As in a Molybdenum Disulphide and/or Boron Nitride layered sandwich using either to prevent current leakage.
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Dr. Lisa Egbuonu-Davis
Dr. Egbuonu-Davis develops and implements research strategies contributing to pricing and marketing tactics worldwide for Pfizer's pharmaceutical products.
Dr. Kim Michelle Lewis
Dr. Lewis is an National Science Foundation grant winner ($575,000) to advance electronics used in medicine and toxic sensing technology (important in a post 9-11 world). She graduated from Dillard University, and holds a summer research camp open to HBCU science and engineering majors hoping to learn and advance in the field.
She gave us a reason to love ourselves,
Emerging in the 80s post-Civil Rights, post-loss of
Medgar, Malcolm and Martin, if Michael was the “King of Pop”…
She was definitely “Our Queen.”
What 1980 male college freshman
Didn’t calculate that we were just
One year older than the voice that
Belted from her lithe frame, fantasize
“What we’d do” with 5 minutes of our
Best Mack if we had a chance
(Past her Bodyguard) to step to her,
As if she was “saving all her love for []”…
Her faux feud with Maria Cary set the
Diva pattern for Rihanna, Beyoncé, Jennifer, Latifah and Eve…
Yet, didn’t we laugh (instead of pray)
When she married Bobby, and starred in a
So-called “reality” show, showcasing her
Private demons for public display?
Post-Bobby, with the baby (Bobby-Christina),
She could never hit “the notes” she used to,
Her interviews shaken versions of
Her star’s former hue.
The human voice has depth and range
That cannot be enhanced or explained
In a digital software mix program or
Corporate studio...
Some things of exquisite beauty are
Born in choir robes, Sunday solos and
Christmas shows,
Before the Clive Davis’ discover angels,
Among us,
When NAPHESH kicked first breath
In Eden
And Deity pronounced self-awareness
To a creation with mind, will, imagination,
Emotion and intellect – defining the
Earthiness that we would call…soul…
The best of Adam’s rib performs now…celestial shows.
Whitney Houston, 1963 – 2012
African American screenwriter Tony Puryear is writing a new comics series for Dark Horse Publishing. Recently, Puryear wrote scripts for Jerry Bruckheimer's upcoming Buck Rogers big screen adaptation, and the upcoming Lady Scarface film for RKO Pictures. He is also an artist, and created the official campaign poster for Hillary Clinton's presidential bid.
by digitar
Screenwriter Tony Puryear creates edgy graphic novel Concrete Park for Dark Horse Comics
February 8, 2012 in Book Previews, Media Images
New sci-fi epic Concrete Park, written and drawn by Hollywood screenwriter, to appear in legendary anthology magazine Dark Horse Presents.
Tony Puryear wrote the 1996 Arnold Schwarzenegger smash hit Eraser, becoming the first African American screenwriter to pen a $100 million summer blockbuster. Since that time, he’s written action and sci-fi scripts for a who’s who of Hollywood A listers, from Will Smith to Mel Gibson to Jerry Bruckheimer, and adapted storied sci-fi properties like Fahrenheit 451 and Buck Rogers for the big screen. Now Puryear brings his writing and art talents to the world of graphic novels, with Concrete Park for Dark Horse Presents. Concrete Park, Tony Puryear’s first comics project, appears in Dark Horse Presents #8 from Dark Horse Comics.
“Concrete Park is a sprawling epic,” Puryear says. “It’s the sci-fi story I’ve been waiting to tell. It’s a perfect fit with Dark Horse Presents, the legendary anthology comic that served as a launch pad for innovative work by the biggest names in comics, including Frank Miller (Sin City, 300) and Mike Mignola (Hellboy). I’m honored to be in the company of these amazing world builders, and happy Mike Richardson of Dark Horse believes Concrete Park belongs with them.”
Concrete Park is a dark and provocative near-future story. It takes place in a turbulent mega-city on a distant desert planet (think Cairo or Rio in space). Young human exiles from Earth must fight to make a new world there. They are young, violent and ten billion miles from home. In its ambitious scope, it resembles nothing so much as George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series, but with favelas and aliens, cops and cyborgs, ghettos and gangs, instead of castles and armies.
Concrete Park was co-created by Puryear and his wife, actress Erika Alexander (Living Single, Déjà Vu), and her brother, writer Robert Alexander, with Puryear also handling the art chores on the book.
Tony Puryear is the first African American screenwriter to write a $100 million summer movie blockbuster. His 1996 hit Eraser catapulted him into a career writing pictures for A listers Jerry Bruckheimer (Buck Rogers), Will Smith, and Oliver Stone. Puryear’s adaptation of the Ray Bradbury classic Fahrenheit 451 for Oscar-winning director Mel Gibson has circulated in Hollywood for years as a legendary unproduced script. His latest script is Lady Scarface for the new RKO Pictures.
A talented artist and designer, Puryear was recently honored when his official campaign poster for Hillary Clinton’s historic 2008 presidential run was added to the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Portrait Gallery.
