Intimate Conversation with Black Diamonds Book Club
Rochelle Ragas, President - Arlington, TX

BPM: Give us a little history on your organization, Black Diamonds Book Club. Share with us your president’s or leader’s name and any other officers in the group. What year did you start? Where are you located? How many members do you have?
Hello Ella! My name is Rochelle Ragas and I am the President of the Black Diamonds Book Club. Our club started in January 2010 with four (4) charter members: Sheila Brown (Photographer), Wanda Fuller (Treasurer), Rochelle Ragas (President) and Janet Smith (Secretary). 

Since then we have added two new members: Kirstin Johnson (Historian) and Robin Jones (Social Media Coordinator). We are based in Arlington, Texas; however our members live throughout the metroplex. (Photo: Rochelle Ragas, pink blouse.)

BPM: Do you host events during the year? Donate to charities or provide any service for the community?
We hosted a recent book signing for former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and we also support other book clubs at their signings. 

We recently donated items to the non-profit organization Women Called Moses which focuses on victims of domestic Violence and we hope to partner with more charities in the upcoming year such as Breast Cancer initiatives. This year we also adopted a young girl through the Salvation Army’s Angel Tree.

BPM: What types of books does your group read? How do you select the books?
We read a variety of genres to include biographies, thrillers, self-help, and of course fiction. All members of the club submit five (5) titles and we draw names for our reading selections for the following year. We also have a list of five (5) alternates just in case one of the books does not keep our attention.

BPM: In your opinion, why is reading important in our lives? What impact has reading had on your life? Have there been any books that help shape your life or gave you inspiration during a trying time in life?
In each book we read there has been a message of some type. Not every reader will identify with a character, but there will be a lesson to be learned from the characters read. The Black Diamonds Book Club (BDBC) read Color Me Butterfly by L.Y. Marlow in September 2011. For one of our members this book left an indelible impression on her because of the trials and triumphs of this story and how it impacted a family for over four decades. 

Reading is such and important factor in all our lives. Reading provides an outlet and lets readers discover a whole world, whether fact or fiction. We think it is the basis for all success in life. As the old saying goes ‘If you can read you can achieve’. Most, if not all, of our club members can be found with a book at any given time whether hardback, paperback, or electronic. We always have something to read.

BPM: What are the key factors that help a book remain on your mind long after you read the last page?
We have found that the quality of the story, depth of the characters and plausibility have contributed to us discussing a book long after we have read it. We still talk about books that we read in 2010.

BPM: Do you feel as if you have to identify with one of the leading characters in order to tell others about it?
We are divided on this aspect. For some of us we are able to ‘step’ inside the characters because the story is well written. For others, if we closely identify with the characters it makes them seem more real and life-like.

The Mark of Wise Counsel
Examine the meaning of wise counsel in today’s society. 

It pays to be married into a wise family.  My mother-in-law, Lucy Packer Andrews, was always a source of good information.  She was an elementary school teacher for over 30 years.  Mrs. Andrews (as I respectfully called her) was the most active woman I have ever seen.  In fact, she was multi-tasking before it was embraced by popular culture. When our family made our way to her home, Mrs. Andrews had already strategically found a way to get all her children and their spouses to volunteer to assist her planned events. 

Yet, it was her down-to-earth wisdom that amazed me (even with my master’s degree education). When I got my first opportunity to teach at a college, she broke down a very simple teaching strategy that encompassed the introduction of a concept followed by the immediate application. It is the same simple approach that I now use to guide my intellectual MBA students. Although she has since passed, Mrs. Andrews’ wise counsel remains as her legacy for all generations. 

Intimate Conversation with  Terri D.

Terri D.  is a long-term transplant resident of Harrisburg, PA. She is a single mother of three who has written poetry and short stories all of her life. Her children have always been her inspiration to push to get to the next level. She writes as a way to express herself and to document her inner most feelings. Terri D. published her debut novel titled Yesterday’s Lies in 2011. 

