Celebrating 30 years as a Freelance Writer

 On October 10, 1983 at the age of ten I decided I wanted to be a writer. It’s hard to believe I’ve been doing this for 30 years now.

I started out writing a story called Mayor Fox’s Diamond Day. (Yeah, it’s a stupid title but I was 10 at the time.) From there I went on to make my own homemade comic/book hybrids using loose leaf paper and Elmer’s glue. My first hardcover was an accounting book I copied all my loose leaf stories into.

Fast forward 30 years later and now I’m publishing my own paperbacks and eBooks under the SJS DIRECT imprint.

I’ve come a long way in 30 years. How did I get here?

In my late teens I came to understand the value of Black people controlling their own image in the media. During the crack epidemic of the late 1980’s and early 1990’s I watched as the mainstream media presented crack cocaine not as a national issue affecting everyone in America, but as an inner-city issue for Black people. The Crackhead, usually a nappy headed Black male in raggedy clothes was presented as a terrifying boogeyman everyone needed to be scared of. And the Drug dealer was presented by the media as a savage, ruthless killer who enjoyed killing his own people in drive by shootings.  

Not many knew that the news media had just repackaged the Crackhead as the coon caricature in a brand new package. Nor did they understand that the dope dealers they saw in the news was just the Black Brute in a shiny new wrapper. I had no understanding of what a coon or a Brute was at 17, but I knew that these negative images needed to be countered. And seeing how Black people were being presented in a negative light, I dedicated myself at the age of 17 towards writing positive stories about the Black experience.

Seeing the constant niggerization of Black people during the Crack Epidemic in incidents like the Central Park jogger case, The Rodney King case, and the Brian Watkins case, I wanted to tell the stories of the Black people who were decent, hardworking people like myself and my family. Parents who worked jobs. Kids who went to school and got good grades. Kids who aspired to go to college and get jobs. Kids who never touched a drug or even thought of getting involved with the dope man and his crew. People I knew.

I grew up in a family dedicated towards academic excellence where education was considered a priority. I wanted to get the story of people like myself out there and share them with the other young brothers and sisters who could relate to the stories I wanted to tell.

Back in the 1990’s I originally planned to present my stories as comic books. It was my lifelong dream to be a comic book writer. Back then, I thought the best way to inspire young Black boys and girls was through giving them a comic book featuring African-American characters.

Unfortunately, that’s not what God Intended. The Comic book industry collapsed back in 1993, and after I graduated college in 1994, I found myself being forced to pursue a new dream when I was unable to find full-time work.

With the comic book industry in ruins and the job market a brick wall, I became a novelist instead. It took close to a decade for me to hone my skills as a writer and learn how to write a novel. It took close to a year after that to learn the process of how to submit a book to a publisher. And after I finished my first novel, I soon learned about the painful process of rejection.

I got a lot of Nos from the big publishers and literary agents in the 1ate 1990’s. Many liked my writing but couldn’t find a way to market it. At the time I was pushing The Changing Soul, a story for Black men in a time where books for Black women like Waiting to Exhale were dominating the Book market. And I was Pushing Isis, an African-American fantasy book in a time when Black speculative fiction was in its infancy.

But I still believed there was a market for positive stories about the Black experience. So when Print-on-demand publishing became affordable in 2002, I invested $200 of my last $600 from my savings into publishing Isis. It would have been John Haynes’ first story The Changing Soul, but that story had way too many glitches in it.

Turns out that was the best investment I made in my life. Isis wasn’t a blockbuster hit, but it did open a lot of doors for me. The royalties from that book, as small as they were gave me hope and kept me afloat during a long period of unemployment.

I kept writing and I kept honing my skills over the past decade learning how to write screenplays, teleplays, blogs, and non-fiction. By 2009, I was ready to start my own publishing imprint SJS DIRECT. In the past five years SJS DIRECT titles have gotten critical acclaim and books like A Recipe for $ucce$$, All About Marilyn, The Temptation of John Haynes, All About Nikki, The Isis series and The Thetas have found small audiences. I still don’t have that best-seller yet, but I believe if I keep persevering I soon will.

I don’t know what the next 30 years will bring for me. I’m hoping I have that breakthrough book. But what I’m really hoping is that brothers and sisters will get inspired by my writing and start embracing the more positive images of themselves. It would put a smile on my face if I were to see life in the Black community start imitating art I present in my writing.

Isis: My Sister, My Frenemy Now in Paperback!

