The Men....The Brothers.........I would have enjoyed the 2008 DNC

Obama nailed it, and his televised speech drew about 38 Million viewers, according to the Washington Post. I just hope that McClain's attempt with his out of left field selection of Alaska's Governor Sarah Palin does not Pied Piper in the remaining obstinate Hillary Clinton supporters...............

Two of the finest and razor sharp articulate Black Men out there................

Roland Martin and Hill Harper outside the CNN Grill in Denver this week for the Democratic Convention. Lifted off of Martin's blog on Essence.com.

I have given Hill Harper's book as gifts to the young men in my family. Besides being fine, I believe he is one of the greatest actors of his generation and to me, he really just got started..........

I like watching Martin on CNN when I can. All I can say is: Dynamic Speaker and Excellent writer........... Such an inferno of ideals and energy is he, that I feel at times CNN tries to contain him because they are afraid of public reaction when he verbally whips azz...... I briefly met Roland Martin on the TJMSFV Cruise years ago, but did not know who he was at the time. We were watching some of the Old School Rap acts and chatted for a minute. Later reading a magazine article a month later, I realized that he was the person that I talked to at the time.

As I tell my children, “Mind your manners because you never know who you might Bump into...........”

An Awesome speech....

I am listening to Michelle Obama's speech at the 2008 Democratic Convention in Denver.... on NPR radio-WDET-Detroit. Wish I had a TV, but hearing it was so inspiring and awesome, that I got misty eyed just listening too..................

Aww............Their daughters are so cute! Their cuteness had me so pepped up that the NPR political analysts' insipid critical comments later after her speech didn't bring me down either.........

You Go Girl!!

Maybe the story is true, folks do not read books anymore..............

I wonder if our power issues get to a point where we have rolling blackouts, will people start reading again? I do not know, but I will have my books to keep me amused and occupied. My father loved books and learning. He passed that onto me, my brother who is working on his PHD, my youngest sister, and I am not sure about the rest. My children did love for me to read to them when they were little. My daughter is a vivid reader also. Sometimes I think that by me doing a lot of reading during the pregnancy, the desire was passed while she was in my womb. Different situation for my son. Unfortunately, we had just got cable for the first time while I was pregnant with him, and I was riveted to HGTV, Cinemax, Lifetime Channel, TBS, and the History Channel. I did do some reading, but not as much as I did with her. That made a believer out of me to the belief that a fetus is affected by whatever environment, stimulus, and emotional state that the mother is in..........

Trying to get my son to read is hard, but sometimes he will surprise me, thanks to his sister and his Dad. His Dad has many magazines, almost too many, that the boy will leaf through sometimes. His sister will tell him something about a book she is reading and there are times when his attention is drawn to the point where he will sit and actually read the book. I do give books to my nieces and nephews as gifts and try to encourage the parents to read to them, and make their children read back to them. I don't care what they read, just as long as they understand what they read, and can have an analytical discussion about the subject....

In the last couple of weeks, I had a yard sale, and did some Freecycling, which did get rid of some books. Yes, I am a literary fiend.......but still have loads of books that I do not have room for anymore. So I am going to donate some to the Salvation Army, and sell some of my favorite and expensive ones on Ebay.............

I posted on Ebay selling some of my “racy” stuff. Below is some of my text:

Alas, my loss is your gain...............Some of these books were my introduction to Erotic Lit, and are ideal to those that are curious to know what goes on behind closed doors and in the imagination of others..............

Herotica #4, Edited by Marcy Sheiner, (Paperback)
Featuring the writings of Carol Queen, Eve Mariposa, Bonnie Fergurson, Christine Beatty, Lisa Rothman

Herotica #5, Edited by Marcy Sheiner, (Paperback)
Featuring the writings of Cecilia Tan, Christine Solano, Kelly Conway, and Julia Radner

Fever, Sensual Stories by Woman Writers, Edited by Michelle Slung, (Hardback)
Featuring the writings of Francessca Ross, Susan Musgrave, Phaedra Greenwood, and Lawanda Powell, Nancy Holder

Dark Eros, Black Erotic Writings, Edited by Reginald Martin, P.H.D (Hardback)
Featuring the writings of Jennifer Holley, Cecil Brown, Jerry W. Ward Jr., Frank Lamont Phillips, Kenneth Norfleet, Shange, and Saddi Khali

Touching Fire, Erotic Writings By Women, Edited by Louise Sturtevant, Jan Coverdale Sumrall, and Amber Thorton (Hardback)
Featuring the stories of Deena Metzger,Margaret Atwood,Tess Gallagher, and Zora Neale Hurston.

