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March 10, 2008
December 22, 2007
Nutter: City needs new identity for future
Mayor-Elect Michael Nutter addresses his vision of “The Identity of the New Philadelphia” at Franklin Hall in The Franklin Institute Science Museum Tuesday. — HIROKO TANAKA/TRIBUNE STAFF PHOTOGRAPHEROctober 11, 2007
Koresh dancers share joy in their art
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October 8, 2007
…“Everyplace has stories and they don’t get told a lot.”
By Bobbi Booker
Photo Credit: James Keyser 2003
Winner of both the Newberry Award and the Coretta Scott King Medal, Christopher Paul Curtis has become one of the most important voices in children’s literature today. His new book, “Mr. Chickee’s Messy Mission” (Wendy Lamb Books, $15.99) continues to delight young readers with Curtis’ uniquely humorous brand of story telling.
Born in Flint, Michigan, Curtis spent his first 13 years after high school on the assembly line of Flint’s historic Fisher Body Plant #1. Although he resides in Windsor, Canada with his wife, Kaysandra, and their two children, his heart remains in Flint, the partial setting of many of his books. “I’m a Flintstone to the bone,” Curtis enthused. “You don’t think that’s something we say with pride, but we do anyway.”
With grandfathers like Earl “Lefty” Lewis, a Negro Baseball League pitcher, and 1930s bandleader Herman E. Curtis, Sr., of Herman Curtis and the Dusky Devastators of the Depression, Curtis felt he was destined to life beyond the factory. “Oh, I hated working in that factory, but like so many people I was trapped. I had to have a new car and I had to pay the bills and I couldn’t get out. It was soul crushing. It was a really tough job physically, mentally and emotionally. I had to quit finally because I wasn’t heading for anything good working in that factory.”
During breaks at the factory, Curtis honed his writing skills enough to convince his wife to suggest that he take a year off from the factory to see if he could make it as a writer. “We had a long distance relationship and he use to write me a lot of letters,” said Kay. “I know he is funny and a good writer and I just thought it was something that he wanted to do and if I could help him in anyway, then we would see how it goes for a year.”
Throughout that year Curtis crafted his outstanding debut in children’s literature with “The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963.” His second novel, “Bud, Not Buddy,” became the first book ever to receive both the Newbery Medal and the Coretta Scott King Author Award.
“I would tell you that even though I thought he was good,” reflected Kay. “But, I didn’t think he was that good.”
Since Flint is an automobile town, once you leave the factory, you also leave behind the social fabric of the area. Curtis, however, remains true to his hometown roots and frequently visits family or catches a pickup game of basketball with friends. Although he’s lived in Canada for nearly two decades, Flint continues to influence his writing today.
“Everyplace has stories and they don’t get told a lot,” explained Curtis. “And that’s what I tell kids, nothing happened in Flint, but I just told my story about Flint. I could write a thousand stories about things that have happened in Flint. Flint is a very important part of all of my stories so far.”
=Originally Published in The Philadelphia Tribune on February 20, 2007=
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…A subject that is universal to all: Love.
By Bobbi Booker
Social activist, renowned author of more than 20 books, iconic feminist, and beloved teacher—bell books (lower case, please) is well known for her unapologetic intellectual writing. In language that is both spare and powerful, the poetry of “When Angels Speak of Love” (Atria Books, $16.95) offers the romantic reading public hooks as a major modern poet to contend with. Each of the 50 poems of “When Angels Speak” are designed to be read aloud, cherished and celebrated. Each numbered poem captures an emotion, or offers wisdom with straightforward language and clarity, leaving the reader with the resonance of hook’s fiery voice.
