I want to send a shout out to FireBrand for bringing this excellent idea.

I am interested in editing, but also in being a voice in the conversation.

For example, I am not Afrocentric, but look at things from an African-centered perspective. With that division in place, I would be a voice that attempts to speak for those "subgroups" that seem threatened, from jump, to go over the side. I would think that if a book of this nature were going to be of use, we need to make certain _not_ to present ourselves as on unified voice. That is dangerous because most of us are attempting to break universalisms which edit out, typically our voices. We wouldn't want to practice "master's" methods on our own would we?

When I think of a book like this, I think about texts like, "This Bridge Called My Back." In it, essays ranged from academic to downhome. I believe that if, at this stage in the game, we (look at me including myself!) start to think about te commercial rewards, the kind of book that is eventually put together will be geared towards a certain audience instead of being something that is truly humanistically universal -- cuz ain't nothing more universal than B/black people!

However, that doesn't mean to "think small."

In order to keep the collective feel -- which means just so people know that things go slower in a collective than in a democrary and not to get discouraged if things move slower than expected because it is better than rushing things and ending up fake, one note, and uninteresting -- I believe the editors and everyone should work as a group. Maybe come up with a concrete list of what is needed and allow people to come as their talents, skill, and drive direct them. But, I gotta feeling that with OKAs, that won't be a problem!

Um, the edge I think we have is that the voices enclosed here actually are pretty much in a general demographic. Not to be ageist, but I don't believe there are a lot of 40 year olds in here -- and sorry if you are and I didn't know it. My point is this, we are a bunch of educated B/black folks after the Cosby era... we are raw and passionate and informed (mostly *heh*). We haven't really gotten our voice out there as a group, as a collective... I really think we have something unique here.

Also, I believe we should include the racist posts (if good stuff came out of them) and even the racist posters. The reason why is because I am too tired of the feeling out there in every book that we don't deal with racism. I mean, nowadays, you can't really talk about racism and as a result, white folks have gone blind while our experiences with it grow more numerous if not more intelligent. I think providing a blueprint of our efforts to combat this and the ways in which we do it would be helpful to many people as well as being an important piece in Bakhtin's Great Conversation.

I am SO excited!