I figure by selling them as a group, someone might be interested enough to take a chance on them....

Eastside Detroit, a Third World Entity in itself?

Been driving around on the lower east side of Detroit recently. I have been teaching a class there and the construction work on East Jefferson Avenue can be hard on the traffic. Currently I am not too crazy about the asphalt resurfacing of the street, and hate that our county government will not do concrete repaving instead like they seem do every five to ten years on West Eleven Mile Road between Coolidge and Greenfield in Oakland County. After seeing that asphalt resurfacing owner sell his company and share some of the profits with his employees some years ago, I know that asphalt is the cheaper (and very guaranteed job security!) route. While this is going on, at times I had to sit there until someone lets me out. When I got lucky this time, I had to take the picture!!! I got my repaired camera back recently and is taking pictures for fun and just to document things. There are times I feel our city looks like the poor section of a Third World nation (like Lagos) or an area reeling from a war.

I will be glad when this political drama with Mayor Kilpatrick is over. I pray that the U.S, the State of Michigan, and our city will recover from this low social, economical and political tailspin that we are in now. At times I am reminded of the high and lows in the Bible story of Joseph.

I see so many that seem not to care or that lost hope a long time ago. I try to keep hope alive because I have no choice. It is part of survival for me. It is important to me that I do it for my children and my mother. Yes, it would be easy to flee, as the option has been suggested to me so many times, but it is also beneficial to hang in there. Yes, Virginia, times do get better.............

Closed long ago, this place which has potential, just sits.

I wish that I could buy, renovate it, and open it back to the public.

Like many others, a guy is selling his stuff on the corner.........

I remember when this place was occupied. Although someone is trying to renovate it, they are struggling with vandals and the metal strippers.

Detroit Free Press' Susan Ager is retiring.........

Say isn't So...............!

Susan Ager is retiring. Below is her send off column, and I got a bit misty as I read it. I have enjoyed her columns in the Free Press, and will be sad to see her go. But she seems to be happy to move on, and I hope the best for her.

SUSAN AGER

Life stories

Susan Ager says good-bye with gratitude

BY SUSAN AGER • FREE PRESS COLUMNIST • August 24, 2008

My father taught me there's no such thing as a stupid question, so I am daring to ask myself this one:

Who am I besides who I've been?

After 25 years at the Detroit Free Press, I decided to view the paper's latest buyout offer as a gift, an opportunity to explore and rediscover myself in middle age.

My own dad is fit and healthy at 78. But years ago, I learned that in Confucian times in ancient China, tradition demanded that when a man's father died, he was to go into the woods for a year to live as a hermit, to take, in effect, a midlife break to reassess and regroup and renew.

"You're too young to retire!" people have told me. But I am not retiring. I am a journalist to my core: curious, questioning, eager for stories, and eager to retell them.

Henceforth, when I meet strangers at parties, and they ask what I do, I will tell them I'm a journalist on indefinite sabbatical.

I made the decision a month ago, nudged by no one. At first, my mood swung wildly, from "Oh boy, this will be fun!" to "What have I done?" My job has been among the best in the world, being paid to have adventures, meet fascinating strangers and say whatever I want whenever I want to.

And there I was abandoning it, in a place where thousands of others are being laid off against their wills, or struggling to get up each morning to go to work they hate because they must, for the money.

I am blessed to be able to reject a job I loved.

Giddyap

I have noticed in the past few days a significant lightening of my spirit. The room where anxiety lives in me is being swept clean. Out goes anxiety about what I'll write next, and next week, and next Thanksgiving, and next Christmas. Out goes anxiety about whether I'm meeting my bosses' expectations, and my readers'. Out goes the chronic anxiety about whether I'm washed up and don't know it.

My husband predicts that I will discover in the corners of that room new little anxieties, like spiders.

I hope he is wrong, but fear he is right.

My main concern: Meaning. Every day of my adult life I have hitched my horse to the same post, one that makes me feel significant and appreciated. Now I've pulled up the post! Me! Pulled up my own post!

My steed and I will have to nose around to find new places to tie up where we feel meaningful. Some days we will be lost, I guess. Other days we will be found.