Along with Tony Puryear, other writers and artists featured in Dark Horse Presents #8 include John Arcudi, Brian Wood, Howard Chaykin, Neal Adams, Andi Watson, Al Gordon, MJ Butler and Beau Smith, along with artists Duncan Fegredo (who drew the cover), Geof Darrow, Kristian Donaldson, Thomas Yeates, Mark Wheatley and Eduardo Barreto.
Born on November 23, 1923 in Chicago, Illinois, J. Ernest Wilkins, Jr. entered the University of Chicago to study mathematics at the age of 13. He received his B.S. degree as a Phi Beta Kappa graduate in 1940 at the age of 16, his M.S. degree in 1941 at the age of 17, and his Ph.D. degree in December 1942 at the age of 19. In 1942 he was also a Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Study. This was the beginning of one of the most exemplary careers of scholarship and application of an American mathematician/physicist/engineer in the 20th century.
Let’s talk about the social commentary of teen dystopian literature. What the heck is it anyway? Dystopian literature takes a social problem and extrapolates that problem to a frightening extreme. I grew up reading Ray Bradbury but today’s craze is all about the Hunger Games. Everybody is talking about it and publishers want to find the next one. Teen dystopian fiction sells big but it’s also good. I love dystopian fiction but let me back up a bit. Let me put this in perspective. People step back from me when I tell them that I’m a Native Detroiter. Read More Visit:
http://www.aliciamccalla.com/blog/73-the-state-of-black-scifi-2012-why-i-love-teen-dystopian-scifi-
"Living well is the best revenge." (George Herbert)
LETTER FROM A FREEDMAN TO HIS OLD MASTER.
[Written just as he dictated it.]
Dayton, Ohio, August 7, 1865.
To my old Master, Colonel P. H. Anderson, Big Spring, Tennessee.
Sir: I got your letter, and was glad to find that you had not forgotten Jourdon, and that you wanted me to come back and live with you again, promising to do better for me than anybody else can. I have often felt uneasy about you. I thought the Yankees would have hung you long before this, for harboring Rebs they found at your house. I suppose they never heard about your going to Colonel Martin's to kill the Union soldier that was left by his company in their stable. Although you shot at me twice before I left you, I did not want to hear of your being hurt, and am glad you are still living. It would do me good to go back to the dear old home again, and see Miss Mary and Miss Martha and Allen, Esther, Green, and Lee. Give my love to them all, and tell them I hope we will meet in the better world, if not in this. I would have gone back to see you all when I was working in the Nashville Hospital, but one of the neighbors told me that Henry intended to shoot me if he ever got a chance.
The rest of Jourdon Anderson's exquisite reply here.
I've blogged about manufacturing and jobs before, the iEconomy and NAFTA birthed Occupy Wall Street when white suburban kids suddenly realized that the guarantee of employment wasn't guaranteed. I salute their efforts, but we need to do something outside of the system that doesn't require their sponsorship, or their approval.
The State of Black Sci-Fi 2012: Why is it Important to Show Race, Culture, Minority Politics or Ethnicity in Sci-Fi?
To me showing race is science fiction is as important and the story itself. I will sum it up in this quote. “Black Science Fiction is of the utmost importance. Our children as well as other races need to see black people in a positive light. Everyone is mis-educated when all anyone
gets to see is negative images of black people. It’s not accurate and just not right, period. The children alive today will be the ones running the planet when we are old. We owe it to ourselves and them to lead and help develop them. We can’t do that by continuing to let misrepresentations dominate the media we feed them.
I would like to add that today’s science fiction is tomorrow’s science fact.
All races need to be part of the development of those facts.
Jarvis Sheffield, M.Ed. – is owner & operator of TheDigitalBrothers.com, BlackScienceFictionSociety.com & BlackCommunityEntertainment.com.
Visit him:
http://www.blacksciencefictionsociety.com/profiles/blog/list?user=2stjwb1h216fd
http://blacksciencefiction.wordpress.com/
Check out the other members of this Online Black History Month Event:
L. M. Davis, Author–began her love affair with fantasy in the second grade. Her first novel,Interlopers: A Shifters Novel, was released in 2010, and the follow-up Posers: A Shifters Novel will be released this spring. For more information visit her blog http://shiftersseries.wordpress.com/ or her website www.shiftersnovelseries.com.
Milton Davis, Author – Milton Davis is owner/publisher of MVmedia, LLC . As an author he specializes in science fiction and fantasy and is the author of Meji Book One, Meji Book Two and Changa’s Safari. Visit him: www.mvmediaatl.comand http://www.mvmediaatl.com/Wagadu/
Margaret Fieland, Author– lives and writes in the suburbs west of Boston, MA with her partner and five dogs. She is one of the Poetic Muselings. Their poetry anthology, Lifelines http://tinyurl.com/LifelinesPoetry/is available from Amazon.com Her book, “Relocated,” will be available from MuseItUp Publishing in July, 2012. The Angry Little Boy,” will be published by 4RV publishing in early 2013. You may visit her website,http://www.margaretfieland.com.
