The One About… “More”

Posted on June 8, 2020 by
(Stephen M. Dowell / Orlando Sentinel)

How many people, when they hear the phrase, “Black Lives Matter,” add the word “More” to it – as in “Black Lives Matter More.”

It’s not there, but it feels like the gut reaction, the pushback to this moment, is to that. People then feel defensive – “Black lives can’t matter more than all lives do.”

But that misses the point. It isn’t that these lives matter more than others. It’s that these lives have been discounted from the start so that they’ve always mattered less. That stretches back to times even before this nation, this experiment, started.

It’s not that black lives matter more. It’s about the moment when we, as a nation, have to realize they matter just as much.

It’s not a pleasant moment when you realize how ingrained that thinking is into your own being. It hasn’t been for me. But the first part of recovery is being aware you have a problem. It was time for some truth. I appreciate that.

Will I do better? Simple answer, I have to. We all do. And step one for me to understand there is enough recognition to go around for everyone. I need to remember, “Black Lives Matter” does not mean, explicitly or implicitly, that my life doesn’t.

Posted in Commentary, personal, Politics | Tagged , ,

The One About… Cover Story

Posted on May 7, 2020 by

When I was finished writing The Agency, I wanted to put on it a strong cover the reflected its heritage – the transition from indie comic book to novelization. I contacted the folks at Think Alike Productions, who created the original book, and they provided me with a brand new design created especially for it by artists Silvester Aguilar & Avery Ferdinand.

Now is the chance for everyone to actually judge our book by its cover. We’re entered into the Cover of the Month contest sponsored by AllAuthor.com. It’s as much for bragging rights as anything else, but I think we have a really good shot at winning this thing.

I would be most appreciative if you would head over to our page on AllAuthor and give us a vote. We’ve just cleared into the second round, with the top 100 covers. In one week, that gets reduced to the top 50, a week later to the top 24, and then the finals where the top five are awarded prizes.

I’d need as much support from you as possible – you can vote once in each round. Please take a short moment to vote for our book cover here. Thanks for your support.

Posted in The Agency, Writing | Tagged , ,

The One About… Covid by the Numbers, Day 17

Posted on April 6, 2020 by

Tonight’s Covid By The Numbers update:

As of 7 p.m., the John Hopkins website reports 364,723 cases in the U.S. That is an increase of 29,199, up from yesterday’s increase of 26,991.

The daily rate of increase was 8.7%, a definite downtick from yesterday’s 12.7%.

The day over day change was 8.2%.

The five-day running average of new cases is 29,841.

The morbidity rate of Covid-19 in the U.S. ticked up again and has now reached 3.0%.

To put these in perspective:Odds of contracting Covid-19: 1 in 893.Odds if infected of recovery: 1 in 19Odds if infected of fatality: 1 in 34

We had another increase in the number of recovered cases. It now stands at 19,346, an 18.9% increase from yesterday. Another sign of a change in the progression of this disease is when we see more cases recovered than newly reported as infected. (For example, cases recovered / new cases = 2080/29199 = .07) . We want a number above 1.0 here.

As always, be safe, be smart, and most of all, be kind to yourself and others.

Posted in Commentary, Covid | Tagged , ,