movie. Still nothing like it. Anyway, that little bit of reading has now made me stay awake and get back to work on my latest script. Oh that narcissism.

Note about The Bestsellers...

We got a great note from one of the big time producers looking at The Bestsellers. He liked my writing, which is a blast to read. Not a buy, but not a pass either. We're going to get his notes, adjust the script, and then resubmit it to him.

All dressed up...

Well, the BET pitch meeting was moved not once, but twice yesterday. The 3pm was moved to 5pm, which was then canceled. That was probably the best because I wasn't too thrilled about pitching at 5pm on a Friday. Not many enthusiastic brain cells left in most execs brains by that time. Anyway, we're supposed to pitch in about ten days, but who knows? We might just pitch it somewhere else in that time.

Feel Terrible...

Sorry Tim, but I got up today and felt absolutely terrible. Getting a bit better, but when the kid goes back to school, it's like sickness central. Anyway, writing a bit more on the sports book. Met with Ted Frank from NBC, and man, what a cool guy. Really supportive of African American writers. Money Shot shot up the Amazon rankings for some reason, and at one point was #7 on books about pornography. My mom will be proud. I will be speaking at my alma mater on October 10th as part Berkeley Distinguished Speakers series. That's pretty cool. Maybe Blondie's pizza will give me an honorary slice. Interview for Skin Game on Sunday with a Vancouver, WA radio station. Pitch meeting with BET tomorrow. More later...

BET pitch postponed...

As you know, I'm pitching two shows to BET, and we were supposed to meet last Tuesday. Didn't happen. The exec got pulled out for another meeting, so we meet next week. I know I thought up these shows, but I have to say that they're exactly what BET needs. They're entertaining without being stereotypical or derogatory. Reginald Hudlin has BET moving in the right direction, but they still stub their toes when it comes to some shows. We'll see how they react to my shows.

I know I was supposed to start work on my non-fiction sports book proposal, but I haven't. This weekend, I'm going to knuckle down and knock it out, mainly because the focus of the book, which I can't say now, is continuing to happen over and over, and I know someone else is going to think of writing about it. I hate writing book proposals, and I can't wait until I get to the point where I can simply say I want to write about so and so, and folks just give the okay from there. But that day is not here now, so I need to not only sketch everything out, but also write a sample chapter. Sample chapters are always tricky because you haven't done any interviews. You're writing what you think will be said, just to give the editor a flavor for the book. But I need to get started.

I also need to get back to speed on Slaveryland, but I'm also wondering if I should write another book in the vein of Friends With Benefits/Skin Game. Those books are fun to write, a lot bit naughty, and are popular with black women readers. But they're not my main thrust. However, I believe in horses for courses, and so if my readers like those books, I need to keep the pipeline filled. I have an idea for a novel based on the experiences of some of my mates during our college years. Rich, lonely housewives in the Bay Area used to post summer jobs for young, poor Berkeley students. You'd clear a lot of brush, clean pools, break up concrete (that job sucked) for a few dollars. And sometimes, those housewives couldn't find their robes or clothes in some cases, when bringing you lunch. I think that can be a nice little novel. A little Desperate Housewives ish.

When we attended a wedding last month in the Bay Area, a lot of the women asked me if the characters in Friends With Benefits were based on real life. Nothing is ever exactly real, but I did base one character on a woman who attend the wedding. She has a bit of a freaky past, and it played nicely in the book. But it's not an exact match, so no one could ever point her out.

On the promotion front, I noted earlier that I'm not interested in doing a book tour this year. I hate book tours. They're time consuming, not very effective, and tiring. However, SKIN GAME is on the main page of Doubleday's Black Expressions book club, the nation's largest book club in the country, with about 600,000 members. So that's good. MONEY SHOT comes out later this month, so we'll see what happens there. I need to get my agent to put a fire in the asses of the publicists of Kensington and Thunder's Mouth. I like radio interviews, so we need to get those scheduled.

On the script front, I'm writing an original television pilot script called THE HOLY TRINITY. I'm halfway through, and next week, I meet with my mentor Ted Frank from NBC about it. I've thought about specking a series, but the problem is that I honestly haven't found a television show that I'm truly interested in. At first, I thought about doing a spec for the New Adventure of Old Christine, but after watching three eps, I just couldn't take it. CSI, the same. I think I'm more HBO oriented, so The Holy Trinity is written in that style. I'm going to show it to Ted first, but I'd ultimately like to shop it to HBO. Think Entourage meets the church.

What else? My doc is on hold until a meeting on September 27th. I'm still optimistic, but you just never know. I just finished paying for the biz license for my Afroboho production company. My little play brother MK Asante sent me an email talking about gaining funding for some indie projects, so I think we're going to work together on one script. So thangs are thangs.

The Blog...

Hey all,

I'm thinking about shutting the blog down. One, I'm not sure how many people are actually reading the blog, and second, I'm not sure how interesting my life is to everyone out there. So do me a favor and let me know how often you read the blog. Do you find it interesting, useful, or just something to do? What do you like best and what do you like least? Depending on how many people answer and the answers themselves, I'll make a final decision later this month.

Finally Cooled Down...