Valjeanne Jeffers, Author – is an editor and the author of the SF/fantasy novels: Immortal, Immortal II: The Time of Legend and Immortal III: Stealer of Souls. Her fourth and fifth novels: Immortal IV: Collision of Worlds and The Switch: Clockwork will be released this spring. Visit her at:http://valjeanne.wordpress.com andhttp://qandvaffordableediting.blogspot.com/
Alicia McCalla, Author- writes for both young adults and adults with her brand of multicultural science fiction, urban fantasy, and futurism. Her debut novel,Breaking Free will be available February 1, 2012. The Breaking Free theme song created by Asante McCalla is available for immediate download on itunes and Amazon. Visit her at: http://www.aliciamccalla.com
Carole McDonnell, Author–She writes Christian, speculative fiction, and multicultural stories. Her first novel is Wind Follower. Her short fiction has appeared in many anthologies and have been collected in an ebook, Spirit Fruit: Collected Speculative Fiction. Visit Carole: http://carolemcdonnell.blogspot.com/ orhttp://writersofcolorblogtour.blogspot.com/
Rasheedah Phillips,Author–is the creator of The AfroFuturist Affair in Philly. She plans to debut her first spec/sci-fic novel Recurrence Plot in Spring 2012. You may catch her ruminating from time to time on her blog, AstroMythoLosophy.com.
Nicole Sconiers, Author-is also a screenwriter living in the sunny jungle of L.A. She holds an MFA in creative writing from Antioch University Los Angeles, and she recently published Escape from Beckyville: Tales of Race, Hair and Rage. Visit her:http://nicolesconiers.com/index.html
Jarvis Sheffield, M.Ed. is owner & operator of TheDigitalBrothers.com, BlackScienceFictionSociety.com & BlackCommunityEntertainment.com. Visit him:http://www.blacksciencefictionsociety.com/profiles/blog/list?user=2stjwb1h216fd
I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. McNair as an undergraduate at North Carolina A&T State University (we had the same major: Engineering Physics). I share several post/mentions of him from my physics blog. He was a personal hero of mine:
I am not debating Revelation: this post primarily is to fight ignorance, especially this being "2012" of thriller movie fame.
Honestly, when I say that ancient people had as much fear of the winter solstice as they did a lunar eclipse, when I say that maybe the Mayan people, for whatever reason, stopped making calendars, I get the "how do YOUknow?" as if I'm not "supposed" to. I then tell them to solve the followng problem, then get back with me:
I found her behind our lines in a field not too far from a downed Messerschmitt Me 262. We had pushed the Germans back out of Paris and had retaken the countryside in early September. I thought she was a local who had been injured when the plane crashed into her house, but she seemed shell-shocked and could barely speak. She was staggering around in some colorful rags and we took her into the improvised field hospital.
We did not have any doctors yet, it was still too soon after taking the territory, so I was the lead medic in charge. We lost Jenkins, the only other medic, so I was working two shifts tending the wounded as best I could. Ronowski was a good kid with his hands so I put him to work cleaning and tending lesser injuries while I did what I could for those who looked like they might make it.
The camp was an old church that hadn't taken too many bullets and kept us out of the rain. It rained nearly every day. The Parisians were nice though and shared what little food there was. No one knew the strange woman, so we assumed she wandered from a nearby province.
She was a right pretty thing, five foot ten, but in her shocked state she seemed diminished and she let me lead her quietly. A French woman, Martinique, likely a Resistance member helped me tend her and we put her in the back rooms of the church.
After we cleaned her up, we noticed she did not have a scratch on her, even though her clothing had been destroyed, she was unmarked. We tried every language we could scrounge up in camp, but she did not seem to have any words at all.
We went out to check through the wreckage of the Messerschmitt and marveled at its technology. We took sketches of the design of the vehicle, its engine and the strange containment devices that were in the bomb bays. Both were broken but they did not appear to be bombs. Once we were done, we returned to the church. We were expecting to be reinforced.
Later that evening, we made a breakthrough with the blond haired woman. After saying my name and tapping my chest, she finally seemed to get some sort of recognition. She tapped herself and said "Helga."
After that, she became a member of the camp, helping with anything and everything. She still didn't talk much but she would smile and occasionally laugh if others were. She followed Martinique around everywhere and the woman graciously tolerated it.
A week after Helga got here, she came running to me and grabbed me. She tried to draw me with her. I picked up my rifle and told Lewis and Franklin to come with me. We double-timed it to a barn and what we saw inside stopped us in our tracks.
We opened fire on it without even questioning what it was because it was ripping Martinique's chest open and eating her vitals. At first glance I would have thought it was an insect except it was the size of a man, and its claws were tearing through Martineque's bones as if they were twigs.
Our bullets bounced off its shell as if it were armored. It drew its antenna back and turned around, broke down the wall of the barn and sped off down the road.
Lewis pulled Helga away from Martinique. He said, "what the hell was that?"
My mind was racing, in this war, I had seen a lot of things but nothing like that. "I don't know, but when it comes back, I intend to give it a much warmer reception."