Readers of bell hooks’ scorching attacks on racism and sexism might be surprised to see her take on the elusive subject of love, but her previous four titles on the topic—from “All About Love” to “The Will to Change” –have made her the go-to source for contemplative contemporary literature on love. A theme in hooks’ most recent writing is the ability of community and love to overcome race, class, and gender. The interconnectiveness of these series of books on the elusive emotion was evident when she first wrote in “All About Love” the following: “When angels speak of love they tell us it is only by loving that we enter an earthly paradise. They tell us paradise is our home and love our true destiny.”
All of her books on love deal with the fleeting aspects of romance and society’s misuse, yet dire need of it. In poem Number 2 from “When Angels Speak”, hooks writes: in love/there are no closed doors/each threshold/an invitation/to cross/take hold/take heart/and enter here/at this point/where truth/was once denied.
hooks adopted her pen name from those of her mother and grandmother. Her name uses an unconventional lowercasing, which, to hooks, signifies that what is most important in her works is the “substance of books, not who I am.”
In her own unique way hooks continues to engage the public with the subject that is universal to all: Love.
=Originally published in the Philadelphia Tribune on February, 23, 2007=
Is Michelle Obama’s Scaling Back at Work for Her Husband’s Campaign Front-Page News?
Is Michelle Obama’s Scaling Back at Work for Her Husband’s Campaign Front-Page News?
News of Michelle Obama’s decision to scale back her duties as VP of community and external affairs at the University of Chicago Hospitals and hit the presidential campaign trail with her husband, Barack, has put the spotlight back on the professional and personal choices career women must often make.
The press coverage of Mrs. Obama also reveals the newfound role political spouses play in modern-day elections. Two of the presidential contenders wives — Elizabeth Edwards and Ann Romney — are respectively battling cancer and multiple sclerosis, and another spouse — Bill Clinton — is a former president.
“I think she’s constantly surprised at what people chose to make news,” Katie McCormick Lelyveld, communications director for Michelle Obama, told BlackAmericaWeb.com. Lelyveld said a recent front-page Washington Post story, which first announced Obama’s decision, had initially misreported Mrs. Obama’s intention to leave her job.
“As of May 1st, she reduced her hours to 20 percent and, as we all know in the age of Blackberries, is very hard to quantify exactly how much she is working,” explained Lelyveld. “She still goes to meetings, manages her administrative responsibilities and stays on top of some of the projects that she’s been working on because her career has always been very important to her. Completely leaving it at this point is not something that she’s doing.”
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Last week, Mrs. Obama made her first visit to New Hampshire, one of about a dozen solo campaign stops she has made. Since Barack Obama’s formal announcement in February, she has made 16 joint appearances with him.
“Barack has given people that hope, but he’s going to get tired. This is a long campaign,” Michelle Obama told Democrats gathered for a house party in Windham, New Hampshire. “I joke he’s not going to be able to bring people to tears with every speech that he makes. He’s going to make stumbles.”
She told those gathered of the sacrifices her parents made to put put her and her brother through Princeton University on a working class salary. She said that dream of supporting a family and putting children through college seems to be getting further away, even with loans.
Obama says she believes as president, her husband could change things for the better, and that if she didn’t believe that, she’d tell him to do something else.
Obama told the Washington Post that she grappled with her decision to work after the birth of her daughters.
“Every other month [since] I’ve had children I’ve struggled with the notion of ‘Am I being a good parent? Can I stay home? Should I stay home? How do I balance it all?’” she said. “I have gone back and forth every year about whether I should work.”
Obama does not fit into the neat definition of either stay-at-home or working mom. While she is a vivid example of a full-time executive mother who is supportive of her spouse, her decision to scale back in her job duties is ultimately very personal.
“I believe you should let women decide what they’re going to do, as long as they have all the options, they should do what they want,” Martha Leslie Allen, Web editor for Women’s Institute for Freedom of the Press, told BlackAmericaWeb.com. “Part of the problem that pushes women out of most jobs is it is hard to have all the responsibilities of a career with children when there isn’t good child care, and it isn’t equally divided. And those responsibilities fall onto women.”