Isis: My Sister, My Frenemy

ISBN: 

Suggested Retail Price $9.99

 Only on Amazon.com

Frenemies! Things come to a head as Isis tells her estranged sister E’steem she still doesn't trust her. But when E’steem is kidnapped by the demon D’lilah, Isis realizes that she has to move their relationship past the frenemy zone to save her former arch-enemy from a fate worse than death.

It's also available on Kindle: 

This is the fourth volume in the modern Isis series. You can find the other books in the Isis series on Shawn's amazon page: http://www.amazon.com/Shawn-James/e/B00379H1CG/ref=la_B00379H1CG_pg_1?rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_82%3AB00379H1CG&ie=UTF8&qid=1381160094 This is a great book for tweens and teens 

Support Shawn's African-American Fantasy Fiction During Black Speculative Fiction Month!

October is Black Speculative fiction month. What is Black speculative fiction? Horror, fantasy, science fiction or historical fiction featuring African-American characters. It’s this kind of fiction that will open up the minds and imaginations of Brothers and sisters and allow them to see the world from a different perspective.

Brothers and Sistas, please support me by buying one of my Black speculative fiction titles this month! Many of my titles are on e-readers and in paperback!  

Isis:  

ISBN 1-58939-236-1

A lost goddess.

A heritage found.

A greater destiny to be achieved.

In the aftermath of a horrible tragedy, Isis the long-lost daughter of Osiris, has committed a heinous crime. Because she didn't receive guidance from her father, the elder gods show mercy on the young goddess by stripping her of her powers and imprisoning her on an uncharted island in the South Pacific.

Osiris and Queen Isis reunite with his long-lost child to begin the difficult process of establishing a familial relationship. Hoping to guide Isis towards the greater destiny she's supposed to fulfill, her parents begin teaching her the ways of the gods. However, Seth's herald E'steem lurks in the shadows offering the young goddess freedom for a price. Caught in the middle of a never-ending war between the gods, Isis must choose to either return to the troubled world she knows all too well, or take a journey down an unknown path where faith is her only guide.

Isis: Trial of the Goddess

Isis: Trial of the Goddess Paperback

For the first time since the trial of the evil god Seth, The Court of the Elders is brought to order. Ra, Chief Justice of the Elders has issued a warrant for the arrest of Isis, the long-lost daughter of Osiris. Teleported from the remains of her North Carolina home, she’s brought to justice for allowing hatred in her heart and forsaking her heritage to worship another God, crimes punishable by death.

Grieving the tragic loss of her family and dealing with the shocking revelation that she’s a goddess, Isis has no idea how to defend herself in the Court of the Elders. Born of a mortal woman and raised in human culture, Isis is about to be taken advantage of by Ra when Queen Isis intervenes. Acting as her counsel, the Queen helps the young goddess adjust to the culture of New Heliopolis and plan a defense for court in the realm of the gods. Will the gods offer her a second chance to be redeemed? Or will she be judged to suffer the same fate as Seth?

Isis: Amari's Revenge (Paperback & EBook) 

ISBN: 978-1481100670

Art Attack! Isis comes face-to-face with danger when a statue of Queen Amari comes to life on the floor of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Returned to life through a magic spell, Amari seeks revenge on the woman she believes stole the heart of her Prince and her kingdom two thousand years ago.

As Isis works with her estranged sister E’steem, she seeks to extend an olive branch to the bitter Queen. Will she forgive and forget? Or will she continue to hold onto her two thousand year old grudge and finally mete out her vengeance on the goddess of retribution?

Isis: The Ultimate Fight

ISBN: 987-1481025874

Girlfight! Nemesis, the undisputed Queen of the Octagon is hungry for competition. After defeating twenty-four of the world’s best MMA fighters, she’s out to prove to both man and god that she’s the best in the world. Traveling to the Island of Solitude she issues a challenge to the goddess Isis to fight her in the eight-sided chain-link roofed steel cage where the only way to win is to knock your opponent out. It’s a war of the gods as New Heliopolis’ Sword of Nubia takes on the Greek goddess of Retribution in a no holds barred brawl for it all.

Isis: The Beauty Myth

Isis: The Beauty Myth Paperback Glamorous! Raheema Sanders, 85-year-old CEO of Sepia Cosmetics seeks to find a way to reverse the effects of aging on herself. Learning that Isis is more than human, she has the goddess kidnapped and taken to her secret lab so she can learn the beauty secrets of the gods. However, when she comes face-to-face with the goddess she soon learns Isis’ beauty is more than skin deep.

