Ralph "Petey" Greene was a comic genius who spent years "clowning around" and spiraling to life ́s lowest depths. Then he conned, rhymed and "speechified" his way to heights he hardly dared imagine, using lessons from his unconventional grandmother. On national tv with "Petey Greene ́s Washington," he ́d end with a signature rhyme ("I ́ll tell it to the hot, I ́ll tell it to the cold, I ́ll tell it the young, I ́ll tell it to the old ...") that had viewers asking, "Who IS this man?" LAUGH answers and introduces two characters destined to capture hearts.

The weekly source of African American political and entertainment news.

Us against Them: The Political Culture of Talk Radio examines the phenomenon of talk radio and the role that it plays in the American political process as well as popular culture. Among the central questions addressed is a basic one regarding why people choose to listen to political talk instead of music. Do they listen to get objective information on both sides of political issues to help them make their own voting decisions, or do they seek out the hosts and content that simply validates their own beliefs? After a consideration of the history of talk radio as well as where the industry stands today in terms of audience demographics and advertiser support, Randy Bobbitt takes a theoretical look at how talk radio may or may have not impacted political issues and campaigns from the 1950s through the 2006 mid-term election, as well as the real impact of talk radio on the 2008 presidential campaign. Finally, Bobbitt considers the future of political talk radio in light of the newest threat to the First Amendment: the possible return of the Fairness Doctrine, a twentieth century law that once required broadcasters to provide politically balanced programming.

A polarizing collection of poetic musings that illuminate the struggles of the African-American male. Each work evaluates the complexities of the black experience from various perspectives and is meant to precipitate discussion. Ink Stains utilizes his political art as a means to collapse emotional barriers and inspire empathy from those that have rejected the tribulations black men face. Infused with both poignancy and triumph this collection speaks to love, religion, politics, and race relations. (N. A. Robinson) A work of art which resonates deep within us by continually speaking to our souls.

Love and Darvin have been friends long before either boy could walk. Living together in the slums of Murfreesboro, North Carolina, the two boys have shared everything for as long as they could remember, including the secret of their budding romance. However, the secrets that the adults in their respectful families may be hiding from them may be enough to break the boys' bond forever. In this emotional tale of sex, betrayal, and deception, one twist of events after the other threatens to tear the teens apart, but they continually fight to be together, even through resentment of one another's social rank, physical violence, and the loss of loved ones along their journey to paradise.

“A mixtape of variations and a fugue on time from a postmodern master.… Familiar tales and conventional genres are made new, tinged with shuddering wonder and titillating humor.” —Yu-Yun Hsieh, The New York Times Book Review Robert Coover has been playing by his own rules for more than half a century, earning the 1987 Rea Award for the Short Story as “a writer who has managed, willfully and even perversely, to remain his own man while offering his generous vision and versions of America.” Here, in this selection of his best stories, you will find an invisible man tragically obsessed by an invisible woman; a cartoon man in a cartoon car who runs over a real man who is arrested by a real policeman with cartoon eyes; a stick man who reinvents the universe. While invading the dreams and nightmares of others, Coover cuts to the core of how realism works.