Lelyveld speculates the reason Obama’s decision is front-page news is “perhaps it’s because she’s a woman whose maintained her own career. I don’t know why that’s news, but people think it is.”
The more than 280 comments in the Post’s “On Balance” blog late Monday reflected a variety of viewpoints on both Mrs. Obama’s decision and the media’s coverage of it.
“The day I read about the aspiring first husband quitting his job to support his aspiring president wife will be a great day,” opined a poster named Meesh. “I think the media report on this type of stuff because our country is very partisan, and news like this is potential fodder for either side. The media thrive on controversy. Issues like these evoke strong emotions, and people want to read about it.”
“I think it’s clear that in America, we’ve come to expect the two parent household, and women are clearly in the workforce,” according to Kari, who offered that “when you note that women’s work is still not valued as highly as men’s work in real dollars, and then take into account the backlash against strong working political figures like Hillary Clinton and the backlash against the strength the 41st First Lady Bush endured, you could see why Mrs. Obama made her decision … Being smart and funny and articulate is wonderful, if you’re a smart, funny, and articulate woman working to further her husband and family. Following your own ambitions comes at a political price.”
Another comment, from Common Sense, read, “Personally, I’d like Michelle Obama to be First Lady in 2008, but politics is pressure, even for political families. It’s no surprise that she has left her job. I’m certain she’ll be a benefit to her husband in the campaign. Even so, she will have a high profile, and I doubt this will damage her career. By the way, I don’t equate being outspoken with being ’strong.’ A leader doesn’t simply give orders; a leader is defined by who will follow based on personality, character and principles. Hillary Clinton is not ’strong’ by that measure. Hillary is a divider, not a uniter. I’m sick and tired of dividers. That’s reason enough to support Obama. I couldn’t vote for Hillary Clinton at gunpoint.”
—
Associated Press contributed to this story.
20 People Who Changed Black Music: Wild Child George Clinton, Funk’s Fearless Godfather
In commemoration of June as Black Music Month, BlackAmericaWeb.com will examine 20 inspirational creative and business visionaries whose contributions to black American music and culture have made an immeasurable impact all over the world.
Originally posted on Thursday, June 21, 2007
By Bobbi Booker for BlackAmericaWeb.com
When you hear MC Hammer’s “Turn This Mutha Out,” Tone Loc’s “Funky Cold Medina” or Heavy D’s “The Overweight Lover’s In The House,” you are actually listening to hit tunes that were heavily dependent on samples (from “Give Up The Funk,” “Knee Deep,” and “Pass The Peas,” respectively) of songs of music pioneer George Clinton. And as you go through a litany of hits from the 1980’s until today, many dance classics have the unmistakable mark of Clinton to credit for their success, or - at the very least - their listenability. The credit due to Clinton comes from his 50 years as a music innovator who has redefined one of the tenets of soul music: funk.
“Funk is a basic soul with a lot of rhythm, and it’s the structure of that rhythm that makes it funk,” music expert Fred Sutton told BlackAmericaWeb.com. “It’s just soul music with a heavy rhythm that involves drums and bass. You listen to jazz in its pure form, you know its jazz, but if you blend in another type of rhythm, it’s called fusion. Therefore, you have jazz/fusion, and you have soul/funk.”
In the beginning, Clinton (born in 1940 in Kannapolis, North Carolina) was influenced like many of the youth of his era by the melodic sounds of Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers. After founding the Parliaments as a doo-wop group in the 1950’s, the group finally hit pay dirt with their Number One R&B hit “(I Just Wanna) Testify” in 1967.
For some time in the ’60s, Clinton served on the songwriting staff at Motown Records, and in 1968, Clinton formed Funkadelic, a visionary band that combined acid rock with primal funk. By 1972, Clinton renamed the band Parliament and signed them to Casablanca Records, while Funkadelic signed with Warner Brothers in 1976. The brilliance behind the move was that the same personnel housed both powerhouse bands.