Isis: My Sister, My Frenemy

Isis: My Sister, My Frenemy Paperback 

ISBN: 978-1492308836

Frenemies! Things come to a head as Isis tells her estranged sister E’steem she still doesn't trust her. But when E’steem is kidnapped by the demon D’lilah, Isis realizes that she has to move their relationship past the frenemy zone to save her former arch-enemy from a fate worse than death.

The Temptation of John Haynes

The Temptation of John Haynes Paperback 

ISBN 978-0-615-42592-4

Death kills the flesh.

Compromise kills the soul.

The Devil doesn’t like John Haynes.

To take his soul, Lucifer recruits E’steem a beautiful black she-demon to seduce him. If she can get John to compromise his beliefs and values, he’ll allow her to join his Elect, a cadre of powerful demons in his inner circle.

To balance the playing field in E’steem’s favor, Lucifer isolates John by having him fired from his job and forces his fiancée Colleen to leave him. Unemployed and emotionally vulnerable, John eagerly takes what he thinks is the job opportunity of a lifetime as CEO of Morris Phillips. Distracted by his new high-powered job and its many duties, he has no idea that Lucifer secretly controls the multinational corporation or that his beautiful live-in assistant is a she-demon placed there to corrupt him. However as E’steem becomes romantically involved with John, she’s torn between achieving her theocratic aspirations and saving the man she loves from eternal damnation.

E'steem: No Good Deed (FREE!)

No longer a member of Lucifer’s Legion, former She-demon E’steem is now on the side of the angels. Starting her journey down the straight and narrow path, she runs afoul of some stick-up kids while shopping on Madison Avenue in this action packed short. Can Hell’s former harbinger scare them straight?

E'steem Deadly D'lilah

Bad girl gone good! Good girl in peril! Six months after events transpiring in The Temptation of John Haynes, former She-demon E’steem is now on the side of the angels. Further down the down the straight and narrow path, she’s attacked by D’lilah a young ambitious she-demon out to move up the ladder in the Hierarchy of Hell. And the only way she can do that is by Killing E’steem. 

Is it Racism or is it Co-Dependency?

In the 1930s during the Black Exodus, there were White People who rushed to take Black people who were leaving the south to look for economic and employment opportunities off trains.

Now these same White Racists were quick to say they hated Black people. They were quick to complain about how niggers were ruining their lives. You’d think they’d be glad to see Blacks leave their towns and cities.

But when the Negroes decided to leave the south, they got upset. They wanted to not only attack the Black people who were leaving, but take them off the train and even lynch them.

Looking at the situation in the South during the Black Exodus, I began to reason that one of the effects White Supremacy and Racism breeds co-dependency. When one looks up the definition of co-dependency they can see how Both Black people and White people are effected.

From Wikipedia:  Codependency is defined as a psychological condition or a relationship in which a person is controlled or manipulated by another who is affected with a pathological condition on the needs of, or control of, another.[1] It also often involves placing a lower priority on one's own needs, while being excessively preoccupied with the needs of others.

From my observation, White people seem to have a pathological narcissism (White Supremacy) that makes them need to control and manipulate Black people. And it seems that White people like those who tried to pull Black people off the trains during the Black Exodus needed to control Black people.

In this co-dependent relationship between the races, White people depended on those Blacks to always be there at the bottom so they could continue to feel superior. And as long as those White people are at the perceived top and Black people are at the perceived BOTTOM, neither White people nor Black people never have to take the time to do the introspective self-examination that would allow them to truly move forward as human beings.

One needs to ask: Why did Whites need to burn down a town like Black Wall Street or Rosewood when they said they didn’t like Black people living around them? Why were White people even in these towns if they said they hated niggers and wanted nothing to do with them? And Why take Black people off trains when they decide to LEAVE if White people hated them and didn’t want them around?

Logic states if someone you don’t like is going away you let them go. You don’t try to make people leaving a dysfunctional situation stay in it or kill them for trying to leave like Whites did to Blacks who left the south during the Black exodus of the 1930’s and 1940s.

And you don’t go to live or work where they live like Black people did during the late 1960s and 1970s when “white flight” was happening in Northern cities believing that moving to White neighborhoods and being bused to white schools will provide a “better” way of life.

No, functional people try to build their own neighborhoods schools, and communities like Black Wall Street and the White Suburbs and maintain them with resources from their own businesses.

Personally, I believe White people, especially poor and lower middle class white people are scared shitless about a world without Black people. Because without Black folks around there’d be no one to blame for the sad state of their lives.

And I believe some Black people are scared shitless about a world without White People. Because without White folks around there’d be no one to blame for the sad state of their lives. 

