May 11

THE GOD THING

by B.L. in Other 0 comments
I’ve been thinking a lot about God lately. I’m not sure exactly why, but I’ve been doing it. For example, two weeks ago, I went out to move my car from one side of the street to the other side. In New York City, we have something called Alternate Side of the Street Parking. Particularly in Manhattan, good legal parking spots are worth a car’s weight in gold. Even bad illegal spots are worth something until the traffic agents or the police discover them. Depending on the side of the street, the day of the week, and time of day, a car has to be moved or the owner risks a ticket, a tow, or both. I saw two older Black women in long-sleeved dresses that almost touched their ankles crossing the street as I double-parked. I immediately thought of old-school church sisters. The only thing the two sisters were missing were their Sunday-go-to-meeting church hats. They did carry copies of their religious booklets, face-out against their chests as if the papers could shield them against the sinning world they were entering. I watched the two women for a long while. They both took bench seats in the park across […]
May 01

Dutch Chocolate11: One Abernathy sister discovers something? Is it love or hate?

by B.L. in Other 0 comments
Can two very lonely women, bar owner Phoebe Abernathy, and wealthy heiress Redmond Wallace, rid themselves of their ghosts long enough to see each other as they really are? When their vision clears, what will the two women see. Will they still find each other attractive? If they find each other attractive what will they do about their attraction? How will their attraction for each other effect those around them, the best friend Dominique Moon, the legal guardians Laverne Watts & Cordelia Hart and Faye Mercer the homecare nurse)? Will the folks around the couple be happy for them or try to break them up? That’s still a tossup, that will likely keep the couple apart. Redmond’s family never liked Phoebe the bar owner from day one. While Phoebe’s people encourage any relationship Phoebe the hermit has with any woman. Find out what happens next. Dutch Chocolate11: One Abernathy Sister Discover’s Something. Is it love or hate? Available for pre-order on Kindle and Smashwords 2/19/25. The release date is 3/02/25. ASIN: B0DXH3L5TP (Kindle Version $3.99) ASIN: B0DXKZ29RB (Print Version $11.99) Here are the links for: Dutch Chocolate11: One Abernathy Sister Discover’s Something. Is it love or hate? Kindle USA: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0DXH3L5TP […]
Apr 20

WHY I WROTE: Dutch Chocolate11: One Abernathy sister discovers something? Is it love or hate?

by B.L. in Other 0 comments
Years ago, long before the girl power, Black Girl Magic and the Me-Too movements, I watched Angela Jolie in the movie Laura Croft Tomb Raider. I was in love with movies again. I thought. Wow! Finally, an attractive woman in a lead role where she carries everything. She played the role of an adventurer, normally inhabited by a man. Think Harrison Ford in the Indiana Jones series or Nicholas Cage in the National Treasure series, both men played adventurer roles. Their movies were quite popular with moviegoers. While watching Tomb Raider, years later, I thought to myself. How come there aren’t more action movies like this with women or minorities in main roles? Why aren’t they the stars of show? Is it because nobody would pay to see movies like this? Then I thought. I’d go see it. I bet I could find plenty of other folks would too. I decided I’d write a series of books about a Black lesbian with code name Dutch Chocolate. She has a background in NYPD as a sergeant in East Harlem, before joining the army and going to the Middle East to work in Intel. She returns to work in one of NYPD’s […]
Apr 13

PRIVATE NIGHTMARES & PUBLIC ANGELS

by B.L. in Other 0 comments
I had been married nearly two years when the first assault happened. I’d married the man of my dreams. The man I thought I loved. He was older than I was but what a fun guy. We enjoyed doing things together. We went on vacations together. We exercised together. We wanted children together. We loved the same action and western movies. We read the same books and magazines. We’d go grocery shopping together and consider it a fun thing to do. We loved building stuff together. We loved getting lost in lumber yards or Sears tool & tire sections or at New York’s Annual Auto show. We even watched the same television shows together. Little did I know once we were married, he’d still hangout at bars on the weekend as if he was still single. When I washed his clothes, I’d check his pockets first for loose change and then for packs of cigarettes. I’d always find slips of paper or matchbook covers from bars with women’s names and numbers on them. We never argued about his extra-curricular activities.  Instead, we debated mine. I felt what was good for the goose was good for the gander too. I said […]
Apr 06

REDEPLOYMENT: Thursday, April 30, 2009

by B.L. in Other 0 comments
Well, it finally happened. What I’d been wishing for but dreading too happened yesterday. I guess you could say the suits got the ball rolling over me the day before (Wednesday, April 29, 2009) or at least that was when they officially sent me THE EMAIL. The message on THE EMAIL was short and bittersweet. The subject matter at the top read Updated: Personnel, whatever the hell that meant. The location was room 6C4—next-door to my old stomping ground when I first started working for my new Queen Bee. The original meeting date was scheduled for noon the next day (Thursday, April 30, 2009). The required attendees were me, Queen Bee, her minion Deputy Director (DD) and the New Kid-on-the-block who worked for Queen Bee’s boss, known as Big Boss. Rounding the panel of inquisitors, also known as suits, was a quasi-personnel representative. I considered her half-assed because she never worked a day in our Human Resources Division. She wasn’t familiar with employment rules and regulations. She also reported to Big Boss, but her assignment now was to take meeting notes. Later, the meeting was changed to 3:30 pm because the incompetent suits had scheduled two separate “personnel updates” for […]
Apr 01

Dutch Chocolate11: One Abernathy sister discovers something? Is it love or hate?