“Parliament was more orchestrated with horns and complicated vocal arrangements,” explained Clinton on his website, “while Funkadelic was more a straight-up rock band with a heavy rhythm section.”
“The interesting thing about George Clinton is the evolution from his initial roots from the Funkadelic to going into the whole Funkadelic-Parliament transition,” said Sutton. “They started out on more of a soul kind of thing and went into a soul/rock type of thing which eventually metamophasized into a whole funk situation. Basically, that separated him from a lot of groups in that his music was a lot more syncopated and, of course, the way that they combined the story telling. The lyrical content separated George from other acts as well.”
Clinton and his crew got on a roll, as his bands each had successive chart-busting jams like “Tear the Roof Off the Sucker (Give Up the Funk)” in 1976; and “Flashlight” and “Bop Gun” in 1977. They also hit hard with anthemic funk jams like 1978’s “One Nation Under A Groove” and “(Not Just) Knee Deep” and “Aqua Boogie” a year later.
Clinton also employed The P-Funk mythology in a series of concept albums and live shows. One of Clinton’s more popular characters was set in a lyrical story that spun the tale of Sir Nose, Devoid of Funk, an alien creature who would initially not engage in the funk rhythms he was encountering and, by song’s end, would reluctantly admit to feeling the rhythms. Parliament-Funkadelic concerts would follow the Sir Nose tale, while additionally staging some of the most outrageous concert stunts - from futuristic costumes and on-stage spacehips to grown men beating out tunes in cloth diapers while Clinton and his trademark colorful braids spurred the band on to funkier rhythmic heights.
“He had a major coup in getting Fred Wesley and Maceo Parker, Bootsy Collins,” noted Sutton. “Many of the rhythm aspects of the group at that point where former musicians who’d played for James Brown. It was just a fabulous, rhythmically, syncopated soul-oriented type of group that at that point was playing strictly funk. The musicianship was outrageous because most of these players had actually worked with James Brown for many, many years.”
By 1981, Clinton had dissolved both bands (but held on to the members) and reemerged as a solo act and leader of the P-Funk All-Stars with his biggest solo hit, “Atomic Dog,” in 1983. From 1986 to 1989, Clinton became embroiled in legal difficulties that stemmed from the litany of royalty problems from the ’70s with recordings of over 40 musicians for four labels under three names. However, a generation of rappers who had been reared on Clinton’s music began to sample his tunes, thus making him the most second most sampled artist after James Brown. As always, Clinton retooled himself, and in 1989 signed on with Prince’s Paisley Park label for the release of his fifth solo project, “The Cinderella Theory.” Clinton next signed with Sony 550 for his 1996 release, “T.A.P.O.A.F.O.M.”(”the awesome power of a fully operational mothership”), which reunited the funk pioneer with several of his Parliament/Funkadelic comrades from the ’70s.
Today, Clinton is head of his own label, The C Kunspyruhzy, that will release his first studio album in 10 years, followed by solo recordings by individual members of the P-Funk empire.
“We got four generations of fans out there who keep bugging me to get these live shows out there, and now’s the time,” says Clinton. “I’ve seen what the Grateful Dead have been doing with their archives, as well as bands like Pearl Jam, and I figured it was time to show the world what the funk is all about.” Clinton also plans to release a collection of Parliament-Funkadelic and P-Funk All Stars live recordings gleaned from board tapes. Called the “Uncut Funk Series,” the live CDs will incorporate some of the best shows over the past 30 years and will be augmented with superior graphics and extensive liner notes.
“George Clinton always made the transition from the beginning all the way up until today with film and television score,” notes Sutton. “His ability to write and bridge each segment of each decade has been there from the beginning. Although there is a comparison between George and James Brown, they distinctly have carved out their own niche in music. James Brown has a larger and broader legacy because he started it. From James Brown, you got the best, and George Clinton is one of the best that came from that legacy.”