Well, it's finally under 100 degrees, and I can think straight. I'm all over the place with my writing, so last week, I tried to figure out some sort of schedule. Unlike my time at UCLA, and the past nine months, I'm not going to keep myself to a hard schedule. I will instead classify my writing projects by their importance to either being sold (typically my novels and non-fiction books) and long term projects (scripts). In that vein, here are my projects (and just assume my regular Iconoculture work).

Books:

Sports non-fiction book proposal: As you may know, I hate writing book proposals, but you must. Right now, I'm sketching out what is to be in the book, and in the next two weeks, I'll start filling in the blanks for the proposal.

Slaveryland: I looked at my notes on Slaveryland, and was very surprised to see that I started this novel over two years ago. My editor is very excited about the completion of this novel, and so I need to sit back down and re-read it, and then complete it. I'm about 50,000 words in, but I remember not being satisfied with where it was going when I stopped. I was getting a bit confused with characters, so I need to go back and revisit them. I think I might just hit the Magic Johnson's Starbucks for a week and concentrate on this story. It's a really good story, and I think I can execute it well if I take my time.

The Dreaded Detective: I'm only about a third into it, and I'm thinking of doing two things with it. I intended on creating a hip hop detective series, which I think would go over well, but I'm also considering writing it as a script. My only issue when it comes to the detective series is that the black male reading market is much, much smaller than the black female reading market. And my fiction slots right into the black female reading market. Spending time on developing that detective market would be a risk, unless my publisher made a specific choice to cross me over. Good luck with that.

Tomorrow...Television and Film scripts...

On second thought...

"Once you stop the run it's going to be pretty much easy," Hefney said. "They can't do too much if we're stopping the run because we know they can only pass then. And we'll have people set up for that." Tennessee Volunteer safety, Johnathan Hefney before the Tennessee versus Cal game. Below is Jahvid "The Jet" Best running over Hefney as he unsuccessfully stops the Cal running game.

I may have said this before...

But it's hotter than three hoes in church in Los Angeles. I mean four in the morning hot. Kick it in your drawls all day hot. I just went to the store and bought the biggest bag of ice possible and now I'm sitting on it. We don't have air conditioning, and for the first time in two years, I'm lamenting selling our house. But I still pat my sweaty back for knowing the ole housing crisis would happen, so I'm not that regretful.

Anyway, my Cal Golden Bears showed Tennessee what West Coast football is all about, and so I'm happy. I love college football more than anything, so this Labor Day weekend has been great, plus Time Warner has the ESPN College Football game plan (which I had back with Directv in the house), so life is good.

But y'all, it's too hot to write a thing. So nothing on that front.

Who in the world did we f*ck over?

Okay, so we took a weekend trip to the Bay Area to go to a wedding. One of my wife's sorors, and one of my play little sisters, got married in a beautiful ceremony. You've never seen two newlyweds more happy. All was well.

We get back, and everything's going fine. Then yesterday, April's driving through the Fox Hills Mall and absolutely barrels into a parking lot pillar. I mean the front end is smashed. She's okay, not a scratch, but shaken. The body shop has the car, and they're about to figure out whether they can fix it. Thank god for State Farm.

Anyway, the running total for car stuff this summer: My Jeep: Window smashed, radio taken, window repaired, iPod stolen at the window repair shop, front window shield smashed at car wash.

April Jeep: Sideswiped while parked, knocking off plastic fender guard, smashed front end.

In eighteen years, we've had nary a scratch on our cars, and now it pours.

On the writing front, the Divine Nine update is now gone and Hallelujah for that. Now I can get back to writing. I'm going to try to stay ahead of my Iconoculture work, just to give myself a bit more time. So that means a few hours on the weekend.

I have a pitch before BET in two weeks. I'm working with a frat brother of mine, and he's an in-house producer at BET. We really, really vibe, and I think we'll work well together.

I'm going to clean up my progress bars, and focus the blog on my writing. The past six months were a cavalcade of projects. Now, I'm free to concentrate on what I want, at my own pace. I need to get my next two books (fiction and non-fiction book proposal) done in the next four weeks, but nothing happens if I don't get them in that fast. I'll take my time.

In the meantime, SKIN GAME is now shipping, and next month, MONEY SHOT will ship. So I'll do a bit of booksignings, but I'm not doing any huge tour. More likely, I'll do a radio tour from home, which I think is more effective anyway. I'll let you know my strat for that.

The Best Meal Ever...

I'm going to make Shrimp Grits tonight, and I have to say it's my favorite meal by far. And the best shrimp and grits I've eaten are at Clemson University's campus restaurant. So good, I had the executive chef send me the recipe so I could make them myself. In my family, we'd say their slap your momma good.

Recipe: Portion size 1-2 people adjust quantity accordingly!

(Add in the following order)
1 oz Olive oil in a pan/ heat until sizzle
1 tsp garlic minced
1 tsp shallots minced
1/4 cup Cajun seasoned Tasso Ham (1/2 inch diced)
1 tsp scallions chopped
1 tbsp diced tomatoes
6-8 shrimp
Sauté until shrimp begins to change color
Deglaze with 1/4 cup sherry
Simmer for 1-2 mins
Add 1/3 cup heavy cream
Simmer the mixture to reduce the sauce
Sauce is ready when it has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon, and it have a slightly shiny appearance

Also, here's the link to my appearance in the Los Angeles Times:

http://tinyurl.com/268ztn

Kajukenbo...

