Check out my friend Minnie E. Miller blog and book!
Minnie E. Miller
About Me
I'm a native of Hyde Park, Chicago, though I've lived in many cities over the past thirty years. Since the age of eighteen, I have been an activist as well as a writer. My stories touch on political issues in metaphor; even my vampire characters are activists. My latest novel, The Seduction of Mr. Bradley, is a political statement on humankind. My books are available through minnie247@sbcglobal.net; on my website at www.millerscribs.com; on justbookz.com/; and on Amazon.com.
Minnie E. Miller's recent interview with author Don Barera, the go check out her blog. Read about Minnie's book, "The Seduction of Mr. Bradley", and then go to Amazon and BUY IT! :
It is my pleasure to present Don Barera, surely an African American role model, if you will. Mr. Barbera is a poet, a journalist, a writer, and a musician. What more can be added to his extensive biography, I asked? I’ll let him tell you.
db I don’t like to mention what I do in the real world because it is so mercenary that embarrasses me, so I’ll stick with my work. You’ve summed it up well, the only things I’d add are photographer and teacher. I am particularly proud of teaching because it the one place where you might see immediate feedback when someone suddenly grasps the idea. Now that I’ve said that, I have to go back on my word and say being a musician. As a performing musician you get to see the same thing—that contact with people. When something clicks—it is right there for you to see and it is pleasing to know that someone recognized what you were doing.
mem Don, please tell us where you are from and your education.
db I’m from a small town in Southeastern Kansas, called Independence. I was born in Nashville, TN but I wasn’t there long enough to know it. I grew up mostly in Kansas, but I spent summers with my grandmothers in St. Louis and Chicago. I’ve been to college and graduated three times. That’s enough about my school, because I don’t think it means much. Perhaps, if I had a degree in physics or math or chemistry I might think something of it. My main education came from being around a lot of smart people. These were not necessarily book smart people, but folks who understood life, living and people. As a musician, I learned a lot from the streets and as a journalist, there was no way I couldn’t learn because I dealt with the dregs of society and I’ll tell you dregs don’t always fall to the bottom, some rise to the top. For those that just must know, I went to Lincoln University (Jefferson City, MO) where Uncle Sam offered me a full scholarship to sunny Southeast Asia. I came back and took my undergraduate and master’s degree from Pittsburg State University. I also attended Langston University Urban Centre in Tulsa, OK. Now, I’ve said it and with the exception of newspaper work, I’ve never worked in the fields of my degrees.
mem I’m curious about your book of poetry titled Until it Ropes Like Okra: Rhymes in The Vernacular. You said in your Book Description, “If I do not succeed in making you laugh, embarrassing you, offending you or making you think then I have missed my goal.” Can you give us a little insight?
db I never take me too serious, but I take the world around me and what’s happening in it seriously. So when I say that “If I do not succeed in making you laugh, embarrassing you, offending you or making you think then I have missed my goal,” I mean that I intentionally try to make people set up and listen. If that takes cursing, broken English, fowl language, going against the Negro Thought Police, or the powers that be, that’s exactly what I will do and I will have some fun along the way. Offending people’s sensibilities is just the first step in getting them to think a little deeper in my way of thinking. So, as you read my poetry, you will see I murdered the King’s English or bruised it severely, but it was done with my tongue planted firmly in cheek.
mem About your writing, you’ve said, in reality you are a practicing writer who seems not to be able to pull your thoughts together into a cohesive story. Yet, you have worked in the print journalism industry for years. Expand on the journalist side of your life.
db I don’t mind having a bit of fun at my own expense, but when I worked the print media, deadlines were real. We had four editions of the newspaper and all stories had to be in on time. When you covered the City Council, the meeting might not start until an hour before the deadline and the portion I needed might be last on the agenda. I quickly learned to compose in my head and dictate the lead, body and close over the telephone. It wasn’t easy, but on the other hand most newspapers are written on an 8th grade level. So, it shouldn’t have been a problem seeing that I was a college graduate. Right? We didn’t care much for television or radio reporters who we referred to as “rip and read” artists. We used to watch the various TV stations gathered around the paper boxes waiting to get a copy of the newspaper so they would know what’s going on in the world. I didn’t find it amusing while riding home from work to hear my story on the radio or later that night on the TV almost word for word. It still happens today. I will read the newspaper and then see the exact same story on the television only they add some pictures, but keep the same words. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it. I just didn’t make any money. So, when the chance came along to make money—I sold out.
