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If the bones and souls of the African Burial Ground could talk, there would be laughter ringing beneath the streets of Manhattan today.  The  20,000 buried there, awakened and shivering with the vibration of joyful drums overhead, would call out to each other to listen to the tread of thousands of New York City’s children learning of their existence and celebrating their lives in a centuries-old African Ring Shout, that stunned passers-by as the City prepares for the African Burial Ground memorial to be built.
If they could, these souls would  shed tears at the prayers to them echoing through the canyons they had made possible through the streets they had cleared and laid the cobblestones on end to end.
They would hear and feel the love reaching into the ground, passing through the layers of fill and concrete.  Passing through like a spiritual radiation permeating the earth.  They will listen to the laughter of the young people and know that at last their stories will be told.  That they have outlived their oppressors and that they have triumphed after all. That the centuries of being scorned and forgotten have passed.  That they will never be forgotten again.
This is the new chapter in their spiritual history being written by men and women committed to their memory, begun by the descendants who stopped bulldozers with the warrior from Brooklyn, Sonny Carson, leading the way. 
They would marvel that this chapter is being written by men who look like them, with the power to move a nation to do great things. Donald Murphy Deputy Director of the National Parks Service, saying that he is “confident, extremely confident, that this site will become a national historic monument and it will be managed by the National Park Service for posterity for this and future generations.”  He echoed the words of  Stephen Perry Administrator of the U. S. General Services Administration, who said that “as a part of the consultation process, the Secretary of the Interior, is reviewing the site to determine whether to recommend to the President of the United States, that it in fact be declared a National Monument.”
They were speaking at the ceremonial groundbreaking for the African Burial Ground Exterior memorial and the presentation of the final memorial design of the Ancestral Libation Chamber by architect Rodney Leon.
In his remarks on the occasion Howard Dodson, Director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture said that “With the construction of this permanent memorial, made in granite, not to be washed away by water, we will mark this spot.  It will say  we are a part of the history of the city and it will be here to tell generations to come of our presence.
“We had the misfortune, and several generations before us had the misfortune of forgetting what our ancestors have done in this city. This monument will be the instrument to ensure that we never forget again.”
Construction is to be completed in the Fall of 2006 and there will be held a series of celebrations and the lines to pass through the “Door of Return” of the Libation Chamber, will stretch from the newly-named African Burial Ground Way to the streets of Brooklyn and Harlem and around the world.

Is Food For Thought
By Danielle Douglas
On the corner of Marcus Garvey Boulevard and Mac Donough Street, Food 4 Thought has established itself as one of the few and foremost health-food restaurants in Bedford-Stuyvesant. Open a little over a year, the black-owned caf‚ has offered the community an alternative to the fast-food restaurants that populate the area. Yet, with all businesses, there is bound to be bumps along the road to success. Presently, the owners of the establishment are in conflict with their landlord, Fred Wright.
Over a month ago, the proprietors received a Notice of Cure regarding alleged property violations. The notice stated that the owners failed to receive permission to construct the outdoor portion of the caf‚ and to paint the three murals on the exterior of the building. The notice went on to say that the proprietors had failed to provide proof of insurance; if the alleged violations are not rectified the landlord of the building has the right to revoke the restaurant’s ten-year lease.
     According to Wright, the problem came to a head when he told the restaurant owners last year that he intended to sell the building. Wright said he offered the proprietors the first right to buy in September of 2004, but never received word as to what they intended to do. Soon thereafter, the building went on the market and within months Wright accepted an offer from a buyer of color. The buyer was not pleased with the murals on the walls and as a condition of purchase wanted them removed. Although Will Deceus, one of the restaurant’s four owners, said he was aware of the impending sale, he and his partners were unable to purchase the building at the asking price (neither party disclosed said price). Irrespective of the sale, Deceus said he provided Wright with the insurance forms, which addresses one of the issues of the notice but still leaves the ramp and murals in contention. 