I'm back to Kajukenbo class, and I swear I haven't sweat so much since my mom said Michael Jackson was going to be my babysitter. Seriously, I lost two pounds during the workout. But I feel good and I'll be there three days a week. Going with whole fruits and vegetables, and rolling about 1500 calories a day, which surprisingly is keeping me quite full.

Nothing much else to blog about. Continuing to work on the Divine Nine update, which will be done on Friday. Other than that, pretty calm.

Very Interesting Weekend...

On Friday, I did an interview for this adult internet show run by Vanessa Blue and Kaylani Cream, two subjects in Money Shot. Very interesting, but a pretty good discussion about some of the findings I made studying their industry. They couldn't have been nicer. BTW, want to find incentive to make it to the gym? See yourself on a monitor.

So the next day, 45 minutes on the lifecycle. Felt real good. Today, I took pictures for the LA Times article. I think it will come out on Thursday or Friday in the Weekend Calendar section. I'm one of four people they profiled, and we're on the cover. Hopefully, my pictures aren't Glamour shotish. Cool experience all the way though.

Finished another part of my Divine Nine update, and I''m that much closer to finishing. This week, I'm done.

I was in the weeds with stuff to do at Iconoculture, but I feel better now. Going to the Bay Area for a wedding next weekend, and then after that, COLLEGE FOOTBALL! Oh, Manchester United is f*cking up.

Finishing Update...

Alright, I'm close to finishing my Divine Nine update. And I take a pix for the LA Times article on Sunday. Cool couple of guys from the Times interviewed me on Friday. Oh, as my list of car calamities grow, before the interview I went to one of those self serve car washes at a Shell station. After the car washed, I let the blower dry it off. There's a big rubber thing that hangs over everything, and as you drive through, it rolls over your car. Well, this thing smashed into my windshield and shattered it. What a wonderful start to the weekend.

In the Los Angeles Times...

Hey all,

I've been asked to be in a Los Angeles Times article on things to do in Inglewood and the surrounding areas. That's pretty cool, so I'll let you know when it happens.

Waiting...

The Bestsellers, the clean and corrected version, is now in the hands of a big time producer. We'll see where it goes, but for now, all you can do is wait.

I'm rapidly trying to finish the Divine Nine update this week. Once that's done, I have no deadlines. Looks like I'll be done by the 22nd.

Vegas...

Just got back from Vegas, and I've got to say that I've never been impressed with Vegas. I'm not a gambler, don't really like going to clubs anymore (with their ten dollar Heinekens) and I just don't get a thrill while there. Honestly, as soon as I get there, I want to leave. Maybe I just need to go with a bunch of my boys, get mad drunk, and then see what I think, but I think that was a decade ago. Now, I'd much rather wrestle with my son to start the day.

I'm Back...

Ah, a week vacation. I swear, you can't beat it. The wife's feet are getting better, but I was still Mr. Mom for the week. We have another week of this, and then she's back on her feet and spending cash. Now, to the writing front...

I'm cool with articles for Iconoculture, and the week off has done wonders for me. I was like a computer that needed to be defraged over the past three weeks. My hard drive was slow and stuttering. But now, I'm ready to go.

Ben has sent my The Bestsellers out to a producer, and it's going up the ladder. Story editor first, and now to one of the producers. So far, so good. I'm guess that it was given a second read over the weekend. We're in the waiting to see period. But hey, you've got to get out there some time, so time to see how the script is received.

This week, I MUST finish the Divine Nine update. It's more than two months over due, and I've never been so behind. But I need to get this millstone from around my neck and simply get it done. I have to say, Kensington has been pretty good about this. But time to just roll with it.

Started work on the Woman of God Script, but changed the name. I'm not thinking too much about the script, just writing a first draft to see where it goes.

Also, I decided to work on a one-hour television drama script about the black church. I can see it being on HBO, rather than network television. I'm gonna buy Alex Epstein's Crafty Television book since we didn't do a lot (read, almost nothing) of television writing at UCLA. The pilot I wrote for the USC student was a'right, but definitely not my best work. More like throwing darts at the page and hoping it all tied together. But I like this story and the characters, more than that story. A lot of it harkens back to my grandfather and my grand uncle who both led churches in the 70s. Lots of draaaaaama with them, and I think my modern story will be very interesting.

This week is also pitch week. BET, and then tying up loose ends with TV-One, and then tightening a one-sheet for Arthur Smith's production company. At the end of the week, I'm driving to Vegas to go to the National Association of Black Journalists convention.

The Crips books is on hold. Manie says that my subject has fired a manager, so we're waiting to see how this shakes out. More than likely, if I do write it, it'll start around September, which is cool by me.

For the next few weeks, I need to set up my book signings/Divine Nine lectures, and publicity, for MONEY SHOT and SKIN GAME. Kemp, I haven't forgotten about you. I'll email you tomorrow. I always have the philosophy that your publisher's not going to do anything (not true, but helps get you in the right mindset) so I'm going to do everything to get the word out about the books. Also, I'm going to move from signings at bookstores, so to First Fridays style signings with drinks. Standing behind the podium can be mindnumbing for both the author and readers. I'll be doing one in the Inland Empire and then one in LA in October.