"How do you know its going to come back, Sarge?"
I looked at both of them and then looked down at Martiniques' body. "Because we are where the food is. We are the food."
We got the townspeople together and explained to them what happened. They did not believe it at first, until the saw the body, and a barn full of holes and no target. I thought until our reinforcements arrived, we would be better off if we stayed closer together, so we took over the small number of homes near the church and established a perimeter and guards. Everyone was issued a weapon and taught how to use it. No one was go anywhere alone. Helga was the only person who did not have a weapon, she refuse to even touch one. After Martinique's death, she would talk to no one, nor stay with anyone but me.
We put a call out on the radio, trying to get an ETA on the backup but we were told it would be a couple more days, so we would just have to tough it out and make due. We put a machine gun nest in the center of the complex to offer a complete field of fire and had snipers in two of the tallest buildings. Nothing we could do but wait. It didn't take long.
I am not sure what made me go out that evening but I felt compelled to walk the perimeter and talk to the men. They were in good spirits and except for the two who had seen it, joked about the idea of a bug hunt. As I was walking back to the church I had the strangest sensation of being watched. I turned to look down the road but I couldn't see anything. I slept with a pistol in my hand.
Around 0400 hours, I heard gunfire, and sat up off of the pew I was sleeping on. It was rifle fire, likely one of the patrols. Then I heard the screaming and I was up and running.
There were only twenty soldiers left and they were all accounted for, so it was likely one of the locals. We ran out and made it as far as the central machine gun station, when one of the snipers launched a flare. We saw Jean-Claude, one of the cooks, running toward us and then before he could move more than a dozen steps, he was sliced in half from behind. The insect was back, and he brought friends. Dozens of them.
Williams, our church sniper had already begun firing and the rest of us bellied up to the sandbags at the machine-gun nest and opened fire with our M1 rifles. Our bullets struck the creatures but only the machine gun seemed to have the power to bring them down easily.
"Concentrate your fire in pairs. Snipers, cover fire only. Somebody get me a damn grenade."
"Coming at ya, Sarge."
One of these cockroach looking things made a dash across the courtyard toward the church and began to climb the wall toward the sniper position.
We tried to knock it down but the armor on its back was too strong.
"Petrelli, there is one coming up the wall right at you!"
There was a scream as the monster crested the wall and a single shot.
Petrelli looked over the wall, gave the thumbs up and kept firing. We held the ground until dawn and had taken no casualties. Or so we thought. When we canvased the area, there were three spots where human blood had been spilled but no humans were found. There were dozens of creatures killed, but they took the bodies, every single one, except for Petrelli's kill. Then the real bad news followed.
"All of the food in the camp is gone, Monsieur. I don't know how they did it, but there is nothing left anywhere. The grounds are picked clean. Only what we had with us in the church is left. They ate every chicken, every goat, every wheel of cheese anywhere." Pierre was beside himself.
Corporal Lewis and Petrelli had taken the body of the monster from the roof and were looking it over for weaknesses. We looked at our ammo and realized we could not have another fire-fight like last night. We simply did not have enough ammo. Only the machine was without fear of running out. The rest of us were down to fifty or sixty rounds apiece. That would not last long in a sustained firefight.
"Right between the center of the head seems to work best." Petrelli's New York accent was thick and it was something the group used to tease him about. "I guess that works no matter who youse are." They laughed. But real fear crossed all of their faces.
"I think we are going to have to make a stand here inside the church. Its got the strongest walls and the fewest windows. I want you to board up everything you can. Use the pews and anything else you can scavenge from town. They don't seem to like the light so avoid the shadows. Remember, they got Martinique when she surprised one in the barn."
"Sarge, I have an idea."
"I'm all ears, Lewis."
"Maybe we can lure them where we want them. And use something besides bullets to kill them. We don't have napalm but we do have gasoline so we could make Molotov cocktails. They seem as flammable as anything else."
"Fine, get a detail and get on it. But that is a plan that will happen while they are far away and while we still have lots of bullets. No sense having any flaming ones running through the camp."
The next few hours were desperate as we did our best to fortify our positions before nightfall. Helga seemed strange and distracted but she worked as hard as anyone to prepare before dark.
We were hunkered down with two squads outside on rooftops for sniping and close protection. We were using shotguns, inside the church and had built a bunker in the center. Our more powerful weapons were outside to try and kill the larger and more aggressive creatures first. Both groups outside could see and cover each other, and had plenty of flares to get through the night if necessary. We had also stationed lanterns down the road and anywhere else we thought the creatures might come from.
With no more food left in town, we knew they would be coming for us.
They came after midnight. They were not shy, they simply came right down the street, one after another, they came down every street from every direction. We shot flares, we threw Molotovs, we burned them, we shot them, we stoned them with traps, they fell into pits, and they still kept coming.
We fought them until four. They would fight, close us retreat, and they did this again and again. Our bullets grew lower and lower. We would soon be down to handguns and shot guns. The two machine guns were still loaded but when they started shooting it took everything we had to keep the enemy off of them. We were down to our last grenades as well. One or two more waves and we would be fighting them hand to hand.