In commemoration of June as Black Music Month, BlackAmericaWeb.com will examine 20 inspirational creative and business visionaries whose contributions to black American music and culture have made an immeasurable impact all over the world.
For Visionary Black Artists Selling Their Music Online, Every Day is Independents’ Day
R&B singer Eric Roberson has had over 137,000 MySpace.com profile views, and over 5,000 visitors have listened to or downloaded the several tunes he posts at the site from his CD, “Left.” As vocalist N’dambi prepares for her third album release, over 8,600 guests have listened to her song, “If We Were Alone.” You might not be able to score eight-time ASCAP winner Gordon Chambers at your local record store, yet he is a heralded star on CDBaby.com. And while the soulful sounds of Lady Alma have been in the air for years, hearing her on the air is quite another matter.
All of the above independent artists are bonafide stars in their own right, often selling out venues as they tour the nation or world. Their success stems from their affiliation with online music distribution, which has given independent artists new prospects for production, marketing and circulation on a global level, in an instantaneous fashion.
“When people hear of Lady Alma and a lot of other artists who have created a buzz nationally and internationally, the first thing they do is go to the Internet and find more history and music on these people. And if you’ve got music for sale online, that’s the fastest way people can get a hold of the music,” according to Tony Allen, Alma’s former manager. “It’s faster selling online, as far as reaching out to the masses internationally. People all over the world can buy your music, and you don’t have to worry about going to a retail store in Berlin trying to meet a storeowner and educate him on the artist. The community is right there on the Web.”
Online music distribution has given independent artists new prospects for production, marketing and circulation. The Internet has allowed individuals the ability to call their own shots by bypassing “the middleman,” taking control from both record companies and management. Technology has eased the chore of music production and CD duplication. Additionally, online record stores help artists tailor their tunes for music download entities like iTunes and Rhapsody.
“So now, those independent artists can be on the Web site alongside all other major label artists,” explained Croughon. “You can find music from any part of the world online, whether it’s through CDBaby, iTunes or any of the hundreds of independent record labels that sell online. It’s great. It’s just a golden age.”
New York hip-hop artist Count Coolout (born James Minor) recalls the initial street buzz that propelled his 1980 hit, “Rhythm Rap Rock.” Minor, now a music marketing consultant, runs his business online via JaThom Records.
“In the old days, (the major labels) didn’t want to touch us because we weren’t what they considered to be music at one point. A lot of guys were selling on independent labels,” said Minor. “It might be the neighborhood number man, the dealer who lent the money to actually make a label to put a record out. When the labels started to see how this music was being sold, they decided to start signing us and start giving distribution deals as well. Now, it’s come full circle.”
Today, major labels are even more reluctant to accept unsolicited material, forcing potential acts to rely on high-end intermediaries such as entertainment lawyers. Those artists who are signed are often submitted to a formulaic process that leads to similarity in the tunes that do receive airplay.
“What happens today, as opposed to yesteryear when I first started out, is there was no Internet. Back then, if the ‘net existed, there probably never would have been a brother on a major label,” explained Minor. “Today’s artists are selling the CDs from the Internet. They’re on the underground, but they’re still getting fame. The money coming from the ‘net may not be as great as if they were on a major label, but how much of that major money do they keep?”
On average, an artist signed to a major label deals gets about 8 percent of the wholesale selling price of the CD single (about $5) or CD album (approximately $7-$8 each). Depending on the deal the artist signed, they could receive mere pennies on a chart-topping hit song. It was this kind of formula that led to the financial downfall of such artists such as TLC and spurred other artists like Prince to trendsetting online music dominance.
“If a major outfit sells 100,000 CDs, it’s considered a total flop. If an independent person or label sells 10,000 CDs, they’re breaking out the champagne,” says Minor. “Do the math: 10,000 at $10 a pop is $100,000. So the majors, being who they are and doing business the way they’ve been taught to do it, have pushed themselves to the side. And people are just going forward.”
