I was recently a victim of a felonious assault. I was hit in the mouth with an iron, by a woman who became angry because her boyfriend spends his money with me. I truly believe that she was angry because that would be less money she could give away to Motor City Casino. Her boyfriend says she is addicted to gambling and after my experience, I too believe this.
I am an up an coming children's author who after a 10 year hiatus was returning to Corporate America to work. I had just landed a job with one of the government Lifeline Cellular Phone companies. I decided to jump back into bed with Corporate America because of my latest book, The Magic Word, which I am so excited about because it really is a tool that motivates 'at-risk' children to become active readers (I've seen it happen). To be honest, I did not write this book. GOD did. I am not that smart.
My motivation for getting a J O B is to have a stable income so I can invest the profits from the sale of this book back into this project. Before the assault I was selling 10 –15 copies weekly @ $10-15/copy, to tourist visiting the Motown Museum. It was an easy sell. My appearance was always neat, my presentation surgical and product, GOD given. But, since I was unemployed I used the proceeds to live off of instead of growing the business. I'm on a mission from GOD so this was not an option.
If done right, and if it's GOD's will, I not only will I be able to help motivate children to become active readers but make a living and provide economic opportunity in my community. I just needed the luxury of a stable income to grow this project. So I was comfortable sacrificing my disdain for Corporate America's "it's all about the shareholder" mentality and go to work as a means to an end.
If I do this right and if it is GOD’s will, it can finally be all about the target audience- children. This book has been enjoyed by every child I've read it too or who has read it themselves. They have enjoyed the story and took from it, the verbal affirmation (a tool) built into the story. The next step is to make saying the verbal affirmation fun! The Magic Phrase, a hip-hop music video is in the works to do just that.
But, my plan on doing it "right" by going back to work, yadda, yadda, yadda, changed September 30, 2014. I was in apartment 1012 of The Harriett Tubman Apartments in Detroit, MI getting an understanding with a loyal customer on the sale of a poster of Mohamed Ali standing over Sonny Liston after knocking him out; I make ends meet by selling posters, childrens books and whatever else I can get my hands on legally. Ali's expression seems to say "Get up m/f so I can knock you out again." This is a poster that my client had wanted since child hood. Well, for $20 it would be his on the 1st of October.
Now, I was to suppose to start my job the following week so I was pulling out all stops to generate cash for transportation, eating lunch and just living until my first check in three (3) weeks; I seem to perform better with money in my pocket. I was able to convince my client to buy a second poster of Detroit's 1st Black mayor Coleman Young for an additional $15. So I was going to generate $35 the following day out of a minimal investment of under $10; yes it's true, Detroit does hustle harder! This would be a part of the resources needed to find success in my new position. In this time in my life, success is the only option.
Unfortunately, this is when things fell apart. As me and my client are wrapping up our business arrangement I hear his girlfriend complain about how this man’s money management. "Why are you always giving this man your money?" she asked. He responds by telling her to shut up. Now his reaction may sound harsh but this is the situation at his apartment; or at least his side of the story. She spends her monthly government check paying her grown son's rent and at the casino gambling. She does not pay any rent or cable bill even though she begged and pleaded for him to get cable, promising to pay the bill each month. In fact, according to him, she does not pay any other bills in his house. She just jacks off her money and holds out her hand. All he wanted to do was to buy two (2) posters.