      Deceus said he was surprised to receive the warning since Wright purportedly had not brought the issue to his attention previously. A claim that Wright denies, “I asked him last year to cure the situation. The problem is he built the outdoor restaurant and ramp, which is a building -code violation.” However, according to the NYC Department of Planning’s Web site, sidewalk cafes are permissible in the zoning in which the property resides as long as the proprietor obtains a license from the Department of Consumer Affairs. Wright contends that Deceus and his partners neither obtained such a license nor asked his permission, a requirement that is stipulated in their lease. He maintains that he has been more than patient and generous with the owners of the restaurant, giving them a $600 a month discount on their rent. Yet, Deceus contends that his landlord has been negligent in responding to leaks in the ceiling and in the basement of the restaurant. Wright argues that the leak in the roof is actually the result of the proprietors tinkering with the boiler system causing a water backup. 
     Deceus, a local resident and graduate of Boys and Girls High School, is greatly concerned that he and his partners will lose their dream, as he believes the city is generally impartial to landlords. “When I graduated from Boys and Girls, they told us to go out into the world and add value, I went out into the world, found what’s good and brought it back here to add value, to which the community has responded well to,” said Deceus. Beyond its healthy menu of veggie burgers, wheat pancakes and protein shakes, Food 4 Thought has also established itself as a quasi-community center hosting job fairs, offering free Saturday tutoring and free boot camp workouts. The venue is constantly hosting art shows and spoken-word events at a low cost to the community. “We want our children to know their true heritage, their true purpose and their true position in life,” said Deceus.
     After formally responding to Wright’s notice, Deceus and his partners are awaiting a response from their landlord. Deceus stands firm on his position that he will not remove the murals or dismantle the ramp and outdoor caf‚.
     Wright, who owns several properties in the area and has been a staple in the community for the last 35 years, said he does not want to go to court. “I don’t want to see him go out of business. We don’t have to go to court. All [Will] has to do is provide the necessary papers for the restaurant because the buyer will not close until the problem is rectified.”

Stephanie R. Green
 The highly-touted “Four Brothers” hits the screens earlier this month, and while it is not your typical “family” film, John Singleton, behind the scenes, was comfortable in the paternal role of director.
In the film, adopted brothers of different ethnicities (Black and White), reunite as a family to avenge the murder of  their adoptive, loving mother, the link that held the young together.  Mark Walberg stars as “hot-headed” Johnny Mercer; Andre Benjamin is family and businessman Jeremiah Mercer”, Tyrese Gibson as “ladies man Angel Mercer” and Garrett Hedlund as “hard-rocking Jack Mercer”.  Beyond the vigilante theme of the film, there is also the notion of how a crisis can help forge new and stronger relationships, and give new meaning to family. 
In the acting world. John Singleton is known for nurturing young aspiring actors, and, especially,  for taking hip-hop artists to the next level.  He jumped at the opportunity to work with his real-life buddy-brother Wahlberg, a musician and established Hollywood star, who already had been signed to the film. 
Also, Singleton also could not pass up the opportunity to coach and work with rising and emerging acting stars: Sofia Vergara, an Hispanic actress who will star in the coveted role of a New York realtor in the ABC sitcom “Hot Properties” which broadcasts Fridays at 9pm on ABC; Andre Benjamin, who is getting his acting feet wet and who had a few unwarranted trepidations about taking on the role of Jeremiah and Garrett Hedlund, who took on a complex character, one he had never played before.
During our brief interview, Singleton revealed the technique he uses to get believable performances from beginning actors – musicians, in particular. He makes them “rough it.”  It’s all about tough love., he said.  While he encourages all of his actors to take acting seriously, he actually takes them through a kind of boot camp process, where they are constantly drilled on the rudiments of acting.
This kind of drill system was in place years ago when John first broke into the business, now it doesn’t exist for filmmakers, he said.  This is why so many “brothers . and sisters” of all ethnicities like working with “godfather” Singleton. 
In his latest “Four Brothers” project, audiences will get to see Singleton’s singular “process” in action.

By Royal Shariyf
At war with growing multimedia mass distraction, though not insurmountable, booksellers and writers face a perpetual challenge. These days, getting an unaccustomed public to take up a book is an obstacle to overcome. 
But at the recent Harlem Book Fair, its seventh annual, where a cascade of conversations swirled down 135th Street amid over 250 booths, thousands of books, story telling, readings, panel discussions, and opportunities to meet authors, it seemed perfectly normal to be among the reading class. From time to time, there even arose this vaguely familiar and vitally important theme, to reach and perhaps even teach youth through reading.