BPM: Tell us about your journey becoming a successfully published author. Do you have anyone in your life that was heavily influential in your deciding to become an author? 
I have always kept journals and written poetry and short stories. One of my best friends who I have known over 20 years has always enjoyed my writing, she always complimented me on how well I express myself in writing. I didn't plan on writing a book I just had an idea and started writing one night last summer. After a few chapters I shared what I had written with my friend and she encouraged me to continue and finish the story.

Intimate Conversation with Kimberla Lawson Roby

New York Times Bestselling Author Kimberla Lawson Roby has published 16 novels, including her first novel, BEHIND CLOSED DOORS, which was originally self-published through her own company, Lenox Press. Her novels have frequented numerous bestseller lists, including The New York Times , USA Today, The Washington Post, Publishers Weekly, Essence Magazine, Upscale Magazine, Emerge Magazine, Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com, Wal-Mart, The Dallas Morning News, and The Austin Chronicle to name a few. THE REVEREND’S WIFE will be released May 1, 2012.

BPM: Introduce us to your book and the main characters. What makes each one special? Do you have any favorites?
THE REVEREND'S WIFE is my 17th novel and also the 9th title in my Reverend Curtis Black Series. The story centers on Curtis and Charlotte and the fact that Curtis is still planning to divorce Charlotte once their son, Matthew, graduates and heads off to Harvard in the fall. Sadly, only a few months before, Charlotte made the huge mistake of sleeping with two different men, and while she is doing all she can, trying to make amends, Curtis has decided he wants to move on. I think what makes my RCB Series characters special is the realness of their personas and actions. The stories are fictional, but the overall plots and personalities of the characters are very relatable to people in real life.

Intimate Conversation with Dorothy Koomson 

Dorothy Koomson wrote her first (unpublished) novel when she was 13 - and has been making up stories ever since. As a journalist she has written for several publications including The Guardian, New Woman and Cosmo. Her seven novels have all spent several weeks on the bestseller lists and have been translated into 28 languages across the world.

BPM: When did you get your first inkling to write, and how did you advance the call for writing? Success leaves clues, whose clues did you follow on your journey?
I’ve always had a deep love of stories and would voraciously watch television dramas and read storybooks when I was younger. I used to go to the library on the way home from school to read books. My love of telling stories grew from there. 

One set of books that inspired me to start writing were The Garden Gang stories by Jayne Fisher. She started writing and illustrating them when she was nine back in the late seventies. 
I remember thinking that if someone my age could write books, then so could I. When I was 13 I gave it a try: I would write a chapter of my novel every night and then pass it around my school friends to read the next morning. They all seemed to like it. However, I was in my thirties before I signed my first publishing deal with a small, independent publisher. 

BPM: How do you find the time to write? 
I make the time. I’ve had two jobs (full-time journalist and novelist) for so long that I had to find whatever little time I could to write. I used to write on the train to work, in front of the television, in the middle of the night when everyone on my side of the globe was asleep. It was what I had to do to write my books and pay my bills. In my experience, you have to do a lot of non-novel work to be able to write books. The idea that you get a huge advance on the first go is wonderful…and mostly the stuff of fiction. If it happens to you, then fabulous. If it doesn’t happen to you, then try not to feel discouraged, keep going. Also, having another job is great for researching stories to write about.

Intimate Conversation with Tucker Davis

Tucker Davis is an Atlanta native and often describes herself as a Grady baby. (If you are from Atlanta you know exactly what she means!) She has had a love of writing since she was in high school. Tucker, a naturally risk adverse person, often lived her adventures through reading. She even blames her poor eyesight on sneaking to read books in the darkness of her bedroom when she was supposed to be asleep. 

It wasn’t until she discovered authors like John Grissom, Terry McMillan, Brenda Jackson, Kayla Perrin and Rochelle Alers that her desire to tell her own stories was fed. She decided it was time to share the stories she allowed to play out in her mind. Thus, she penned her first novel, Misplaced Desires, which will be published in 2012 under the Twisted Pleasures series. 