So, he tells her to shut up. I don't say anything. My mission is to sell these two posters and I am accomplishing that goal. So it was agreed upon that I would bring a poster of Mohammed Ali knocking out Sonny Liston and a poster of Mayor Coleman Young on the 1st of October at 2 pm. In exchange, I would receive $35 for my efforts. This was concluded and now I am trying to get out of his apartment before he changes my mind. As I turn away from him to grab my coat and feel a cold. blunt force crash into my mouth and see stars. When the stars clear up I see my customer's girlfriend swinging to hit me again with the iron she is using as an offensive weapon. "What the F@#K" was my initial reaction. As the iron came toward my face a 2nd time, I turned and leaned my head back. But, not soon enough. I received a glancing blow right behind my ear. As she went to swing again, I grabbed her arms and wrestled her to the ground. Finding me in a dominant position straddled over her, my initial reaction was to begin beating her as if she is a man who had just hit me in the mouth with an iron. But, she is a woman. My right hand clutched her throat. I wanted to beat her like a man. I had the upper hand and could have punched her face repeatedly but what raced through my mind was "She is a woman. Although she is twice my weight, she is a woman. She just hit me in the mouth with an iron but she still is a woman." Just like the literacy tool (book) I just completed, this was GOD working in my life. He’s finally getting through to me and I truly want to be a peace maker.
As my client screamed and cried (yes, like a baby) "Don't kill her. Please don't kill her." I release the grip I had on her throat, got up and put on my coat and walked into the bathroom to assess the damage. As I am coming out of the bathroom I see the girlfriend going into the kitchen and reappearing with a knife. “What the F@#K.” I carry a pocket knife so I flick it out, not to use, unless I had to, but as a peace maker. It worked. She looked at me to discover that I was not fearful but ready to defend myself. She walked back into the kitchen, put the knife back, came out of the kitchen and walked into the bedroom. Dazed, confused and disappointed, I walked out of my client's door and went to emergency. I receive 4 stitches in my lip and a referral to a dental clinic to repair one missing tooth and numerous chipped and cracked teeth.
I took a few weeks to battle depression, do some soul searching and try and figure out my next moves. I decided to begin researching what effects illiteracy has on its’ victim (the illiterate) and society at large. My original motivation was to find any connections that illiteracy has to violence? What I discovered in my research alarmed me and gave me a greater passion to make children's illiteracy a cause that we can rally around create brighter futures for children who might otherwise live a life of crime, poverty and disenfranchisement
Thus, I decided to create this blog that I hope will help educate the intellectually astute on how illiteracy not only negatively impacts the illiterate but also our society. But most important, get you to understand that all of America's children deserve better. So please, leave me a comment and hopefully request how to get involved, So in closing all I can say is “Let the Reading Revolution begin.”
I am an up an coming children's author who after a 10 year hiatus was returning to Corporate America to work. I had just landed a job with one of the government Lifeline Cellular Phone companies. I decided to jump back into bed with Corporate America because of my latest book, The Magic Word, which I am so excited about because it really is a tool that motivates 'at-risk' children to become active readers (I've seen it happen). To be honest, I did not write this book. GOD did. I am not that smart.
My motivation for getting a J O B is to have a stable income so I can invest the profits from the sale of this book back into this project. Before the assault I was selling 10 –15 copies weekly @ $10-15/copy, to tourist visiting the Motown Museum. It was an easy sell. My appearance was always neat, my presentation surgical and product, GOD given. But, since I was unemployed I used the proceeds to live off of instead of growing the business. I'm on a mission from GOD so this was not an option.
If done right, and if it's GOD's will, I not only will I be able to help motivate children to become active readers but make a living and provide economic opportunity in my community. I just needed the luxury of a stable income to grow this project. So I was comfortable sacrificing my disdain for Corporate America's "it's all about the shareholder" mentality and go to work as a means to an end.
If I do this right and if it is GOD’s will, it can finally be all about the target audience- children. This book has been enjoyed by every child I've read it too or who has read it themselves. They have enjoyed the story and took from it, the verbal affirmation (a tool) built into the story. The next step is to make saying the verbal affirmation fun! The Magic Phrase, a hip-hop music video is in the works to do just that.
But, my plan on doing it "right" by going back to work, yadda, yadda, yadda, changed September 30, 2014. I was in apartment 1012 of The Harriett Tubman Apartments in Detroit, MI getting an understanding with a loyal customer on the sale of a poster of Mohamed Ali standing over Sonny Liston after knocking him out; I make ends meet by selling posters, childrens books and whatever else I can get my hands on legally. Ali's expression seems to say "Get up m/f so I can knock you out again." This is a poster that my client had wanted since child hood. Well, for $20 it would be his on the 1st of October.
