The Conversation by Hill Harper
HE’S BAAACK!!! Hill Harper is dropping a new book next week entitled, The Conversation: How Black Men And Women Can Build Loving, Trusting Relationships. Hill’s last two books, Letters To A Young Brother & Letters To A Young Sister were very successful and warmly received as they helped motivate a ton of young people to dream, believe, hope and accomplish. The first series of Letters I think didn’t shock too many people because once being a young man of color coming from a divorced home, Hill had a relate-able story to tell and great advice to bestow. The announcement of the second series got a couple of side eyes and groans as Hill is a single man with no children… so the question was, what advice could he give to young women about being young and female in America today?? And to everyone’s pleasant surprise, Letters To A Young Sister was just what the doctor ordered. Hill was able to speak to women not as a dad or an uncle but through the voice of a young man… one of their peers. Giving girls an insight how they are viewed by the young man, also bringing a boost of positivity and motivation to a generation of young women losing their identity before creating it.
Now I’ll be the first to say that when Hill told me he was writing a new book last year, I got excited… then he told me what it was about and I looked at my childless single friend in his bachelor pad and chuckled asking him if he was serious. He then began to give me a detailed description and I got to read some notes and pages. Once I listened to it all and read a few paragraphs, the skepticism faded. I realized that Hill wasn’t pulling a Dr. Spock sitting on his soap box spewing rhetoric he didn’t really understand himself, but he was going to take conversations we had all had together and put them out there for people to read. He is taking all the complaints, frustrations, wisdom, experiences we have all had and vented about and putting them on paper. Seeing them in print, knowing you’re not along may prevent people like me and Hill from venting to each other, but going to our partners instead to talk it out.
I recommend this book. Partly because Hill is my friend and someone I have gone to in the past to talk and share relationship woes with, so I’m slightly bias… but also because I really think it’s a good book. I think it’s needed right now where people are forgetting how to be a partner and what the definition of respect. People have forgotten how to be vulnerable to their spouse or partner, how to truly love completely and how to admit that they are flawed and work from there. It’s time to put in work, but sometimes we forget what that work entails. We all need to have that conversation and this book will help you start it.
Once you read it…Tweet Hill your thoughts and follow his Conversation on Twitter
CLICK ABOVE TO ORDER FROM AMAZON.COM
see book description below:
In his first book for adults, New York Times bestselling author Hill Harper invites you to join the Conversation: an honest dialogue about the breakdown of African-American relationships. For generations African Americans have turned to their families in times of need – but now, this proud and strong legacy is in peril. Black men and women have stopped communicating effectively and it threatens the very relationships and marriages necessary to sustain the Black family. Today, less than a third of Black children are being raised in two-parent households, a sharp decline from past generations. So, why is it so difficult for Black men and women to build long-term, loving and mutually beneficial relationships? What is happening in the community that makes it so hard for women and men to find their way to each other? And why are there so few people who manage to hold a marriage together, even after finding a person to love?
In his moving yet practical book, Hill Harper undertakes a journey both universal and deeply personal in search of answers to these questions. He has conversations with friends and strangers -married, single and divorced – and learns about their private struggles, emotional vulnerabilities, and real concerns, and begins to see common themes emerge. As his journey picks up momentum, Hill begins to recognize his own struggles in other people’s stories, and is encouraged to more deeply examine his own relationship issues.
Why does so much misinformation and mistrust exist between the sexes? Hill addresses the stereotypes that have developed in the Black community, in the hope that by addressing the challenges, Black men and women can find their way to common ground. The Conversation aims to open up the lines of communication, and offers inspiration to those who want to take control of this crisis and start building successful, sustainable relationships.
Fresh Kicks!
As it nears election day, Obama Fever is taking over and Van Taylor Monroe is contributing to that with his totally fresh sneakers!!! These shoes are indeed a work of art and even if you don’t rock Air Force Ones or Vans these would be great to have on your wall to mark this amazing moment in our lives!! For more information on this artist or to place an order, send an email to V20info@gmail.com
Getting it done
We sit around chatting and blogging all day about things we want to get done… why not actually come together and do something about it. Hill Harper has created an interactive site where we can talk about issues, create solutions and execute them. It’s time to start making a change and taking action. Click below to sign up and be apart of real solutions!
Fly Tennis Shoes
So I have found this AMAZING artist by the name of Van Taylor Monroe out of Ohio. He has recently been in the news on Access Hollywood and a couple of blog spots for handpainting a “Barack Obama” shoe and a pair were purchased by Wil.I.Am and Hill Harper!!! He is a genius!!! He custom paints on all tennis shoes for different things. He has done some for Darfur, The Marines… and is finishing a custom one of a kind pair for Hill Harper in celebration of the success on his bestseller, “Letters To A Young Sister: DeFINE Your Destiny”. Check him out at www.myspace.com/van20 and if you want to order a pair of shoes email your request to: obamasneakers@gmail.com
DeFINE Your Destiny~ Letters to a Young Sista!!
Hey!!
I have a new book pick for those of you who have young daughters, nieces, sisters, cousins, friends, etc…. It’s entitled, “Letters To A Young Sister: DeFine Your Destiny”. It is written by a friend of mine, Hill Harper who wrote “Letters To A Young Brother: MANifest Your Destiny” which went on to be a bestseller. If you have not read his book or heard him speak (which I recommend you do!!), you may have seen him on the campaign trail spreading the word of a much needed change and campaigning for Barack Obama!
If you read his first book and loved it, I recommend you pick up a copy of this one as well!! Though Hill doesn’t have his own children, he mentors a few and seems to be very intuned with what is going on with young people today… sometimes more than their parents are. His books speak to the thoughts and hearts of young people today and is a good tool of guidance, allowing them to feel heard and understood so they open up their minds to be taught and guided.
Click on the image below and purchase your copy TODAY!!!!
xoox
Brooke
Nannie
I just finished Lackawanna Blues for about the 20th time… for those of you who have never seen it…. RENT IT!!! I grew up in a way like, Ruben, with a giant extended cast and characters of family and friends who helped raise me into the person I have become. And in the middle of all of those people, I was blessed with a Nannie!!! Roberta Charity Boleman Paul was Nannie. She was not our great grandmother, but she was great grandmother’s sister who had a hand in raising her, her children and their children… I wish that my children would have known her!! Being loved by her was like being next to a crackling fire in the middle of a Chicago snow storm. She got into your soul and warmed you up!! Though she never had children of her own, Nannie was a mother through and through… she was giving, non-judgemental, even tempered, nurturing, full of love for all. There will never be another like her in my life… She is who I aspire to be as a woman, a mother, a worker, a christian, a human…
I’m watching this movie and laughing and crying all over again… praying that every person has or will have the chance to be blessed with a Nannie! That person who changed your life! That person you cannot imagine what your life would have been like without them in it… that person who saved you so many times… most of the time when you didn’t know it. That undying inspiration to love and live with every bone in your body…
God bless you Nannie!!! I miss you so much!!! I hold on to your hugs and the sound of your voice, it keeps me warm on many cold days!!! I was blessed to have been loved by you and to have been taught by you! I thank God for sharing you with me!!!
Bye Bye Darlin’, love you!! I love you too much! Too much!!!