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Intimate Conversation with Garen S. Wolff

Miss Garen S. Wolff is a dynamic young woman--published scientist, author and medical student. Born and raised in Detroit, Michigan she attended the prestigious private school Detroit Country Day from Pre-Kindergarten to 12th grade. Miss Wolff received her Bachelors degree in Neuroscience from Wellesley College, a women's college renowned for its prominent alumni, such as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Diane Sawyer. Currently, she is a medical student at Indiana University School of Medicine.

Writing the Galstanberry series is just one of Miss Wolff's many accomplishments. She has been the recipient of multiple awards, such as the National Institute of Health Fellowship; and featured in national publications such as, Ebony Magazine and Essence Magazine for her award winning mentoring program, OfficialCityPrep.  Book #1 of the Galstanberry series placed as a finalist in the multicultural fiction category of the 2011 International Book Awards. Additionally, it is catalogued in the International Youth Library in Munich, Germany.

BPM: Tell us about your YA book The Girlz of Galstanberry.
The Girlz of Galstanberry is a refreshing multicultural series for girls 10-14 years old and grades 5th-­8th grade. The first book in the Galstanberry series takes readers across the United States to meet five girls from different ethnicities, socio-economic backgrounds, and cities that are admitted into, Galstanberry Girls Academy, an exclusive boarding school in Connecticut. The girls’ varied personalities lead to inevitable drama and internal conflicts. However, with each triumph and tribulation, they grow, transforming each other and the academy.

BPM: What inspired you to write the book, The Girlz of Galstanberry?
The diversity of girls around the world–tall, short, blonde, dreads, spunky, shy! In fact, while walking down the street, I see no two girls that look alike! Every girl has a story to tell due to their varied experiences, geographic location, ethnicity, family structure, etc. Therefore, I wanted to create a series that truly reflected the diversity of girls’ voices.

 

 

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Bullying - Impact on Gay, Lesbian Children and Youth
By Esmeralda Carvalho 

Bullying is a real concern and increasingly a problem that most schools are addressing albeit, some more effectively than others. Bullying is affecting all levels of education, from public to private schools, from kindergarten to high school.

Children or youth who claim to be bullied say it's because they are overweight, underweight, are short, or are extremely shy, a large percentage claim it's because they are gay or lesbian or are perceived to be. Suicide rates among teens and even younger children are on the rise, much of the cause can be attributed to bullying related to the fear of homosexuality or simply,  homophobia.

Children and youth who bully are not secure individuals, to bully they must feel insecure in some way. Some children put themselves down on a regular basis, emulating what they see adults doing. Often it is at home within their families that they feel most insecure. When parents tease their kids, put them down by calling them "stupid", or by saying "you can't do anything right", they are in fact putting that child down, and in a sense bullying their own children. They may take the position that they are the authority and therefore can use their power as they see fit. However, being a parent does not give anyone the right to mistreat a child. No one owns anyone else. Once a child is born, he or she becomes an autonomous individual, with a unique sense of self and self expression.

When children feel judged by their parents they feel a sense of great injustice. As many children have no healthy outlet to express those feelings of injustice, they become angry and often take that anger to the school yard; either leading them to become bullies or to become the bullied.

The teaching of morals and values in the home can have a serious impact on children and youth. If the family's values center around not accepting homosexuals, teasing overweight people, or talking negatively about people of different racial and cultural backgrounds, then in effect, that is educating the child, however prejudicially. Children are engrained with family values from a young age, they grow up and integrate these values into their psyche as if these are shared by everyone. 

When others don't reflect the same values, these children can become angry and resentful. Negative messages, even when normalized in the home resonate injustice in a profound way to the child. The signs can be withdrawal form school activities, extreme shyness, mild to severe depression, ADHD type symptoms, outbursts, fighting and bullying behavior, either as victim or victimizer.  

The question "If mom and dad hate gays, do they hate me too?" will inevitable arise in the child's mind. Curbing negative talk, avoiding racial, homophobic and other types of slurs will definitely improve your child's mental health. In the long run, children will end up respecting their parents more when their parents show respect for themselves and others. Beginning a trend of positive reinforcement in the home that will bring back health and well being is key.