Sniper Team Alpha died first. The creatures saved the best for last. Some of them could fly. They swooped down and simply picked them off in rapid succession. The men managed to kill three more before being dragged away into the darkness. We provided cover for Sniper team Bravo, and pulled them into the church. Our last machine-gun was setup in the doorway to the church which faced the street.
He ran out of bullets at five to five. Our shotguns held them at bay, lacking the power they made up for it in damage dealing. By five thirty we had killed sixty or so right up to the walls of the church. The waves had stopped. It seemed only the last of the creatures were coming. But these were bigger and tougher and could only be killed with a direct close hit to their chest or face. If you were that close you were likely to be getting killed. Petrelli bought it like that. Shot one bastard clean in the head and was sliced apart for his troubles. I want to go like that. Clean.
We had put the townspeople behind us in the church with small arms and they helped when they could. Suddenly the wall behind us exploded and they were being grabbed and dragged away. Helga leaped into the crowd of the creatures and began to bludgeon them with her fists.
Each hit caused a creature to explode into blobs of disgusting flesh. We did not know what we were seeing and we did not care. The last twelve of us rushed up behind her and pointed our shotguns into the masses wherever she wasn't. One of the biggest of the bastards, grabbed her with his claws and I expected him to rip her apart like Petrelli. She screamed and the sound literally turned him into jelly before our eyes.
We fought for another hour, the creatures must have been desperate because they kept coming and fought more savagely, with greater rage. We lost five more after that. All but seven of the twenty townspeople were lost or missing.
Helga seemed to be slowing down, her strength waning. But she did not stop and neither did we. We were so focused that I did not see one coming in behind us. It was a big one. Lewis having only one grenade left, threw himself onto the creature and the grenade detonated under him. Blasting the creature and us. No one saw Helga move. One second she was outside, the next she was in front of me. She took shrapnel that was meant for me.
She fell back into my arms and looked at me. There were shrapnel wounds in her chest, stomach and legs. I could hear small arms going on behind me but they gradually stopped. I looked at her and wondered where she came from, who she was, what she was. And none of that mattered. She saved us.
They told me later, she was a prototype of a German super-soldier that was intercepted and shot down near us. The insects were also a weapon, likely on the same craft. It seemed her memory had been lost in the crash and she only remembered her name. There was some talk of taking her body and dissecting it for science, but no one could find her when they went looking for her later.
When the war ended, we heard of several super-soldiers who had been released into the war, but were all believed to have been destroyed or killed depending on their nature. I returned home, tired from the war, just wanting to forget it happened. My parents had taken care of my little house and it was just the way I remembered it. I flopped down onto my bed and remembered Helga. A wind whipped up and the tree outside my window shook its leaves. The window opened up and a woman landed gently on my bedroom floor.
"We are no longer enemies. And I have never forgotten your kindness."
I ran to her and she swept me up in her powerful arms. How does one begin to forget a goddess? I did not intend to even try.
Übermensch© Thaddeus Howze 2011. All Rights Reserved
XMOOR STUDIOS IMAGES ON "PERSON OF INTEREST"
On February 9th at 9pm Eastern Standard Time on CBS New York Channel 2's, Person of Interest TV show
Our flagship series "GALTOW" as well as "AJALA": A Series of Adventures Created by Robert Garrett plus some posters will be featured.
My works will be featured along with Steven Harris (AJALA and FRINGE), as Well as REGINE SAWYER and her Lockettdown Productions, Alex Simmons (Blackjack), Jerry Craft (Mama's Boys) and
Dawud Osaze Kamau Anyabwile aka Dave Sims (Brotherman).
Were in age where video has come paramount in the media industry and beyond. There's going to come a place in time were all other types of media will just be considered just to be a part of video. The embracement of video in the african american community has been of great importance. Music videos, movies, documentaries, youtube, and more have took the media by storm! But just as a african americans have embraced video for entertainment and communications, there also a lack of black videographers, writers, and special effects designers. A new site on the net @ http://www.blackcommunityentertainment.com/ hopes to help change that.
This site is a focal point for black video media, and others that would like to give there unique content on the web. With this site we can upload video, images, and make blogs to express your views. It's just starting out, but all ready the site has a great audience in part to its sister site www.blacksciencefictionsociety.com/
If people would give support to sites like these, a lot of things could be made for the black media community as a whole. The power of media in our nation will be here decades to come, so it would be a virtue for black people to be one of the creative forces in the industy. Not just to make another "Taylor Perry" movie. Check the "Red Tails" movie as an example of what could, and is being done lately.
For more information check out these links:
http://www.blackcommunityentertainment.com/
http://www.blacksciencefictionsociety.com/
http://www.lightworksbeta.com/
"Welcome to Suffering Shack, if we didn't beat it, you shouldn't eat it. Can I take your order, tonight?"
"Um, we're new in town and heard from a friend about the food here and wanted to know if we could get an order of your cuisine, to go."
