A WRITER'S LIFE: Tim Cagle

 

Have you heard the saying, Indecent Proposal? Well, author, Tim Cagle, had an "Indecent Rejection." Tim is the first of hopefully many writers I will be featuring on my blog in a segmaent tiltled, A WRITER'S LIFE, in which I interview writers and how they deal with the hills and valleys that come with a writer's life. 

Even though Tim is one in a million in his writing, he is also one of thousands of writers who have received the dreaded rejection letter from agents and publishers. But thankfully, he was not deterred from creating magic with words. What he did after reading the rejection letter is probably something some of us would love to do also (Or has done?).

I hope you will be inspired and encouraged in your writing journey after reading his interview. Make sure to check out his contact information at the end of the interview.

1.  I have been a writer since the 1990’s.  I was a medical malpractice, products liability and wrongful death attorney for decades and began to write as a way to share stories about clients I could not help because the law or the facts were against us. Unfortunately, at that time, I was working 100 plus hours a week and did not have the time to bring my books up to publishable standards until I retired.

2.  I have written two medical/legal thrillers, Unexpected Enemy and Class of Two, as well as one book about songwriting, Whispers from the Silence, based on the time I shut down my law practice after I passed the bar and went to Nashville to write songs. My big break never broke and I learned I would always be a songwriter trapped in a lawyer’s body.

3.  I have lost count of the number of rejections I have received. Most of the time, agents did not even provide the courtesy of a reply, and I consider that to be a form of rejection.

4.  The worst rejection I received was from an agent regarding my most successful novel to date, Class of Two. It is the story of two lawyers, one black and one white, ex-college roommates and football All-Americans, who reunite in Boston to go to trial against the country’s leading heart surgeon. They were the first black and white teammates to live together in Texas in 1964, during the height of the Civil Rights movement. It highlights what the turbulent 1960’s were like, and how the friendship of two men could overcome the evils of society.

I sent my manuscript to an alleged agent who wrote me back a scathing review. It was highlighted by the words, “I never knew one football player who was smart enough to go to law school, let alone two!” I was at my fiery, trial lawyer, take-no-prisoners, litigation self and wrote back to him the following, “Thank you for pointing how naïve I was to think that football players could have two separate IQ points to rub together. I am now on a quest to inform the following individuals that they are too stupid to survive, 1. Byron “Whizzer” White, J.D., University of Colorado and Pittsburgh Pirates (now Steelers) running back and US Supreme Court Justice, 2. Pat Haden, Rhodes Scholar, former USC and Los Angeles Rams quarterback, 3. Dr. Frank Ryan, PHD in Mathematics, former Cleveland Browns quarterback and considered a genius in geometric function theory, 4. Alan Page, JD. Former Minnesota Vikings defensive lineman and now Minnesota Supreme Court Justice, 5. Kris Kristofferson, Rhodes Scholar, Army Ranger, Pomona College end and prolific songwriter, and 6. Nick Buoniconti, J.D., corporate attorney and a graduate of Suffolk University Law School, my alma mater. I told the agent I would inform the foregoing individuals he considered them too vapid to exist and they should immediately withdraw from societal interactions.

5. The best way to bounce back is to keep writing!  This is the most subjective business I have ever seen. It is mostly based on guesswork and despite their frequent and multiple failures, even a bad agent occasionally guesses right.

6.  My best advice for writers is to be careful to whom you listen. Many writers consider agents to be god-like figures and all-knowing gurus, when in fact, they are often self-appointed pseudo experts. I once had an agent tell me a scene I wrote about a lawyer’s first meeting with a new client lacked form, originality, scope and substance. I told her that I was at a significant disadvantage because I only had twenty-five years of law practice and trial work upon which to base my descriptions, and would do my best to imagine how a Hollywood lightweight would write the scene.