Bullying can also be a direct result of your child's repressed homosexual nature. Parents are not always aware of what is really going on in their child's mind. The child could be feeling that he or she is gay or lesbian, but have no one to talk to about it. Repression of feelings can lead to depression or suicide, as well as to bulling. Read: Straight Parents, Gay Children: Keeping Families Together by Robert A. Bernstein. Talk about gays and lesbians directly, mention cases in the news, give your child a book about it, for example: It Gets Better: Coming Out, Overcoming Bullying, and Creating a Life Worth Living.

 

 

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Intimate Conversation with David Miller
YA Reader: Khalil’s Way - Illustrations by Jerry Craft

Meet author David Miller, M.Ed., Chief Visionary Officer & Co-Founder Urban Leadership Institute. Websites: www.urbanyouth.org   and www.raisinghimalone.com   

Exciting, compassionate and highly motivated to improve the quality of life for children in the United States and abroad are just a few adjectives used to describe David C. Miller.  As a co-founder and Chief Visionary Officer for the Urban Leadership Institute, LLC., Miller is a nationally recognized speaker and program developer working with youth of color.  

A sought after lecturer and advocate for youth and young adults, David has over 14 years of hands-on practical experience working with youth.  He has worked with thousands of youth in detention centers, aftercare programs and in disadvantaged schools and communities throughout the United States and abroad.

David is considered one of the leading professionals in the country addressing the issue of adolescent violence. He has worked extensively with the Centers for Disease Control and the Johns Hopkins University. He received his Bachelors Degree in Political Science from the University of Baltimore and a Masters Degree in Education from Goucher College.
For more information on David Miller, please click here now.  

BPM: When did you get your first inkling/inspiration to write this particular book?
A little over two years ago I ran into a guy who bullied me and several of my friends growing up in Baltimore, MD. The gentleman was standing on the corner in a heavily drug populated section of the city. With some reservations I jumped out of my truck and confronted my former tormentor. We have an amicable conversation about our childhoods. He seemed to not remember his aggressive antics toward me and my friends. Minutes into the conversation he shared how his life had spiraled out of control.

As I drove home, I contemplated how different our lives had become based on the choices we made. When I got to my office I turned on my PC to check my emails. In my in box was a story about Carl Walker Hoover, an 11 year old middle school student, who had committed suicide as a result of being bullied. 

While reading the story I decided that it was time to focus some of my energy and creativity towards a voice for urban youth who have become victims of bullying. Many of the stories we hear on the national news tend to focus on white kids living in rural and urban communities. 

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Sneak Peek When Sunday Comes Again
by Terry E. Hill
Read the entire chapter, here.

The white lace curtains in Hattie Williams’ open bedroom window quivered gently in the evening breeze barely shielding the dark room from the glow of a full moon. The room smelled of talcum powder mixed with the sweet fragrance from a bouquet of roses picked from her garden that day. A cherry brown antique vanity balancing a towering oval beveled mirror served as the centerpiece of the small room. Crystal atomizer perfume bottles were symmetrically arranged on its surface, each containing the lilac, rose, and lavender scents that gently announced her arrival moments before she would enter a room. Three tubes of her favorite hand cream and a fabric covered box filled with her Sunday gloves occupied the lowest shelf. A vase holding the red roses sat on the highest.

The sheets on the bed were the crispest of white. A true white achieved only from the addition of bluing poured by an experienced hand. Pillow cases printed with yellow and pink flowers and a patchwork quilt sewn so many years ago by her mother were tangled and strewn across the disheveled bed. Beads of perspiration gathered on Hattie’s lip as she tossed restlessly in a fitful sleep. It was 2:00AM in the morning.

“No. No not the pastor. Not Pastor Cleaveland,” Hattie sputtered as her gray hair thrashed from side to side.

The image of a man wearing a tailored black suit filled her dream. His eyes were wide open and staring straight at her. But there was no life, no sparkle, just an empty shell. He was lying in a pool of glistening blood. She could hear screams in the background but no one was there except the lifeless body of her pastor, Hezekiah T. Cleaveland.

