Act Like a Lady, Think Like A Man

I received the below email from Barbara P. Carson, who say that her copyrighted title of "Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man" is the name of a book she wrote back in 2004 about empowering women. I don't know why she sent me the email, but I will share it with you. You can hear an interview with Ms. Carson by clicking here I urge you to listen to the interview, which I found very intriguing.

The email reads:

Original Author of "Act Like a Lady Think Like a Man" Says Steve Harvey is using her original title and theme to send a distorted message of empowerment to women.

Chicago, Ill. April 5, 2009 -- Author Sharon P. Carson of Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man, says the Steve Harvey's book of the same name is a misrepresented take on her original work. Carson, who is pursuing her rights under unfair competition laws, secured a copyright for the title in 2004, and then established www.actlikealadythinklikeaman.com.

Harvey's book, published in January of this year, copies the title and theme of her work, says Carson, and takes some of her authentic thoughts and conclusions and contorts them into a detrimental message for women. Carson says his approach is a distorted view of her original vision.

Carson says her self-published book was written, "To encourage women to accept and appreciate who they are both inside and out and to respect themselves and demand respect from their male counter part." She also felt women need to be as tough minded as men are in relationships, which is how she created the title, Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man.

Harvey has stated the title for his book came through an editor, but originally contained the word "girl" instead of "lady," a substitution for which he takes credit.

An excerpt from Carson's book discusses the unnecessary concept of women changing themselves physically for their partner: "Why should women become someone they hate in order to please someone they think they love? What if the relationship ends, will they have to change again to please the next man?"

An excerpt from Harvey's book, on p. 207, mirrors Carson's point: "But if you’re telling your man you want a nose job and he sees nothing wrong with the nose you already have then maybe you ought to think about leaving your nose alone. Why run the risk of something going wrong when your man is already happy with the way you look? Why lose the extra weight if your man is happy with you the way you are?"

In addition to reworking her original ideas, Carson objects to the anti-empowerment message of Harvey's take on a successful woman, per p. 182: "If you’ve got your own money, your own car, your own house, a Brinks alarm system, a pistol and a guard dog and your practically shouting from the roof that you don’t need a man to provide for you or protect you, then we will see no need to keep coming around."

Carson asks, "How does this message empower us as women? Should we prepare for success so that we can provide and protect ourselves or should we forgo that and wait for a man come along and do it for us?"

While Carson is looking into protecting her own rights as an author, she also is concerned about getting her message out there—that women are their own authority, they are complete with, or without, a man.

Fans of Carson's book frequently react with praise and the desire to pass on the book's message. One reader writes, "You were right ON point w/this book! I learned these things the hard way, but I am gonna give a copy to my daughters to read! And your insights really helped me build more effectively with my son! Thank you!"

For more information about Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man, contact Sharon Carson or visit www.actlikealadythinklikeaman.com.

About Sharon P. Carson

Sharon P. Carson is a gifted author and poet, and has published four books in her lifetime, including the poetic volume Not By Bread Alone and Go Tell The Children. Carson, a State Certified Real Estate Appraiser, is the mother of two children, and lives in Chicago, Ill. With her husband of 41 years.

Contact:

Sharon P. Carson

773-568-2274

sharonpcarson@gmail.com

http://www.actlikealadythinklikeaman.com

Bobby Dishes on Whitney and Others in New Book

I'll admit it, I love gossip and I have kept abreast of the escapades of Whitney and Bobby over the years. Bobby Brown has written his memoirs that divulges the intimate details of his relationship with Whitney and some other ladies in show business. I thought it couldn't get much worse than his highly-rated reality series (train wreck) 'Being Bobby Brown,' but he may outdo himself this time. The public has maintained an infatuating love affair with the 39-year-old trouble-prone R&B crooner and his former mega star wife.

With his latest endeavor, the forthcoming autobiography 'Being Bobby Brown: The Truth and Nothing But ...,' Brown lets loose on an array of controversial subjects, dishes dirt on fellow celebrities and make startling self revelations. In the kiss and tell chronicle Brown will reveal information detailing Whitney and his drug use, marital problems and even admits that she may have married him to dodge rampant rumors of her longtime lesbian relationship with gal pal Robin Crawford.

About Janet Jackson, Brown says he never abused alcohol as much as he has until his relationship with the 'Rhythm Nation' singer hit the skids: "I can recall that I started drinking heavily when Janet Jackson and I broke up," he writes. "Before I met Janet I would never drink hard liquor, I only drank beer. But after our break up, I started drinking hard liquor abundantly. I took the way our relationship ended very hard. Not to say we were head over heels in love, but she was someone I had a lot of feelings for. Besides, we were young and naive. I was only about 19 or 20 years old. Young love is no joke!"