Also, never forget that most agents have twenty-something year-old assistants whom they rely on to screen a writer’s work. I was also an Evidence professor for 25 years and have some insight into how the twenty-five-year-old mind works. Most consider someone of my maturity to be an irrelevant dinosaur and consider Taylor Swift to be a goddess songwriter. I have had conversations with them about GIFTED songwriters like Smoky Robinson, Jim Webb, Norman Whitfield, Jim Croce and John Fogerty and always ask how they would have handled Taylor’s insightful lyric about how “he didn’t like it when I wore high heels”, and wait for them to look at me with the same insipid glance as the agent who told me football players were too dense to do anything but run through a wall.

Finally, do not get discouraged. My success came after I abandoned the search for an agent as I can read and interpret my own contracts. Also, when it comes to agents, always consider the source. If the chance comes to become the next J.K. Rowling, Toni Morrison or John Grisham, make sure you have a top-notch advisor by your side. If success never comes, pull out every drop of fulfillment you can because you were able to so something few people can, finish writing a book.

Above all, keep writing and stay safe,

Tim Cagle, J.D.,  an ex-linebacker who made it through law school so I could deal with arguing with expert witnesses, after I finally stopped trying to run through walls.

PLEASE take the time to visit Tim's platforms, check out his work, and share with friends and family 

Twitter and Instagram:  @timcagleauthor

Facebook and LinkedIn:  Tim Cagle 

UNEXPECTED ENEMY https://goo.gl/joxZLH woman has interracial child after clinic gives her STRANGER’S SPERM;

CLASS OF TWO https://tinyurl.com/y2bsfgkt 2 lawyers, 1 black, 1 white, ex-roommates and football All-Amercans vs ELITE HEART SURGEON!

WHISPERS FROM THE SILENCE https://goo.gl/EVvYQZ two songwriters fall in love in Nashville & write songs by waiting for silence to whisper the lyrics....

***WANT TO BE FEATURED?*****

It's simple. Contact me at: rizerfall@yahoo.com

 

Rejection Letters

Everyone is familiar with the "Dear John Letter." A letter sent by a woman to a man madly in love with her who has found someone else. Dumped via a letter. These letters were usually sent to soldiers off fighting in wars on foreign soil. Their love, who promised to wait for the man's return, found someone new and was ending their relationship. These letters were viewed as the cruelest letter to receive. Many will argue in this new age, "text" breakups, are just as painful.

Writers will tell you the "rejection" letters/e-mail from potential agents and publishers are excruciating also. After writing what they believe to be the best book ever, writers send out their query letter letting agents and publishers know they have a manuscript the world needs to read. With hopes high and fingers crossed, writers wait for a reply of acceptance. To their dismay, "rejection letters" roll in quickly.

Some refusals are polite, instructive, and encouraging. Some rejections are brutal, insensitive, and cold. But writers know this is part of the process to become a published author and they continue sending their work out into the world to be rejected once again. Don't become dismayed. You are in good company. Many famous authors survived being rejected multiple times and we are forever grateful they did not give up.

• Margaret Mitchell was rejected 38 times before she published Gone With the Wind.
• Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen were rejected 144 times before they published Chicken Soup for the Soul.
• Robert Pirsig was reject 121 times before publishing Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
• James Joyce was rejected by 22 publishing houses before Dubliners was published.
• Joseph Heller was also rejected 22 times before publishing Catch-22.
• Frank Herbert was rejected 23 times before publishing Dune.
• James Patterson was rejected 31 times before publishing The Thomas Berryman Number.
• Alex Haley received 200 rejections before seeing Roots in print.
• Jack London received 600 rejections before publishing his first story.
• J. K. Rowling was rejected by 12 publishing houses in a row before Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone saw the light of the day.
• Louis L’Amour, whose books have sold 330 million copies, was rejected 200 times before he could publish his first book.

I am currently sending out queries for my book, When Will Eve Be Forgiven?, and I'm hoping not to become discouraged from the many rejection letters I'm expecting to receive. For my mental health I decided to try to engage with my fellow writers/authors as I obsessively check my e-mails for the wonderful ACCEPTANCE lettere-mail.

I enjoy INTERVIEWING people from different walks of life on various topics. I would love to share with others on my blog the agony of rejection letters and how writers find the courage to continue putting their work out there. I would love for my readers to be able to read some of the more INTERESTING rejection letters you have received.