Her body convulsed as she tried in vain to revive the lifeless man in her dream. And then it happened. She felt the distinct presence of two people just beyond her dream’s reach. One was familiar but the other she did not know. Hattie could feel waves of hate and anger weighing down on her as she knelt over Hezekiah. Gradually the source of the feelings moved closer and closer. The pain was almost unbearable. Hattie knew the source of this energy. It was one she had felt on so many Sunday mornings.

A second unrecognizable force vied for her attention. There was warmth but she couldn’t see the source. The person hovered timidly in the background. Afraid to move in closer. Afraid to come into view. Hattie could clearly discern the emotions. There was an overwhelming sorrow but permeating through it all, there was love.

She felt a cold hand on her shoulder. The touch sent a shudder through her sleeping body. She fought the urge to look over her shoulder, but she had no choice. The woman smiled down on her as she looked up. The bright glow from her white teeth covered Hattie and Hezekiah’s body in light.

Hattie bolted upright in her bed and screamed out loud. “Oh Lord! Why Samantha? Why?” Her body was drenched in perspiration as her eyes fixed on her trembling reflection in the vanity mirror across the room. Her silver hair was tangled and tossed. Her hands shook as she cried out, “Hezekiah loved you so much Samantha.” Hattie prayed that it wasn’t true. She hoped that this would be the one time her empathic gift had failed her.

 

 

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How to Find Your Serenity Place 
by Kerri Herndon

My typical day begins at 5 am. Today, I truly look forward to rising before the sun and greeting everyone with joy. I must admit, it took me some time to find my morning glory.
Blissful rest was always interrupted by insidious honking and silenced with with my right hand as I quickly hit the snooze button to give me at least 10 additional minutes of sleep. The plush purple toasty fur lined slippers that awaited the arrival of my feet to slide in to begin the normal daily routine, were very rarely in reach. 

Next, as I waddled downstairs to grab the kettle from the stove, fill it with water for coffee (still yawning), dings from my iPhone alerting me to brand new emails, text messages, FaceBook messages and notifications and invites to events that I would never attend grab the first moments of my day.  As I pour the creamer in my coffee, my mind is already beginning to list out all the items that will be placed on the “to do list” creating my agenda for the day. Before I have taken one sip or sat down for devotion, my mind has dictated at least twenty tasks that need to be accomplished by 3pm. With my mind racing around everything that needs to be done for the day, enjoying the solitude while basking in serenity is slipping away…

But wait.

I woke up early for solitude and devotional time to clear my mind thus bringing forth feelings of serenity and clarity to pave the way for a more productive day…

If any of this sounds remotely familiar then you can more than likely also relate as the day unfolds, so do the responsibilities and the ever increasing demands that are piled upon you. Within the midst of all of it, are your personal ambitions and desires.  Without surrendering your white flag, you begin to read books and listen to audios on how to jam seven hours into three to become more efficient so that you have more “me” and family time. You up your intake of vitamins and supplements, temporarily change your eating habits and join the gym all attempting to continue ironing your shero cape and not relent. Yet, feelings of fatigue, low energy, occasional mood swings and irritability have now become a part of your personality while stress and thoughts of depression are knocking at the door for permanent residency.

I’m reminded of the 80’s song by Karen White, where in the video poised with strength, she serenades her uniformed husband, I’m not your superwoman. The scenes switch back and forth as we viewers are relating to the stamina she excludes as she is hanging up laundry and then cooking dinner ( all while looking good in her heels). What is it in some of us that believes we can and should play the balancing act of twenty item task list and still meet the needs of others around us?

 

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Fashion Mantra For Plus Size Women 
By George Lyle Walker

Size doesn't matter. Slim, tall, short and yes plus sized big beautiful women can also turn heads and attract people. We have seen a few turn around in celebs like delta burke, they have not just broken the jinx that plus sized women can't look glamorous, also have become the style mantra of how to carry yourself whatever your size be. Some people have rewritten the primitive rules that black is the key to cover your flab's. The trick is just about choosing the right colors and supporting accessories.