Workout: Did Kajukenbo last week. Damn near passed out. But it was fun as hell, and I'll definitely get in shape this way. BTW, Langston passed his test and moved from white belt to yellow belt. I was sooooo proud. He did a great job. Now he wants to get his orange. I need to step up.

Old School Favorite...

While I like all of the cinematic classics, Raging Bull, The Godfather, etc. I firmly believe that you must remember where you come from. And where I come from, this man was a star. He was the first Kung Fu/rapping/comedian/action star/indie filmmaker, in the world. And watching his movies is like taking a trip through my 1970s LA childhood. Here's a clip to explain who he is, because I couldn't do him justice.

Taking the week off...

Been working for Iconoculture for almost a full year now, and I'm going to take my first vacation. Found my brain slowing down a bit over the past three weeks, and so I thought it was time. Plus, the wifey just had foot surgery on both feet, so she's down and out for about a week or so.

On the writing front, the Crips founder book may be a no go. Complications with the contract means that we might have come to an impasse. Too bad, because I think I could have done a great job with it.

THE BESTSELLERS is finally done. Now, only a polish is required, and then it's time to be sent out.

I'm overdue with my Divine Nine update. Next week will be devoted to getting it done.

Went to my martial arts class on Wednesday and have been sore for three days straight. But if I keep it up, and stick to a sensible food plan, I'll lose ten pounds this month, easy.

Right now, I'm setting up my production company for film and television projects. I've decided against the RudeBoyFilmWorks name (still have it, but not going to use it) for AfroBoHo. I just like the sound of it, plus it describes the general themes of my film and television projects.

Speaking of film and television, I have a pitch meeting with BET. We were supposed to meet today, but got our wires crossed. Looks like Monday is the day. Have to say that the BET LA office is pretty nice, and only five minutes away from me.

My TV-One documentary on black fraternities and sororities has hit a snag, but according to my advisors, it's not something that should prevent the production of the doc, as long as it's crafted right.

Didn't get a sponsorship I wanted for my Fall SKIN GAME/MONEY SHOT book tour. So that's a bummer. However, I'm going to sketch out my pub strategy. One transition is that my Money Shot publisher has been absorbed by the larger main company, Perseus. My editor was laid off, so the publicist has just gotten back to me. From my friend at Vibe, I know that galleys for Money Shot have been sent out, because he read one, but I haven't seen a thing. I received both galleys and real copies of SKIN GAME.

So look for more posts in the coming week. I'll be well rested.

My Weekus Horriblus...

Had a great July 4th and weekend. Check the bank account on that Monday, you know, just too see if checks cleared. Hey...what the hell? Why are there three maximum transactions and a BIG point of purchase transaction from some perfume shop? Ask the wife. Nothing, especially since one of the last transactions is taking place while were both in our house. Sooo,we find out that someone has taken her ATM card, and has tried to ransack our account. Four days worth. Bad start for the week. Change of bank accounts, ten days to get our money back, yada, yada, yada.

Skip to this week. Yesterday, I go outside and find the drivers side window to my Jeep smashed. Glass all over. Stereo? Gone. Smoke coming from my ears. Take the Jeep to the window place, a place I patronize because it's in the hood and I like patronizing hood businesses. Window fixed, go to stereo shop for new sounds. Alpine all ready to go, where's the iPod the tech asks? In the glove compartment, I say. No, it ain't, he says. Go back to the glove compartment, nada. Window guy stole my iPod. Cherry on shit sandwich day. Auto insurance doesn't cover stereo by the way. Renters insurance does, but high deduct.

Just another week in LA...

Writing Fatigue...

I don't know about you, but from time to time, my brain just shuts down. I call it writers fatigue, and I had it for the past couple of days. So, I decided to go to bed early, wake up late, and I feel absolutely refreshed. What's on the menu?

1. Knocked out some really good calls for the job. Have a new senior editor, and he's really sharpened my writing. Getting back to writing with a true voice. Actually made my work a bit easier.

2. Doc issues. I'll talk about that later, but I have a slight problem. But the key to remembers, filmmakers have a nice set of rights too.

3. Divine Nine update continues to trudge on.

4. Gave myself a week off from The Bestsellers, but I'm going to get at it tonight and through the weekend. The key word for my characters: choices. more choices. Also, I changed up a few things with my protagonist, making her go through a divorce while going on the book tour. That should put some pressure on her from all angles.

5. Waiting to do the book on the former Crips member. Slight issue with the contract, but those things happen. Still looking forward to working with him.

Graduation Pix...

Just realized I never posted a pix of graduation. Here you go:

Getting stuff done...

Finished sending out permissions for Divine Nine doc.
Almost done with proposal for Skin Game/Money Shot book tour.
I have Icono work to do before noon tomorrow, and then a ton of stuff for the upcoming week.
Ben has sent me notes for THE BESTSELLERS, but I haven't gotten to them yet. I'll start reading them tomorrow and then make changes either tomorrow night or Monday morning.

Feeling pretty relaxed. Might go skating around UCLA on Monday morning.

Kajukenbo...