I have no specific plans. One friend in his mid-50s, my age, sent a stunned question: "How will you spend the rest of your life?!?!?" I don't know. I don't want to know. I want some emptiness and silence to see what arises out of me. I look forward to being in the moment, looking people in the eye, actually hearing their words without secretly asking myself, "Can I turn this into a column?"

I carry in my purse a small notebook where for the past month I've been jotting notes about what I want to explore and learn now that I'll have time. The list reads: "personal finance, conflict resolution, stars, mosaic, MSU teach, ears, hospice, Planned Parenthood, naturalist, pickling, yogurt, drive cross-country." I'll let those remain as cryptic as they are, except to confess that "ears" means it's time to get my hearing checked.

Gabe and Gary, Barb and JuJuan

But enough about me!

You should know that if not for you, I could not have done what I do. Your letters and phone calls and, in recent years, your flood of e-mails have kept me going. Whatever you said, your responses meant you were reading and reacting, and that's all any writer wants: to know that her words weren't carried off by the wind, but settled somewhere, like seeds.

I know some of you so well by e-mail alone that my heart lifts to see your address in my inbox, correspondents like Gabe and Gary and RockJack, Carrie and Barb and JuJuan.

Plus, thousands of you took my phone calls, answered my questions and trusted me with the fragile details of your own life stories, trusted me to retell your stories fairly. Your faith was a great gift to me, and to all of us.

Because in sharing our stories, we share our humanity, stirring our tales together in a wonderful, spicy stew.

Listen to what my living hero, Garrison Keillor, has to say: "Stories are basic currency, the dollar bill of conversation. ... You go to the grocery store and the checkout woman tells you that she wasn't at work yesterday because her dog had to be put down, the dog she's had for 13 years. That's a story right there, whether she amplifies on it or not, and her willingness to tell it to you is what moves her out of the ranks of the nameless and makes her real to you.

"And if we're not real to each other, then we're dangerous to each other." Stories, he said, "give us that simple empathy that is the basis of the Golden Rule."

For every story I've told over these 25 years, readers have offered up their own. Hearing a story prompts a story, in a splendid chain.

Finally, here's a line from May Sarton's "Journal of a Solitude" that I am repeating to myself during this transition. It might help all of us in times of change.

"I think of the trees and how simply they let go, let fall the riches of a season."

That's the basic story of life on Earth: As one season ends, another begins.

Contact SUSAN AGER at 313-222-6862 or her new e-mail, susan@susanager.com

Dave Ramsey and Billy Bob Thornton are twins......

Been listening to the Dave Ramsey Show here on WMUZ at 103.5 in the Metro Detroit area. There is a billboard showing his face and info right off of the Southfield Freeway. A relative gave me his book last Christmas and I wish that she gave me the book, The Total Money Makeover earlier like Christmas 2003, instead of the picture frame set that I never used, which is sitting New In Box right now. I have been reading Dave Ramsey's book religiously and do recognize that he is not perfect either. Based on his advice, maybe I can sell the picture frame on Ebay, since no one in this economically strapped area seemed to want it when I tried to sell it at my garage sale. If I had got the book then, maybe I would have been better prepared for what the economy is going through right now.

But I can not blame anyone for my life decisions. But I do know if I had read his book first (although much of the financial advice that he gives is in the Bible and is also what my Dad already preached to us years ago), I probably would not have bought my house after reading his book. I have read several books on financial improvement, and none of them explained the ins and out of credit, mortgages, and homeownership in plain old logic as Dave Ramsey has done. I did learn that if I had waited and moved in with my mother instead, I probably would have had a house that was fully paid off, and be in better financial shape now.
No use crying over spilt milk...............

But back to Dave Ramsey......

I had never heard him speak until listening to the radio show recently, and at first I found it hilarious. Although Dave is spilling a lot of good knowledge and common sense, listening to him for me is like listening to the actor/singer Billy Bob Thornton berate folks in “Bad Santa,” and “School for Scoundrels.”
Sometimes I can hear the impatience and frustration in his voice when Dave Ramsey is advising folks whose situation is really messed up and they still don't get his suggestions in the few minutes that is alloted to them. Although he personally went through bankruptcy, I have noticed in his book and on the radio show, that Dave Ramsey Will Not recommend bankruptcy. However there are times when some folk's financial lives sound so screwed up, I am yelling at the radio for the caller to do bankruptcy. As I listen to them explain their situations, my intuition tells me that they have no ideal or understanding how to fix their dilemma even though they are talking to Dave. Those folks are the ones that really need a new start. I just have to wonder if given a new start, would they make the same mistakes again?

