The Suburban Bitch

Don't be deceived by the title of this book. The Suburban Bitch doesn't detail the delights and woes of suburban living. On the contrary, this book relives the experiences of a young black woman raised and bred in the ghettoes of Detroit. The reader becomes aware of the suffering and self-sacrifice the young woman struggles with throughout her life. Growing up in a family of sixteen that struggles through hunger, poverty, and despair, a young girl yearns for the all-American dream even as she constantly experiences violence, instability, and hatred growing up and in her first marriage. No matter her obstacles, she strives on patiently, and with determination and perseverance, she finds the meaning of unconditional love. Receiving only violence in her first marriage, fate runs her into the arms of another man, and though she still has the ring on her finger from the first marriage, she weds again. Suddenly, she has the life she has always dreamed of-a life of love. Two husbands, two families, two homes, and only one woman. One strong, beautiful black woman. To all of you ladies that have been riding the train called the bullshit train much too long, we must put a stop to all these liars in our lives. Put us first. Now don't get me wrong, if he is over twenty-two years old, he's already gently used. He has six outside kids. Later he wants to tell you those children came as a result of good loving from friendly fire. Most men are full of bullshit-NO EXCEPTIONS. The man I love, will love me, and when he hears my cry, he will pity every groan.

Don't be deceived by the title of this book. The Suburban Bitch doesn't detail the delights and woes of suburban living. On the contrary, this book relives the experiences of a young black woman raised and bred in the ghettoes of Detroit. The reader becomes aware of the suffering and self-sacrifice the young woman struggles with throughout her life. Growing up in a family of sixteen that struggles through hunger, poverty, and despair, a young girl yearns for the all-American dream even as she constantly experiences violence, instability, and hatred growing up and in her first marriage. No matter her obstacles, she strives on patiently, and with determination and perseverance, she finds the meaning of unconditional love. Receiving only violence in her first marriage, fate runs her into the arms of another man, and though she still has the ring on her finger from the first marriage, she weds again. Suddenly, she has the life she has always dreamed of—a life of love. Two husbands, two families, two homes, and only one woman. One strong, beautiful black woman. To all of you ladies that have been riding the train called the bullshit train much too long, we must put a stop to all these liars in our lives. Put us first. Now don't get me wrong, if he is over twenty-two years old, he's already gently used. He has six outside kids. Later he wants to tell you those children came as a result of good loving from friendly fire. Most men are full of bullshit—NO EXCEPTIONS. The man I love, will love me, and when he hears my cry, he will pity every groan.

The first Asian woman in hip-hop, Sophia Chang shares the inspiring story of her career in the music business, working with such acts as The Wu-Tang Clan and A Tribe Called Quest, her path to becoming an entrepreneur, and her candid accounts of marriage, motherhood, aging, desire, marginalization, and martial arts. Fearless and unpredictable, Sophia Chang prevailed in a male-dominated music industry to manage the biggest names in hip-hop and R&B. The daughter of Korean immigrants in predominantly white suburban Vancouver, Chang left for New York City, and soon became a powerful voice in music boardrooms at such record companies as Atlantic, Jive, and Universal Music Group. As an A&R rep, Chang met a Staten Island rapper named Prince Rakeem, now known as the RZA, founder of the Wu-Tang Clan, the most revered and influential rap group in hip-hop history. That union would send her on a transformational odyssey, leading her to a Shaolin monk who would become her partner, an enduring kung fu practice, two children, and a reckoning with what type woman she ultimately wanted to be. For decades, Chang helped remarkably talented men tell their stories. Now, with The Baddest Bitch In The Room, she is ready to tell her own story of marriage, motherhood, aging, desire, marginalization, and martial arts. This is an inspirational debut memoir by a woman of color who has had the audacity to be bold in the pursuit of her passions, despite what anyone—family, society, the dominant culture—have prescribed.

An acclaimed author explores the dreams and realities of seven young men trying to make it in South-central Los Angeles, the world capital of gangsta rap and West Coast hip hop.

A reader favorite from New York Times bestselling author B.J. Daniels Jack Donovan is in love with Angie Grant—and heartbroken when she unexpectedly marries his business partner. When Angie goes missing, declared dead, Jack is determined to prove her husband is the murderer. But then Jack begins catching glimpses of Angie…in a crowd, a taxi. Will Jack get a second chance with the woman he loves—or is there someone else orchestrating the ultimate revenge? Previously published Look for BJ Daniel’s latest title Reunion at Cardwell Ranch, part of her bestselling Cardwell Ranch series.

Jazz, opera, and various blues serve as the soundtrack for this collection of fairytales for grown-ups of all ages. The Official Report on Human Activityby kim d. hunter, which is neither official nor a report, is a collection of long stories that are linked by reoccurring characters and their personal struggles in societies rife with bigotry, in which media technology and capitalism have run amok. These stories approach the holy trinity of gender, race, and class at a slant. They are concerned with the process and role of writing intertwined with the roles of music and sound. The four stories range from the utterly surreal—a factory worker seeking recognition for his writing gives birth to a small black elephant with a mysterious message on its hide—to the utterly real—a nerdy black teen’s summer away from home takes a turn when he encounters half-white twins on the run from the police. Prominently known as a Detroit poet, hunter creates illusions and magic while pulling back the curtain to reveal humanity—the good, bad, and absurd. Readers will find their minds expanded and their conversations flowing after finishing The Official Report on Human Activity. The Official Report on Human Activityis sure to appeal to readers of literary fiction, particularly those interested in postmodernism and social justice.

The first sustained examination of the depiction of American suburbia in gothic and horror films, television and literature from 1948 to the present day. Beginning with Shirley Jackson's The Road Through the Wall , Murphy discusses representative texts from each decade, including I Am Legend , Bewitched , Halloween and Desperate Housewives .

"Most accounts of post-1950s political history tell the story of of the war on drugs as part of a racial system of social control of urban minority populations, an extension of the federal war on black street crime and the foundation for the "new Jim Crow" of mass incarceration as key characteristics of the U.S. in this period. But as the Nixon White House understood, and as the Carter and Reagan administrations also learned, there were not nearly enough urban heroin addicts in America to sustain a national war on drugs. This book argues that the long war on drugs has reflected both the bipartisan mandate for urban crime control and the balancing act required to resolve an impossible public policy: the criminalization of the social practices and consumer choices of tens of millions of white middle-class Americans constantly categorized as "otherwise law-abiding citizens."" That is, the white middle class was just as much a target as minority populations. The criminalization of marijuana - the white middleclass drug problem - moved to the epicenter of the national war on drugs during the Nixon era. White middle-class youth by the millions were both the primary victims of the organized drug trade and excessive drug war enforcement, but policymakers also remained committed to deterring their illegal drug use, controlling their subculture, and coercing them into rehabilitation through criminal law. Only with the emergence of crack cocaine epidemic of the mid-1980s did this use of state power move out of suburbs and remgaged more dramatically in urban and minority areas. This book tells a history of how state institutions, mass media, and grassroots political movements long constructed the wars on drugs, crime, and delinquency through the lens of suburban crisis while repeatedly launching bipartisan/nonpartisan crusades to protect white middle-class victims from perceived and actual threats, both internal and external. The book works on a national, regional, and local level, with deep case studies of major areas like San Francisco, LA, Washington, and New York. This history uses the lens of the suburban drug war to examine the consequences when affluent white suburban families serve as the nation's heroes and victims all at the same time, in politics, policy, and popular culture"--