Next week, I'm going to join my son and start taking Kajukenbo lessons. For those of you not in the know, Kajukenbo is a mixture of karate, judo/jujitsu, kenpo and Kung Fu/Chinese Boxing. One, I like the diversion. And two, I can use it to get in shape. But three, I've got to make sure I don't get f*ed up. This is real deal martial arts, and broken jaws affects my speaking engagements, so I'm getting the best head gear possible.

On the writing front, I'm close to finishing the Divine Nine update; we're about two weeks away from finishing THE BESTSELLERS, and in a sec, I'll start work on the Batman book. But this week, I've got a lot of Iconoculture to do. I'm going to try to knock it out tomorrow, so I can cruise into the 4th.

Publishers Weekly Review of Money Shot

Money Shot: Wild Days and Lonely Nights Inside the Black Porn Industry
Lawrence C. Ross Jr. Thunder's Mouth, $15.99 paper (304p) ISBN 978-1-56025-913-8

In this intriguing account, Ross offers closeups on the lives and dreams of black porn actors. Combining interviews with personal observations and some theoretical gloss, Ross travels to the San Fernando Valley (center of the porn industry), an Adult Entertainment Expo in Vegas and a swinger's party in Oakland. The African-American niche commands about 10% of the multibillion-dollar porn market, and performers with names like Lexington Steele, Sinnamon Love and Sledge Hammer discuss their schemes to carve out a piece of it (as with the mainstream movie business, many actors hope to produce and direct). Ross gets good interviews and his straightforward prose suits the material: “Just like hog butchers who use every part of the pig 'from the rooter to the tooter,' porn exploits every part of the body to make a profit.” The most graphic and disturbing episode is that of a female performer who prides herself on not doing anal (“I think I'm too cute for that”) but then allows herself to be beaten and humiliated in a scene by white men. There are many subgenres, writes Ross, but “white men overtly degrading black women are some of the most popular.” (Oct.)

Sluggish...

Week one of the old lifestyle change went horribly average. Gained about four pounds, and did not an iota of exercise. Been feeling sluggish all the way around. I've really got to watch that because not being in school means not walking around campus. And that means less exercise each day. SOOOOOO... I've just got to take my ass to the gym at 7am. Do one hour of Lifecycle. After July 4th, I don't have any eating holidays until Thanksgiving, so I have a real chance to drop weight. May even experiment with going veggie for the rest of the summer.

On the writing front, need to finish the Divine Nine update and start the Crips book. Finished the sixth draft of The Bestsellers, and now Ben is reading it. Hopefully it's cool because I think I've done all I can with it. Still needs to be cleaned up, but yikes, I'm at my wits end with it.

Stepping back...

Okay, I made the changes in the first act, and I love them. This is rewrite #5 for THE BESTSELLERS, and man, I really do like my first act. But this second act, you know, where the magic happens, is really fucking with me. So what to do? Plough ahead and hope things work out? Be satisfied with what I have and just hope it works out in the end? Nope, I'm just going to relax. I'm going to spend all night writing Icono articles, and take my mind off of the script. After that, I'm going to think about my characters. I'll listen to music that I think would be appropriate for the film. But most importantly, I'll think about one question: What is the script really about. And by Monday, I will send Ben a script that I like. I'm close, but it's not there yet. I'll get it there.

The Bestsellers...

This week, I'm going to finish the sixth rewrite of THE BESTSELLERS. The idea is to send it to my boy Ben on Wednesday for more notes. After that, I'm going to do something I heard Al Pacino talk about on Larry King. He would have actors read his script and tape it, so he could visualize the film. That's what I'm going to do. Listen for the flaws in dialogue, description, and format. After that, I'll clean up everything, send it to my professor Tim, Ben, and a couple of other people to get a verdict. If they give the okay, then I'm going to send it to two agents who want to read it. I'll let you know what they say.

Weight Loss...for real....

All right, now that school is done, I have no more excuses. Time to get my ass in shape. So I'm going back to the whole change the diet and exercise. Watched Celebrity Fit Club, didn't really follow it this year, and besides deciding that I would kick Dustin Diamond's ass if I were on his team, I looked at Warren G and realized that his pre-weight loss weight and height are approx to me. I'm 6'1 and rolling 222lbs. Only dif is that Warren is two inches taller. So...

I'm going to start on Monday. The goal: lose 32lbs in 90 days, just like Celebrity Fit Club. That will get me to 190lbs, which I haven't seen in nearly a decade. So here we go again: My target weight loss for the next weigh in: 5 lbs.

Ah...

Ah, the cap and gown have been worn. The speeches have been given. The pictures taken. The food and drink eaten (damn good chocolate chip cookies TFT!). And now, I'm done, chilling on my couch, listening to Amy Winehouse's Rehab for the tenth time, and thinking of chilling tomorrow as I split time between watching 24 Hours of LeMans and the US Fucking Too Fucking (Sorry David)Hard Open. I'm done, and boy is my brain happy. Now, I have a ton of writing to get to beginning next week, but suddenly, I have a lot of time.

Today is Graduation Day....

So it's finally here. Graduation day. I can really say that I had a wonderful time at the UCLA film school, and I wouldn't trade it for the world. Okay, maybe for a five picture deal, but that's pretty self-evident. Now, I will drink a lot and try not to bake in the sun.

One down...

