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 […]
Feb 23

WHY I WROTE: SAY CHEESE & SNAP, a picture, perfect romance, sort of!

by B.L. in Other 0 comments
In this age of social media, short-term relationships and instant gratification, I wondered how a woman who loved short-term, uncommitted lesbian relationships looked like. What would it take to change her way of life. What type of woman would change her? What would the woman who changed be like? Would she be a saint-like woman? A good woman who does everything right and perfect. No affairs. No dating more than one woman at a time. Always breaking up cleanly before starting another relationship. Nothing sticky or dual stuff with Miss Goody-Two-Shoes, who is boring as hell but stable as hell. She’s not going anywhere. Or would the woman who tames the no-commitment, short-term relationship woman, be a reformed wild child woman herself? You know the type. The reformed player, who used to be a two-faced scoundrel but found true love. Now, she ignores her own passionate urges and temptations to adhere to her vows and expects the wild child to do the same. Or would she be sort of in the middle … a little bit of bad and devilish mixed with little bit of angel. This type of woman has my vote. I wondered which woman my main character […]
Feb 16

WADE IN THE WATERS

by B.L. in Other 0 comments
I’m not one for religious symbolism but the more I hear about foreign involvement in our democratic election system, I keep thinking of a song I used to hear in church Sunday mornings. I was a kid back then. Everybody knows Baby boomer children couldn’t say. “Mom, Dad I’m not going to church. It’s Sunday morning. I think I just sit this visit out. I don’t like how that old guy wearing that long robe talks to us. He’s always screaming about devils and doing bad stuff from that platform he stands on. You and Dad might like him; but he scares the mess out of me. Today, I’ll just sit home and do something that makes me happy. Watching Sunday morning cartoons makes me happy and so I’ll be doing that today, okay? I’ll see you both when you get back from church if I’m not napping, right?” No way was that going to fly with my parents back then. In the only thing flying, would be my butt into next week. That would be after I was released from the children’s ward of the hospital, my father’s opened can of whup my backside sent me. But I digress. […]
Feb 09

SOUND ADVICE IN TRYING TIMES

by B.L. in Other 0 comments
I was reviewing some old posts and found this one from two years ago. I believe it is still appropriate for today’s times too. It’s simple. Sometimes less complicated is the best way to go. My sister sent me this message several months ago, when I was feeling low down and a bit helpless. I loved it so much I decided to pass it on. Thanks Sis. My only comment, I would add some additional suggestions to Number 9. If you can’t show up and be counted because of limitations, you can still do something. Call your representatives like I did or email them or write to them like I did. All of that works too. The point is to do something positive. Don’t stay in your own little bubble world and complain about how bad things are if you aren’t willing to do more than complain. Read the rest of the advice below. It needs no further explanation. From a friend’s page. Sound advice for the times. This is also going around and for good reason: 1. Don’t use his name. 2. Remember this is a regime and he’s not acting alone. 3. Do not belittle those who support […]
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