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I’m Different, Yes, I’m Different!By Relentless Aaron

What is it that amounts to the substance of a person like me? Why do I possess different experiences, relationships, ways and means then, say, the next person who grew up in the same small community, married that same local woman, and forever embraced those same local friends and trends? (More)

Random thoughts from the world’s leading Urban Lit Author.

Everyday, in e v e r y w a y, strive to get b e t t e r a n d b e t t e r a n d better. Your past DOES NOT equa l your future!

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Last Night: With my seasoned, White rice, and grilled chicken, I grilled up some turkey burger and mixed veggies, garlic and poured myself some Peach Sparkletini

Getting It RightJust Watch & Recognize How The Animals Do It! By Relentless

If you ever had a question on what is right and wrong in life, stop by the nature channel for National Geographic or any of those programs that deal with animals. It is clear to me that the animals have it right. Everything from procreation to recreation to nutrition to work ethic to sacrifice and up and down... (MORE)

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Don't assume that I think I am so much different than everyone else that my blood's not red. I have heard the most incredible stories from other people who were "Army brats" or if not that, at least a child of a traveler/someone who, because of a job or an adventure, toted their child around the world to experience so many different walks of life. You may have even grown up on a farm, milking goats and cows in your childhood/way from the person who shops at the local supermarket (or Bodega) for their packaged dairy products. Maybe your childhood (or even your community) was gang-Influenced; that can be Bloods and Crips as well as it can be political and cultish. Either way those were influences in your surroundings, in your family and in your life. Perhaps that's you and I'm sure you have stories to tell. However, because I am a writer and because my eye and my sense o f know ing… My sense o f assessment, wisdom and of course perception... my sense of awareness coupled with my sincere study and marveling at human nature; because all of those attributes have somehow weighed into what might be considered the skill set

and genesis of a writer, I find myself blessed with the opportunity to share my life experiences that have amounted to the substance of "me." In my novels there are extreme experiences that, matched up with diversity and a savvy, godly overview, have subsequently entertained masses of readers. And so at least, something is attractive about my walk in life, or maybe how I see it & detail it.

The other reality of me is that I grew up in an altogether different way then you did. Again, not to say my experiences are any better than the next persons, they are just different! For instance, you may have grown up with a mom and a dad who kept 9 to 5 jobs and retired, all the while took care of you. Even in your adult life your parents may have looked out for you in one way or another. If it wasn't your parents it was a rich uncle. If it wasn't your rich uncle, then it was your grandparents who gave a lifetime of service so that their children and you could live happily ever after. Hell, some of you have not experienced any of the (MORE)

Why Am I Different?RE

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WHAT I’M LISTENING TO:

Jason Mras“I Won’t Give Up”Joni Mitchell“Help Me”Rachelle Ferrell“With Every Breath I Take”iHeartRadioPandora relentlessaaron.net

With Pastor & ClientDerick Phillips/NC

With Entrepreneurthe late Paul Tyson

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above and grew up in poverty, with just a dream to fuel you and your want to progress in life.

And aren't these experiences considered “the juice of life” amounting to our ways & means and how we come to make decisions? Isn’t your past relevant to where you today? I am certain that my parents had that perfect perspective to enjoy the great "American way." In fact my grandparents surely had that perspective of working hard, to eventually support and embrace the family they have created. I recall my grandparents putting away 20 grand or so, money designated for my college tuition; a gift for their first grandchild. Unfortunately, I never got to realize that money when it may have mattered most. In fact, my father invested that in his business, which was quite successful and carried our family for decades. I won't get into the recklessness, and poor choices leading up to the way that things inevitably ended. In fact that too is part of my "Topless" novel you may have read. Yet, what I did want to talk about, is the difference between a person like me and what might be considered life for a normal

child. And bear with me because I'm going somewhere with this essay, even as I discover myself while I write it.

In Mount Vernon we had a park in the center of town known as Hartley Park. Hartley Park would be considered the median, in a town where black and white were divided. And at the time, back in the 70s, we were indeed a Black & White town. The “haves” & the “have-nots.” Everything Black was south of 1st Street, while everything White was north of Lincoln Avenue. If you’re not familiar with the area, just picture it as a North and Southbound Interstate Highway, and in the middle of it all; a “Visitor’s Center.” Hartley Park would be just that, settled between 1st Street and Lincoln Avenue. On the south side of town there were numerous apartment buildings, the projects, and multifamily units. On the north side of town there were single-family homes mostly, and if there were apartment buildings they were well kept. On the south side, we had drug abuse, drug sales, murders and robbery. On the northside, we

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Keep your head up. Keep striving to do and be better. Your past does not equal your

future! Relentless

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In Photo: Introductions everyone! Rhonda Taylor, Pres of Rockdale-Newton NCNW meeting with Tuskegee Airman/WW2 Vet: Val Archer. Terry Belchar and her dad look on.