Showcase was last night, and I had a great time. It was nice to see my friend David Whelan get read on stage. Like all of my friends, he's a really cool and funny guy. As for the program itself, it wasn't as tight as I remembered it in the past. One, we had a nice turnout, but the place wasn't full, and I seem to remember it being full the past two years. There were some glitches with the video presentations. None of this was big, but they're things that I noticed. Anyway, a great time was had by all. Oh, and I got to talk to Felicia Henderson, the sister who exec prod. and wrote for Soul Food and a bunch of other shows. She's mad cool and has the career I'd like to emulate. I'm going to interview her for The Divine Nine update and hopefully get a word of advice about moving forward.

Speaking of that, I'm working on my paper right now. Hopefully, by the end of the night, I'll be done. After that, the only thing I have left to do is turn in a signature form, pick up my cap and gown, and wait for graduation on Friday.

My weekend will consist of me lying on my ass, watching high speed cars drive around in the 24 Hours of LeMans. Because you know that in my alternative life, I'm an international race car driver who speaks French, appears in movies for five minute cameos that are acclaimed as brilliant, all the while being the most lauded humanitarian in the world.

Or I'm just a writer with another deadline over the horizon.

Wow...

I hope I'm not turning into those once a week bloggers! I've got to start picking it up. So this week...

We were getting the winning and honorable mention scripts to our judges, and I forgot to include the thank you letter. It was right there on my computer desktop, but I forgot to include it. That is a major faux pas, and I'm pissed that I made it. This contest producer job really took way too much of my time, and the last thing I need is an unenjoyable Showcase because I have to deal with angry judges. So I'll call them all on Monday and hopefully they'll be understanding.

This Friday, I took a quick trip to the Berkeley (I was there and back by noon) where I completed a nice order of HoodieTees. We're now going to be in Rasputin's and a bunch of other stores in the Bay. The guy who owns the store is MAD COOL, and I appreciated the order.

As for writing, I'm doing Icono stuff tonight. I have a twenty pager due this week, and I'm going to try to get it done tomorrow. I have the Showcase on Monday night. On Friday, I graduate.

I'm going to continue working on THE BESTSELLERS this week, and hopefully get it tight for a final rewrite during the week of the 17th.

I'm still finishing my DIVINE NINE update, so the faster I do that, the more time I'll have by the end of June.

UPCOMING SUMMER WRITING PROJECTS (in no particular order):

1. Ghostwriting a memoir about a founding Crip gang member
2. Working on a rewrite of SECRETS & LIVES
3. Finishing SLAVERYLAND
4. Working on the TV-ONE doc development deal stuff
5. Finishing new sports book proposal
6. Start a new script.
7. Keep working on THE DREADED DETECTIVE

No grad school means more time for everything. So no worries about overwork. Except for the doc and Secrets & Lives, and the gang book, I'm under no pressing deadlines. So I'm as relaxed as I've been in two years.

Hopefully, I'll post mid week.

The Home Stretch...

I have two Icono calls this week, and a twenty page paper at the end of the week. It's my last paper I'll ever write in school. On June 7th, the school is having an award breakfast, and I'll be there. I have to fly up to the Bay Area to deliver some HoodieTees to a store up there. I'm going through THE BESTSELLERS for another rewrite via the notes I received from Ben, and I'm finishing the Divine Nine update. We have the Screenwriters Showcase on the 11th, and then graduation on the 15th. After that, I will chill for about two weeks, doing nothing. I will reacquaint myself with my golf clubs, which have stared at me for two years. Vacation for at least one whole week.

Time to declutter...

We've lived in this apartment for just under two years, and boy can you start collecting stuff. But now, it's starting to get on my nerve. So I'm going to starting working to declutter. Goodwill donations, tossing other things, etc. are on the agenda.

Finished my rewrite...

I finished part one of my rewrite of THE BESTSELLERS. I started at page one and completely tore it apart. What's funny is that it SO doesn't resemble the first draft I wrote in my 434. When I read that draft, it's almost like I was trying to not make the script work. I had reality show elements, gimmicks like chaining the two protags together, yada yada. All of that was completely unnecessary to the story I wanted to tell, which was two women who learn and grow while on the road.

I've been writing full time since 1995, and I've always been able to recognize a piece of writing that was valuable. Whether it is a magazine article, or a book idea, or something else, I recognize that this is the script that will accomplish post film school goal number one: get representation. Yes, I think this script should be produced, but who knows if someone is interested in my spec. That said, like my boy in Layer Cake says, create a plan and stick to it. My plan is to send this script out on June 18th to two of my contacts. We'll see their reaction.

In the meantime, I'm going to let my brain rest for about a week. Then, I will go back through the second and third acts and clean up formatting, dialogue, mistakes, typos, etc. Then I'll let me brain relax again and then tackle it again.

In the meantime, tonight I'm writing my observation articles for Iconoculture, completing a brief article on Mixed Martial Arts and inner city youth for Icono, and then prepping for a late week advisory call.

Also, I'm completing a very nice sized order for HoodieTees.com. A Berkeley t-shirt store has ordered a bunch of t-shirts and the owner is mad cool. A few more like his and I may be able to fund a film project or two during the summer.

Lastly, I'm going to start my next book proposal, and then complete Divine Nine update. I have a very special and famous person doing the forward to my update, and I can't tell you how grateful I am. She's just the best.