by B.L. in Other 0 comments
Can two very lonely women, bar owner Phoebe Abernathy, and wealthy heiress Redmond Wallace, rid themselves of their ghosts long enough to see each other as they really are? When their vision clears, what will the two women see. Will they still find each other attractive? If they find each other attractive what will they do about their attraction? How will their attraction for each other effect those around them, the best friend Dominique Moon, the legal guardians Laverne Watts & Cordelia Hart and Faye Mercer the homecare nurse)? Will the folks around the couple be happy for them or try to break them up? That’s still a tossup, that will likely keep the couple apart. Redmond’s family never liked Phoebe the bar owner from day one. While Phoebe’s people encourage any relationship Phoebe the hermit has with any woman. Find out what happens next. Dutch Chocolate11: One Abernathy Sister Discover’s Something. Is it love or hate? Available for pre-order on Kindle and Smashwords 2/19/25. The release date is 3/02/25. ASIN: B0DXH3L5TP (Kindle Version $3.99) ASIN: B0DXKZ29RB (Print Version $11.99) Here are the links for: Dutch Chocolate11: One Abernathy Sister Discover’s Something. Is it love or hate? Kindle USA: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0DXH3L5TP […]
Mar 23

WHY I WROTE: Dutch Chocolate11: One Abernathy sister discovers something? Is it love or hate?

by B.L. in Other 0 comments
Years ago, long before the girl power, Black Girl Magic and the Me-Too movements, I watched Angela Jolie in the movie Laura Croft Tomb Raider. I was in love with movies again. I thought. Wow! Finally, an attractive woman in a lead role where she carries everything. She played the role of an adventurer, normally inhabited by a man. Think Harrison Ford in the Indiana Jones series or Nicholas Cage in the National Treasure series, both men played adventurer roles. Their movies were quite popular with moviegoers. While watching Tomb Raider, years later, I thought to myself. How come there aren’t more action movies like this with women or minorities in main roles? Why aren’t they the stars of show? Is it because nobody would pay to see movies like this? Then I thought. I’d go see it. I bet I could find plenty of other folks would too. I decided I’d write a series of books about a Black lesbian with code name Dutch Chocolate. She has a background in NYPD as a sergeant in East Harlem, before joining the army and going to the Middle East to work in Intel. She returns to work in one of NYPD’s […]
Mar 16

STAY WOKED UP. RESIST, resist, resist, resist

by B.L. in Other 0 comments
As a writer, I couldn’t let President-elect Trump’s 2016 inauguration pass without comment and so I posed this question to all of us. When will we working Americans get “woke up” to the fact that Trump’s Cabinet represents the final end game for the very wealthy? We will soon see Trump’s wealthy cabinet taking over public arenas we once thought safe from harm. His people will privatize, privatize and privatize some more so their fellow 1 percenters & billionaires can make even more money than they can ever possibly spend. Trust me, they won’t spend their ill-gotten gains either. Instead, Trump’s cronies will put their loot into offshore accounts to keep it safe for their heirs just as their ancestors did for them. It will the biggest transfer of wealth from the middle class, working poor and the poor to the 1% that we have ever seen. Trump’s cabinet is set to gut all programs that average, God-fearing Americans need to survive including government programs in intel, agriculture, energy, defense, education, labor and health & human services. Why else would he select unproven billionaires/millionaires for these positions? Being wealthy but unproven isn’t enough to successfully run a country and especially […]
Mar 09

LET’S CELEBRATE WOMEN

by B.L. in Other 0 comments
When I started thinking about celebrating Women’s History Month and how to write a little something-something, I went on the internet to good old Google. I used other sources like cable, the radio, Y-tube, LinkedIn and Pinterest too. I started saving articles from the magazines and newspapers I read. Then I sorted through my book collection looking for books about women. I guess I’m old school because I still read newspapers and magazines. My book selection includes both the hardcover and paperback versions. Before long, I had amassed a collection of information about women that any researcher worth her weight in gold would love. And that was my problem. Too much information. Great if I was writing a thesis but way too much for a one-page post. Like most writers I love words. Whether they are my words or somebody else’s, I love ‘em like I birthed them. It’s difficult for me eliminate them entirely as good editing requires. It wasn’t long before I realized writing this article was becoming a nightmare for me. Then I did what I usually do and waited for inspiration to help me. When that didn’t work, I did the other thing I usually do […]
Mar 01

Dutch Chocolate11: One Abernathy sister discovers something? Is it love or hate?

by B.L. in Other 0 comments
Can two very lonely women, bar owner Phoebe Abernathy, and wealthy heiress Redmond Wallace, rid themselves of their ghosts long enough to see each other as they really are? When their vision clears, what will the two women see. Will they still find each other attractive? If they find each other attractive what will they do about their attraction? How will their attraction for each other effect those around them, the best friend Dominique Moon, the legal guardians Laverne Watts & Cordelia Hart and Faye Mercer the homecare nurse)? Will the folks around the couple be happy for them or try to break them up? That’s still a tossup, that will likely keep the couple apart. Redmond’s family never liked Phoebe the bar owner from day one. While Phoebe’s people encourage any relationship Phoebe the hermit has with any woman. Find out what happens next. Dutch Chocolate11: One Abernathy Sister Discover’s Something. Is it love or hate? Available for pre-order on Kindle and Smashwords 2/19/25. The release date is 3/02/25. ASIN: B0DXH3L5TP (Kindle Version $3.99) ASIN: B0DXKZ29RB (Print Version $11.99) Here are the links for: Dutch Chocolate11: One Abernathy Sister Discover’s Something. Is it love or hate? Kindle USA: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0DXH3L5TP […]
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