ok fellas.

before i decided to take this upon myself and head it up, i figured it'd be best that i peep the ladies' collaborative efforts, and see what the thrust was, see if it could shed any light on what direction we could be taking.

the truth is, being a woman writer and grouping up as women writers in some sort of solidarity has way more totally gender specific dynam than we could think to try to attack.

we are the majority.

so we gotta rock the mic differently.

i believe in the idea of a common topic, that we all can spill our creative guts on.

so, i did some brainstorming, along with my lovely partnerinthiscrimecalledlife... came up with something so simple, yet offering a truckload of possibilties for directions we can take it. i present to you:


The Rites of Manhood/What It Means To Be A Man

i think, with info gathered and inferred from personal observation, this is one of the most misapproriated and misunderstood concepts in the history of man. it's import is irresistable, but it's been convoluted with bad examples of manhood, solid male figures being absent from our lives, the music we listen to, the lives we lead and the boys watching us lead them. there's good and bad to all this, and here is where we can develop it.

so.

let's build.

post your stories, your poems, your rhymes, your freewrites, whatever. share your experiences, good or bad. your reflections on self, your ideas on how the topic should implicated in your life, whatEVER. i'm sure any working mind can see the angles this could address. i think this could possibly be a pathway for good dialogue, which would eclipse the simple scope of any post on this board.

might just change the next man's mind for the better.

how ever you feel it necessary to share, share. bravado, ubermasculinity, feminine side, whatever. drop and respond, we can get something positive popping over here.

feel free to let the board know who you are, too... i won't do like ezzential and post everybody's name... it's just too many of y'all cats. you know who you are, and whether you wanna contribute. holler at the post, and if this goes well, maybe it'll rock on into the future.


(...and, of course, this topic is up for discussion.)

i'm puttin myself out on a limb with this one. don't let me down, niggas!!!

_

shakin your block with a 6 million dollar bop

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www.davidevanmcdowell.com