I'm just starting to plot out my fall book tour. It'll be a mix of Divine Nine lectures, Money Shot lectures, and regular book signings. With Skin Game and Money Shot coming out a month a part, I may just wait until October to start my tour. I have our cool Iconosphere convention in Miami, so I have to schedule around that, but with school done, I will have a lot more time.

Ah man...

Michael Jordan used to say that when he was in a rhythm, the basket looked huge and he couldn't miss. Well, I ain't Michael Jordan, but I am in a complete flow with my rewrite of THE BESTSELLERS. For the first time in two years, I know that my script is reading like a film. I'm not hitting plot points just for the hell of plot points, because I know my characters, and the character objectives and actions are driving the story. No other script I've written has flowed like this. I'm on page 62, and I'm quite sure that this script will come in around 110 pages. The last two scripts, I was gutting my scripts TOO much, and losing a lot. I think 110 is the right length.

I think working on the never ending Showcase rested my brain, and allowed the characters to introduce themselves to subconscious. I had enough time to hear their voices, figure out how they'd interact, and why they were in this universe in the first place. So when I sat down to write them, I could look at my first draft and understand where things went to hell.

I'm betting that I get to the end of the second act tonight, and not because I have to, but because I feel like it. And that's a great feeling.

About twenty days til graduation.

Honey's Kettle Fried Chicken...

I grew up in Inglewood, hence the title of this blog. And way back in the day, there was this little fried chicken franchise called Golden Bird. It was a batter fried concept sort of like another chicken shack called Pioneer. But Golden Bird was special because it was black owned, at least that's what my family told. Anyway, Golden Bird has gone the way of the dodo, but there is this guy who used to run one, and now he has opened his own chicken place. It's in Culver City and it's called Honey's Kettle Fried Chicken.

Now, I've had a taste for Golden Bird, so I decided to take a trip to Culver City to try his chicken. Here are a few things to note:

1. When you go to an ethnic restaurant, and you don't see any ethnics, turn around and leave. Seriously. I walked into Honey's and there wasn't a black person in sight. That is not a good sign. It's okay to have a mix of folks, but if you go into a Mexican food restaurant, and Mexicans are buying, you've to think this might be a bit suspect.

2. I look at the menu and I notice something else. The prices. Now I'm sympathetic to black businesses having higher prices, mainly because we pay higher rates, get less financing, etc. But these prices were HIGH. But I bought it anyway.

3. The wait. Now the restaurant looks great, but they were obviously down two staff. That explains why it took twenty minutes to get a three piece. TWENTY MINUTES. It was three piece of chicken. Six minutes per chicken. The chicken was just sitting there, waiting to be placed in the paper basket.

4. Finally, I ordered a peach pie which looked better than it actually was.

The verdict on the chicken? It was good, but not great. Tasted just like Golden Bird, but maybe that was the problem. What my taste buds liked at ten is different than today. Maybe you can't go back home again.

Scores...

I'll announce the Showcase scores this evening, and that's going to be funny. It's always nice to see people happy about their writing. On Monday, I'm going to spend the day visiting all of the judges who helped us. Our showcase judges were absolute troopers.

Now, I can get back to writing. The Divine Nine update is in a month, and I need to finish the page edit for Money Shot. In fact, that's overdue. The Showcase pretty much took me out of my regular work. I'm itching to write.

This week...

Alright, a bunch o' stuff.

1. The Showcase contest is in its death throes. I'm just waiting for the final score sheets which should be in on Wednesday. After that, it's meet with the producers, have them go over the sheets and my inputs, calculate the winners and honorable mentions, and then announce on Thursday or Friday. Did I mention that we're three weeks from graduation?

2. I have to write a paper for my crit studies course. It will be the last paper I ever write in college, so it better be good.

3. Still waiting on my check for my Divine Nine update. The way it looks now, I'll receive my front end check right when the back end is due. C'est la vie.

4. Oh, big news. The imprint Thunder's Mouth, which is publishing my non-fiction Money Shot, is being dissolved by the parent publisher Perseus. On the surface, it doesn't have an affect on my book, since Perseus says that it will publish all of Thunder's Mouth fall books (mine). But I do feel sad that it looks like my editor Anita Diggs will lose her job. I'm not sure if she's going to take another position with the company, so I need to give her a call.

5. Doing a re-write of The Bestsellers. Killed a lot of gimmicky things in the scripts, like a reality show angle, and made it more into a women bonding script. I like it. Been watching Capote and The Devil in... for structure, character development. Writing scripts without vomiting them in a 434 is kind of nice. Your brain relaxes if you know where the story is going, versus having to pound it out as fast as you can.

6. Did I mention that I will sing Hallelujah when the Showcase is over?

7. As for the diet, still the best damn diet on earth. Eating about 1500-1750 calories a day and dropping about two pounds a week without moving an inch. If I could only get to the gym, I would be amazing.

8. Took the wifey and son to Aunt Kizzy's for Mother's Day brunch. Met Lou Gossett, who engaged Langston for a bit of banter. If Lou had been wearing a Fairly Odd Parents hat, Langston would have been excited, but he wasn't. April and I were thrilled, although I wish I would have had the guts to have accompanied him to the Aunt Kizzy buffet, where when the server asked him what he wanted, I would have jump up and said, "Grits DUMMY!"