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c o u l d l e a v e o u r d o o r unlocked/our screen door open to the world. On the southside, our door is had to be chained locked and bolted: and even then an older man forced his way into our apartment and threatened me (a teenager) at knife point. On the north side we had clean Parks good schools clean streets and higher property values. On the south side of town, folks had their first floor windows gated and their front yards fenced in. On the north side of town there were rarely fences for the front yards where the worst you could expect is a neighbor's dog to shit on your lawn. In fact, students from the southside had to be bussed into schools that were positioned on the north (suburban) side of town. That was desegregation in my hometown of Mount Vernon; our “post-civil rights era.”

A great change took place in my family when my father sold the house we lived in on the north side of town and moved the family to the south side of town. We graduated??? LOL Now, Instead of the one-family house we resided in a two bedroom apartment. Three children in one room, and our parents in the other. We can call that tight! Maybe not as tight as the Eskimos do in Anchorage Alaska, but tight nonetheless! And I cannot remember being less happier in an apartment, than a house. After all what did we know about happiness at such a young age?

And so, suburban living ended and communal living began. And yet mom made it happen so that her children w o u l d e x p e r i e n c e t h e

d i ve rs i t y i n l i f e . We traveled to California a couple of times/once on a long-ass bus trip, and

another where we fled f r o m D a d . L o l @ w h a t

relationships will put kids thru! I made trips to Chicago, where my uncle

was a judicator in the Cook County system. And besides the traveling, we were always registered for the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, or this ‘n that summer camp.

Wherever mom could land a nursing job we could look forward to a summer of camp activities. How lucky we were! And there were music programs and church programs. And mom even brought us along on her in-home nursing contracts where we were exposed to another side of life; those great big homes in Bronxville and Scarsdale where mom was hired as a private nurse. The local Memorial Day parade in Mount Vernon was a highlight of our year, since Mom “the Gilmores” fully engaged, riding our bicycles along the side of the baseball teams or scout troops, even dressed up in some funny ass outfits and papier-

mâché heads. #hrpuffandstuff

NOTE: Some self-discovery is sometimes all that's necessary to help a person connect the dots in life. And for me, an author with so many

I’m Different...Continued

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WHAT I’M LISTENING TO: Kanye West & Kenny Lattimore

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I’m Different...Continued

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(As if we served in the military!) I should note that Dad was never a part of this charade (I mean, parade), since he was always busy with the deli.

But these were some of those “different” childhood experiences that serve as foundation. Foundation (you’re asking) for WHAT??? LOL! Aside of those activities that Mom engaged in, between the ages of ten & thirteen I was swept-up to help my father stock the shelves and man the cash register at Vernon deli/the family business. Just doing life differently. But “different” was never new to me, because even at Hartley Park where kids played on the swings and indulged in hopscotch, ( r emember t ha t? ) I was do ing i t differently… Sitting with the adults/probably folks in their 20’s & 30s, as they played Spades. From time to time I would watch the Ear ly Mount Vernon basketball greats mix it up on the court, and s o m e w h e r e i n m y networking I'm quite sure Denzel (yes, the Denzel) and I crossed paths. Maybe it was at the YMCA where I was an a s p i r i n g p i n g p o n g champ and pool shark. Maybe it was on the baseball field at brush Park where I pitched for George Latimer’s Tri-Star Auto Parts baseball team. Just so many rich and rewarding experiences were a part of my childhood. I have no complaints. And yet, it was quite different, affording me a world of experiences to pull from; the diversity that enables me to write books t ha t a re r e l evan t and t he consciousness to cope with today’s hidden racism/classism/sexism; but also to be open to change and possibility. My past has lent me the state of conscious decision-

making and savvy perspective; all that weigh on my ability to live & let live. I don’t do paranoia, simply because I a m a b l e t o p u t things into proper perspective, time a f t e r t i m e . A n d when my decisions don’t even feel right ( o r w h e n t h e y shouldn’t), it turns out that there was (or is) a reason for things that happen. How else can we explain me climbing Bear Mountain (at random) and finding

one o f my readers at the top? (Too long a story/I promise to share with you another time). Nevertheless, it’s all coming together nicely; from

the relationships I’ve earned over the years, to the resources that come my way, to the gifts I’m blessed to have. I wouldn’t take another path to get here.