You might have the common thumb rule that dark colors help you hide the flab; however covering yourself in outfits of the same shade isn't a good idea. The effort is to camouflage one area of your body which spoils the whole show. So the trick is not just about colors it is also about the lines. Vertical is the key the big buttons vertically stacked on your jacket, beads hanging around the longest length that you can carry and anything that shows the flow vertically on you would help you trick it. The best is about choosing what makes you most comfortable.

Flaunt the colors that you think help you pep up your mood.  Also don't forget to add they key elements that we discussed earlier, yes don't forget to add a necklace, a scarf or even a big tie. Gone are the days when loud colors were thought as the best friends of big size.

Another common sin that we big sized people do is to jump into sizes that aren't ours. Squeezing yourself into something that doesn't fits would always end up in a bad show. Don't wear that jeans which is tight, it would not just make you uneasy also would showcase the butt which you always wanted to hide. So stop yourself from picking up that isn't meant for you. Shops have realized that there exists demand for plus sizes and they do stock it. Ask them and they would help you find your right size.

The most common critics are your friends and family. Some are brutally honest to give their opinion and some just give out for the sake of it (at times just to cut short the discussion they just say what you like to hear) Avoid such people. Pick the ones who are true in their thoughts.

If jewelry is what you love then follow the same rule of size, pick the ones that justify your size. Yes, big bracelets and bangles, neck pieces that flow long on you. Also avoid washing off the thought that big is bad. It is not a thing to be embarrassed about. It's the same way of the size zero think of them. Your size is what you are so the sooner you accept it and work towards the tricks we taught you today, the better you would feel about yourself. You are beautiful in your own unique way.

As I always say friends are in search of big beautiful hearts and souls. Your external looks would only help others judge about you from a distance. Remember the last time you saw your friend in her pajama, just out of bed, no makeup and bad hair. You still loved her as much as you would have when she looked at her best.

Get the friends who value you for what you are as a person. Install your beauty as a belief in yourself. Pick the right friends, follow the right rules and above all listen to your heart.

About the Author
George Walker has been writing articles for nearly 3 years. Come visit his latest website over at Queen Air Mattress which helps people find the best Portable Air Mattress products.  
Article Source  

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The Perfect Tomato by Lutishia Lovely

It was the summer of my first year in junior high when my mama did the most un-cool thing that a mother can do to a closet country girl trying to act like a city chick… she planted a garden.  What? Are you kidding?

A garden in the backyard of our newly built home in the small Kansas town of three-thousand where I grew up. How do you tell your peers that you can’t meet with them in the local grocery store parking lot and ride up and down 6th Street (to honk and wave at the same people about six zillion times) because you’re picking weeds from among the lettuce plants, or digging holes for sticks to help tomato vines stand? Soooooo not cool, Mama!

But that was me, twelve with a bullet (yep, I started kindergarten at four years old) and totally frustrated that my mother didn’t understand how she was seriously messing with my oh-so-fly reputation. It seemed to not bother her at all, she simply asked me to grab the box of seeds and follow her out to the yard where she dug little holes about a foot apart, and I dutifully planted, with an appropriately pre-teen scowl on my face a garden that included onions, greens and tomatoes. 

I should give a little background here. Although I grew up in the Midwest I am, at heart, a country girl. Many of my weekends were spent about seven-hundred miles from our Kansas abode, in Arkansas, hanging out with my grands. My grandmother had a beautiful garden and I enjoyed many meals that came directly from her planting, sowing, and cooking hands. 

In fact, when in Arkansas, almost all of our food came from the land and directly from the farm: the vegetables from the garden, the eggs from the henhouse, and the meat from the pasture…or the front yard. I believe that the seeds of my vegetarianism were planted the first time I saw my grandmother ring a chicken’s neck! Imagine the trauma when hours later I run into the house, smell a tantalizing odor, ask what’s for dinner and hear the answer…chicken. I walk into the kitchen, raise the top on the pot on the stove and look down on the plucked, boiling memories of the bird that had run for its life, even without a head. Needless to say, there was no fowl for me that night and, after getting past that experience and eating it for a long time, no meat of any kind for the past decade.