March 27, 2007
… Rebecca Walker’s emotional and intellectual transformation through birth
Originally published in The Philadelphia Tribune, Sunday, March 25, 2007
The generation of child bearing women who are now in their twenties and thirties are faced with a myriad of choices as they contemplate pregnancy. Many young women are faced with uncertainty as they juggle the demand of their personal and professional lives. Like other women in her generation, bestselling author Rebecca Walker’s was at a crossroads when making her life altering decision to experience pregnancy, childbirth and parenthood and she share her concerns in her latest memoir, “Baby Love: Choosing Motherhood After a Lifetime of Ambivalence” (Riverhead Books, $24.95).
For fifteen years Walker recognized a persistent yearning to have a baby but feared actually choosing to do it. As a result, she almost missed what she now knows to be the single most meaningful experience of her life. “When I was writing the book I was thinking a lot about how important it is for young women to strategize and prioritize having a child if its something they want to do and not to let the very finite period of their fertility get past them because of their ambivalence, or because of fear or because of different relationships in their lives that haven’t been resolved. It is such a powerful experience that if you miss it, you miss. It’s a message I really diidn’t get when I was younger, and I wish I had, so I feel like it’s my responsibility having to come into that awareness to just put it out there.”
In Baby Love, Rebecca Walker tells the story of her pregnancy: not just the physical evolution, but also the emotional and intellectual transformation from ambivalence to certainty to unconditional love. It’s the story of the birth of her son, Tenzin, the development of her relationship with her partner, Glen, and the demise of her relationship with her mother and fellow author, Alice Walker.
This older Walker opposes her daughter’s decision to have a baby and challenges Rebecca’s account of their relationship in the memoir “Black, White and Jewish.” Alice ends their relationship and removes Rebecca from her will, and Rebecca endures a tumultuous pregnancy, estranged from her mother as she prepares to become one herself. Tenzin, now 2, has yet to meet his grandmother.
“I think it’s the best thing for everyone’s mental and emotional health,” Walker says. “I support the decisions that I have made to make a better life for my child. I’ve always been open to reconciliation and I always will be, but it has to be in such a way that healing will take place and not harm.”
Like her mother, Walker has received numerous awards and accolades for her writing and activism. The elder Walker is one of the most prolific and important writers of our times, known for her literary fiction, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Color Purple (now a major Broadway play).
Walker acknowledges the sacrifice that her mother made to become one of America’s most recognized African American authors. “In many ways, it’s much easier for me than it was my mother,” explained Walker. “There are some differences in terms of the pressures and the arduousness of the task of being an African American woman writer at that time. She had to break ground that I don’t have to. The pressures and the resistance were tremendous in a lot of ways and so the impact on our home life was more intense. I clearly have obstacles that I have to negotiate, but it’s a different time so I think the extreme of the experience won’t be the same for Tenzin.”
As we speak, the sound of birds chirping emanate in the background of the Hawaiian home she’s made with her son and partner. Walker says she has found a secure place, within her self, to enjoy her life and her decisions. Today, Walker draws strength and serenity from the realization that her unconditional love for her son is vastly different from her mother’s love for her.
“I think (motherhood) makes me more appreciative of this journey to have realized that I could have missed it allows to embrace it even more every day,” reflects Walker. “I could just stare at my son for hours. I have to stop myself because I’m just so in awe of the experience. I definitely think that coming close to missing it has made it a more precious experience for me.”