Foreclosure even touches ABC's Amazing Home Makeover

As soon as she heard the news, a friend told me about the Harper Family of Lake City in Georgia, whose house was rebuilt by ABC's Amazing Home Makeover back in 2005. We are both fans of the show, and had watched that particular episode. We were astonished to hear the news that the house is going into foreclosure and went online to check out the details. According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution's article published 7/26/08, Milton and Patricia Harper took out a $450,000.00 loan to start a construction business that failed, and now can not make the payments.

During the show, they had also received money to help with the maintenance for the home, and I guess that included taxes. The Lake City Mayor Willie Oswalt who also volunteered with many citizens, is mad, and seeing the many comments and opinions online, there many folks in America who feel the same too because they feel that the Harpers' decision was an irresponsible one. Yes, I agree that theirs was a horrible decision, and I am sure that it will affect those that are candidates for any future ABC's Amazing Home Makeover shows.

However when the Harper Family along with several other families received those ABC's Amazing Home Makeovers, I have often wondered sometimes if the houses built were too grand for the location/neighborhood. I remember thinking as I watched the shows, what would be the new tax assessment for those homes after the upgrades? Would the homeowners be able to afford the houses in the future even with the donated funds? As much as I would like to win, I was not surprised that many of the past winners that won the HGTV Dream Home, usually sell because of the high tax, maintenance and utility bills. If I was also in that situation, I wouldn't have a problem selling too after I got to enjoy the house for a moment. Not taking away from those beautiful homes that were built by the ABC's Amazing Home Makeover show, but at times I really wished that there were ecological alternatives, like just gutting out and rehabbing some of those homes. There were times I felt when watching the show, that some of those locations could have just been remodeled with additions.

I remember thinking that when Ty Pennington and crew were demolishing a house that would not easily come apart, that possibly the structure was very solid? I truly felt that God was trying to let them know that the place just needed to be updated. I do understand that when doing so, that those houses might not be able to be completed in a week which is the custom of that show, but it would have been an opportunity to demonstrate responsible ecological building. ABC's Amazing Home Makeover could team up with Habitant for Humanity and show the world how the Habitant for Humanity's Restores takes in used house and building supplies and sells them to people who are actually rehabbing a house to live in. Another great ratings opportunity for ABC's Amazing Home Makeover would be for the crew to team up with the crew of PBS's This Old House, and some of the crews from shows on HGTV, DIY, or the Discovery Channel that focus on renovation of existing houses. Try to imagine Ty, Paul, Paige, Micheal, Ed, Tracey, Tanya and the so sexy Eduardo coming together with Norm Abrams, Mike Silva and Roger Cook? Or even Steve Thomas, the former host of PBS's TOH, who is now with “Renovation Nation?” I already know that the interaction would be so interesting that I would be willing to pay to see those episodes along with the behind the scenes footage on DVD.

Back to the Harpers' situation.................I can understand a person having the desire to be their own boss, and maybe the Harpers really wanted to try entrepreneurship. But I am not sure if they had prior experience, and I just can not understand what Financial Institution in their right mind would have let them have that much of a loan in the first place without studying a viable business plan first, and really determining if they had enough income and financial savvy to handle the payments! But as we have already seen many times in this world that we live in, as long as you had home equity, there are home lenders, or really greedy speculators in my opinion, are willing to take that chance. The Harper family of Lake City is just one of the millions of people that will lose their house this year. Folks are going into foreclosure all over this country. Many of them either took loans out on their homes for a dream goal and some did just so to live on it. There are those that have lost their jobs, and there are those that could not afford the house in the first place. Our Mortgage Industry along with our government, encouraged the situation for the last several years and now that the boom has fallen, there will be repercussions of limited mortgage lending and tightening of credit for many years to come.

Instead of harshly judging them, I sympathize with the Harper Family, especially the children. From my own personal financial issues, I truly understand when one is in a tight spot, certain decisions made are not the best ones. If I was in a much better place financially, I would buy the house and let they stay there with stipulations, along with providing a strict maintenance fund to at least keep them in the home until their youngest child (At the time the house was built) graduates from high school or turns 19 years old whatever comes first. After that happens, I would turn it over to them if they have demonstrated that they were earning enough to keep and maintain the house. But if that was not the case, then the house would be sold. But a gift like that would come with strings. Before I would continue to allow them to stay there, the Harpers would have to attend a serious money management boot camp, and later be tested on what they learned. If they passed and demonstrated a through understanding of personal finance and the situation that they put themselves in, then maybe we could go to the next step. They would be required to work a job or at least volunteer somewhere until they found a viable full time job. The volunteer situation would be like a regular full time job where they would actually work to better their community or a community near them that needs assistance.