"Certainly, sir, thank your friend for us. What would you like to order?"
"We have heard about your beef burgers and their particularly excellent "fear factor" flavoring. Can you tell us more about it?"
"Absolutely, which one are you looking at? We have the Fear Factor Special, with enhanced horn removal torture, or would you prefer the Bolt Gun Special, where the animal is shot clearly through the skull but not killed immediately. The fear in that burger is absolutely palpable, so I am told."
"Do both of these come with the Dangling from the Hooves, Blood Sauce?"
"Of course, made from the bleeding out of the animal as it hangs and expires. The fear rich blood is captured and processed with all natural ingredients."
"Is it true the animals are sent directly while still living into the meat grinder?"
"Of course, sir. At Suffering Shack we pride ourselves on the flavor of our factory grown beef. We use the best antibiotics, lowest quality feed grain, often enhanced with the entrails of animals from earlier in the week."
"Do you still provide the milk cows for the children's meals? The ones with the reduced lifespan who have never been exposed to fresh air?"
"Yes, ma'am, our children's burgers are made from the finest milk cows, whose lives have been shortened by the extreme schedule of extracting milk from them, feeding them corn instead of grass, and with a hole in the side we can reach inside them to ensure they are properly secured from bacteria until the moment of their early and untimely death. We take up to sixteen years from these animals lifespan and give it to you in your Children's Special Meal."
"Father, do they have anything besides beef?"
"I'm certain they do. Young lady, do you serve fish at Suffering Shack?"
"Yes sir. Our best seller is called the Last Fish Filet, made from the last fish able to be hunted near into extinction. Using giant trawler fleets, we scour the oceans for the last of the fish of the oceans and turn them into the Last Fish Filet. Made from a variety of white fish meat processed right at sea onboard our factory ships. For flavor, we add a variety of dolphin and porpoises that are caught in the nets as well."
"Dolphins? Doesn't that taint the overall flavor of the fish?"
"No, at Suffering Shack, its the suffering that adds the flavor. We include a percentage of whole dolphin in each catch, asphyxiating right on the deck of those ships, and then slid as they are expiring into the fish preparation center. Then that suffering is flash frozen and prepped at our breading factories and shipped directly to Suffering Shacks worldwide. Guaranteed to have at least twenty percent dolphin in each patty."
"Aren't dolphins considered intelligent?"
"No, young sir, since the Fishing Accords of 2033, no animal living in the oceans is considered sentient or intelligent allowing us to continue to fish at the levels we do today without interference from groups like GreenPeace or PETA."
"I am very hungry today, young lady, I would like to sampler your Whaler's Surprise."
"I am sorry to report sir, that menu item was discontinued just today. Let me clear that from the menu. We have unfortunately hunted killer whales to extinction and can no longer provide that as a choice on the menu."
"I was so looking forward to that. Do you have any other whales you can offer instead?"
"Please wait a second while I check the whale meat rosters. Ah yes, we have some Blue Whale, that can be shipped via orbital drop in less than fifteen minutes. It's very rare, and will have a surcharge for the suborbital delivery."
"I want the best, it was killed by harpoon, the old fashioned way, yes?"
"Yes, sir, I have read the manifest and this whale was killed in the classic methods. The manifest said it was hunted for two weeks and had several near misses before its eventual capture. It would have appeared to put up quite a struggle."
"Excellent, I will pay whatever it costs. We are sparing no expense for our anniversary. Two hundred years of happy marriage. Speaking of which, what would you like to order, my dear?"
"I am interested in trying the veal. I hear after plucking it from its mother's womb, it is suspended never touching the ground to keep it tender. It has never been exposed to ultraviolet radiation from the sun, enhancing its disorientation. I understand from the literature, they are fed but the diet is designed to keep them supple and delectable. It's rumored to not be the best for their development, rumored mostly to keep them alive but in a state of perpetual hunger. It sounds so exquisite."
"Yes, ma'am, we do have several veal choices on the menu, The Sun Never Rises Veal Patties, or the new Never Walked a Day grilled variety, unbreaded for the flavor of pure misery."
"I will have the Never Walked a Day. Don't like that breading they use on the patties."
"Will there be anything else, sir?"
"Yes, my older son and daughter have made their choices. My son is interested in hearing more about the "Candy of Meats" specials."
"Certainly. The "Candy of Meats" is our pork line of products. It is one of Suffering Shack's signature products. We take the greatest care in our factory production of pork, keeping it in the tightest of quarters of any of our food products. Their diet, literally anything we can find, mostly genetically-engineered bio-fodder along with hormones, is crafted to cause them the fastest and most uncomfortable growth possible. Some become so massive they cannot walk and are dragged to their processing facility."
"That seems as if it might cause a bit of flavoring, young lady but we are connoisseurs of suffering, this sounds as if it could only give nutrition to the smallest of my children."
"Not to worry, sir, our processing includes the dipping of the animal into vats of boiling water to sear away the upper layers of skin and hair to make the processing easier. They are alive during this process and it should be excruciating as the upper layers of the skin are sloughed off after dipping. Immediately afterward, they are bled and their organs removed, often while they are still alive due to the need to keep up with the demand, hence the name, the Candy of Meats."