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November 17, 2006
“We live in a world where the main sexual position is called the missionary…”
Zane is a one-name publishing phenomena who through erotic novels and millions of fans has become a brand name unto her self. The acclaimed author, publisher, bookseller and producer joins Toni Morrison and Terry McMillan as one of only three African-American women to make the New York Times fiction bestseller “print list” in this century. For years, she kept her identity secret, and still refuses to tell her name, choosing instead Zane, a moniker she picked up while visiting Internet chat rooms. She’ll tell you she’s the divorced mother of three sons and spends her days in suburban Maryland tending them. Yet for Zane, writing erotica is akin to sliding into a sexy negligee. And when readers come away from her salacious books, like “Addicted,” “The Sex Chronicles: Shattering the Myth,” “Gettin’ Buck Wild: The Sex Chronicles 2,” ” Shame on it All, and “The Heat Seekers,” they almost feel like peeling back the sheets and taking a long drag from a cigarette.
Zane, 40, looks very much the suburban mother she is. But she is much deeper. She recalls becoming a speed-reader at age 10 and polishing off several books a day by middle school. Writing came naturally to her, but she chose to follow another career after graduating from Howard University. It wasn’t until age 30 that she started her writing hard-edged erotic stories for her own enjoyment. After developing a cult following through Internet circulation, Zane turned down several deals with publishers who sought to tone down her work’s hard-core sexuality. She self-published her first three titles in 2000, selling over 250,000 copies through word-of-mouth alone. She has since sold over 6 million books.
Recently, the prolific author was in Philadelphia to promote “Love Is Never Painless: Three Novellas” ($22.95, Atria Books) by herself and two other authors, Eileen M. Johnson and V. Anthony Rivers. Next year, Zane will hit the big screen with the release of the erotically charged thriller, “Addicted.” In her partnership with Suzanne de Passe, de Passe/Zane Entertainment, she will produce at least six film projects yearly as well as television series and straight-to-DVD projects.
“Suzanne de Passe and I teamed up almost two years ago and we were going to put ‘Addicted’ straight to DVD, but then Lion’s Gate approached me about doing it as a theatrical release, which made it all the better,” explained Zane. “I mean really, situations just kind of find me. I don’t really go looking for them. It’s kind of strange actually. I didn’t go looking for a movie deal like that but I got one and that all that matters. “
The deal, which will pair Lionsgate’s targeting of specific market segments with Zane’s passionate fan base of predominantly African-American women, continues Lionsgate’s commitment to bringing cultural sensations in large niches to a broader North American filmed entertainment audience.
“‘Addicted’ does for women what “Fatal Attraction” did for men,” said de Passe. “It will make women think twice before risking it all!”
Like many of Zane’s novels, “Addicted”, has been translated into several foreign languages.
“My novels have allowed me to encourage cultural conversation about the taboo topic of women’s sexual desire, and by turning ‘Addicted’ into a feature film with Lionsgate, that conversation will be expanded,” Zane said. “I know from communication with my fans that when women liberate themselves sexually, it improves all other aspects of their lives, so getting my first film made is a personal and political triumph for me.”
Zane has built a fervent following through her explicit, erotic depictions of female desire as told from an African-American perspective. She is also the publisher of Strebor Books International, an imprint of ATRIA/Simon and Schuster. Under Strebor, she acquires 15 to 25 titles a year and currently has nearly 50 authors under her imprint. Next year, she will launch a Christian Fiction Line and a Youth Fiction line, as well as a body product line this summer and clothing and adult toy lines in the fall. 2007 will also mark the release of “Dear G Spot,” Zane’s first non-fiction book.
“It’s really a collection of many of the advice mail I’ve gotten throughout the years, as well as my commentaries on different subjects,” said Zane. “I think it will show people how confused they really are about relationships and their sexuality and also reemphasizes why I do what I do: because there is a need for it and that is the reason why it works and women crave it.”
Although women are Zane’s primary book fans, men have taken to viewing her advice on line at Zaneland where her blog has become quite popular because of her sexual candor.
“We live in a world where the main sexual position is called the missionary position and as far as I’m concerned that says it all: Men think that we are vessels for their pleasure,” asserts Zane. “My whole point is if women are going to have sex in their lifetime—and the majority of us do—there’s no reason we should walk away from the experience any less satisfied than the man.”
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