It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything. It wasn’t deliberate… it was just I didn’t have anything that I thought needed to be said. Oh, and there’s also me being busy with my job, church, marriage, Speedsuit Powers novel and a baby on the way. And I just returned from a 10 day trip in Ghana, West Africa and spent over a week being sick. That gives a person a lot of time to think about life -although I think it may be impossible to think clearly while congested
I know it’s 2010, but I don’t have much to say at this point. It’s said that if you want a productive blog, you have to write new content weekly. But quite honestly, I haven’t had anything that I’ve been burning to write about.
This doesn’t mean I haven’t thought about what to write:
I had the opportunity to be interviewed (on 11/18/09) on the “Open” talk show, hosted by Daren Jaimes. It’s a local show on Bronxnet Community Television. We discussed my new book, Speedsuit Powers, and how it can help bring hope to urban youth. Here’s the update from my Speedsuit Powers book website.
Speedsuit Powers releases Tuesday December 1, 2009. You can purchase your copy at Amazon.com
Alright, here’s the first official Speedsuit Powers book trailer. The story follows a boy who has to deal with some major “bully drama”. If you have middle school/high school aged kids, or you work with youth, you’re going to want to get them a copy of this novel. You may even want a copy for yourself! (One adult read the book in 5 hours. She said she couldn’t put it down.)
The novel releases December 1, 2009 on Amazon.com, so save the date: Tuesday December 1st. Feel free to let me know what you think and also pass this video onto others!
What’s happening to our youth? In California, a 15 year old girl was gang raped for 2.5 hours. What’s worse is that other youth watched, participated and did nothing to help her. What’s happening to our society, where we don’t get involved to help someone else? At the very least, we should realize that there may come a time when we will be the victim and need someone to step in to help us.
Here’s the article from CNN.Com. And here’s a video from CNN.com:
What are your thoughts about what happened and what we can do to make a difference?
I am holding in my hands for the first time, the very first copy of my new book, Speedsuit Powers . It’s a teen fiction novel where the main character, Curtis, is the new kid at a new school dealing with bully issues. It releases this December. My prayer, hope and desire is that this book will help to positively impact urban youth culture. That it will inspire, motivate and educate youth to see their lives differently and make new choices (or stand by decisions they’ve already made) which lead to true and lasting success.
When I heard about the beating death of Derrion Albert - an honor roll student with his eyes on college, who stayed out of trouble - I was saddened that we as African Americans would do this to ourselves and have such blatant disregard for the life of others. Let me stop here and say, that after having traveled to Africa, China and Europe and having done some studying of various genocides around the globe, the underlying root issue of violence is not skin color - but the faulty condition of the human heart and mind which frames and contextualizes our daily circumstances to promote ourselves at the expense - and even detriment of another. I need to make this distinction, because there are those who believe that black people are simply savages. This couldn’t be further from the truth as the issue is that under certain conditions, people have a tendency to act savagely.
Here is an excellent music video entitled, “Deliver Us”. It’s by Shachah, featering The Tonic, from Crossmovement Records. This video deals with the negative aspects of the media on our youth (and us) and how we need God to deliver us, change our direction and transform our lives. God has a plan and a purpose for each one of us.
I love the process of transformation that’s displayed in this video. So tell me… what can we do to make a difference in the lives of our youth? I want to hear from you.
Where are you with finding your strengths? What do you think of this quote below? I’d love to ‘read your thoughts.’ - Allen Paul Weaver III
“Far too many people spend a lifetime headed in the wrong direction. They go not only from the cradle to the cubicle, but then to the casket, without uncovering their greatest talents and potential.” - Tom Rath, Strengths Finder 2.0
As we remember September 11, 2001
As we remember loved ones we lost
As we remember the horror of the towers falling with lives still inside
As we remember those who took their last plane ride
As we remember where we were when we first heard the news
As we remember the hurt, pain and grief
As we remember our own mortality
As we remember our anger towards those who brought such death
Whether outside our country and within our borders…