Some years ago, “Reading is fun-damental,” overheard much on television, was a catchy phrase that took root. RIF was an organization based on a thoughtful premise to motivate children to read by working with them, their parents, and community members to make reading a fun and beneficial part of everyday life.
That contest, in current form, spurred Thomas Webb, a teacher, to purchase a booth at the fair and distribute his Ghetto Short Stories. Webb became a first-time author on the worthy chance it might afford him yet another plank to reach Lower East Side seventh and eighth graders whose attention, he says, often is directed elsewhere. “Teenagers who are reluctant readers will read a story if it sounds like something they are familiar with and hooks their interest from the start,” he said. Webb, who has come to see the lifestyle of many New York City teenagers as a state-of-emergency has taught nearly six years, and writes about harsh inner-city situations aimed at “feeling familiar and being interesting” to the reader. Another tactic designed to reach youthful minds employing reading strictly ‘as play’ aims where their attention is inarguably most high. . . .  at the center of their musical tastes.  Daria Skeet, another educator, and former high school and elementary teacher, created Hip Hop Word Search, a poster-sized puzzle, which lets players pick out Jay Z and P. Diddy so-dubbed performers from a jumble of letters.”  There is always plenty room for new ways of teaching,” Skeet said, armed to the teeth in her quest to increase reading ability among today’s teens by any means necessary.
Featured on four stages were spoken word poets, celebrities, and music throughout the day.  Food vendors and craft sellers helped to create a bazaar-like atmosphere in the largest book fair of its kind.  Panel discussions wisely were kept indoors in the air-conditioned Schomburg Center that provided a cool respite from the hotter than July temperature under the sun. Those at home were able to get a flavor watching Book-TV. Max Rodriguez, CEO and founder of the Harlem Book Fair, was again successful in gaining national coverage.
Hilary Beard, author of Venus and Serena: Serving From the Hip and of Success Never Smelled So Sweet about Brooklyn’s favorite daughter, Lisa Price, owner of Carol’s Daughter, was on the scene; as was Michael Eric Dyson, no stranger to controversy, whose prolific biographies cover icons such as Dr. King, Marvin Gaye, Tupac, and Malcolm X.  He and wife, Marcia, fellow author, were among a list of notable writers present. Dyson took little time inside charging up an audience discussing his recent book, Is Bill Cosby Right: or Has the Middle Class Lost Its Mind.
Lesser known and first-time authors like Anasa Maat, whose Little Bit Of Honey offers cultural recipes about love relationships and borrows from antiquity; Fay Daley, whose A Call To Fast gives step-by-step instructions to healthy fasting and other nutrition clues were in an orbit among other book, magazine, and literary wheels who seemed right at home at the fair.  Estimates of over 40,000 visitors had a wide variety of books to choose from at cut-rate prices.  Significantly, an increasing number of titles on display from prior years suggest a decided trend toward perhaps less literary works.  Easy-to-read, poorly conceived urban romances with heavy sexual content have become noticeably popular.
But a favorite there, too, was brother Rahim.  Perhaps you know him?
Once, brother “Rahims” in small shops and on street corners in cities across the country sold us books with near exclusivity when mainstream publishing houses and bookstores maintained a mostly “whites-only” policy.  Brother Rahim was the alternative recourse. His was a selection of carefully chosen books, as if plucked from his own personal library (sometimes they were), sold more as tributes to Black culture and contributions to Black collective understanding than as mere items of commerce.  The slightest comment to brother Rahim was taken as an open invitation to pour from his vast storehouse of knowledge and recommend must-read titles. Invariably, brother Rahim loved books and was always a voracious reader himself and it showed..
“I’m been selling books for 18 years,” said brother Rahim at the Harlem Book Fair soberly. It’s in-part for the monetary, but it’s really to get the word out.”
But, it will take an army of foot soldiers just like him to turn the tide.