On Steffans, who is also known as "Superhead" for her admitted sexual acts, Brown was less diplomatic: "Yes, she was a friend of mine. Yes, I've slept with her. Yes, I've spent several nights at her house," he stated point blank, adding, "but she was only good for what her nickname stood for and nothing else ... she is a terrible mother ...If there is one thing I can't stand, that's a woman who is not a mother to her children. That's a big turn-off to me!"

Steffans, who blew the bed-sheets off of the hip-hop industry exposing her sexual exploits with some of the biggest names in Black Hollywood via two 'New York Times' best-selling memoirs, has spoken on record about her love for Brown ; her latest book, 'The Vixen Diaries,' has a chapter titled "How To Save a Life, Part Two" where she writes "While the rest of the world continued guessing the nature of my relationship with Bobby, I was working hard to help him be happy, healthy and sane."

Bobby Brown thinks otherwise: "To be totally honest, I feel this woman isn't even worth acknowledging," he writes. "I think she is trying to make a quick buck. I also think she needs some psychological help. She has been mentally and emotionally scarred. She needs a hug!" There are less than six degrees between Steffans and Houston; they both have had tumultuous, tabloid-ready relationships with Brown, and also are or were romantically associated with young R&B singer Ray-J who Brown supposedly refers to as "the little guy" throughout his book.

Brown admits that he is no angel, alleging “encounters” with many high profile celebrities in the industry, including Holly Robinson-Peete, Madonna, The Real Roxanne, Karyn White, and soap opera veteran, Debbi Morgan. He boasts that “I probably had dated half of the industry, from everybody to everybody…the list goes on from the who’s who to the flava of the month”. He tells all about his cocaine addiction and 2001 heroin overdose.

Love him or hate him, he has been able to hold the attention of the public for well over twenty years. I might read the book just to find out what in the world all these women were thinking because frankly I don’t get it…Bobby Brown???

After the Dance By Lori Johnson

Next week, Tuesday, March 25, 2008 will be a special day for one of my blogging buddies, Lori Johnson. That day will mark the release of her first novel “After the Dance”. The release has been much anticipated and a lot of us are looking forward to a good read. I have pre-ordered my copy from Amazon and it is suppose to ship next Tuesday.

I have read the excerpt on Lori’s website and it was laugh out loud funny in some parts and poignant in others. I also found myself caring about the characters and hoping that the main characters would somehow find their way to each other. I really cannot wait to read what happens to them.

Lori had a little promotional contest on her blog Lori's Old School Mix in which the winner received an autographed copy of the book. Unfortunately Malcolm of Pop Culture Dish beat me to obtain first prize. I was however able to finally make a correct guess on the second part of the contest and win an “After the Dance” CD by Fourplay. There might still be another prize up for grabs.

Visit the website, read the excerpt, and order a copy of the book, which promises to be a page turner. Join me in wishing Lori much success on her first published work and here is hoping that this is only the first in a long line of literary accomplishments for this young lady.

Richard Wright’s Final Novel To Be Published This Month

To celebrate the anniversary of his 100^th birthday and Black History month, Richard Wright’s final novel is being unveiled to the public 48 years after his death in 1960. “A Father’s Law” of a black, suburban, Chicago police chief and the son he suspects of having committed several murders. Wright mines familiar territory: race and class and the psychology of crime. From what I have read, the novel will quite possibly beckon us, as readers to ponder what conditions necessitate law and how a father's guilt and probing may quicken a son's embrace of real or imagined criminality.

Wright’s work had the ability to draw the reader into the story and did not allow for passivity, complacence, or indifference. It forced the reader to take stand and inspired arguments about values, conflict, class, and race.

Richard Nathaniel Wright was the grandson of a slave and the son of a sharecropper born in 1908 on a plantation in Roxie, Miss., near Natchez. He came from a time and place that would shape much of his writing about what it means to be black, poor, burdened and hopeless in this country during the first half of the 20th century. Abandoned by his father, Wright worked a series of odd jobs to take care of his chronically ill mother and a younger brother. He moved to Memphis when he was 19, then to Chicago, where, dazzled by the words of H.L. Mencken, he began writing seriously and, for a time, embraced communism.

Wright first gained national attention in 1938 for his collection of novellas, "Uncle Tom's Children," which fictionalized lynching in the Deep South. Two years later, he completed his first novel, "Native Son," the searing protest story of Bigger Thomas -- one of the most memorable characters in American fiction -- who accidentally kills a young white woman in 1930s Chicago. Victor Love, Matt Dillon, Oprah Winfrey and Elizabeth McGovern starred in the film version of the book. The book, which explores how Thomas became an angry, tragic product of his social environment, was the first black best seller and the first work by a black to be selected by Book-of-the-Month Club. In 1945, he wrote another best seller, the autobiographical "Black Boy."