mem Have you always been this speculative? Let’s explore that, if you don’t mind.
db Always! Always. I went to Catholic school back when corporal punishment in schools was still allowed and I think it set me on the road to asking questions and not being satisfied with one word answers or for that matter, anything that sounded memorized. I have a keen nose for bullshit and even a better ear for phoniness. So I am a skeptic and always want to know “the rest of the story.”
mem Who are some of the writers you most enjoy?
db Of course, I enjoy almost all the classic black writers of the Harlem Renaissance. James Baldwin, Countee Cullen, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston and more. My personal library is filled with hundreds of books and they cover the gamut. I read books on physics, forensics, astronomy, early inventions, logic, critical thought and medicine. I also read Michael Crichton, Laurence Sanders, Robert Ludlum and more. For the past 10 years, I read more non-fiction than fiction. My favorite writers of non-fiction are John McWhorter, essayists Nathan McCall and Ralph Wiley, historian John Hope Franklin and Cornell West, who I have mixed emotions about. My latest hero and writer is Ayann Hirsi Ali. She is my new hero and my admiration for her just as a person goes deep.
mem Where are you now in your career, and what writing projects are baking in your very productive oven?
db Now I am tackling several projects at once. Two are non-fiction pieces about African American health. One has to do with depression among African American men and the other has to do with finding new solutions to old problems in the black community. I’ve actually finished the depression piece. In the area of fiction I just finished “Suicide Squeeze” a psychological murder romance that takes place in a small town. I’m about to finish a third non-fiction piece and I am looking for a cartoon illustrator. It’s called Tales of a Frequent Flier: View from the Middle Seat. It’s comedy. I always have several short stories going, a little research and my poetry. So, I stay busy writing. That’s the only way I figure I can get any good at this stuff. I have to keep practicing because it doesn’t come to me easily.
mem What legacy would you like to leave your family?
db I hope my legacy is my work ethic and attempted honesty, a goal I’ve failed at miserably. Still, I’d like to instill those thoughts and the idea to always look deeper and think. Those are the things I believe will at least help make sense of the world to them. It may not make them friends, but it may bring them some happiness like I’ve had. Of course, I will be leaving my books to them and my grandsons. Without a book none of us would have made it this far.
mem Any comments you would like to add?
db Never, never give up. Believe in yourself and get the lead out of your ass. Keep moving because moving targets are more difficult to hit.
mem Where can Until it Ropes Like Okra: Rhymes in the Vernacular be purchased and how can you be contacted.
db Until It Ropes Like Okra: Rhymes in the Vernacular can be purchased at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble and most on-line book stores. I can be contacted at ramon.vegas@tx.rr.com. That’s the easiest way to reach me.
mem Thank you, Don Barbera. It has been a pleasure talking with you. I hope to hear more from your muse; I suspect it will be ongoing.
We leave you with a poem from Don’s book:
The Same Old Song
I’m taking my hands off the wheel,
then I’ll be getting out real slow.
I’m slidin’ across. I know the deal.
Stick my hands out and open the door.
Putting my hands behind my head
and I’m backing up in small steps.
Don’t want to accidentally end up dead
and a chalk mark be all that’s left.
No, I ain’t got nothing sharp in my pocket.
Got my license and registration in my hand.
Keeping my hands visible, my arm in its socket.
Won’t make a move from where I stand.
Thank you officer, I’ll be on my way,
headin’ home, my money’s all been spent.
I’ll be driving slow and I’ll be playing it safe
because I don’t want to be another accident.
Minnie E Miller
Author