"That sounds much better, young lady, I want only the best for my children. What is this tiny disclaimer I see flashing beneath all of the Candy of Meat products?"
"Oh, that. Ma'am that is a notation indicating our farms occasionally produce a variety of dangerous pathogens which may escape into the ecosystem of surrounding communities. The list includes e. coli and listeria, which are especially dangerous to Humans, Fogro and Maledictons. The meat may also contain a variety of said pathogens in dangerous densities, so we recommend those communities avoid the Candy of Meat products as a safety precaution."
"Nothing to worry about, my dear, those pathogens are a flavor enhancer to us, so Junior can eat as much as he can carry. Give us one of every product on the Candy of Meat line, my son is a growing boy."
"Do you have anything, that hasn't suffered unduly?"
"Please forgive my daughter, she is a Sufferingarian. She is trying to reduce the suffering of food in her diet. We hope it's just a phase."
"Yes, miss. Suffering Shack prides itself on catering to the growing Sufferingarian Movement and have a line of Kosher products from our facilities in Canada, Turkey, and New Africa. In the U.S. we are a Suffering Community and proud of it. In our Kosher lines, we have our "Gently Managed" product lines. Animals are raised in communities where they are allowed to move, breath and see the sun. They are each given handlers who make every effort to ensure as little difficulty in their lives as possible until they are prepared in their Kosher facilities. We also use organic wheat, corn and grains instead of our standard "Franken-food" engineered plants in all of our Gently Managed lines. We are certain your daughter will receive an absolutely minimum dosage of misery, pain or suffering in her food. Our Misery Free Brand, is completely vegetarian but absolutely the most expensive product line as everything is hand-raised, no chemicals are used and live insects are allowed free reign as pesticide use are absolutely forbidden."
"Oh Daddy, that sounds absolutely perfect. Can I have anything off of the Misery Free Label?"
"But Honey, how will you learn to be a terrible overlord of an entire world if you have a misery-free diet. Remember, you are what you eat?"
"Let the child be. If she wants to live misery-free, we should embrace her choices. Besides, we know you always planned to leave the planet to Junior anyway."
"This is true. With so much suffering made illegal in the galactic empire, its getting so a tyrant can't even torture his own food anymore. Young lady, do you have our order?"
"Yes, sir, your whale has arrived and will be prepared to your satisfaction. The rest of your orders will come with sides of Freedom Fries, made by hand in factories in outsource nations that still use human child labor, the younger the better, genetically-enhanced salad greens enhanced with fish and tiger genes, harvested before species became extinct for hardiness and enhanced flavors. Your order will be twelve thousand American dollars. We accept Intergalactic Express, Indentured Servants Exchange, let me check, your meal would require three sentients for at least four years and two thousand hours of work. We do not accept Galactic Credits as the exchange rates vary too much for real-time purchases."
"Do you accept gold?"
"Yes, sir, gold is still an acceptable currency. We would find Linimiran Bars to be acceptable. In keeping with our standards and company policies. Suffering Shack prides itself in only accepting currencies harvested under slave labor with a toll of no less than twenty lives per ounce."
"Very good, young lady. Your service has been exemplary. You represent your company well. Do you enjoy the food served in your restaurant?"
"In keeping with company policy, we are forbidden to eat anything else, except with medical dispensation. I am currently under a doctor's care so I am exempt."
"I notice you don't serve chicken on your menu any longer. Can you tell me why?"
"Sir, Suffering Shack has standards. With the things they do to chickens in factory farms, even we have to draw the line somewhere."
Suffering Shack © Thaddeus Howze 2012. All Rights Reserved
On the national celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday, you put out the political dog whistle to a South Carolina audience that “blacks should want jobs, not food stamps,” and calling our nation’s first African American president the “food stamp president.” You also disrespected the moderator – Juan Williams – by calling him by his first name (almost like calling him “boy”), when he called you by your former title of “Speaker.” I wonder if you’d been so bold if Herman Cain were still in the race?
On my blog post September 16, 2010, I wrote about poverty, particularly those that had been driven into poverty due to the recession.
One of those people…was me.
I also posted an article from Black Voices regarding the extreme effort college-educated African Americans were putting forth to get jobs with not as demonstrative success as the rest of the country.
That was also…me.
I have a degree in Engineering Physics from North Carolina A and T State University. I worked in a warehouse at UPS with that degree, slinging boxes between the hours of 3 – 9 AM, Monday – Friday making $6.52/hour. Do the math…
And yes, Mr. Gingrich, I went on food stamps…, with a degree in Physics.
I wrote a blog that became a book that described my angst, my self-doubt, my hurt pride, my desire to provide for my family in the manner I’d trained myself in the sciences to provide.
I now work in New York back in the industry I’d left eight years ago, making an income that allows me to provide for that same family…honorably. That was not a government program, sir: that was the Grace of God.