AUTHORS!!! Participation appreciated for interviews regarding manuscript rejections. Answer the below questions, e-mail answers to rizerfall@yahoo.com, include your photo, state/country you live in (optional), work, book, links, and please share your rejection letter story. 

I need encouragement and I know other writers new or old to the querying process needs support and encouragement as well.

QUERY REJECTION INTERVIEW

1.    How long have you been a writer?

2.    Genre?

3.    Estimate your number of rejections so far in your career.

4.    Worse rejection letter received.

5.    How or what do you do to bounce back from rejection of your work?

6.    Best advice for writers regarding submitting their work to agents/publishers?

Help me spread the word about this offered insight and support for writers.

Thank you all so much for your participation and good luck in your journey.

STOP Eating With The Enemy (HATERS)

     

One of the catch phrases of the 21st Century is about the "HATER." People complain of having haters or about how others are haters. There is a duality to this 'HATER' business. On one hand people are COMPLAINING about having someone hating them because of their looks or their possession while on the other hand are PROUD to have haters because of their looks or possessions. It has given rise to Facebook pages with titles such as "If You Have Haters, You Must Be Doing Something Right." The phrase (Player Hater) first surfaced in the late 1990s, as hip-hop was becoming mainstream. It was popularized by Notorious B.I.G. "Player Hater was the term given to those who work against or criticize the make-it-by-any-means-necessary ethos of a successful rapper or any successful person."

The phrase was eventually shortened to Hater,  encompassing "anyone who criticized — even constructively — a person's SUCCESS or business practices." Today, it just means ANYONE talking about you.

    Whenever you have someone riding both sides of a fence, loving and hating haters, there is CHAOS and that is just what this HATER-ism of the 21st Century has introduced. You don't know whether it's a compliment or if you should feel sorry for those 'PROCLAIMING' to have haters or to be hated on. I do notice that those being hated on seem to be in a lot of DRAMA all of the time. 

    No one owns up to the fact that they ENJOY drama in their lives. Social media posts state they don't pay haters any attention, it doesn't matter who does or do not like them, they protect their energy from negative people, they are use to being treated badly by bad people, and Karma will handle haters because rotten fruit falls from a tree on its own. All of this is said, yet, endless posts about people mistreating the poster are posted. My answer to those HATED by many LOVED by few: stop eating with any and every body. DON'T BREAK BREAD WITH YOUR ENEMY. 

    This expression, to break bread with others, means more than just eating; it is sharing a sense of brotherhood with someone or some group of people. And it includes, coworkers, boyfriends who are not REALLY boyfriends, cousins, aunts, girlriends who aren't REAL girlfriends. You GET IT. People you know or even your gut KNOWS do not wish the best for you behind your back and for some of you who be keeping good COMPANY with yoor ENEMY, they don't wish you the best to your face.

     Breaking bread, EATING food, whether a snack or a feast is a significant event that fosters some meaningful connection and cooperation. Connections can be POSITIVE or NEGATIVE. You are agreeing to cooperate with people you eat with in a positive or negative way. EATING TOGETHER HAS SIGNIFICANCE AND MEANING ON MANY LEVELS.

    Perhaps you are enemies; breaking bread with someone indicates a sense of forgiveness and moving forward from the offense. It indicates treatment of those eating together is ACCEPTABLE. It indicates APPROVAL of how those you eat with treat you. It is even written in the Christian Bible WHO TO EAT WITH. 

    The importance of who Christians eat with is addressed in 1 Cor. 5:11-12 "But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat." People are looking for signs from the heavens to answer prayers for peace and less pain in life. Don't eat with people who don't make you feel good, special, or worthy, let alone who are envious, jealous, and/or abusive, towards you. WHY? Family or not. You bond over bread (eating) and become (mirror) each other in ways on a spriritual level. That's why the Bible has a passage dedicated to who not to eat with. This warning is for TWO people who claim to be Christians. It is expected for the SINNER to be sinful, but not someone professing to follow Christ. So, you would be dining with a liar. Or you many be the liar. Or both/all of you are liars. 