But that was too painful for many White people and even some Black people to do. Because that would mean taking that long hard look at why the south was declining before the Civil War such as an overdependence on agribusiness, a lack of infrastructure and the unwillingness to adapt to a changing global marketplace created by the Industrial Revolution.

The truth is that White people in America after the Civil War weren’t as superior as they thought they were. And they were upset that Negroes were showing that they could be equal to them in all areas of American life once given a chance in a true free market society. It’s that equality that scares the shit out of co-dependent White people who needed Black people to buy into their system of White Supremacy.

What these racists feared most of all was that if Negroes became successful in all walks of life and could compete with them on a true fair and level playing field, they’d teach other Blacks not to buy into the co-dependent system of White Supremacy. Moreover, they fear if they are forced to compete on the merits equally, that the world would see them for the pathetic and mediocre individuals that they are.

Under the co-dependent institution of White Supremacy, mediocre Whites and Supbar sellout Blacks benefit economically. It’s these peoples who are allowed entry into the middle class because they kowtow and defer to rich White supremacists.

Examine the behaviors of both races today and one can see the co-dependent nature of the relationship: Racist White People Blame Black people for spending all their tax dollars on Welfare and other entitlements and keeping them poor.

Yet these same White People never once take an account for the way they spend money on frivolous items and take no time to make efforts to improve themselves by doing things like going to school, getting training, or starting their own businiess. No, their situation is always someone elses’ fault whether it be Blacks, Mexicans gays or whoever.

And poor Black people Blame White People for keeping them oppressed and not being able to rise economically and politically. But these same Black people spend their money on frivolous items and take no time to make efforts to improve themselves like going to school, getting training or starting their own businesses.

Moreover, when offered opportunity to achieve economic independence such as getting an education, or an opportunity to start their own businesses and NOT rely on government assistance they call this “Acting White” or selling out. Then they blame theWhite Man for their stagnation.

When one looks at both Blacks and Whites in America who’s at fault for their lack of growth? There’s a whole bunch of finger pointing on the race issue, but no solutions when dialogues are started.

Personally, I believe neither Blacks or Whites want their situation to change. Because true change is just too painful for either group of Americans to accept. Because in a world where men and women are actually judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin, it would mean there is no group to blame for one’s own shortcomings and failures. It would be a place with no victims.

And co-dependent people love playing the victim. Because being a victim is a powerful position for a co-dependent person. As long as they can call themselves a victim, they can manipulate the other person by blaming them and shame them into doing whatever they want.

Moreover, as the victim they can get others to join in on their attack and get them to join in playing the blaming and shaming game. And in this in this blame and shame game, both sides play the victim and no one ever takes personal responsibility for their actions and no one is ever held accountable for their individual behavior.

The way I see it, neither most  Blacks or most Whites want a true solution to the race issue. Because that means both groups would have to take responsibility or accountability for themselves as individuals. And I believe that’s what scares most Americans Both Black and White. Without the crutch of racism to hold themselves up with, members of both races will be forced to take an account for the sad state of their mediocre lives.

But taking that account is a good thing. Because Pain leads to growth. And growth leads to change.

America could truly grow as a nation if Black people and White people stopped this co-dependent relationship based on race. In a truly free and equal society people who are forced to take responsibility for themselves are people who make changes to their lives for the better that allow them to grow and build a prosperous society. The politics of racism and White Supremacy has only created a modern world filled with professional victims who hamper their own progress and the progress of the country by blaming others. I believe It’s time the American people started finding a new way of thinking that focused on solutions for the group by making individuals take responsibility for their own lives.

Shawn Responds to Commenter This is 8:31- A deconstruction of my points about Halle Berry

There’s a troll calling themselves This is 8:31 or something like that who only comes to comment on blogs I write about Halle Berry. They seem to think I have an issue with White Men dating Black women. And they think I hate Halle Berry because I criticize her for her behavior.

First let’s deal with the issue of Shawn’s opinion of interracial dating:

I could care less who Black women date. If you Sistas want the White Boys go right ahead and date them. Heck, go ahead and marry them. But don’t get upset when things don’t go the way you expected.

You will not get treated like Olivia Pope on Scandal.

If anything, you’ll get treated like Tonya Pinkins in Real Life.

Now there are dozens of Black women married to white dudes and dating them. And I haven't written a thing about them.

Celebrities like Karyn Parsons. She’s been married to a White man for almost 20 years. Never wrote a blog about her.

Tamera Mowry is married to a White Man. I never wrote about her or posted about her except to talk about her new talk show The Real. And there I just wrote about how shallow and ignorant acting the sistas on that show were.

