Interesting Development

So, listen:

Our man in D.C., Lindsay Robinson, it turns out, is buddies with Eugene Robinson (no relation), the regular guest on MSNBC, the Washington Post columnist and the man who wrote "Disintegration." As you'll recall, "Disintegration" lost by one vote to Tom Burrell's "Brainwashed" leading up to our last meeting.

Well, Lindsay wrote this in an e-mail to me moments ago: "BTW. I spoke Eugene Robinson about BMR and his book and he would be down for being a part of a meeting with us. What do ya think? Just putting it out there..."

So I'm throwing it out there, as well. If you go back to the tally for the vote http://blackmenreadva.blogspot.com/2010/11/time-to-vote.html , almost everyone who voted for "Brainwashed" also voted for "Disintegration"---and since it was so close, might we want to read "Disintegration" for our January 15, 2011 meeting instead so that the author might sit amongst us?

But then again, this was an official vote and tally---and "Brainwashed" won, fair and square. How do you guys feel about this? Should we exercise our right to flexibility and swich? Or should we stick with what we've done, no matter what....?

Please give your views on the matter in the comments section. (By the way, there's no guarantee that Eugene Robinson can actually MAKE a January 15 meeting, only that he's willing to try to do so...)

Test

Aubrey

TIME TO VOTE!

Here, below, are the nominated books. You may vote for THREE (3) of the books below. In the case of a tie, we will hold a secret-ballot vote for the deadlocked books at our meeting on Saturday.

Tom Burrell, Brainwashed

Gwen Ifil, The Breakthrough

Walter Moseley, Workin’ on the Chain Gang

Eugene Robinson, Disintegration

Thomas Sowell, Intellectuals and Society

NOMINATIONS ARE OPEN

Brethern:

Nominations are hereby open for our January, 2011 selection. Nominated books should focus on topical or “issues” nonfiction this time. You are free to nominate two (2) books. Nominations will stay open until Wednesday night. On Thursday and Friday we will vote on the nominated books.

Talking About "For Colored Girls..."

Sounds like there's sufficient interest to get together and chat after we individually see For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf.

Now, look---EVERYBODY is invited, of course. And yet, what makes sense to me is that since Aubrey, Mark, Rodney and myself have publicly declared interest, we should have right of first refusal in terms of the actual talk-date that get's chosen. Only seems fair; I hope you guys agree.

So. Let me throw out the two dates that seem ideal to me: Wednesday, November 10th or Thursday, November 11th. Best times seem to be 6-7:30 or 6:30-8, since the meeting would start after the workday, but would still deliver brothers back to their homes early in the evening.

What say you?

The Grave Danger of Conservative Blindness

Mr. Ellis has penned an interesting article which should be explored.

For Colored Girls...

Back when Precious was a hot topic, me and a few other BMR?! members were at a restaurant after one of our meetings, and we thought it might be interesting and fun to invite anyone who's interested to view upcoming "cultural event" movies and then gather together and talk about them.

It was too late to do it with Precious, but another film likely to be much talked about is For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf, directed by Tyler Perry. The film opens on November 5. What do you guys think of going to see it and then discussing?

There are a number of ways we could go about it, if there's sufficient interest. I think trying to organize one singular screening to attend and then floating to a restaurant afterwards is a bit too much to ask. Just seems unrealistic to me. What makes more sense is that brothers (and their significant others, perhaps) take that first weekend to see the film at their leisure, on that Friday, Saturday or Sunday, and then we pick a different day to meet and chat. That latter strategy would also mean we could meet earlier in the evening.

Now, I am out of town that first weekend of November, although I hope to see the film in Atlanta either the day it opens or the next day. If you brothers are, indeed, interested in getting together and informally chatting, is the preference to do it on a weeknight? On a weekend? Or am I wrong and you would, actually, prefer seeing it and then meeting directly after? If not, and we do separate the two, I wonder if, say, a 6-7:30 meet on a weeknight---or a 6:30-8 or a 7-8:30---would allow us to meet on, say, Wednesday, November 10th or Thursday, November 11th?

Anyway, I just thought I'd mention the possibility, since every now and then these cultural event films will arrive, and For Colored Girls... is surely the latest. If you guys're interested, express that interest below. If not, we'll see each other at our next regularly scheduled meeting on November 20th at UR at 5 p.m. Either way, I'm looking forward to it.