But back to the oh-so-not-cool garden.

The summer passed, filled with serious softball tournaments (my dad was the coach), trips to Arkansas and my first crush on the boy with the afro who lived across town. And then, in August, something magical happened. The tomato plants came into maturity, with these huge, bright red globes of juicy goodness hanging on the vine. I have one very clear memory: my going out to the garden (yeah, the oh-so-not-cool one), plucking a perfectly formed, ruby red tomato off of a vine, and going into the kitchen. There, I rinsed off the fruit, reached for the salt shaker, poured a little of the white stuff on it and took a bite. I just have three words for what I felt and tasted.  Oh. My. God.

About the Author
Lutishia Lovely is the award-winning, best-selling author of sixteen novels. The Business Trilogy, her latest work, combines two of her passions: writing and food. This series (All Up In My Business, Mind Your Own Business and Taking Care Of Business) centers around the Livingstons, owners of a soul food dynasty called Taste Of Soul—where sizzling scandal and delicious drama are always on the menu. 

Find out more about this series and Lutishia at her website:  www.LutishiaLovely.com.  And please sign up for her newsletter, where readers are treated to contests, updates, excerpts from upcoming novels, contests and more!  Follow Lutishia Lovely on Twitter: www.twitter.com/lutishialovely 

 

 

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A New Born Dad 
by author Alfred Steven Harris

It was quiet in the room. The sun, closing on the day, was sending her warmth and comfortable colors through the Venetian blinds. Bewitching, charming and divine, soft in its touch, enchanting like a rainbow...my eyes danced with the colors as they turned...and I knew that twilight would soon have his due.

It was peaceful!

I was surprised at the calm; distant was the rough activity of the world outside, it seemed to be a complete absence of noise, of agitation, even of stress. Which was surprising to me under the circumstances, but I was enjoying this ambience. The bedroom door was closed, which was atypical because we were the only ones in the house, but somehow it did seem more private.

When I heard the toilet flush, my heart quickened, which made me chuckle, why? I'm not sure, but I do know that was when thoughts of my age came to mind. Algebraic equations flowed across the blackboard of my mind. Arithmetic answering my questions about five years from now, even ten... then eighteen.  Ahhh eighteen, all the years before it are just preparation for that year. Then the board was wiped with a mental eraser and other numbers flowed, representing the needs of what might be coming out of that bathroom, from the first day of confirmation, things have to be brought, and I'm not sure if it ever stops. I know that it gets increasingly more as the years go by....

That's when my hands starting getting sweaty; although the room was cool, I could feel the circulating air blowing from the vents. Again, my heart quickened as I looked at the bathroom door. Was that doubt that knocked!

Just an instant! Then I thought of her!

Her, with her warm smile and her quirky ways, her laugh that sounds so musical... it made me wonder what she was feeling right now. Did she enjoy any of the peacefulness that I was enjoying just moments ago, somehow I doubted that she experiencing that, she probably was wondering about how I was feeling. That would be just like her, to wonder how I was feeling...

With that, doubt...was knocked down for the count!

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Kissing the Day 
by Alfred Steven Harris

The sun was kissing the day, laying its yellow lips on the skyline. She had told her white, fluffy, and flurry little friends to scram, they weren't needed today. She wanted the sky to be clear and blue and was determined to hold on to this day, for an amazing thing had happened. True love was born, she knew it was love, they knew it too, and everyone that was witness to it... knew it too, what they didn't know was that it would last....forever!

So the Sun, to the annoyance and exasperation of the powers that be, was refusing to let caliginous have his due. You see many, many years ago it was agreed upon that both would share the world, but this day was different...

There is so much bad in the world that today the Sun, beaming in all her glory, wanted the world to remember, to commemorate the improbability of the growth of a new love, born out of the apprehension and trepidation from all the horror stories one usually hears from this source, this love was born!

These two had met on the Internet! 

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