George Lucas is married to a Black woman. I haven’t written a thing about her.

Roger Ebert dated Oprah Winfrey Back in the day. Didn’t write about that either.

Shondra Rhimes is married to a White Man. I only wrote about her in the context of that Scandal Show of hers.

Paula Patton is married to Robin Thicke. I may have mentioned her once in a blog. And I’ve never written about her husband.

Robin Givens dated numerous White Men such as Brad Pitt and Howard Stern She even had kids by a White Man. I never wrote a blog about her.

Kerry Washington, the star of Scandal dated White Men for years. She was even engaged to one.

One of my favorite actresses Salli Richardson used to date was once engaged to Matthew McConeghey, the White man every white woman drools over. Yeah, he liked the chocolate Back in the day. And I wrote an entire blog discussing how much Salli’s work inspired characters in mine.


So that deconstructs the argument regarding my alleged issue with Black women dating White men. If I were to have an issue with interracial relationships with Black women and White men I’d have singled out a dozen other women like Tamera Mowry or Paula Patton and blogged about them. But Shawn has no beef with those sistas.

8:31 also believes I’ve singled out Halle Berry for criticism. Time to deconstruct that argument.

I told Jada Pinkett to shut the fuck up TWICE. Once, for her statement about White Women on the cover of Essence Magazine, and then just a week or two ago when I told her and her stupid ass son Jaden Smith to Shut the Fuck up after he made the statement telling kids to drop out of school. I criticized both because I know their statements would influence the Black community in a negative fashion the same way Biggie Smalls and Tupac’s statements about dropping out of High School in the eighth grade influenced a generation of Black boys to drop out 20 years ago.

And even in the blog where I discuss how Halle Berry tarnished the image of Black women I go as far back as 1988 to Lisa Bonet and Angel Heart. I mentioned Lisa Bonet to show readers how far White Supremacists have gone to destroy the image of Black women.

The only reason I write about Halle Berry is because of her influence on Black women and Black culture. I see the negative impact she has had on Black culture over the past decade and how she has had a hand in steering Black women and girls down the road to becoming Black Jezebels and breathing new life into old stereotypes.

Berry has been used as a tool by White Supremacists to breathe new life into the Jezebel stereotype. Monster’s Ball ushered in a new age of Jezebels, minstrels, coons, and other old racist stereotypes not seen since the 1930’s.

Clearly anyone with a brain can see the influence Monster’s Ball had on Black women over the past decade. Clearly anyone can see how the images of Black women have changed for the WORSE over the past 10 years.

In 2001 Before Monster’s Ball Black women onscreen were depicted as intelligent career women. In 2013 they are scantily clad and sexually promiscuous.

In 2001 before Monster’s Ball Black women like Joan Clayton, Fancy from Jamie Foxx were portrayed onscreen as wanting relationships with Black men. In 2013 after Monster’s Ball they are portrayed as White Man’s Side Pieces and White man’s sex toys like Beyonce, Rihanna and Olivia Pope on Scandal.
Before Monster’s Ball we saw Black Beauty as the norm. After Monster’s Balll we were presented with hypersexualized images of Black women as the norm. Numerous images of Black women could be found on MySpace and Facebook skimpy lingerie trading their dignity for likes and thumbs up, or taking sexy pictures on blogs.

We went from fashionable, dignified and beautiful sistas in Black magazines like Ebony and Essence Who wore clothes that drew us to their faces to Ass models in thongs in magazines like King, Smooth and Straight Stuntin. Even Ebony and Essence got in the exploitative game trading their substance for the flash of a Black woman’s ass.

Before Monster’s Ball We saw the faces of teenage Black girls like Tia and Tamera Mowry on Sister Sister with a focus on getting an education, going to work and going to college.

In 2013 we see Little Black girls as young as 8 and 10 years old are shown shaking their asses and twerkin on YouTube and posing for borderline child porn on Facebook for likes.

All of this is fact. All of this can be substantiated with research. Heck, just look out your window if you live in a Black community.

It’s clear to me that Halle Berry’s participation in Monster’s Ball tarnished the image of Black women. She was clearly used by White Supremacists as a way to bring back the Mammy and the Jezebel stereotype as the idealized image for Black women in AmeriKKKa. With her girl next door looks and seemingly sterling reputation as an A-list starlet, she was seen by many Black women the ideal image for what a Black woman should be. As the role model for a generation of Black women she influenced Black female culture and even white female culture.