I have no regrets. Close calls, yes. But no regrets. I’m

good with being different, against the grain and in my own lane. I don’t need to go clubbin & drinkin when its the holidays. I don’t need to flock to a festival or a trade show just because many others are going. And that’s my firm grip on reality. My own.

Life’s been good to me so far.

#Relentless

GEORGE LATIMER(Mentor)

He’s now heavy i n t o p o l i t i c s a s “ t h e p e o p l e’ s representative” in the NYS Senate, but he was simply my baseball coach back in the day when I pitched in the minor leagues.

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FORWARD MARCH!(I Ain’t Got Time For That!)By Relentless

You know what, WE GET BETTER. (What do I mean?) People make decisions based on their own ability to think, rationalize, reason, or the LACK THEREOF! But, in theory, we all somehow progress. I'm not even mad at some of the folks that either said or did foul shit to me in the past, ESPECIALLY in the book business. Because I've overcome. I see that as the fire or heat that was necessary to test my ability to PROGRESS. So eff all that OLD SHIT. Yes, I have made some foul decisions in my own walk (I'm not perfect). But I wish everyone well and I'm PAST THAT...

you who called to chastise/hate on me when I started my book grind... you who blocked my blessings to try and keep me out of your literati award shows, bourgie book conventions and even you vendors who befriended and supported some authors over others... I'M PAST ALL THAT. I'm just grateful to be

alive, accomplished and able to PROGRESS through another day. I'm too blessed to wrap my head around poor decisions that you or I made IN THE PAST. I ain't got time for that. Afterall, if you haven’t killed me then what? Exactly... you’ve made me a better man! FORWARD MARCH

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. . . the ladder of their existence, The animals have it right!

We can learn all about life from animals. They don't ge t emot iona l , they are forthright and determined in their purpose, and most importantly they are consistent with all of the above. For sure y o u h a v e i s o l a t e d circumstances where certain animals may not keep up with the trends, pract ices and survival skills of the majority. But for the most part, the mass majority of all animals including insects, reptiles, (and our favorite) mammals, all follow the same consistent purpose of existence, maintenance and procreation. As human beings we will justify rationalize and get emotional about things like working overtime to get something done, or doing more for less, or assisting where necessary or

keeping up with our bodies and their various clocks. This is where many of our challenges lie. On top of that we don't know how to communicate whereas animals do know how to communicate and they don't even have voices!Yes the animals are getting it right minute by minute, day by day, year after year and through the history of Evolution. But here's my problem: even though we know for a fact that the animals have gotten it right, even though you will do the math and realize that what I'm saying is right,

you and your human mind and your human belief systems and your cognitive dissidence will deny the truth just as sure as I reveal it here in writing. ANTS: Watch the ants and you see them progress and you see them work as a team, But in your mind your references may tell you just the opposite! "i

MoreGetting ItRight

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can do this alone!""I can get along without food for the next few hours" "I can put that off until I'm ready " Granted, animals are primitive and humans are civil, with a mind to make conscious and calculated decisions. So indeed, we are thinking beings that will “do the math” before we take the loss. Animals on the other hand will sacrifice and take a loss just because. NOTE: I am not saying that we need to embrace all of what an animal is or does. I am simply saying that we need to recognize the value in animal behavior just as we recognize the benefits the resources the attributes and affirmations of others around us. Of course the majority of us are doing the monkey see monkey do dance. Sports attractions, reality shows, clothing sales and some other cultish activities I chose not to talk about (now). The practice is clear; when we see someone has made a decision, when we see they are enjoying the decision they made, many of us will in fact copy and imitate, and take on that same decision. In other words they have influenced us. #Peerpressure But there is little influence in the animal kingdom as they work off of instinct and practice and some kind of crazy chronic state of being, with intent ion, wi l l power and purpose. And that is been me for a long time: I have this c r a z y c h r o n i c , habitual will power

W i t h o u t a l l o f t h o s e experiences, both good & bad, who would you be?

I am not saying that we need to embrace all of what an animal is or does. I am simply saying that we need to recognize the value in animal behaviorRelentless

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