Welcome to Litsy!

I love that this book is a true story. What an awesome presence Mohamad Ali had. I can remember these playground rhymes.

"I've wrestled with alligators. I've tussled with a whale. I done handcuffed lightning and thrown thunder in jail!"

Can you hear his voice?

This book offers a very comprehensive look at the swing-jazz era: the music and musicians, the black-vs-white elephant in the room; the media that developed around the craze; the dances; the city of New York during the 1920s-1940s, etc. It's great research for my forthcoming novel about Billy Tipton, a transgender male musician whose initial impetus for presenting as male was to get work as a musician in OK City.

#heatofJuly Eminem pays respect to his fallen comrades in the song #ToySoldiers equating East Coast/West Coast War has nothing more than record labels looking for publicity and using rappers as pawns.

Happy Birthday Toni Morrison.....#blackauthors #blackculture #beloved

I think the work of Ernest J. Gaines is under-appreciated and I plan to read some of his works this year.#morethanjusttheautobiographyofmissjanepittman #southernwriters #blackhistorymonth #readsoullit

Well worth the read. Smith tells his own story of black male adolescence to adulthood, while offering interesting commentary on Dave Chappelle, school, mental illness, sports, Obama, and a handful of other subjects. There's a lot to muse on here, can't wait to see what he writes next.

#readingdiversely #blackculture #socialcommentary