But an experience like losing the family home may be educational for the Harpers' children. Hopefully they will learn money management from their parents' mistake, and truly understand how to live and survive when times are lean or hard. I also believe that with the troublesome economy that we are all experiencing right now, many folks will learn how to live together. I think extended families habiting the same adobe will be the lifestyle of the future. Black and poor people did it before when we did not have a choice. Many immigrants and other cultures such as the Asian, Indian and Middle-Eastern, still do so as a matter of choice. The worsening economy here in the United State will definitely limit our options, and I think that we must learn and understand that living together cohesively and creatively, will be the key to our survival.

AJC Article is Below

COUPLE LOSE TV MANSION

A fairy tale foreclosed
'Extreme Makeover' home on auction block

By Mark Davis, Mike Maciag
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 07/26/08

Things couldn't have looked better three years ago for Milton and Patricia Harper of Lake City, who giddily accepted the keys to a small castle, plus enough money to pay taxes on it for 25 years.

Now, the Clayton County house that "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" built is a two-story, turreted example of how things can go wrong. It's in foreclosure.

The Harpers used the house at 5489 Ahyoka Drive as collateral for a $450,000 loan, Clayton County mortgage records show. Records at the law firm handling foreclosures for the lender, JPMorgan Chase Bank, say it is in foreclosure. The four-bedroom house with decorative rock walls and a three-car garage is scheduled for auction on the Clayton County Courthouse steps Aug. 5.

The Harpers, who declined interview requests when reporters knocked on their door Friday, told WSB-TV they got the loan for a construction business that failed. Failure seemed an impossibility in February 2005, when ABC-TV viewers got a look at the stunning home constructed in a subdivision three miles east of I-75.

Painted dark olive and covered with specialty shingles, the home's domed door opened into a structure that featured four fireplaces, a solarium, music room and a porte-cochere that connected to a new office for Milton Harper, who owned a home-security company at the time.

The yard was a study in landscape art, with young magnolias, fieldstone and a Leyland cypress hugging one corner. A black metal fence ringed it.

It had taken shape in six intense days in January 2005, when Atlanta-based Beazer Homes USA and "Extreme Makeover" demolished the Harpers' old home, which had been plagued by a septic system that backed sewage into the house after a hard rain.

Professionals and volunteers came together to erect the largest home that the "Extreme" team had ever built.

Materials and labor were donated, but the home would have cost about $450,000 to construct.

When they were finished, the home dwarfed all the ranch and split-level structures in neighboring lots.

That was not all. Beazer Homes' employees and company partners raised a quarter-million dollars in contributions for the family. The sum included scholarships for the three Harper children and a home maintenance fund.

The Harpers, whom ABC chose from among 15,000 "Extreme Makeover" applicants, spent the week in Disneyland while 1,800 workers swarmed about the site.

The Harpers opened the new home to lots of friends, said Amber May, 18, who lives a few doors away.

Even at midnight, "we'll see six cars and a million kids" at the house, she said.

Another neighbor, Brittney Harris, said the Harpers seemed considerate.

"They're good, quiet neighbors," she said.

Perhaps they are, said Donald Williams, who was visiting Harris. But he doubted their business acumen.

With $450,000 "they could have just bought a business," he said.

A representative for Beazer was unavailable for comment.

A representative of ABC offered an e-mail: " 'Extreme Makeover: Home Edition' advises each family to consult a financial planner after they receive their new home. Ultimately, financial matters are personal, and we work to respect the privacy of the families."

Law firm McCalla Raymer LLC, which has a team of specialists handling JPMorgan foreclosures, confirmed that the Harper home is on the calendar for auction next month.

The news left Lake City Mayor Willie Oswalt wondering what went wrong. He recalled a chilly January day when he and a handful of others wrestled an aged beam into place in the home's living room. The Harpers' future seemed just as solid, he said.

"It's aggravating," Oswalt said. "It just makes you mad. You do that much work, and they just squander it."