Michael M. Shapiro, CEO and Publisher of TheAlternativePress.com, is a graduate of Stanford Law School and Rutgers College, Rutgers University.  Michael also serves as President-Elect of the Rotary Club of Berkeley Heights, a Trustee on the Board of both the Millburn/Short Hills Chamber of Commerce and Livingston Area Chamber of Commerce, and on the Board of the New Providence Business & Professional Association, and volunteers as a member of the Summit Area YMCA's Advancement Committee.  He was born and raised in Livingston, New Jersey, and currently lives in New Providence, New Jersey, with his wife, Lauryn, and five-year-old son, Shayne.

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Dr. Virgil A. Wood, church leader, educator, and civil rights activist, has committed much of his life’s work to the struggle for economic and spiritual development among the nation’s disadvantaged.  Ordained as a Baptist Minister in his late teens, Wood has served churches for over 50 years in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Virginia.  Dr. Wood concluded his Pastoral Ministry in 2005 at Pond Street Baptist after serving for 25 years.

During his Pastorate in Lynchburg, Virginia, he became actively involved with the Civil Rights movement, setting up the Martin Luther King work there as the Lynchburg Improvement Association, a local unit of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).  From 1963 to 1970, Wood led the Blue Hill Christian Center, of Boston’s Roxbury community, as its Pastoral Director, and head of the Massachusetts Unit of SCLC.  He served on the National Executive Board of the SCLC for the last ten years of Dr. King’s life and work, and coordinated the State of Virginia in the Historic March on Washington April 28, 1963.

Dr. Wood has many notable accomplishments.  As an administrator for Opportunities Industrialization Centers of America, a job training organization serving disadvantaged and under skilled Americans of all races, he assisted in founding and establishing 13 OIC centers in eight southern states, and in Boston, Massachusetts.  Wood also served as a panelist and member of three White House Conferences under the Johnson, Nixon, and Carter Administrations.

Among Wood’s publications are INTRODUCTION TO BLACK CHURCH ECONOMIC STUDIES, (Sparks Press: Raleigh, N. C., 1974), ORIGININATOR and contributing editor, THE JUBILEE BIBLE,    (American Bible Society, New York,) 1999; and author, “IN LOVE WE TRUST: Lessons I Learned From Martin Luther King”, published by Beckham House, Silver Spring, Maryland, February, 2005.

Dr. Wood received his Doctorate in Education from Harvard University.  As an educator, he served as Dean and Director of the African American Institute, Associate Professor of Northeastern University at Boston, a Professor at Virginia Seminary and College in Lynchburg, and a visiting Lecturer, Research and Teaching Fellow at Harvard University.

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About the Author

Ace Abbott spent his youth on a hardscrabble-farm in Upstate New York. Upon graduation from college at SUNY (Cortland) in 1965 he entered the U.S Air Force and became an F-4 Phantom fighter pilot based in the Far East. In 1971 he left the Air Force and became a Learjet charter pilot in South Florida. The next eight years he was a Learjet Captain in many diverse and challenging situations, including extensive operations in Latin America and the Caribbean.

In 1980, through a fortuitous bounce of the airplane employment ball, he became a Boeing 727 Captain. The next 22 years, until mandatory retirement at age 60, Ace was employed as a 727 Captain with several airlines during the unstable airline post-deregulation era. His 727 experiences took him to most of the countries in Latin America, The Caribbean, and included an assignment to Cairo, Egypt and Malta. Ace retired in 2002 after travelling to 44 countries with 25 employer changes.

Ace has now returned to his roots in the scenic Finger Lakes of Central New York where he keeps busy with book marketing activities which include: book presentations at aviation events, airshows (including the Oshkosh Air Show as a featured author), fly-in pancake breakfast events, along with events at book clubs, libraries and book stores. He is a “snowbird” and spends his winters in Delray Beach, Florida where he also stays busy with book promotion activity. When The Rogue Aviator makes the NY Times best seller list he intends to return to the golf course.

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I was born 24 October 1968 in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. When I was nine, my parents (both of whom have now retired from over 30 years of teaching) moved my older sister, me and my younger brother to Tulsa, OK. In 1987, I graduated from Booker T. Washington High School and started my college career at Kentucky State University as an honors student in the Whitney Young Scholars Program. I worked hard enough in high school to receive academic, band, track and softball scholarships to KSU.

Once my two years were up in the honor’s program, I moved into the regular university but found it very un-challenging. My high school had been a magnet school, and I’d taken Advanced Placement classes most of the time I was there, so much of what I was learning in the regular university was information to which I’d already been exposed in high school. In the fall of 1989, I pledged Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., but even that achievement wasn’t enough to motivate me to stay and drudge through educational content that wasn’t challenging my intellect. After three years at KSU, I made the decision to transfer to Howard University.

It was the best higher education decision I could have made for myself, although I had to leave all of my scholarships behind at KSU. After my first semester at Howard, I did do well enough to get awarded an academic scholarship, but it didn’t cover most of my expenses. Even with working three part-time jobs and going to school full-time, I managed to amass $30,000 in student loans to finance the rest of my undergraduate degree. The best two internships I had when I was a student at Howard was one for the Democratic National Committee and one for the Anti-Defamation League, both of which were a direct result of my major.

Despite working so much, I was able to graduate Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor’s degree in African-American Studies and a minor in American History. Because of my mastery of grammar, spelling and punctuation, I was able to get a job with the National Captioning Institute in Vienna, VA. I didn’t find out until about seven months into my employment that I was the only Live Display Captioner on staff who didn’t have a degree in English. I didn’t even realize that was one of the prerequisites for the job. I simply did well enough on the written examination to qualify for the position. I think it’s one of the reasons I take these things so seriously now.

In 1996, I moved back to Oklahoma and became an eighth-grade American Studies teacher. I loved that job. I loved my students. I always knew I wanted to be a teacher. I knew it was my calling. I’d planned to teach for 30 years, like my parents, but I learned that the Army was paying off student loans. Since I had $30,000′s worth, and I didn’t want to take 15 years to pay them off, I decided to enlist. At the age of 30, I became an Information Systems Operator Analyst for the next six and a half years, and the Army paid off my loans in the first three. I was stationed at Fort Jackson in South Carolina, Fort Gordon and Fort Benning in Georgia, Taegu in South Korea and finished my active duty commitment at the Pentagon in the Military District of Washington.

After leaving the military, I became a Computer Applications Trainer with EEI Communications in Alexandria, VA. My father had the foresight to get us involved with computers when I was in middle school, so I’ve been working with computers since I was 14. That’s actually why I chose to be an Information Systems Operator Analyst when I joined the Army. When I came off active duty, I decided to combine two things I love; computers and teaching. I’ve been doing it since 2006, and I enjoy it tremendously.

Why Did I Start This Blog?

I have many blogs and websites about many other subjects, but I don’t have a blog that’s all about me.

As the tagline suggests, this blog is about my thoughts, my ideas, my opinions and my life.

Even if no one else reads or likes this blog, I’ve already satisfied my true audience—me. 

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http://www.denniskimbro.com/

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Omar Tyree, is a New York Times best-selling author, a journalist, reporter,poet, screenwriter, songwriter, playwrite, event host, lecturer, blogger, publishing consultant and literacy advocate, who has won a 2001 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literature in Fiction, a 2006 Phillis Wheatley Literary Award for Body of Work in Urban Fiction, and a 2010 HBCU Legends Award for his tiresome work in urban literacy.

Born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he graduated from the prestigious Central High School in 1987, Tyree first attended the University of Pittsburgh as a Pharmacy major and an aspiring football player. After spending his first two years at Pitt, he found his new passion and a calling as a writer and a storyteller, penning his first published series, “The Diary of a Freshman” along with two novels; “Colored, On White Campus”, (now titled “College Boy” in his Urban Griot series) and “Flyy Girl”, which became a contemporary urban classic that spawned an entire genre of so-called “urban/street literature.”

Tyree transferred to the respected HBCU of Howard University to finish his education as a writer in the Fall of 1989. Leaving the English Department in the School of the Liberal Arts for the School of Communications, he graduated cum laude with a degree in Print Journalism in the Fall of 1991. While at Howard, he created, produced and published “Food For Thought” a student opinion column in “The Hilltop” newspaper, along with publishing several Washington, DC-based news articles for the Black Press.

Upon graduation from Howard, Tyree established his own publishing company, MARS Productions, in early 1992, at the tender age of 23. He then self-published and marketed his first three novels, including “Capital City”, which chronicled Washington, DC’s violent drug culture, and went on to sell 25,000 copies of his first three titles with distribution sources from Newport News, Virginia, to Queens,New York.

By the Spring of 1995, Tyree’s activity had attracted the attention of several major publishing houses, including Simon & Schuster, where he signed his first two-book publishing deal for a six-figure advance payment at age 26. And as they say, the rest is his-story. Tyree went on to publish 16 novels, two short story books, and one non-fiction book on “The Equation” of entrepreneurship and business. To date, he has sold more than 2 million copies of his books worldwide, and has created a brand name in the publishing industry that has generated more than $30 million.

Tyree has also been published in five anthology books, several major newspapers, including; The Washington Post, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and The News Journal; several national magazines, including, Ebony, Essence, Upscale, The Black Collegian, and The Washington View, and featured on the national blog web site TheDailyVoice.com.

Along with his many literary awards from various national organizations, Tyree has founded and formed his own nonprofit arm of the Urban Literacy Project (ULP), where he highlights “The 5 Key Components of Literacy” (Reading, Writing, Thinking, Visualization and Application). Penning a short short book, “12 Brown Boys” for young urban readers in September of 2008, Tyree was cited by the City Council of Philadelphia for his tireless community work in urban literacy in the Spring of 2009, where he spoke about the need to continue the fight against illiteracy within the urban American community.

Hailed as one of the most passionate and informed speakers on artistic,community, educational, cultural, intellectual, popular and business topics,Tyree has been a featured lecturer at more than 50 major American institutions,colleges and universities, including Harvard and Yale.

For more information on his career work and various titles, please view his website @ www.OmarTyree.com

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My name is Nkiyasi Helm and I’m an 11 years old author and illustrator 11 kids books.  I was born in Lansing, Michigan and I still live there with my mom, dad, brother and my two sisters.  7 of my books have been published already.  The Best Camping Trip Ever, Bully A Bully With Love, The Wishing Puzina, Cynthia Plays Basketball, The Day Before Yesterday, Hexagon Land and The Roundest Head.

I remember the day I came home very excited about watching my favorite kids show and there was no cable!  Mom! I yelled, the TV is not working!  She came to the living room with a couple of remote controls in her hand.  She smiled and said to me softly with her South African accent, “Good observation, let us find another form of entertainment, how about consulting your superb creative mind!  Then she handed me a colorful note book and some cool pencils.  “The best way to express your thoughts and feelings is through writing or drawing them on the paper” she said while giving me a kiss on my forehead.

Mom led me gently up the stairs to the desk in my room.  “Not fair!” I yelled with disappointment.  “Write it down and I’ll be more than willing to read about how you feel, also, your tone will cost you your computer if it continues.”  I wasn’t about to lose my computer so I wrote and wrote, the more I wrote, the more I could feel all kinds of feelings pouring down onto the paper and that’s how it all began!  Someday, I’ll tell you why she decided to replace cable with books, pencils and paper. My brother, sisters and I quickly realize it did not work to complain to mom and dad about being bored.  They always told us to grab a book and they always followed up to make sure we read it.  Well, do I need to say anymore? I wrote my first book “The Best Camping Trip Ever” when I was only 9 years old.  That book won the Calbery Writing Award at my elementary school and was published the following year when I was 10.  My dad was so excited that he became my first employee and number 1 supporter!

I love writing and I plan to keep writing in hopes of sharing my and other kids experience through our own perspectives.  Many kids at my previous school thought I was intimidating because I’m tall, very physical and I look strong, but instead of accepting that identity I chose to stand up for kids that are bullied and teased.  Rather than joining in on the teasing and bullying I would focus on restoring justice by nurturing the situation and maybe become the friend that they never had, this is one of the reasons why I wrote “The Day Before Yesterday.”  I enjoy expressing how I feel about situations on paper!

Website: www.writtenbykids.com

​

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Dr. Bertice Berry is the best-selling author of an inspirational memoir, I'm On My Way, But Your Foot Is On My Head, and the hilarious bestsellers Sckraight From the Ghetto, You Might Be Ghetto If and the sequel You STILL Ghetto. Her first work of fiction, Redemption Song, published by Double Day in 2000, is also a Best-seller and has been praised by critics for its' ability to entertain, inspire and educate. Berry followed Redemption Song, with another bestseller, The Haunting of Hip Hop and took her readers on a journey to the other side. In August 2002, she released her most passionate work ever with Jim & Louella Homemade Heart-fix Remedy, a tantalizing yet spiritual tale that has won several awards. Berry's wit and wisdom shine through in her novel about looking for love in all the wrong places---and with all the wrong people, "When Love Calls, You Better Answer"; released the summer of 2005. Her book, "The Ties That Bind", bridges the past with the future and is more personal---tracing the history of her family--- and was released January 2009.

Her latest book, "A Year to Wellness and Other Weight Loss Secrets" is a personal journey of healing and wellness that resulted in a weight loss of 150 lbs. "Those who care a lot, carry a lot," says Berry. A Year to Wellness and Other Wellness Secrets was released in May 2011.

Berry was the host and co-executive producer of her own nationally syndicated talk show, "The Bertice Berry Show," and hosted "USA Live," a four-hour live interview and entertainment show on the USA Cable Network. She's been featured on numerous other television programs, including appearances on "The Oprah Winfrey Show," "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," ABC's "20/20" and on NPR's "Tell Me More" with Michel Martin.

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Shakara developed her love for writing during her childhood years writing stories to read to her family at bed time. As she honed her skills, Shakara steadily gained notoriety in high school. She further developed her passion for writing at California State University, majoring in English. Later, writing fiction grew from hobby to therapy. Her talent for creating colorful, sexy, and humorous characters, coupled with relative, relatable, and sometimes even controversial topics brings her novels to life. Each page has you thirsting to know what happens next!

Exerpt

This can t be life...at least not a life worth living, I thought, as I moved my aching limbs. I d been in bed for days in immeasurable pain from a broken heart. I was literally past my breaking point and done with this life. How do you keep living when your best friend is brutally murdered and the love of your life may be responsible? Lying in the dark with nowhere to hide from my thoughts and emotions, I felt alone, betrayed, deceived, hoodwinked, bamboozled, and lead astray! I needed to release the pain by any means necessary."When the repressed traumas of Simone Johnson s childhood resurface through a recurring dream, secrets are unveiled that explain the negligence of her mother and her deep distrust of men. The support of her best friends, Stacey and Talise, gives her strength, but when tragedy strikes, leading Simone into a chasm of darkness, who will be there to help her find her way out?

Simone, Stacey, and Talise are your typical best friends navigating life. They brush shoulders with entertainment s elite and experience great successes.

Simone is living an extravagant lifestyle, which some may say has come to her easily. She doesn't trust men and is willing to remain guarded to protect herself. Even though star NBA player, Deon Bradford - a good guy, looking for a woman to love him for him - has her in his sights, and is making every effort to bring down her guard, Simone remains distrustful. She feels that she can do without a man's love, until an unsuspecting man comes into her life and shows her what true love is really like, but is he who he portrays himself to be or will Deon win her heart?

Talise is the romantic, who dreams of a marriage just like her parents. When she meets a man that she knows is her soul-mate, but later finds out that they stand on opposite sides of religion, will this be a deal breaker?

Stacey is the brother, the shoulder, and the comic relief, but when Stacey falls in love, he falls hard. Will his need to give into his heart cost him the ultimate price?

Once the secrets start tumbling out of the closets and no door is able to contain them, who do you turn to when your reality feels like a dream and you are sure that this can t be life?

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