Kirjahaku

I know a lot of powerful Thinkers, Speakers, Poets, Spoken Word artist Etc...We've decided to put our minds and talents together in one publication to produce an entertaining thought provoking project. Although many of us are in different parts of the world, we all are connected and united for one common cause, to spread our knowledge and life experiences for the next generation to build and learn from. I know you will enjoy it as much as we did creating it...Peace

As a black male, I am constantly asked why I care about how black women choose to wear their hair. I've gotten into debates and heated arguments over the years on the subject, from whether black women should where their natural hair to embrace what God has given them and be an example to young black girls looking for an identity in this world, to whether their hair shouldn't matter when it comes to defining who black women are. I personally believe every part of you defines who you are as a person, from how you wear your hair, how you speak and how you present yourself in general. I have been Loc'd for the past sixteen years, and while I can't speak for everyone, I can surely say it's one of the best decisions I've made in my life.

We are a powerful group of Dread Heads From different states, different time zones, with different beliefs, different backgrounds, different goals, Etc; But we were fortunately able to come together for one common cause. Every one deals with trials and tribulations in their life, as well as joy and happiness and we decided to share our experiences with the world in our Knotty Dread Diaries. I hope that you will enjoy, be intrigued, feel sad, mad, be uplifted, Feel disappointed, fall in love, Etc, after reading our thoughts. It was with great pleasure that I was able to participate in something as special as this with such a special group of intelligent Loc'd Kings and Queens. I hope you as a reader will be as entertained as I was while going through each writer's work. Peace...

There seems to be a big misconception in the Black community that black men don't really love their children. While there are numerous examples of absentee fathers and "Dead Beat" Dads that can be brought to the light, there are many more examples of loving caring Single, Married and Separated fathers that should be talked about as well. I intend to give a fair perspective, as a single father of an nine year old sun, on just what life is like when you live apart from your children, and are still expected to play a major role in their lives. It's a more challenging process than you may think.

The Name ILLUMI-KNOTTY is an actual play on the word Illuminati. We tweaked it to fit our Natural hair movement. We were tired of our women having to cover their knotty thick roots to please society, and our men having to cut off their Locs or knotty afro's just to conform to society's standards or to stand a better chance of landing that job we were offered. The word Illuminate means to supply or brighten with light, and that's exactly what we do, Bring light to a world full of darkness, and the Knotty stands for our hair that is often labeled as ugly or unkempt. This is a compilation of Poems, Short Stories, Spoken Word Pieces, Paragraphs, etc of our collective thoughts all gathered together in one book. We are speaking on various subjects from Natural Hair to Politics to just everyday things that we all may go through from time to time. Hopefully it will bring you as much joy and insight as it has brought me after reading it.

This is part of my mental diary I keep in my head of things that I may see or experience on a daily basis coming from a project housing tenement in The Bronx N.Y. To some, when you read certain things about hood life, The Bronx may seem like a third world country, or a very impoverished community, and to be honest, those thoughts aren't really far from the truth. We have to overcome many obstacles just to try to live a somewhat normal life. Looking back in hindsight, I can't believe some of the things I've survived myself coming from the ghetto, but truthfully it has made me the man I am today.

Monroe Projects, 1800 Story Ave...Man, where can I even begin to describe my old building of more than 20 years? Hmm, how about a ghetto, low income, poverty stricken, housing complex, located in the Soundview section of The South Bronx in New York City. A place where the 43rd precinct is located almost across the street, yet there are still very high levels of crime in the immediate area! Under my building, you might've seen a few drug sales, shoot outs, a fight, a block party, children playing, etc, all of which, whether positive or negative, were a part of the daily life in the hood. If you're not from an environment such as this, you may not understand all of the dynamics that go into just trying to survive on a daily basis, but the reality is those of us that are from there now or came from there know what that story is like first hand.