More later.

Being Contest Producer...

for the UCLA Screenwriters Showcase sucks big time. I have judges on their way to Cannes, dealing with pilots, upfronts, moving offices and turning off their phones, etc. and they all have to be found in order to get their scores. We're a week overdue, and I've been working at this for ten straight days. I can't wait until this is over and done with. Three weeks until graduation.

What's Up...

April and I took Langston to UCLA so that he could learn how to roller skate. Yeah, I know he's eight and normally this would have happened years before, but when you're mostly an urban family living on a street where people like to drive 70 mph in a 35 mph zone, well, you don't tend to take the kid out to skate out there. Plus, for two years I've been doing nothing but writing and then fitting in everyone else in the few down times, so as I rolling into my final four weeks, I'm now getting back to normal. Or what passes for normal for me. Anyway, skating was fun. I got to test out my new inlines, and no one broke any bones. After that was a trip to Farmers Market where Langston and I scarfed down a Po Boy, and April rolled a Johnny Rockets hamburger.

Speaking of food, still loving this diet, but it's time for me to get on the exercise bike. Lost six pounds, and cheated once with some Popeyes fried chicken (and it wasn't good), and so I'm back on the caloric count. As we rolled through the Farmers Market, I felt nice and light, but the storefront reflection still said, get my ass to the gym.

Oh, and last week at Langston's martial arts school, they sparred. Sparring is always the best and watching these kids fight is not only fun, but instructive. For the most part, they don't get hurt, but some really have issues at home that manifests itself in sparring. At the last class, one eight or nine year old decided to roll his eyes at his grandmother, and was taken to task. He found himself on the mat with a kid who was good, but eye rolling kid seemed to be paralyzed by a sense that being wrong wouldn't allow him to fight back. And so he cried while the other kid pounded him. It was really a powerful demonstration about how karma can hold you back when you do wrong. And also, for this kid, it also demonstrated to him that the world doesn't stop pounding you just because you start crying. So you either have to man up or take the ass whipping. Personally, I vote for manning up.

As for writing, I've got a bunch of it. Divine Nine, a paper for my critical studies course, observations, three advisory briefs for work, and more work on the first act of THE BESTSELLERS. Ah, stuff to do.

Lastly, TheYack.com has really started to pick up. Two of my boys, David Whelan and Phil Guidry, are working with me now, so they'll be able to take over some of the things I do for the website. We're going to start doing some Saturday and Sunday programming. After that, we'll expand out.

Meeting with the USC producing student to see what happened with the pilot script I wrote over the past six months.

Manchester United...

are champs. You have to know me to understand how much joy that brings me.

One more thing...

Been on a diet, cutting my caloric intake to around 1500 per day. Let me say this as clearly as possible: THIS IS THE GREATEST DIET EVER. I'm eating more food now than I ever did eating horribly. In two weeks, I've lost six pounds and haven't lifted a finger to exercise. Ya gotta love that. My secret? Watching all of my calories, eating Lean Cuisines, which taste great, and adding fruits and vegetables to my diet. Also, Lipton's diet Peach Ice Tea is the lick, Dasani water, and Breyers Rocky Road ice cream bars at 180 calories per are a God send. Bought some new skates and look to skate around UCLA this weekend. If I don't fall on my ass, I should burn off another 300 cals each time I skate. By graduation, I should be back to my real weight. What a diet!

Schedule...

I just realized that I hadn't been talking about writing for a bit on the blog. That's because I haven't done a bunch. I still have the Divine Nine update to do; Slaveryland to complete; a second draft of my script The Bestsellers to get to my boy Ben; and now I'm waiting to see what happens with a book deal my agent is working on. But so far, I'm just chilling. I did a few observation articles for Icono, and I have an advisory call tomorrow to prep for. BTW, I think I'm going to do all of my articles on Mondays. I'd like to kick it on the weekend, and knocking them out at the start of the week would allow me to focus on writing trends for the company.

So right now, I'm pretty much chilling. I hope that's okay. Five weeks until graduation.

Oh, one last thing. My contest producing gig for the Showcase ends next week. Yoo HOO!

Nobody Knows Nothing...

I was thinking about the fact that I have five more weeks left at UCLA. It was a twenty four large investment that came out of my pocket, and I don't think I could have made a better choice. But as I sit here pondering the second act of a rewrite, I have the feeling that in the end, nobody knows nothing.

When you walk into film school, you tend to feel that you don't know anything, but your brain is ready to take things in. And you do. You take in theories, processes, methods, examples, criticisms, peer reviews, workshops, and suggestions, and hope that you can make something out of all this. And then you think you do, so you feel a bit superior. The tools are in your brain, so you feel like you've got a handle on things. So it's full speed ahead, toward writing that great script. But then, as you work on making things work, you realize that none of all these classes can make that script work. You've got to internalize the tools and then recognize for yourself, the best way to write the best script possible.

That takes a balls and ovaries, and a bunch of self confidence. Part of what makes a good script will be luck, perseverance, skill, more luck, and commitment. And now, five weeks from graduation, with a fresh MFA degree, it's sort of pleasant to know that no matter what, it's still all in my hands despite the fact that nobody knows nothing.