 I doubt there’d have been a Kim Kardashian sex tape if it wasn’t for the success of Monster’s Ball. I doubt Montana Fishburne would have done hardcore pornography if Monster’s Ball wasn’t successful. Monster’s Ball rewarded a Black woman with one of the top awards in film not for acting, but for literally having sex with a White Man. Making a statement that Halle Berry is the White Man’s whore.

Why do I write about Halle Berry? Because I see how she negatively influences Black women and Black culture. I see the impact she has had on Sistas over the past 20 years. As a Black man who loves Black women and promotes Black-on-Black love, I cannot stay silent when I see an assault on my community by destructive media created by Madison Avenue and Hollywood.

I live around Hoodrats and ghetto chicks. I see their story outside my window every day. And it’s one that goes like this: Chick hooks up with bum who goes to prison, drops out of school, creates kids and then gets on welfare, raises more kidis who hook up with bums and hoodrats and then they drop out of school, get on welfare or go to prison. And that’s if they aren’t shot and killed by either: Police or each other over Air Jordan tennis shoes, Half-eaten snickers bars or light skinned big butt heffas (taken from 5723 Michael). That’s not a story for a movie.

8:31 may think Halle Playing the crackhead was so great in Jungle fever, but we don’t need more roles like this. I live around crackheads and they’re even more pathetic than in that movie. Scavenging for bottles in garbage cans, begging for change, or selling pussy for less than $5.

The truth is we’ve got enough negative images of Black women out there. That’s why I make the best efforts to create positive images of Black women in my writing like The Thetas, The Isis Series, A Recipe For $ucce$$ or my screenplays All About Marilyn and All About Nikki. I make every effort to present a humanized balanced image of Black womanhood in my work, and this is why I’m so passionate when I write about Black women.

I understand that The Black woman is the transmitter of culture in the Black community, and if she’s teaching her children White supremacy then they don’t learn about Black pride. A generation of Black children in this new millennium are learning that not to love themselves for being Black when they imbibe media like Monster’s Ball, Precious, Something New, The Help, and the Butler. They are learning not to love themselves when they see images of Black women who pursues White men instead of the Black men onscreen. Moreover, they’re learning in this media that Black men are undesirable when he is presented as lazy, incompetent, violent and sexually perverted when compared to the intelligent professional and organized light skinned or white male hero.

And worst of all, they’re learning that if a White man doesn’t approve of them or choose them, they are inferior or that’s something is wrong with them.  When there’s nothing wrong with them at all.

 I want those brothers and sistas to know Black is beautiful, and to be proud of their Blackness. If that offends you 8:31, then you’re the one with a self-hate issue. I criticize Halle Berry based on her actions and I hold her accountable for those actions. Halle Berry has clearly betrayed the Black community and as I see it, does not deserve the support of the Black community. It’s women like this who do harm to Black women and Black children by transmitting the dysfunctional culture of White Supremacy.

People own Dogs and collect Public Assitance….WTF?

I’m noticing something crazy in my neighborhood. All these people on public assistance like WIC, Welfare SSI, and Section 8 with EBT cards and they own...DOGS.

Does anyone see what’s WRONG with this picture?

I don’t get the logic behind this. If you're POOR enough to qualify for government benefits why do you own a friggin' DOG? You can't afford to feed YOURSELF and your kids and you BUY another damn poop machine with a mouth to feed? What the hell is wrong with people?

Dammit, where are people's priorities here in the Bronx? What are these motherfuckers on?

In a time where Republicans in Congress want to cut $40 billion from the Food Stamp program it’s morons like this who reinforce Republicans’ argument that poor people don’t need all those Food Stamps. If you’ve got enough money to feed and take care of a dog, then what the Hell do you need with food stamps?

Most of these broke motherfuckers in my neighborhood getting public assistance aren’t doing productive things like going to school or getting job, going to job training or looking for work. But I see them up at 7AM walking their damn dogs like clockwork. Some even have cellphones and are texting people while they walk their pets.

Right now I'm out of work and my main priorities are looking for work and building my up my publishing business. Doing without until I can find a way to take care of myself. The way I see it, if you're poor then you need to make SACRIFICES until you have the means to take care of yourself.

And one of those sacrifices is not bringing another mouth to feed into your home when you don’t have the resources to feed yourself.

I have to wonder what the hell is with poor people these days. Back when I was a kid in the 1980s I grew up on public assistance and my main priority growing up was doing well enough in school so I could get off those programs and be able to make my own money. After I graduated college in 1994, I left public assistance programs and I moved on to the job market looking to find a way to make my own living.