    Revelation 21:8 But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” One of the seven deadly sins God hates is a lying tongue (Proverbs 6:16-17). Here is why God hates lying. A person who lies hates the individual they are lying to (Proverbs 26:28). And if you hate another human being, God views the hater as a murderer (1 John 3:15; 1 John 4:20). God hates the sin of lying because it is deceptive. Liars=Hate. Hate=Lies. 21st Century is filled with liars (haters). Don't break bread with them to avoid becoming like them, or consumed by them. Don't INGEST what they are putting out during FEEDING time. You will acquire a taste for the detastable before long. 

    In a mind-body connection, what we do with our physical body such as what we eat, what we take in through touch, taste, and/or hearing, can impact our mental state positively or negatively. This results in a complex interrelationship between our minds and bodies we have failed to give enough weight to in our daily lives. 

     The famous Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev says there is a transfer of energy from one person to the next from hugs and mere handshakes and that is why many people prefer the slight bow instead of physical touch with others. The Guru also warns to be cautious when accepting water, salt, food, and even soil from the hands of others. Instead, only pick up these items others have offered after they have been set down. Not from hand to hand. Here is a link to one such video. 100% DANGEROUS | NEVER HUG AND HANDSHAKE ANYONE | SADHGURU - YouTube

    Science has proven that families that eat together have children less likely to get into trouble and have stronger family bonds. The kitchen has been called the heart of a home. People say the best way to a man's heart is through his stomach. Paul considered breaking bread so important that he said do not eat with fellow Christians who are not living according to God's word. Here are 6 positives eating together can have in bold. I will show how the positive can become a negative following the bold sentence.

1. They encourage attachment. You attach to people with BAD character

2. They promote good behavior. Their back stabbing, gossiping, and two-facedness becomes your behavior

3. Family dinner encourages conversation. Sitting around laughing and talking about others and their situations for enjoyment or to make yourself seem/feel better.

4. They promote adjustment. Never break generational curses just continue to do what all around you continue to do. Complaining becomes normal.

5. Family dinners establish confidence. Only speak when there is something wrong or only to point out faults of others. Look at only problems, ugliness, stress, strife. Only having dysfunctional behavior as an example.

6. They help your child/person learn manners. Unable to dine OUT due to lack of skills in public places around unfamiliar faces. Not modeled by your circle.

    Food and its symbolic meanings play an enormous psychological role in our lives; the consumption of food both defines and nurtures the relationships that people form with others. 

    Studies show that  20% of meals are eaten in the car and 25% of people in America eat at least one fast-food meal each day. Below are some positives associated with eating together as a family Why Eating Together Improves Our Mental Health - Origins Family Counseling

 Community – As people share meals together they share customs of their culture and their heritage.  Oftentimes, stories are shared over a meal that connect people with each other’s worlds.  One study suggests that children are more apt to know about their family history as a result of sharing meals.  These same children were shown to have closer relationships with family members, increased self-esteem, and more sense of control over their own lives.

Sharing a meal together has also been shown to increase the secretion of oxytocin, more commonly referred to as “the love hormone” or the “cuddle hormone”.  This hormone, when secreted, increases feelings of love and closeness between humans.  So, eating together causes a physiological response that draws people  to one another.  The release of oxytocin is known to aid in the digestion of foods as well!

Emotional Intelligence – Neurobiological research has shown that the secretion of oxytocin affects the regulation of the limbic system, which is the part of our brain that controls emotion.  When two people interact with one another, something happens in the brain which Allan Schore refers to as co-regulation.  The hormones that are released affect the expression of genes contributing to the development of empathy and control of aggression.  The neurons that are activated when we interact with others are referred to as mirror neurons.  This explains why we feel the pain of others.

When we choose to bond together over a meal with another person, we are making key connections in our brain that help us regulate our emotion.

Decreased Risk of Substance Abuse in Teens – There is a widely cited study done by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Colombia University.  Their 2012 findings revealed that in families who ate five to seven meals together each week, teens were less likely to engage in use of marijuana, alcohol, and tobacco than families who ate fewer than three meals per week together.  The findings of the study can be seen on their 2012 Family Dinner Report.

    Those who eat socially more often feel happier and are more satisfied with life, are more trusting of others, are more engaged with their local communities, and have more friends they can depend on for support. This is if the PEOPLE you eat WITH are those who you trust with your mind, body, and spirit. What does eating with people who mean you harm on some level do for you? YOU GOT IT. Make you unhappy, less satisfied with life, less trusting, less engaged in your local community, and are LESS people you can depend on for support of any kind.

    Potential benefits can be identified at three different levels: communal, networking, and personal. These can be identified, respectively, with (a) building wider community and inter-community relationships, usually on a large scale but at infrequent intervals (‘feasting’ in the more conventional sense), (b) making and reinforcing (i.e. servicing) friendship and family relationships, usually on a modest scale and at more frequent (perhaps even daily) intervals and (c) at the personal level in terms of health benefits. If you eat with the enemy or HATERS you are building your community, network of friends, and your close INTIMATE circle out of people who don't mean you well. You don't HAVE to EAT with such people. You may have to be AROUND them, but don't eat with them. Only eat with those who love, support, and adore you. 

     There is now considerable evidence, for example, to suggest that the size and quality of one’s social network has very significant consequences for one’s health, susceptibility to illness (and even death), wellbeing and happiness. We also know that activities such as laughter, singing and dancing all lead to an enhanced sense of bonding towards those with whom one does these activities, mainly because they trigger the endorphin system in the brain that underpins primate social bonding. Since endorphins are involved in the control of feeding, the very fact of eating might itself trigger the endorphin system and promote bonding, and doing so socially may lead to the same kind of enhanced endorphin effects from behavioural synchrony that have been noted in physical exercise. Hence, people who eat often with others might be expected to have larger social networks and be happier and more satisfied with their lives, as well as being more engaged with their communitiesBreaking Bread: the Functions of Social Eating - PMC (nih.gov) 

    If you want to be happy? EAT with happy people. Want to be successful? EAT with successful people. Want to be loving, kind, considerate? EAT with loving, kind, considerate people. Want to be miserable? EAT with miserable people. Want to be negative? EAT with negative people. YOU GOT IT.

       There are so many things in life a person can not change and other people is the number one thing a person cannot change. But, a person can change SELF. The practice of INTAKE. What you take into you body through various access points can be LIFE CHANGING. Practice being mindful who you break bread with. 

Murder is American History

 

  What is LIFE like for Black people post slavery in America?

    It is a life in America, a country in which they are native born members, still having to check a box proclaiming they are AFRICAN AMERICAN. 

    It is a life in America, a country their ancestors made into a rich super power in the world by their FREE labor, where history erases their PROFOUND contributions of toil, torture, and death.

    It is a life in America, a country in which they have had to continually fight for the right to have rights, where no one gets the continual injustices perpetrated against a SKIN COLOR.

    It is a life in America, a country comprised of immigrants, where lynching remained an unpunishable crime until 2022. MURDER IS A PART OF AMERICA'S PAST HISTORY AND IT'S PRESENT HISTORY.

    If you Google Emmet Till, Wikipedia will be the first thing to pop up and the first paragraph will say:

"Emmett Louis Till (July 25, 1941 – August 28, 1955) was an African American boy who was abducted, tortured, and LYNCHED in Mississippi in 1955 at the age of 14, after being accused of offending a white woman, Carolyn Bryant, in her family's grocery store. The brutality of his murder and the acquittal of his killers drew attention to the long history of violent persecution of African Americans in the United States. Till posthumously became an icon of the Civil Rights Movement."

    

    The story of Till has been told for years and recently captured in the film (2022) directed by Chinonye, Chukwu and written by Michael Reilly, Keith Beauchamp, and Chukwu, and produced by Beauchamp, Reilly, and Whoopi Goldberg. It has grossed $11 million against a production budget of $20 million. It was not a blockbuster movie, but that was not the intent. 

    If you went to the movie and sat until the end, you would have seen the death of Emmet Till inspired the Antilynching Bill. The Emmett Till Antilynching Act is a landmark United States federal law which makes lynching a federal hate crime. The Act was not law until 2022! 

    Lynchings were violent public acts that white people used to terrorize and control Black people in the 19th and 20th centuries, particularly in the South. Lynchings typically evoke images of Black men and women hanging from trees, but they involved other extreme brutality, such as torture, mutilation, decapitation, and desecration. Some victims were burned alive.

    A typical lynching involved a criminal accusation, an arrest, and the assembly of a mob, followed by seizure, physical torment, and murder of the victim. Lynchings were often public spectacles attended by the white community in celebration of white supremacy.

    The highest number of lynchings during that time period occurred in Mississippi, with 581 recorded. Georgia was second with 531, and Texas was third with 493.Black people were the primary victims of lynching: 3,446, or about 72 percent of the people lynched, were Black. But they weren't the only victims of lynching. Some white people were lynched for helping Black people or for being anti-lynching. 

    1619 is the year used as the date slavery began in America. 1619 is the date it was approved and sanctioned to torture, terrorize, and MURDER Black people in America. The history of MURDER is what govenors like Ron DeSantis are trying to erase from American History. He fails to realize these horrors have been woven in the DNA of the victims and will not go gently into the night. 

    The lynching of Michael Donald in Mobile, Alabama, on March 21, 1981, was one of the last reported lynchings in the United States. Several Ku Klux Klan (KKK) members beat and killed Michael Donald, a 19-year-old African-American, and hung his body from a tree. It has only been 42 years since the LAST LYNCHING in America!!

     In 2021, there were 18 Ku Klux Klan groups in the United States. The term 'hate groups' includes groups which have beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people. Their activities can include criminal acts, rallies, speeches, meetings, leafleting, or publishing (Published by Statista Research Department, Jun 2, 2023). In 2021, there were 733 active hate groups in the United States, down from 1,020 in 2018. The term 'hate groups' includes groups which have beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people. Their activities can include criminal acts, rallies, speeches, meetings, leafleting, or publishing. 

    The Emmett Till Antilynching Act amends the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act and prior hate crime laws to define lynching as any conspired bias-motivated offense which results in death or serious bodily injury. It was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on February 28, 2022, and U.S. Senate on March 7, 2022, and signed into law on March 29, 2022, by President Joe Biden.

    Today, the subject and memory of Emmet Till will be recounted by the news media on a continual loop. The younger generation will largely ignore this pivotal piece of history. Many of the older generation will grumble people should leave old stuff alone and quit talking about it. There will be the group of people happily proclaiming how much America (people) have changed and we no longer live in a time where racism and it's cruelty were almost entertainment and a group activity. And there will be people enraged for too many reasons for me to account or understand. Many Americans will have even  MORE hatred for the Democratic president, Joe Biden, for his attention to the Black Community.

Today President Biden will designate a national monument at three sites in honor of Emmett Till and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley — both of whom served as catalysts for the civil rights movement. Biden is expected to sign a proclamation on Tuesday, July 25, which will be the 82nd anniversary of Till's birth.

The new monument will be established across three locations in Illinois and Mississippi in an effort to protect places that tell Till's story, as well as reflect the activism of his mother, who was instrumental in keeping the story of Till's murder alive.

    For people on both sides of this history of MURDER, there are strong feelings. Some want to FORGET and some who want to REMEMBER. Today is another day where the heart, mind, and spirit of the people who make up America will bee seen. Today will show what life in America is like for a Black person post slavery in America.

What About a BLACK Prince Disney??

    

    So Disney is off to the races with a remake of the classic Snow White. Once again the uproar will begin with the princess not being white.

    I don't know if the vocal protestors are parents who want their children to have white only fantasy characters or are they disturbed by their own childhood bedtime story being changed? In a world filled with so many different types of children and fantasy books, surely more than one VISION of a story can exist. How wonderful would it be for the child to have a collection of the different tellings of a MADE UP tale with a FEEL GOOD message where everyone lives happily ever after. The adults are demonstrating to the children, that NO, we CAN'T live happily ever after if the princess is not white.

    The success of actress Brandi starring in the role of Cinderella, Halle Bailey as the 2023 Little Mermaid, Moana 2016, and an original Black Disney princess, Princess Tiana in 2009, demonstrates there is an audience for beautiful princesses of all colors. I believe the genie is out of the bottle for other than WHITE being a featured Disney Princess. Rachel Zegler, a Latino, is slated to play Snow White and the most disturbing comment I have read so far is, "It's Snow White. Not Snow Beige." I'm sure there is more UGLY to come.

     The reason given for doing remakes with racially diverse lead princesses is so every little girl can picture herself as being a beautiful princess no matter her color. She should be able to dream of a handsome prince falling in love with HER and living happily ever after over a kingdom of adoring peasants. Every girl should have a 'look to' for ideals of beauty, romance, love, and idealic life. Point taken.

    But, why hasn't there been a BLACK PRINCE yet? Are only WHITE men princes? Are they the only ones who can be future leaders of great kingdoms? Or is there a LARGER problem with there being a Black Disney prince?

     I wonder how many parents of tiny little girls would be willing to take their darlings or even read them a book with a handsome, dashing, physically attractive Black man coming to the rescue of a princess physically and financially? How would parents of different ethnicities feel about their little daughter dreaming of a Black Prince Charming envisioning romance, love, marriage, and family with HIM? I imagine the idea bringing on seizures in the most WOKE spoken non-black parent.

    All it takes to imagine what will happen with a handsome Black Disney prince is to look at what happened with a handsome Black man in the lead role of love interest in the hit series BRIDGERTON.

     Rege-Jean Page starred in season one of the series as one of its most eligible bachelors in 2020. Bridgerton was critically acclaimed for its direction, actor performances, production and set design. Rege-Jean Page has become world-famous for his role as the seductive and passionate Simon Basset (Duke of Hastings) in Bridgerton the series created by Chris Van Dusen and produced by Shonda Rhimes, based on the literary saga of the American writer Julia Quinn, who is taking Netflix by storm.

   The 31-year-old British-Zimbabwean interpreter’s fame has grown so much that recently his fans mobilized to nominate him to be the next James Bond to replace Daniel Craig. For the position again Page would compete, in theory with Henry Cavill, Idris Elba, James Norton, Richard Madden, Sam Heughan, Tom Hardy, and Tom Hiddleston. Regé-Jean Page, who shows off his muscular and slim body in various sex scenes in ‘Bridgerton’, has become a true 21st-century sex symbol for men and women.

     Since it is adults who are uncomfortable with the remakes of the Disney princess movies we must acknowledge, using the the 2023 release of the Little Mermaid as an example, and its target audience persona. For the remake, the target audience was young adults and families, aged 18-34, who hold a nostalgic connection to the original film. Here is how the movie performed:

Domestic Box Office	$292,241,557
International Box Office	$252,797,441
Worldwide Box Office	$545,038,998

    Not bad huh? That is a large number of possible 18-34 year old ladies drooling over a Black prince along with their little children, sisters, or little nieces. Women do tend to go in groups to movies.

    The remake of Snow White is already getting buzz for stating “It’s no longer 1937… She’s not gonna be saved by the prince.” So what will be the FUTURE ROLE of princes in Disney movies?

    Can you IMAGINE Disney giving PERMISSION for girls - women to go in droves and desire a Black MAN?!! To DREAM of being LOVED by a Black MAN?!! What's left when you take being saved by him out of the equation?

     I say count your blessings. Embrace the non-white Snow White and as they have been called, the 7 meth-head like dwarfs who aren't dwarfs. You can't even begin to be able to handle a BLACK PRINCE.

Oppenheimer For The win

    

    

    Two movies about two different bombs went head to head at the box office the same weekend. Which movie was the box office winner? Did America go for brains or beauty? Physics or biology?

    Oppenheimer is a 2023 epic biographical thriller film written and directed by Christopher Nolan. Based on the 2005 biography American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin. The film chronicles the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer, a theoretical physicist who was pivotal in developing the first nuclear weapon as part of the Manhattan Project, and thereby ushering in the Atomic Age. Oppenheimer is known as the father of the atomic bomb and is portrayed by the delicious Cillian Murphy. 

    The choice of casting Cillian Murphy alone, ensured Oppenheimer be a must see movie. Who can resist his piercing eyes, which execute and ooze stoic toxic masculinity tinged with vulnerability no matter the role he undertakes. Yet we root for his characters, wanting to give the flawed man a chance to change and become a better person. 

   Barbie is a 2023 American fantasy comedy film directed by Greta Gerwig from a screenplay she wrote with Noah Baumbach. Based on the Barbie fashion dolls by Mattel it is the first live-action Barbie film after numerous computer-animated direct-to-video and streaming television films. Sexy Margot Robbie as Barbie. Somehow, unlike most little girls who grew up playing with a Barbie doll, Robbie did have the unrealistic perfect body and wardrobe to die for.

    I earlier referred to two movies about bombs going head to head in the movie theaters. Well, both are about 'bombs.' One movie about an atomic bomb and the other movie about the 'female' equivelant of a bomb. Both were explosive and a massive game changer on the timeline of history.

    In a race to beat the Germans in creating a powerful weapon of war, two types of atomic bombs were created in 1945 by the Americans first, the "Little Boy" and the "Fat Man." On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped its first atomic bomb from a B-29 bomber plane called the Enola Gay over the city of Hiroshima, Japan. The “Little Boy” exploded with about 13 kilotons of force, leveling five square miles of the city and killing 80,000 people instantly. Tens of thousands more would later die from radiation exposure.

    When the Japanese did not immediately surrender, the United States dropped a second atomic bomb three days later on the city of Nagasaki. The “Fat Man” killed an estimated 40,000 people on impact.

    The creation and use of such a powerful weapon of mass destruction changed the face of war. It caused a moral dillema within its creator and led to a race for other countries to obtain their own powerful weapon with the same lethal capabilities. The atomic bomb was lusted after and feared at the same time.

    Barbie, her full name, Barbara Millicent Roberts, was an 11-inch- (29-cm-) tall plastic doll with the figure of an adult woman that was introduced on March 9, 1959, by Mattel, Inc., a southern California toy company. Ruth Handler, who cofounded Mattel with her husband, Elliot, spearheaded the introduction of the doll. Barbie’s physical appearance was modeled on the German Bild Lilli doll, a risqué gag gift for men based upon a cartoon character featured in the West German newspaper Bild Zeitung. The Lilli doll was a 'high class call girl.

    I know you are saying there is no comparrison between an atomic bomb and a doll. And, yes, you're right. One takes lives and the other can take minds. Both had to be put on a handle with 'caution' list due to their destructive qualities. The devastation of both were underestimated in their conception. Each believed to be a good thing when first developed and introduced.

So, it is the next day after the premeire of the two movies. Which scored big at the box office?

 BARBIE      BARBIE      BARBIE    BARBIE   BARBIE   BARBIE   BARBIE     BARBIE

‘Barbie’ Glams Up Summer With $150M+ Opening, ‘Oppenheimer’ Excites $75M+ 

    There you have it. Barbie is still the BOMB and cleaned up in the theaters against Oppenheimer. But not so fast. “Oppenheimer” was the big winner at the 2024 Critics Choice Awards, taking home eight trophies including best picture, director (Christopher Nolan) and supporting actor (Robert Downey Jr.). “Barbie” followed behind with six wins, including best comedy and best song (“I'm Just Ken”). At the Golden Globes, "Oppenheimer" took five prizes including best drama, best director for Nolan, best score, as well as acting wins for Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr. “Oppenheimer” comes in as the Oscar's favorite for best picture, best director and a host of other awards.