Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Author Spotlight (Tracy L. Darity)

Tracy Darity (embed www.TracyLDarity.com ), the author of He Loves me He Loves Me Not! and Love…Like Snow In Florida on a Hot Summer Day is a lifelong resident of  St. Petersburg, Florida.  Her novels are released under the imprint of Teganjaz Books Presents… The title is a derived from the names of her three daughters, Shaunte, Morgan, and Jasmin, whom she attributes to her continued success in writing and publishing.

As a child Tracy always had a creative imagination and a love for reading.  In her early teens she began writing short stories as a hobby.  It was not until she attended the 1997 Essence Festival in New Orleans, Louisiana, that she decided she wanted to fulfill her dream of becoming a published author.   The words of Activist and TV Show Host, Tavis Smiley inspired her tremendously.  During his speech at one of the forums she jotted down this message, "We all have a God given talent but if you don't have the desire to define, develop, and deliver your talent, you will always be in the audience and never on stage."

Tracy returned home from the festival energized and began penning her first novel.  Although the manuscript was completed in late 1998, she became discouraged after receiving rejection letter after rejection letter from the publishing industry.  She shelved her manuscript but every now and then would pull it out and do minor rewrites.  The desire to have her work published still simmered deep inside.  In 2004 the flame inside of her reignited and she made the decision to pursue self-publishing.  As time passed she began to feel discouraged again but refused to give up.  She did research, talked with other self-published authors, and continued to believe that her dream would one day become a reality.  Today she is enjoying the success of, He Loves Me He Loves Me Not! and, Love…Like Snow In Florida On A Hot Summer Day.  Her third release, The Red Bear Society, a powerful story that will explore the aftermath of high positive HIV readings at a local high school, after a blood drive to assist an injured student.  The release is slated for a December 1, 2011, to coincide with World’s AIDS Day.

To learn more about Tracy L. Darity, and her novels, please visit www.TracyLDarity.com.  You can also click here (not sure if you embed links or not  http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs028/1102365104718/archive/1103607728924.html ) for a more intimate look at the author.

Books are available in Trade Paperback, Hardcover (He Loves Me He Loves Me Not!), Amazon Kindle, and Barnes & Noble Nook.  To purchase:
Author Website (http://www.tracyldarity.com/apps/webstore/), Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

Monday, August 8, 2011

Church Issues (Minorities & The Church)

I don’t take the credit for writing this post (however, I did make a few modifications). This post will be a prelude to the next topic which will be Unity. I know this is a very touchy subject especially for minorities because we'll fall so deep into a church and its traditions because it's all we know (passed down from generation to generation). I'm not saying that's totally wrong, but I ask that you do some independent thinking and learn all you can about the church you go to (and please, ask questions). The flip side is that we'll go to a church based on our feelings even though the church may not be right for us (I'm not saying this is a cause not to go to church at all).

It’s a sad truth that the church is the most racist organization that has ever existed. Because the church has allowed the devil to creep in churches, some have taken the name Christianity and used it to subjugate people and put off on them the aura of inferiority. The result is that minorities have put off Christianity to turn to other religions (ex. African-Americans dumped Christianity to turn to Islam – specifically the Nation of Islam). Why is that? It gives the appearance that the NOI has the African-American interest at heart and Christianity doesn’t.

Just because some people got together, bought ski masks and decided to rob a bank in a Ford truck, doesn’t mean that the Ford truck is bad! The same holds true: just because some people took the Bible and used for ulterior motives, doesn’t mean the Bible is bad! We must find out if there’s any validity in Christianity or are we going to be directed by what some idiotic person does! You don’t throw the baby out with the bath water. A lot of people of color dumped Christianity because of what Caucasian people have done (use the Bible for ulterior motives to keep people in slavery). Think about it: Muhammad had slaves; Jesus had disciples (not slaves). Anyway, it’s obvious that they weren’t Christians. Just because somebody says they’re something, doesn’t mean it’s true! We must find out if there’s any validity in the Bible (irrespective if somebody tries to disprove it or somebody tries to rewrite the Bible their way). Let’s try some independent thinking for a moment (I’ll talk more on independent thinking in Unity). Don’t dump the Bible because you are missing a great benefit to your life! I know people have misused things, but I have to find out the Truth of God for myself (reading, studying the Word & praying). I have found that God is no respecter of persons! I have found that His Word is life to me! I have found that His Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path!

The beauty of God is that He doesn’t see any distinctions with our external appearances and skin color; unfortunately, we do. We need to rise above it. I don’t want to get too far ahead in this, because this is leading up to the Unity blog.

We can’t get to God except through Christ. We can’t get to Him through Muhammad or Confucius, Buddha or any other prophet. If God is the Creator, then He makes the rules (and has that right). If you were to read Ephesians 1:3, you’ll find no gender or ethnicity mentioned in that verse! No one can pull that over us now, because we can read. And this is why it was a crime for minorities to read back then. That’s how people were messed over because they couldn’t read. I can appreciate the mode of operation (not accept it) because that’s how you can control people through ignorance. Unfortunately, it was done through the church (and the church got in line with it – I’m referring to the organized and/or denominational church). In fact, some people will say that because Ham (from Noah's day) was part of the Cush tribe and because Noah cursed Canaan (not Ham) that it was OK to keep its descendants in slavery, supposedly minorities, which is far from the truth. Also, there are some churches that say they accept all races, but if you research the history, their doctrine is covered with racism and that minorities are a curse. I pose a question to that: would you stay in a church like that if you're a minority and found this out, knowing that you could possibly be a pawn to the church to boost the church's ego? And why is it that activist groups have to get churches to change their racist ways in order for minorities to participate in the church's doctrine? Would you still want to go a church like that if you're a minority? As I stated earlier, God doesn't see color, man does (in fact, there's a song I remember that went colors don't hate, people do). 

Now let’s be real for a moment: God never covers things up. The church as a worldwide organization has been covering things up and it’s time for exposure. Judgment must begin at the house of God. Since we are the house of God, it has to start with us! It must be exposed. See you on the next blog.