When I see grown ass people with illegitimate kids by multiple fathers owning damn dogs I feel they’re abusing government assistance like Welfare, WIC, Section 8 and Medicaid. If you’ve got enough money and TIME to spend money taking care of a damn dog, then you’re WASTING TAXPAYER DOLLARS. Get your ass off the dole and get yourself a JOB.

The whole point of government assistance is to ASSIST you into getting to a point where YOU AND YOUR CHILDREN can stand on your own two feet and take care of yourself.  While you’re on the programs like Welfare, WIC, and Section 8 your goal is to get to a point where you find employment that allows you to pay the taxes so others can use these programs to get their lives together.

In that time you’re on the state’s dole, you’re supposed to going to school, getting some job training and networking with business contacts making the efforts that will help you find full-time employment.

These programs are not about making you comfortable. They’re not about making you happy. They are not meant for people to become so dependent on them that they having enough money to start owning extra mouths they have to feed.

If you’re poor enough to take taxpayer money for public assistance you should NOT OWN A DOG. Hell, you shouldn’t even own a goldfish. When you haven’t proven to anyone you’re responsible enough to make enough money to feed yourself or your children, why they hell are you bringing another mouth to feed in your damn house?

It’s this kind of imbecilic thinking that keeps poor people poor. They spend their money and more importantly their TIME on garbage that doesn’t enrich their quality of life or take them to the next level.

People on Public assistance spend money on dogs, sneakers and cell phones, but don’t think to buy a computer or the tools that will help them take their lives out of poverty. That’s backwards thinking.

I’d go as far to say it’s fucking retarded. If a person is crying poverty alleging they can’t feed themselves or their children, where do they get the money to pay for feeding a dog and taking it to the vet?

If you’re on public assistance your main priority should be getting your shit together. Nothing more nothing less. There’s a five year time limit on welfare and government benefits, and that time should be spent going to school and getting the skills to get out of poverty, not wasting it buying bullshit that keeps you stranded in poverty.

Enough of The Damn Superhero Movies Already!

I just recently heard that Time Warner’s CEO plans to release 14 superhero movies.

I think that’s a ridiculous plan. And I’m a comic book fan.

Why do I think it’s ridiculous? Because I know the history of film.

Right now I believe there are TOO MANY superhero movies. Just this year Hollywood released about four or five of them. Kick-Ass 2, Man of Steel, The Wolverine, Iron Man 3, and the upcoming Thor: The Dark World. Next year is supposed to be a Captain America movie, an Ant-Man movie and another Spider-Man movie and X-Men Days of Future Past.

And this is top of material adapted for TV like the WB’s Arrow and cable’s The Walking Dead, and ABC’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Back in the late 1960’s the big Hollywood movie studios made the mistake of continuing to make three-hour musicals and three-hour epic movies. Big budget Films like Cleopatra and Tora! Tora! Tora! Bankrupted big studios like 20^th Century Fox and MGM Back then.

And in the late 1990’s Hand-drawn animation seemed like it was in its second golden age. But after an oversaturation of films from Disney, Warner Brothers, and FOX, a string of box-office flops like The Iron Giant, Titan A.E, Atlantis: The Lost Empire and Treasure Planet hand-drawn animation became dead medium.

I believe the superhero movie is slowly becoming the new musical and the new epic movie. The business model Hollywood is following for superhero movies now eerily parallels that of the one that almost put Hollywood out of business back then. An oversaturation of these films led to audience apathy. And the changing times led to audiences wanting a different kind of film.

These superhero movies now cost a minimum of $100 million dollars and some are costing $200 million dollars. That cost may soon balloon to $300 or $400 million. As those costs rise over the years it will become harder and harder to pull a profit on these movies in just the U.S. alone. Studios will be forced to become more and more dependent on the foreign box office just to pull a profit. That’s going to make it harder for these films to pull a profit overall in the long-term.

Compare the costs of the Superhero to the one of the musicals and the epic movies of the 1960’s. Films like Cleopatra were breaking the bank at 20^th Century Fox. Combine the high costs with the huge losses at the box office and it was clear what was bankrupting studios back then.

Also note the similarities in the run times of today’s superhero movies to the 1960s epics and musicals which were running three going on three and a half hours. The runtimes are heading past the two hour mark and heading towards the two-and-a-half hour mark. With long runtimes like this, theaters have fewer and fewer times to run the movie in a day and get those sellouts.

In addition, the audience was changing. The Vietnam War was going on and audience of kids who were into flower power, women’s lib and Black Power weren’t interested in watching a three hour movie featuring smiling people singing and dancing about superficial things when there was serious political and social change going on around them. With a focus on changing the world they had little time to watch a three-hour epic movie.