By Akosua Kathryn Albritton
Maintenance Tip #3
Backups are figuratively mirrors or snapshots of your hard drive at a moment in time.  Backing up your computer is useful in the event of a crash or when old, rarely used files need to be removed from the hard drive.  If you’ve downloaded such programs as Acrobat Reader, Macromedia Flash or Quicktime, but don’t have the compact discs, backups are important.  Actually, backing up copies of all the MP3s, games, digital photos, animation and other files that are not on removable storage devices is a smart move.  A PC owner or PC network administrator has the option of getting a tape drive or using software to do the job.  Affordable backup software makers include Symantec and SummitSoft.  The software includes easy-to-follow directions.  Keep extra blank rewritable compact discs.
Toys
Does Roy Orbison inspire computer technology to keep pushing to please with the lyrics, “Anything you want-you got it”?  The no-end-in-sight innovation to Personal Digital Assistants (you know PDAs) is a case in point.  They started out as organizers that were combination clocks, calculators, alarms, address books and schedulers.  The current offering includes Pocket PCs.  This amounts to an assemblage of a foldable keyboard, handheld processing unit and stand.  The Pocket PCs offers the option of using the handheld alone or docking it horizontally on the stand and connecting it to the small keyboard.  These units are packed with software applications-word processing, spreadsheet, database, e-book reader, etc.  Either the stylus, touching the screen or 5-way navigation buttons, does inputting directly to the handheld unit.  Hewlett-Packard’s iPaq Pocket PC is a line of ten models.  HP iPaq Pocket PC h6315 offers ultimate connectivity by packing in Bluetooth, IrDA and IEEE 802.11b technologies.  The price range for this product line is $140 to $800.  Please compare makers, product lines and prices by visiting your favorite computer/electronic Web site.
Alternative Review Web sites
This column frequently refers readers to CNET.com to shop and get reviews of software, hardware and electronics.  To assure readers that CNET is not this column’s sponsor, please take note of the following great Web sites: pcworld.com, hp.com, dell4me.com, eweek.com, wired.com, nextag.com, CDW.com, TechTV.com, Zdnet.com, amazon.com and MacWorld.com.  This is not the ultimate list but it does expand one’s options.
The Economics of e-government
The July 1, 2005 Wired For Success column highlighted the 2005 Intelligent Community Forum’s Annual Conference and Awards Ceremony.  The awards recognize communities successfully setting up comprehensive Internet and telecommunication infrastructure that results in e-government, e-learning, e-business and e-medical.  The premise being if the effort is recognized, such recognition will spur further effort in the same or different locale.  This technology buildup requires that city government purchase huge lots of hardware and software.  Take NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC) as an example; HHC operates 11 acute-care hospitals, 4 long-term care facilities, 6 comprehensive diagnostic and treatment centers, 1 health agency and over 100 community-based and school-based health centers.  It takes a lot of cable, routers, gateways, cell phones, beepers, workstations and handheld devices to institute “e-government” for that city agency.  Technology firms see the gold in e-government and are courting the City of New York with well-polished sales presentations.
On July 27,  the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunication held a breakfast meeting at the New York Marriott Brooklyn.  The meeting’s theme was Keeping Pace with Social Change Through Mobile Technology: Providing Public Service Where the Public Is.  New York City employees were introduced to mobile technology to facilitate on the groundwork.  Dell demonstrated the PC Tablet.  It is a laptop with a monitor that swivels so that it can function as a high-powered laptop or as a writing tablet that recognizes handwriting.  The attendees that expressed an interest in learning more about the PC Tablet during online registration were surprised by receiving 30-day trial loans of PC Tablets.
Jennifer Yador, an Economic Development Corp. intern within the telecommunication infrastructure unit, gives the PC Tablet high ratings.  One week into the trial, Yador says she loves it.  The handwriting recognition platform understood her writing almost immediately.  The PC Tablet is a laptop and therefore, works best when a user is seated.  So, it works while interviewing clients or on transit performing field activity documenting.
Other technology firms present at the meeting included Intel and Gateway.  A panel discussion completed the morning.  It included Prem Barua, Intel Sales Development Manager, Government Technology Publisher Don Pearson, Kevin Shabow, Senior Director of Government Sales, Mitchell Ahlbaum and Fernando de Guia, both from the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunication.  This brief meeting was a sales pitch to the City’s point agency for technology.  E-government has arrived and they want to lasso the bucking bronco called the Big Apple.
Have a Web site that needs a review?  Are you an application developer?  Know of a virus?  Contact me at Akosua@plans4success.com.