As a former teacher of young people, I know we failed in one sense. We’ve surrendered to the ‘French’.

The kids we used to babysit, errr ‘instruct’, and set a good example by using perfect English speaking it, writing it and yes, demonstrating it in class has been greatly abused, even murdered by the ridiculous foreign language the next generation of entrepreneurs, entertainers, and artists. English has lost yes, the F’ing !@#$%^&*() French has won!

Now if you think I’m talking about the actual country of France, uh uh. It’s the other French, the careless uttering of words by a loose tongue, the cussing of so many of our younger people and your kids. However, they learned their masterful art of the gutter mouth by guess who? US! Yes, they learned it from us, the present older generation of Baby Boomers and dissatisfied Generation X’ers who also have an open policy with the tongue. The Bible refers to our one little instrument as powerful enough to start a fire. We also know it has been known to start much, much more including wars physical and mental. So when these youngsters grow up hearing the laughter of a few cuss words knowing how ‘cool’ it is, who can blame them?  If you own a computer and watch the million videos on You Tube, you’ll realize the online inferno set ablaze by youngsters who my elders would say ‘need to get slapped’.

I’m watching a few videos with young ladies cramming every four, five and even six letter words in their presentation. I can imagine if parents didn’t go to jail for whupping their child, how many of them would sneak up on these girls and either scream to the top of their lungs or pop them upside the head for their profuse use of the ‘French’.

I understand I run the risk of being named by the younger crowd reading this as a, you know…. HATER! Well I have one thing to say to that……

Please get over yourselves! Who…are…you? I mean really…WHO ARE YOU? 

Let me for a minute try as best I can to bring a bit of ‘the real’ into this discussion for you younger folks out there. We live in a society where words are treasured and valued. Now I know there are certain literary genres and film genres that use the language freely. I understand you may have grown up with elders who cussed and didn’t care who heard it. Believe me, I grew up around individuals like that and I’m not perfect either. I have spewed some vile ‘French’ in my time but I knew when to shut it off. You have to do the same thing if you’re going far in this world.

People of my time grew up with Richard Pryor, Redd Foxx, Millie Jackson, and watched the Black films at the drive ins when you could hear cussing every five minutes. However, we didn’t grow up with an attitude calling everyone who didn’t like us ‘haters’. We had parents who didn’t hesitate using the leather to steer us in the right direction and before the government spoiled you, the method of our parents going straight hardcore worked. Well maybe for a few it didn’t, but that’s beside the point. As one of my elders would attest, if you’re in this American society, you have to use the Kings English to get the best opportunities as far as a job, financial mobility, all that. For example, you just can’t work at Company X by getting away with this:

You’re asked: “Hey, how are you today?”

Your response: “What in the F- do you think you S- A- M- F! Maybe you’ll find out if I kick your dumb A- all over the F- sidewalk and make you eat P-!

Yeah, see if you get promoted next time, LOL.

The point of this is that someday you have to use more English and less French if you want to advance in this world. There is still an element that insists you speak clearly, plainly and cleanly in order to be noticed among your peers. Of course you can be ‘real’ all you want and continue in your ‘French’ but let’s be ‘realistic’ and see that cussing as your first language wouldn’t make anyone proud, including the ones who brought you in this world and cared for you while you were trying to figure this life thing out. So in other words, learn to tone it down if you can. Believe me again, it’s not going to hurt and that soul inside you will feel a lot more refreshed that you did.

As for the actual French, sorry for the confusion you no-good M- F-! (scroll below)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Many Friends! Gotcha!

 

 

 

There’s been something on my mind for quite a while now and part of it stems from my visits to bookstores and equating our works as ‘products’ or unit to be moved like CD’s or any other source that creates collateral for all.

I’ve been writing since junior high way back when and I’ve always treated the written word as a form of expression, a talent that belongs to everyone no matter who and what you are. Yet in my years of becoming a published author and now director of a book fair, I see that pushing books to the hands of readers is part of ‘the business’ that we as authors and scribes have to do to survive. In short, we have to hustle just to keep our names and stories alive for public consumption. As I take a step back from the rat race of books, I wonder what does it all mean anyway? What and why are we doing this for?

For some, writing is a way to tell a story not found in the quiet stacks of novels perched along shelves at Borders or Barnes and Noble or any of the rapidly shrinking independent bookstores. For others, it’s a way to get paid. A sure fire tale or series filled with controversial literal heat and fire will get the pages turning especially if they involve sex, murder, deceit, lies, all that good stuff. It’s not just the flesh driven sensual tales that will drive fans to the bookstores either. Tales of the spirit, how to improve your station in life are also available for anyone who wants it and yes, there are still a few socially consciousness volumes packed with intellectual food for the mind. At least in our black culture, there’s enough to go around and rightfully so.

Whenever I conduct a writers workshop, I hear the voices of the unpublished author who has a good story in mind, but when I think of my colleagues who have already been published, I feel for the aspiring writer because my contemporaries who have already heard from those ahead of us in the literary world will judge them for whatever reason, whether it is lack of focus, content or bad grammar. It’s almost sad in a way that as quickly the new author dreams of making a name, the ‘veterans’ are like a pack of rabid dogs with fangs exposed, ready to devour the heart of the beginning author tearing it asunder then retreat when all the morsels have been tastefully consumed. You would say it’s not fair, that these same authors should remember when they were first starting out how difficult it was for them to be published themselves. However, they don’t and that’s unfortunate for the new and aspiring author because the fear of competition blinds us from giving a word of advice to someone who needs it, a word of encouragement and constructive criticism to help the newbie on their way.

What the hell are we writing for anyway? Either we’re born with this gift, blessed to find it in a moment in time or we work hard to become the best. The older I become, the more I realize it’s not about the fame or how many books I sold, none of that. I believe it’s the impact I’ve made, the creative way I crafted my tale, the smile on someone’s face when they get what I’m saying or the negative tongues who couldn’t connect the dots on my story. Once you write something, you should expect all types of reactions to what you’ve written and not all pleasing. I guess that explains a bit of human nature also. When you do something successful, everyone’s patting your back and claiming how good your work was, finding parts of the tale they enjoyed. When you’re not successful in their eyes, they cite a thousand reasons why you shouldn’t be a writer, let alone publish another book. This is the uncharted territory as a new author you must be prepared for. The road to ‘success’ is very muddy indeed.

If the promise of sales and fortune never existed, I wonder how many of us would still be writing today? If we wrote purely for the love of the craft and a feeling to create a story that will uplift instead of denigrate, motivate instead of discouraging, and everlasting instead of short term, how many of us would be writing today? Not only that, how many of our race would invest in stories like that? While it wouldn’t be fair to say who would and the number involved, the closing of bookstores and failure to attend book fairs is a indicator of our current troubles in the business. Product will not move merely because either we’re not writing better stories or perhaps, just perhaps, we’re in a generation that doesn’t value reading as much as it did in the past. Maybe it’s a lack of discipline provided of the way our society moves, fast with no signs of slowing down.

Why do we write? Why do we bother? Those are questions better left for us to answer alone.