Movies with 2 and 2 ½ hour runtimes are have been a huge box office risk since the mid-1960’s. And today’s superhero movie are heading towards that dangerous 2 ½ hour mark as a normal runtime. At such a long runtime it becomes harder for a theater to get a return on a movie because it limits the number of runtimes they can have in a day for a film on a single screen.

That cuts down on the profit a film can make in theaters in the U.S. And it’s the main reason why these films have to depend so heavily on the foreign box office to pull a profit. Thirty years ago most blockbusters depended on the U.S. Market alone just to pull that profit. Now they need those foreign numbers just to break even.

Eleven years ago a movie like the first Spider-Man could make its full production budget and marketing budget in a weekend. But since then costs for these films have doubled. The 2002 Spider-Man only cost $80 million to make and did $120 million on the opening weekend. So when it pulled $400 millon at the box office in the U.S. the profit margin was much larger in the foreign market in proportion to its cost.

But compare this to recent films like The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, Green Lantern, The Avengers, Man of Steel and Iron man 3 which cost $150 to $200 million dollars. Yes, they opened with impressive $125 million $150 millon dollar weekends in the U.S., but that barely covered the cost of the production budget or the promotional budget for these films. And with a film needing to make three times its production budget to pull a profit, these films had to depend on the foreign markets just to pull that profit for the studios that financed them.

The profit margin for superhero movies is shrinking. And all it takes is for one or two superhero movies to flop consecutively and the studios could wind up in danger of going bankrupt again. This heavy dependency on foreign markets for profits is a dangerous and extremely risky business model. One that could put the big movie studios on the brink of bankruptcy again.

So when the CEO of Time Warner makes an announcement that they’re going to make 12 to 14 Superhero movies I become concerned as a businessperson.

I’ve read about the history of MGM and 20^th Century Fox in the 1960s. And about the history of Disney in the late 1970s and early 1980s. And I saw how the greed of these studios destroyed the medium of Hand-drawn animation in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

History is starting to repeat itself with the superhero movie.

The main reason why those epic movies and big-budget musicals flopped in the 1960s and hand-drawn animated movies started failing to find viewers in the 2000s was that the audience was changing. And with the first generation of millenials hitting their teen years there’s a big chance that the audience could shift the same way it did in the late 1960’s. America’s movie studios could get caught off guard again like MGM, 20^Th Century Fox and Disney did back then.

I see the audience changing. Head over to a playground or a toy store and it’s clear today’s kids are no longer seriously interested in superheroes. To them, these superheroes are their father’s characters.

And as they get older, they’re going to want to see their iconic characters on the silver screen. Today’s kids are going to want to see a Monster High or Ben 10 movie rather than the fourth or fifth Batman or Iron Man movie.

These superhero movies aren’t distinct anymore or original. Just like Tora! Tora! Tora! , Cleopatra, The Iron Giant, Atlantis: The Lost Empire or Titan A.E., these superhero movies are coming one too many down the pike. And when one too many of a film is made, the audience starts to take them for granted. Even if the films are good, no one will care about them.

And one of the three big questions of screenwriting is: WHY SHOULD WE CARE?

And that’s a question that’s becoming harder and harder for the producers of superhero movies to answer. As these adult fanboys live their lifelong dreams and bring their favorite comic book characters to life on the silver screen they’re forgetting that the rest of the audience needs a REASON to continue paying their hard-earned money and their precious time to watch these movies.

Ordinary people aren’t like comic fans. They’re not going to stay for a long haul through a run of four, five or even six movies. Sooner or later they’re going to get tired of Superhero movies. The movies with their same old storylines are going to get BORING to them. They’re going to want MORE. And no amount of CGI, special effects are going to satisfy them because the stories will REPEAT themselves over and over again.

Yeah, people like superheroes. I like them too. Heck, I own over 300 action figures and 3000 comics. I used to go to superhero movies like Iron Man all the time and I own a boatload of superhero DVDs. I create my own stories with the Isis series.

But as a publisher and a businessman I know there’s only so much of the same thing an audience can stomach. Oversaturation leads to audience apathy. And once an audience becomes apathetic about a product it becomes hard to sell them other products in that line. That’s why I try to mix it up in my writing. And that’s why I believe studios really need to pull back on making these superhero movies.

A little bit of something is exciting. But a whole lot of it is just annoying. One or two superhero movies a year is entertaining, but five or six of them become annoying. Movie studios need to understand that less is more.