The books made Wright one of the first black authors to explore the complexity of the black experience and the nation's racial divide. "Native Son" and "Black Boy" are now required reading in many high schools and colleges. Wright wrote in long, sweeping sentences and provided uncomfortable detail about the barbarism of the Jim Crow South and the unfulfilled promises of life in the North. His voice was urgent, indignant and collective.

Though his words were enlightening and influential, Wright found himself disillusioned by the United States, where he was reminded of his blackness routinely. Wright moved to Paris with his wife and daughter by his 40th birthday. He was part of a wave of black creativity that included Josephine Baker, James Baldwin and Romare Bearden, all of whom went abroad to escape the racism of America.

The Winner of the Movie Adaptation Poll Was a Tie…

Until I broke the tie by voting for The Shawshank Redemption, which was adapted from the book, Different Seasons about an innocent man sentenced to life that spends decades in an unjust penal system before escaping to Mexico. While incarcerated Andy meets and befriends Red another lifer who helps to make life somewhat bearable. As a movie it did not do well in the theaters upon release, but because of favorable reviews from the critics and its outstanding life on cable and DVD it is now considered one of the greatest movies of all time.

The Color Purple was tied with the Shawshank Redemption for most of the poll. I don’t know why I chose Shawshank over The Color Purple, in fact on another day I might well have chosen Alice Walker’s depiction of rural life at the turn of the 19^th century when women were considered second class citizens with no rights and no say so over their life circumstances. The film was a testimony to the human spirit and what can be accomplished through sheer fortitude.

The Maltese Falcon and One Flew Over the Cuckoos Next tied for third place. The Maltese Falcon, John Huston’s 1941 noir stars Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade, a hard-boiled San Francisco private eye who’s swept into an international murder plot when he makes the acquaintance of the beautiful Miss Wonderly -- who turns out to be a dangerous scoundrel herself. Mayhem and murder abound, and all because of a foot-high, jewel-encrusted statuette.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s is an adaptation of the 1962 novel of the same name by Ken Kesey. The movie was the first to win all five major Academy Award (Best Picture, Actor in Lead Role, Actress in Lead Role, Director, and Screenplay) since It Happened One Night in 1934, an accomplishment not repeated until 1991, by The Silence of the Lambs. Jack Nicholson is excellent as McMurphy a recidivist with bizarre behavior who develops a kinship with fellow inmates in a psychiatric ward.

I had expected The Godfather to do better, but it came in last place along with The Outsiders. The Godfather is a 1972 crime film based on the novel of the same name by Mario Puzo and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The story spans ten years from late 1945 to 1955 and chronicles the life of the Corleone crime family. The Godfather was initially ranked as the third greatest film in American cinematic history (behind Citizen Kane and Casablanca) on AFI’s list of the best movies of all time. It has now been re-ranked number two under Citizen Kane, with number three being Casablanca.

The Outsiders is a novel by S. E. Hinton was written when she was 15 and published at the age of 18. The Outsiders is an account of a traumatic time in the life of fourteen-year-old Pony Boy Curtis. Hinton explores the themes of class conflict, brotherly love, friendship, and coming of age by following two rival gangs, the Greasers and the Socs (short for "Socials"), who are separated by socioeconomic status and political beliefs.

Shawshank Redemption 33 %

The Color Purple 25 %

The Maltese Falcon 14 %

One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest 14 %

The Godfather 7 %

The Outsiders 7 %

How To Rent A Negro

Sometimes you stumble upon something that is controversial, yet kind of cool at the same time. A couple of years ago a woman by the name of Damali Ayo authored a book entitled “How to Rent a Negro”. I had the book on my shelf for a while, but never got around to reading it until recently. I found it to be a hilarious and satirical look at what goes on between the races in American culture. The book is set up as guidebook for transactions between the renters (whites) and the rentals (blacks). The premise of the book is that if you are going to be the token black in a situation you might as well be compensated.

Although "the purchase of African Americans was outlawed many years ago," Ayo writes, "black people are once again a valued and popular commodity." In her view, they appeal especially to whites who rely on their relationships with blacks as evidence of their own progressive politics or simply to inject some sorely needed "cool" into their lives. Ayo has in mind real-life versions of George Costanza, the "Seinfeld" sidekick who spent an entire episode in search of a black person whom he could pass off as his friend in a social situation.

Whites like George need not despair that slavery is no longer legal, Ayo suggests. "Those who want to utilize the service of an articulate and well-mannered African American are easily classified as renters. Those who find themselves serving as certified African Americans for colleagues and friends are conveniently referred to as rentals." Her book is a tongue-in-cheek guide to completing such "transactions" with a minimum of fuss. As I mentioned the book is very funny, but it also has a sobering ring of truth.

http://www.rent-a negro.com/books/pages/How%20to%20Rent.htm