Those in attendance included Charlie Rose; actress Ruby Dee; dancer Carmen de Lavallade; author Walter Mosley; author Terry McMillan; Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo; dancer Judith Jamison; chairman and founder of Essence Communications Inc., Edward Lewis 

Tavis Smiley, founder and publisher of SmileyBooks, hosted a reception October 2, 2007, in New York City to introduce his new company president, Cheryl Woodruff, and to celebrate his company’s newly acquired list of authors, including Iyanla Vanzant, Cornel West, Tom Burrell, and Eleanor Hinton Hoytt of the National Black Women’s Health Imperative.In the past decade, Mr. Smiley’s unique contributions have transformed the American media landscape, placing his remarkable imprint on television, radio, print, Internet, and digital media.

This year, Smiley moderated the historic All- American Presidential Forums broadcast live on PBS. He has also been the driving force behind The Covenant with Black America. President Bill Clinton, in his #1 New York Times bestseller Giving, waxes enthusiastically: "I can't begin to do justice to The Covenant movement, to the power of its inspiration, instruction, and examples....I believe Smiley has given us a model for how to organize other groups with common challenges for action in America and across the world...." Smiley has also been a leader in nationwide community outreach, sponsoring on-going community forums, town hall meetings and symposiums, and a national college program called the Talented Tenth HBCU Tour.

Laurence Pinckney Events, www.zenbizness.com,  produced the event and the photos are provided by photographer Jefry Andres Wright, www.jefryandreswright.com

Here we go again…Grenada debating banning all gay cruises.   In 1998 it was the Grand Cayman incident when the ship couldn’t dock in port because of a government ban, then a few years back it was Egypt where a cruise filled with gay revelers were arrested, most recently there was in incident with Ebony Pyramid Cruise where a annual party in the Bahamas was shut down by rogue cops who didn’t like the gay event.  What is this world coming to when a country turns down money from a group of gay tourists?   

I have mixed feeling about all this.  On the one hand every country has the right to include or exclude anyone they want.  On the other hand that is not a problem for me because when I hear about these kinds of incidents or those in Jamaica I simply refuse to support them.  I don’t buy products from the country and I surely would not visit them with my tourist dollars.  At the same time I am conscious of the fact that many people still have a perception of gay and lesbian people as sex crazed heathens that will descend upon there country and pillage the young and helpless.   

Usher's  Best Album To Date Available  May 27

For those complaining about the current state of music should download or buy it on the first week of release. The date has been moved up to May 27 because of the demand. You don’t believe me?

Check it out today on MTV online “The Leak”  for one week only. On May 30th Usher will be on Good Morning America. Let us know what you think. Way to go Usher.

Usher - Moving Mountains