You cannot logically paint a broad brush on any one group’s desire over another to remain on food stamps – your data and political dog whistle is quite inaccurate: “Despite significantly higher participation rates for Blacks and persons of Hispanic origin, 65 percent of all participants were White.” (Census.gov)
I am not running for president, I am the “We the People” you’re running in the GOP primaries to qualify to govern.
Your behavior in this primary process is an abomination to the political process the Founding Fathers – you say you revere – established.
The day after celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. your crass, unprofessional comments demean the station you supposedly “occupy.” Perhaps after your bath, may I suggest soap applied to the orifice in front of the oval called your face? Please be suitably aggressive in application.
I don’t debate, but I do vote! If you were to get the nomination by some stretch of a miracle, you won’t be getting mine.
The State Of Black Science Fiction
Day 1
I believe that Black Science Fiction as a genre is in its infancy.
Historically as a rule, black involvement is science fiction has been that of secondary support roles or those that do not show us in a positive light. There have a few exceptions to that rule. To counter that, Blacks have been slowly infiltrating the science fiction genre. One way has been to create our own media that portrays us in a positive light. This black science fiction genre continues to grow and spread.
It is not enough to simple be included but audiences are demanding that we play center stage in the realm of science fiction. This demand is not limited to acting but behind the scenes in such areas as development, writing, as well as ownership.
It has not been widely publicized but truly great things going on in a close knit independent underground culture of black sci-fi. There has recently been a boom in independent black science fiction related conventions, sites, magazines, books, movies, shows, animation movies and yes even toys.
There continues to be a wealth of talent in all areas of black science fiction. The challenges faced however include, financing, marketing, promotions, distribution and support to make the gains sustainable. There are great things to come. As time passes solutions to the challenges will be minimized and those involved will gain greater audiences and recognition which in turn will help the genre grow and flourish.
Jarvis Sheffield, M.Ed
Administrator
www.BlackScienceFictionSociety.com
Check out the other members of this Online Black History Month Event:
L. M. Davis, Author--began her love affair with fantasy in the second grade. Her first novel, Interlopers: A Shifters Novel, was released in 2010, and the follow-up Posers: A Shifters Novel will be released this spring. For more information visit her blog http://shiftersseries.wordpress.com/ or her website www.shiftersnovelseries.com.
Milton Davis, Author – Milton Davis is owner/publisher of MVmedia, LLC . As an author he specializes in science fiction and fantasy and is the author of Meji Book One, Meji Book Two and Changa’s Safari. Visit him: www.mvmediaatl.com and http://www.mvmediaatl.com/Wagadu/
Margaret Fieland, Author-- lives and writes in the suburbs west of Boston, MA with her partner and five dogs. She is one of the Poetic Muselings. Their poetry anthology, Lifelines http://tinyurl.com/LifelinesPoetry/ is available from Amazon.com Her book, "Relocated," will be available from MuseItUp Publishing in July, 2012. The Angry Little Boy," will be published by 4RV publishing in early 2013. You may visit her website, http://www.margaretfieland.com.
Valjeanne Jeffers, Author -- is an editor and the author of the SF/fantasy novels: Immortal, Immortal II: The Time of Legend and Immortal III: Stealer of Souls. Her fourth and fifth novels: Immortal IV: Collision of Worlds and The Switch: Clockwork will be released this spring. Visit her at: http://valjeanne.wordpress.com and http://qandvaffordableediting.blogspot.com/
Alicia McCalla, Author- writes for both young adults and adults with her brand of multicultural science fiction, urban fantasy, and futurism. Her debut novel, Breaking Free will be available February 1, 2012. The Breaking Free theme song created by Asante McCalla is available for immediate download on itunes and Amazon. Visit her at: http://www.aliciamccalla.com
Carole McDonnell, Author--She writes Christian, speculative fiction, and multicultural stories. Her first novel is Wind Follower. Her short fiction has appeared in many anthologies and have been collected in an ebook, Spirit Fruit: Collected Speculative Fiction. Visit Carole: http://carolemcdonnell.blogspot.com/ or http://writersofcolorblogtour.blogspot.com/
Rasheedah Phillips,Author--is the creator of The AfroFuturist Affair in Philly. She plans to debut her first spec/sci-fic novel Recurrence Plot in Spring 2012. You may catch her ruminating from time to time on her blog, AstroMythoLosophy.com.
Nicole Sconiers, Author-is also a screenwriter living in the sunny jungle of L.A. She holds an MFA in creative writing from Antioch University Los Angeles, and she recently published Escape from Beckyville: Tales of Race, Hair and Rage. Visit her: http://nicolesconiers.com/index.html
Jarvis Sheffield, M.Ed. is owner & operator of TheDigitalBrothers.com, BlackScienceFictionSociety.com & BlackCommunityEntertainment.com. Visit him: http://www.blacksciencefictionsociety.com/profiles/blog/list?user=2stjwb1h216fd
It's about the Tuskegee Airmen, and Hollywood thinks it's not "green" enough, meaning...well, see what George Lucas has to say about it:
