Interviews

Interviews / Writers/Writing Blogs — No Comments
16
Jul 08

Interview with Kola Boof (2004)

This interview with womanist novelist poet Kola Boof first ran on a site I had related to my Afro Mama book in 2004.

Kola Boof is also a radical activist who speaks out against current slavery and the oppression of Black Africans by Arab Islamic factions in Sudan. Because of her condemnation of Islam and North Africa’s Arab Imperialist governments, by September of 2002, Sudanese leaders Gamal Ibrahim and Hassan Turabi (NIF) issued a “fatwa” death sentence against Ms. Boof.

Trula: Your writing is often called controversial. Did you set out to be sensational?
Kola: No, I really don’t. I just think of my idols, Alice Walker and Audre Lord. Alice said that her reason for writing so blatantly was because she might be living her last days, and therefore, she may as well speak her mind. I can certainly relate to that. And Audre reminded us so eloquently that “our silence” will not protect us. I write, too, with a decidedly foreign eye. I have not really become American in spirit. I try to tell the truth.

When did you become a writer?

Probably from the first time I fell in love with movies and books. I came to this country at 8, but it took me about 5 years to learn English. I was really alone and isolated in many ways–so I had to entertain myself with stories that I would make up in my head. I always strained to see the story behind the story. Nothing we look at…is ever what we’re really seeing.

How long have you lived in the States?
Off and on about 20 years.

You have two sons. How has being a mother shaped your writing?
I have the terrible fear of my sons growing up and becoming niggers. When I say that, I’m thinking of these men like Montel Williams, Clarence Thomas, Michael Jackson, Ward Connelly–I don’t respect those men. To me, they’re niggers. So I want my son to be authentic Black men. I want them to have the courage to give birth to their own image and to be protectors of their integrity and their loved ones. That is what I write about in every thing I pen–and that’s because of my sons.

Do you have any plans for writing books for children?
No. I’m too profane and angry to write children’s books.

Who is your current publisher?
“Well my agent is Tracey Sherrod and we’re working on two books right now with Brigitte Smith at Simon and Shuster.”

Do you have a new book coming out? What projects are you working on now?
I’m writing two books simultaneously. My memoirs, “Diary of a Lost Girl, which are being revised now that I lost my African publisher…and my novel “Virgins In the Beehive”–which is a masterpiece about 3 Black American women who hit a joint one night and decide to start their own religion. It’s a funny, sexy, very dramatic and traumatic novel. This one, I think, will make American Black women realize, at last, how very much I really do love them and start crap because of them. Of course, it’s controversial. I’m excited about it.

Why do you think that you have received such negative backlash from the American black community?
Because I’m challenging their sense of security. I use terms like ‘authentic Black women’–I say out loud that I think some of them are just niggers who worship white people. I call White women ‘two-faced bitches’–because they get away with murder and they’re not our sisters and never have been unless it was convenient for them. I admitted that I aborted my white boyfriend’s baby (former boyfriend), because I worried that our biracial child wouldn’t have “nappy” African hair. These kinds of things upset American blacks, but I feel it’s what they need from me.

Would you ever consider changing your image or taking a less radical stance to gain popularity here in the States?

“I would love to do that–but I don’t know how. The public would see through it and consider me a fake if I didn’t just be myself. Eventually, there are many people who will see through my tough exterior and realize that it’s my love for Black Americans and my determination to impart with them a true sense of their real selves…people will come to know that and respect me for it one day. I’m not the first Black woman writer who was despised at first.”

Where do you get the courage to go on in the face of death threats?

“They’re going to kill me anyway, Trula, so I might as well tear down the walls until it happens. I just got to the point where I don’t fear anything but God anymore.”

What is your opinion of black people, especially women, in the United States?

“My highest opinion is of Black American women. Them I respect the most, because I can honestly say that there is no other group in this country who are more invisible, more lied on and more misunderstood. I wish they could reconnect with their authentic selves and stop poisoning their children’s minds by wearing Blond hair and fake eyes, but I’m not God. I can only create one example and hope that some little girl somewhere finds merit and strength in Kola Boof. Black women deserve to be loved and cherished, but we have to accept ourselves first–which means accepting one another.”

What are your views on womanism?

“After watching BET all day–I think it’s to the point where we need a movement for it. Seriously. Black women really have no core identity, too many are male-identified. They’re so afraid to be alone or to feel ‘inferior’ as America teaches them that they are. I’m trying to make my memoirs book into a kind of self-help book as well…sort of like In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens and an autobiography combined. Womanism is one of the tools we truly need to utilize.”

How can black mothers effectively parent in today’s world?

“Black mothers truly need to embrace their own images as African women or Women of Color and embrace their sexuality as female beings. Then they can instill within the children a sense of self-value, part of which must be based on race as well as anything else. I totally disagree with the notion that race doesn’t matter. It matters quite a lot. Children, whatever their racial makeup, need to have a very healthy and positive outlook on that identity trait. It’s extremely crucial, especially in America where everyone is something different.”

How important is having a religious belief in raising children?

“Everyone has to believe in something….even an athiest has to possess some kind of value system for kindness and justice. My own religion is The Womb, a sort of combination of many religions–Africanist, animist, Christian, Muslim. I wanted to worship God from a womanist religion, so I created the Womb. Just as my ancestral mothers on the Nile River once went to the river to bleed once a month…I do so now, too. I go to the ocean and bare my breasts and pray. I have my period. I take my sons with me so that they can have connection to Africa and to my culture. They respect that a woman’s ability to give birth…is GOD.”

How can black mothers of different faiths connect with each other?

“Just do it by respecting the differences in others. I have no problem relating to other women or their beliefs. More than likely, I once shared her exact same belief if she’s Christian or Muslim. It doesn’t matter. God is real and that’s all we need to know. I don’t worry with religious theology–EVER. I just live my life and I don’t worry about being respectable or pious.”

In what ways can black mothers help our sons become men? In what ways can we help our daughters become women?

“Teach them…how to TEACH themselves, because learning is a process, and it’s the only way to gain strength. Instill in them a desire for knowledge and a respect for wisdom. Give them their own room to create themselves. Love them and make that the most known of all things. Tell them about your own life all the time, but always do it with a smile–drop info in bite sized pieces all throughout the growing up process. Realize, though, that there is no way to raise a child and not mess up a little. We’re still children ourselves.”

Do you have any other advice for our readers?

“Read a book atleast once a month.”

Thank You for doing the interview, Kola!

You can find out more about Ms.Boof at her website, KolaBoof.com

This blog entry written by Trula Breckenridge. Thanks for visiting Seed & Flame!

Interviews / Writers/Writing Blogs — No Comments
9
Jun 08

Charles Stross Interview

This interview/article on Charles Stross is too cool:

“Many science fiction writers are literary autodidacts who focus on the genre primarily as a literature of ideas, rather than as a pure art form or a tool for the introspective examination of the human condition,” he says. “I’m not entirely at ease with that self-description.” But with a background in biomedical and computer science rather than literature, his fiction always returns to science. “I just can’t help myself,” he explains. “I have a compulsive urge to use that background to build baroque laboratory mazes for my protagonists to explore, rather than being content to examine them in their native habitat.”
Read the rest!

This blog entry written by Trula Breckenridge. Thanks for visiting Seed & Flame!

Interviews — No Comments
1
Feb 08

I’m on Bryper’s Tumblings

I got interviewed by my twitter friend @bryper about my best tip for work/life balance:
Bryper’s Tumblings

He also has a cool blog about social media: Tools, tactics, and conversations of social media — by Bryan Person

Interviews — No Comments
16
Dec 07

Interview With Brenda Sliker (2002)

Ms. Brenda E. Sliker is the author of Black Women Rejoice, a booklet she wrote detailing her hair growth formula. In it she gives the reasons why many black women have hair growth difficulties and what can be done to promote healthy hair growth. It is also available as an e-book. Ms. Sliker is also the founder of Successful Attitudes, an inspirational website which gives information and encouragement to teens and their parents to help them become focused and reach for their goals. I interviewed Ms. Simmons back in 2002 for my Afro Mama site and re-posting here on Personal Growth for Black People.

What is the main focus of of your website, blackwomenrejoice.com?
Brenda Sliker: A) Nothing that comes in a jar or bottle will grow hair, if it did, based on how much money black women spend on hair care products, we would all have very VERY long hair by now. Followed closely by: B) From the book of “Laws for black people” A black woman may never remove hair from her face, in the presence of another black person, by shaking or swinging it out of the way. She must always drop what she is doing and use her hands! That is if she wishes to avoid embarrassment!

OK really! I teach women with hair of African descent how to unlock the secrets to real and continuous hair growth. I teach concepts and reasons not brand names and product lines to promote healthy, touchable, grow-able, hair.

What made you want to start this company? Did you have help from friends and family when starting your business?
I am pretty much a self-starter. If I sit quiet longer than 10 minutes I am destined to start another project. I started the company Successful Attitude in 1994 when I had put together a book mostly for teenagers about what else? Goal achievement.

Well, the ideas grew and internet was just starting (for us common folk) which gave me a forum for my information. As far BlackWomenRejoice.com, all black women spend a lifetime trying to figure out why our hair won’t grow. I just took my discoveries one step further and wrote them down. Since I was already a presence on the internet it only made sense that I start up this web page. By the way, the title Black Women Rejoice came from the moment I realized that I had done all of the steps correctly, in proper order, and my hair was growing. I knew that I would tell the world about this

Did researching and learning about black hair give you an appreciation of our hair?
Since I am black and the research was on me and my successes were so obvious, I was ecstatic. All hair is different, but hair care and growth information is common sense. Therefore it works on everyone.

I have dreadlocks and espouse natural hairstyles. From reading your website I get the impression that you want to give black women who do desire to straighten their hair a better option. Is that correct?
Both natural and permed hair have burdens to bare. I talk about both to rid each of habitual bad hair care philosophies handed down since the beginning of time. Remember the real reason we have all these problems is that we live in a world that points at our hair as a judgment tool as to our personality and intelligence. That is for ALL people. We with hair that would just as soon “stand straight up” have an extra concern to our daily hair rituals. Don’t you think we over do it for the sake of style? I don’t teach hair style although I do offer advice, I teach hair care for anyone interested in hair growth.

Have you had a lot of positive feedback? How about negative feedback?
Not a week goes by that I don’t get a “God Bless You” “I am so glad I found your site” and “you go girl”. I get negative e-mails from one category of women. Those that not only didn’t read my report but also didn’t read my web site. I guess I put so much information out there to convince them another product of promise will not grow hair, that it is overwhelming. They would rather e-mail me than read all that, where I try to satisfy all questions in one spot. Women don’t trust another person saying “listen to me I grow hair.” I know that, I understand that, I am with that. So I try to let them know that I won’t rip them off. Their credit card is in a secure location, and if they stop fighting me (I can be a little pushy) they may actually see growth where it wouldn’t happen before.

You are also a successful airline pilot. How are you able to integrate managing your websites with your professional life?
I have put in a request to the “official time committee” to extend each day by at least 6 hours. I haven’t heard back from them. I thought I explained how urgent it was. I am having a tough time keeping up. Most of my time is spent answering questions. I am trying to become more organized about responding i.e.. same answer to same question. But it just doesn’t work. Each e-mail is long, several questions, and just different enough that I give it my undivided attention. Often until well after midnight.

Oh yeah, I understand the time crunch! Did you have a mentor to help you become a pilot?
My mentor was my dad. He told me that I could do anything in life I wanted to do. If you tell that to a kid over and over, that broken record should have a tune to go with it. My mom was the outgoing one, and she loved travel and anything different; motorcycle mama school bus driver and all. It was just a natural progression to set out to first figure out what you want to do. And then figure out how to grow up and get out of the house fast enough (now that you know EVERYTHING) to achieve it. I did not know any pilots but I met many people along the way. I started on this adventure back in the 70′s so to my surprise there were actually people who didn’t think this was a promising vocation for me. But since I didn’t know any better, and I could do anything in life I wanted to do, it just proved to be an interesting set of minor obstacles to over come. Major obstacles were totally my doing. No one could really interfere with my goals but I could sure hurt myself with doubt or laziness.

Do you see more black women becoming pilots in the future?
They are already doing it. I would like to put in a plug for the “Organization of Black Airline Pilots.” They not only achieve incredible success for airline wanna-bee’s (like me) but they also reach back and grab the young ones, school age and present aviation as just another options in a world of options. More and more black women and girls are finding out about this hidden world of opportunity.

As a black female entrepreneur, writer, and pilot, you are an awesome role model for children and teens. How important is it that our children have such role models?
Even though TV has more than My Three Sons, Petticoat Junction, Leave It To Beaver, The Beverly Hillbillies, The Jefferson’s, and Sanford and Sons, we now have our hands full removing bad influences and accentuating good influences. They don’t understand the struggle of the 60′s, what they want to know (now that they know everything) is how can they grow up fast enough and get out of the house so they can do their own thing. Preaching to them never worked but leading by example always did.

Let’s talk about your other website, www.SuccessfulAttitude.com for teenagers. Why do you feel it’s important to help teens with their attitude?
Self worth, self respect, and dealing with people with bad attitudes is what I try to focus on. I told one young person that I teach kids how to read minds. That seemed to get his attention. If you don’t feel good about yourself, how can you tell others that disrespect you to take a flying leap? If you are weak in self, you are more easily influenced. It is difficult to reach your goal if you can’t think for yourself.

Do you feel things are better or worse for teens now than when you were a teenager?
Much much harder now than then. Maybe racism was big in the old days and it will always be around in some form, guns instead of fists, drugs instead of cigarettes, internet predators, metal detectors in schools, teachers that don’t have to support to teach effectively, adult content on TV, computer games that desensitize killing and death, so much I didn’t have to deal with when I was growing up. The interests of a self starter like myself could get lost in all of that.

Have you received a lot of positive feedback from teenagers and their parents?
The site pretty much runs itself, so I don’t get a lot of e-mail, but I get letters from adults all over the world who downloaded my book for themselves. It is always positive.

What advice can you give to our readers? Can SuccessfulAttitude.com help black mothers deal with teenagers?
I think it is a good start. It is not enough and I could be out of touch with the world of young people today, but I have total recall of my teenage years. This is a huge help. I wish it could address gangs and teen pregnancy and home life with more detail. There are numerous reasons why I don’t. By the way when time travel is available, I won’t sign up for the 70′s.

I wish you all the success in the world with your business, and continued success as a pilot. Thank you so much for doing the interview!
To find out more:
BlackWomenRejoice.com. Ms. Sliker is also the founder of SuccessfulAttitude.com

Subscribe to Personal Growth for Black People by Email

This blog entry written by Trula Breckenridge. Thanks for visiting Seed & Flame!

Inspiration / Interviews / Movies — No Comments
21
Nov 07

Interview with Aishah Shahidah Simmons (2003)

Aishah Shahidah Simmons is an award-winning independent feminist filmmaker, writer, international lecturer, and activist based in Philadelphia. Ms. Simmons is the producer, writer and director of NO! the forthcoming feature length documentary that poignantly exposes and addresses the collective silence of the Black community when Black men and boys rape Black women and girls. I interviewed Ms. Simmons via phone about the NO! documentary back in 2003 and I’m happy to say she finished the movie and it is very compelling. I’m re-posting the interview here on PGB.

Trula: First off Aishah, I want to thank you for doing the interview. I appreciate you talking with me today so much.
Aishah: You are welcome, thank you for interviewing me.

Photo Of Aishah Shahidah Simmons

Trula: When I read about the March 7th screening of NO! I was so happy! Happy that the film is getting so much exposure and happy that this screening got so many people out. What has been the overall reaction from people after viewing the film?
Aishah: Overwhelmed. Astonished. Completely overwhelmed. Women who are survivors, viewing the film often opened up old wounds. So many women who had repressed what had happened to them talked about this, I got emails and snail mails from women who shared their experiences with me. I got email from a sister who cried for two whole days after seeing it…she talked about burying the pain of what happened to her through eating. She felt if she didn’t say anything, didn’t acknowledge it, then it would be like it never happened. She said NO! opened her eyes to how she had internalized that pain. She realized that shame and anger over her experience might be the driving force behind what caused her to over-eat and have weight issues.

Trula: Why did you decide to make this documentary?
Aishah: Actually it was the silence of the community, the black community. I’m a survivor, my mother’s a survivor, so many women and girls are affected by this, why are we silent? I decided to do this as a reaction to the silence of our community.

Trula: What resources have you had to produce the NO! documentary?
Aishah: Contributions of women, individual contributions by women. Some foundations and grass-roots funds. I have not had the support of major foundations. No. That’s why it’s taken eight years to get the film done. I’ve been told this film is airing dirty laundry and that the moral point of view in the black community is that you don’t go to a man’s room at 2 o’clock in the morning.

Trula: Yes, that one always gets me, how the time of day somehow makes rape less a crime.
Aishah: Or as if rape doesn’t occur at 3 in the afternoon or 9 in the morning. Rape can happen at any and every time of day.

Trula: What about black-owned businesses? Have you been approached by or received support from black business owners?
Aishah: No. That hasn�t happened.

Trula: What has been the response to NO! from the media, in particular the black media?
Aishah: Well, again I’ve been told it’s airing our dirty laundry; I’ve gotten that response from Black foundations. Other media, I was told by the programmer of a cable station that most people just don’t care about the rape of Black women and girls. That’s why they rejected the NO! documentary.

Trula: Why do you think so many of us in the black community have such a problem confronting this issue?
Aishah: I think it has to do with race. Racism is perceived as our one and only threat, the biggest threat to our existence…with black men being perceived as public enemy #1. So when we are victims of assault by black men, we�re faced with feeling as if we would be responsible for incarcerating a black man. We’re also faced with feeling as if rape isn’t a ‘black’ issue but a ‘womens’ issue. Things that affect black men are seen as black issues, things that affect black women are seen as women’s issues. But aren’t we still black? These are issues that affect all of us and our community needs to address it.

Trula: Do you think that NO! will ever be aired on BET or other stations that have black-oriented programming?
Aishah: I think it needs to be. It should be. We need to have it aired as part of a national agenda to address abuse and sexual assault in the black community. It needs to be aired in rotation, nationwide, to combat some of this other programming like the sexually explicit music videos. Now, will it be aired is another question.

Trula: Who are your subjects? What kind of women is in this film?
Aishah: There are two components to the film. The first part moves from our enslavement to present day. Then I look through the eyes of black women about our experiences. I talk about the history of lynching and how black women were at the forefront of the anti-lynching movement, and then our involvement in the Civil Rights Movement and groups like the Black Panthers.

I have scholars and activists in this part because I wanted to lay down the foundation that we, black women, have always been supportive of black men in the struggle against racism, even while we were being raped. Even while rape and assault has been going on in our communities. This is important because so many react as if talking about rape and assault in our communities is somehow not being supportive of black men, or as if it were not being loyal to black men.

The second part shows actual survivors of rape talk about their experiences. I have survivor accounts interspersed throughout the film, but the second part of NO! also focuses on survivors talking about what they are doing while they heal. One woman is teaching and another woman is organizing Take Back The Night in her area. I felt this was so important because I wanted victims and other people to go away from viewing NO! by knowing that it’s possible to heal.

Trula: NO! has been under production for eight years. When will it be finished?
Aishah: This year. 2003. I am on a major fundraising campaign to get all the funds necessary for the post-production costs. I still need $100,000. My goal is to raise the funding and finish NO! this year.

Trula: How can people see the draft of NO! now? Where is the next screening?
Aishah: The best thing is to book a screening through the website echosoul.com, this is my publicists’ website, or by emailing me. The address with my information is NotheRapeDocumentary.org. My email address is AfroLez at aol dot com. NO! has been screened at Take Back The Night events, and been sponsored by the Alpha’s (Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity) at the University of Pennsylvania and Temple University. We’ve had a great response to all of those screenings. The next screening is at Spelman University in Atlanta, on March 24th and 25th. You can book a screening in your town by sending me an email or though the website.

Trula: Aishah, I’m a survivor, and I’ll tell you, the one that hurt me the most, emotionally, was being raped and assaulted while in a relationship. You share that you’re a survivor as well…how did you find the courage to stand up and produce this documentary?
Aishah: I think it was part of my healing process. I think if I knew how intimately and intricately involved I would get emotionally I would not have touched it with a 10-foot pole. In my case I was raped in a hotel room I went to willingly and then changed my mind; I wasn’t dragged off the street or anything like that. So I struggled with coming to terms that I was raped. I thought, was I raped? Was what happened to me rape? So many times I wanted to drop the ball with NO!, but then heard a powerful testimony from a survivor or read a testimony through email or a letter sent snail mail. I felt I owed it to these women who I asked to share so much of themselves and their experiences to continue and also share my experience.

Trula: What advice do you have for black women to help them prevent sexual abuse and assault?
Aishah: Wow. I don’t know what women can do other than take precautionary measures; maybe learn self-defense. Women who have children can start by educating their sons about rape and abuse. But really, men have to stop it. I really don’t think women can stop rape…it is up to men. Black men have got to step up to the plate. We have got to start educating our young men, make this a community effort. It should be a collaborative effort between men and women, but ultimately it is on the men to stop the rape and abuse.

Trula: Thank you so much for talking with me, Aishah, and for producing NO! and doing all that you do. I think that this film is groundbreaking work and will help to heal our communities.
Aishah: You are welcome. Than you for interviewing me and for giving NO! exposure and support on Afro Mama.

To find about more about the NO! documentary and Ms. Simmons:
NotheRapeDocumentary.org

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This blog entry written by Trula Breckenridge. Thanks for visiting Seed & Flame!