Now, I was to suppose to start my job the following week so I was pulling out all stops to generate cash for transportation, eating lunch and just living until my first check in three (3) weeks; I seem to perform better with money in my pocket. I was able to convince my client to buy a second poster of Detroit's 1st Black mayor Coleman Young for an additional $15. So I was going to generate $35 the following day out of a minimal investment of under $10; yes it's true, Detroit does hustle harder! This would be a part of the resources needed to find success in my new position. In this time in my life, success is the only option.
Unfortunately, this is when things fell apart. As me and my client are wrapping up our business arrangement I hear his girlfriend complain about how this man’s money management. "Why are you always giving this man your money?" she asked. He responds by telling her to shut up. Now his reaction may sound harsh but this is the situation at his apartment; or at least his side of the story. She spends her monthly government check paying her grown son's rent and at the casino gambling. She does not pay any rent or cable bill even though she begged and pleaded for him to get cable, promising to pay the bill each month. In fact, according to him, she does not pay any other bills in his house. She just jacks off her money and holds out her hand. All he wanted to do was to buy two (2) posters.
So, he tells her to shut up. I don't say anything. My mission is to sell these two posters and I am accomplishing that goal. So it was agreed upon that I would bring a poster of Mohammed Ali knocking out Sonny Liston and a poster of Mayor Coleman Young on the 1st of October at 2 pm. In exchange, I would receive $35 for my efforts. This was concluded and now I am trying to get out of his apartment before he changes my mind. As I turn away from him to grab my coat and feel a cold. blunt force crash into my mouth and see stars. When the stars clear up I see my customer's girlfriend swinging to hit me again with the iron she is using as an offensive weapon. "What the F@#K" was my initial reaction. As the iron came toward my face a 2nd time, I turned and leaned my head back. But, not soon enough. I received a glancing blow right behind my ear. As she went to swing again, I grabbed her arms and wrestled her to the ground. Finding me in a dominant position straddled over her, my initial reaction was to begin beating her as if she is a man who had just hit me in the mouth with an iron. But, she is a woman. My right hand clutched her throat. I wanted to beat her like a man. I had the upper hand and could have punched her face repeatedly but what raced through my mind was "She is a woman. Although she is twice my weight, she is a woman. She just hit me in the mouth with an iron but she still is a woman." Just like the literacy tool (book) I just completed, this was GOD working in my life. He’s finally getting through to me and I truly want to be a peace maker.
As my client screamed and cried (yes, like a baby) "Don't kill her. Please don't kill her." I release the grip I had on her throat, got up and put on my coat and walked into the bathroom to assess the damage. As I am coming out of the bathroom I see the girlfriend going into the kitchen and reappearing with a knife. “What the F@#K.” I carry a pocket knife so I flick it out, not to use, unless I had to, but as a peace maker. It worked. She looked at me to discover that I was not fearful but ready to defend myself. She walked back into the kitchen, put the knife back, came out of the kitchen and walked into the bedroom. Dazed, confused and disappointed, I walked out of my client's door and went to emergency. I receive 4 stitches in my lip and a referral to a dental clinic to repair one missing tooth and numerous chipped and cracked teeth.
I took a few weeks to battle depression, do some soul searching and try and figure out my next moves. I decided to begin researching what effects illiteracy has on its’ victim (the illiterate) and society at large. My original motivation was to find any connections that illiteracy has to violence? What I discovered in my research alarmed me and gave me a greater passion to make children's illiteracy a cause that we can rally around create brighter futures for children who might otherwise live a life of crime, poverty and disenfranchisement
Thus, I decided to create this blog that I hope will help educate the intellectually astute on how illiteracy not only negatively impacts the illiterate but also our society. But most important, get you to understand that all of America's children deserve better. So please, leave me a comment and hopefully request how to get involved, So in closing all I can say is “Let the Reading Revolution begin.”