Roy L. Pickering Jr.'s Blog, page 28
February 1, 2010
Fatherhood and Black History Month
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Some recent thoughts of mine about fatherhood and February (aka Black History Month), originally expressed 140 characters or less at a time on Twitter.
Looking forward to teaching my daughter (who I last wrote about here) about some black heroes in February & beyond. At 3 she's smarter than she should be, a learning machine.
Her daycare has done a nice job of teaching more than ABC 123. She comes home talking about...
January 28, 2010
Blackness Defined
Recently Governor Rod Blagojevich ruffled some feathers and basically proved he's an ass by claiming he should be considered "blacker' than President Obama because he grew up poor and once shined shoes to make money. Since Obama's election there have been a number of similarly foolish and controversial remarks, such as Harry Reid's "negro dialect" commentary when noting that the absence of one (except when convenient to turn it on) plus having light rather than dark brown skin made Obama...
January 15, 2010
Nous sommes tous les Haïtiens aujourd'hui
I don't have much to say about the horrific crisis in Haiti, the natural made one rather than the state of poverty too many Haitians have been mired in seemingly forever, because what needs to be done is so blatantly obvious. Ignore Rush Limbaugh, same as usual. Ignore Pat Robertson, same as usual. Ignore anyone who attempts to politicize tragedy. Send money. Send water, beans, rice, ready to eat canned goods, spaghetti, macaroni, baby formula, juice, pampers, toilet tissue, paper towels...
January 7, 2010
Yet Another Magazine Cover Controversy
Another day, another magazine cover controversy (See here for example of one I've discussed previously. It also features a prominent black athlete and pretty white girl. Coincidence?). This time the perpetrator is Essence and the offensive (to a number of black women) image is of Saints running back Reggie Bush with his shirt open. The fact that he's showing off his abs isn't at the root of the bruhaha, but rather, the fact that he's there at all. Those unfamiliar with all things celebrity...
January 2, 2010
Aspirations for 2010 and beyond
The following list was originally stated on my beloved Twitter one tweet at a time. I'd love to receive plenty of responses to this posting providing hopes of your own. Farewell 2009. Onward and upward.
* Technology is great & all, but in 2010 I'd rather get verified news half an hour later than bogus stories courtesy of hackers and PR people ASAP.
* I'm hoping that 2010 marks a return to the integrity of information. What good is living in the Information Age if the info we receive is often...
January 1, 2010
Review of THE HISTORIAN by Elizabeth Kostova
Happy New Year! Looking forward to great things in 2010. I finally finished reading The Historian on the first day of the new year. Below is my review of this captivating book which is a fine hybrid of the horror genre (it's about that ever popular vampire, Count Dracula) and literary novel. To my blog readers current and future, I wish you plenty of great literary discoveries in 2010, perhaps including my very own Patches of Grey. I plan to take a hiatus from book reading and reviewing...
December 23, 2009
December 11, 2009
Too Long to Tweet - Tiger Woods Saga
One of the best things about Twitter is that it allows me to see a wide cross section of views on a hot topic at a glance. I follow a lot of people because I'm interested in learning plenty of opinions, particularly on the subjects of sports, politics, and social issues – especially regarding race relations. These are things that I read and wrote much about prior to discovering Twitter, but my exposure to the views of experts as well as the common man has been significantly increased by time ...
December 9, 2009
Ménage à 20 (Twenty Goodreads Authors)
I'm thrilled to announce the publication of Ménage à 20: Tales with a Hook . This short story anthology features 20 writers who are all members of the wonderful web site - GoodReads.com. Ménage à 20 (or M20) can be be obtained as a free ebook download or purchased as a printed book (either paperback or casebound edition) at Lulu.com. I'm a print guy myself, but to each his own. For some reason I warm up to new technologies rather slowly. I still take photographs with a 35 mm camera (my wife...
December 4, 2009
Short Story Sunday XVI: THE TWO-WOMAN MAN
From Pitino to Letterman to Shaq to none other than Tiger Woods, 2009 has shaped up to be a bad year for monogamy and gentlemanly behavior. With that in mind I bring you...
The Two-Woman Man
By Roy L. Pickering Jr.Copyright by Roy L. Pickering Jr.
"Latasha, I'm afraid this isn't working out."
"Is that right, Darryl?"
As expected, Latasha took my announcement in stride. She was not the sort to exhibit her pain. If the world believed she was tough, Latasha thought this would compensate for the fact...
