Dr. Jerry, you got the whole world waiting.
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Positive five lives and the sex appeal to Dr. Andre Jerry.
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You, you, you, you, you, you, you, you.
Hello everybody.
Good evening and thanks for tuning in to a special episode of Live with Dr. Andre Jerry.
This, of course, is Black History Month, which celebrates black history makers and key figures in American culture.
Now, Black History Month is not just intended to honor historical black figures who have long past.
It's also an opportunity to celebrate our current black figures who are making their mark in history.
I want to send a shout out to Governor Westmore, who was duly elected last year as the first black governor of the state of Maryland.
Only the third black person elected as governor of any state.
And as of 2023, the only incumbent black governor in the nation.
Now that's quite an achievement worthy of celebrating.
And likewise, there are many black Americans who are making history right in our own communities and families.
Many of us are our family's first politician, doctor, nurse, lawyer, or the first one to earn a degree, write a book, or own a business or nonprofit.
There are a myriad of ways in which we could be contributing to black history just in our own families.
So let's all encourage one another and also acknowledge and celebrate our relatives who are doing great and positive things and making a great impact on the world.
Now, in line with the theme of celebrating black history and black excellence, tonight's show features notable black authors who are leaving their mark on history.
My first guest is a friend to the show who I've had the pleasure of interviewing a few months ago.
Dr. Stephen Bond is the grandson of David G Bond, one of the many hidden figures in black American history that are often overlooked.
David G Bond was a North Carolina native and brilliant innovator who designed, built, and patented the very first automobile term signal back in 1927.
When he was just 16 years old, it was later patented when he was 20 years old.
However, due to Jim Crow era discrimination in the South, he was unable to secure credit or loans to renew his patent, which resulted in the loss to his claim to the invention of the term signal.
Now, last year I was blessed with the opportunity to interview his grandson, Dr. Stephen Bond, on the show.
And during that episode, we spoke at length about his grandfather, his invention, and some of the unfortunate challenges and racial prejudices he endured during that time.
Dr. Bond's latest book honors his grandfather's legacy and shares the story behind his groundbreaking invention.
I'm super excited to have him as a guest on tonight's show to share with us the progress he's made in sharing his grandfather's story with the masses.
So Dr. Bond, welcome back to the show, brother. How have you been lately?
Thank you, Dr. Jerry. I am doing awesome. I'm doing great. It is so great to be on your show again. All is well.
I've gotten so much feedback from the book and just a day does not go by where someone texts me or email me or DM me about how much enjoy the book and how inspired them to see if any of their families.
It's something significant that went unknown in our songs. So just a response and feedback has just been wonderful and I'm so appreciative of it as well.
Oh, well, I'm, listen, I'm glad to have you on the show. I was so happy to hear about all the progress that's been made since you were on the show last November.
I've been following you, of course. And I said, you know, I got to have this guy on to let us know what progress he's been making.
You know, it seems like a lot has happened in terms of exposure just over, you know, the past few months.
So take a little bit of time and share with our listeners what has transpired since you were last on the show.
Well, since I last on the show, I've had several educators buy the book and buy bundles of the book because they wanted their school to know the whole story.
I have a friend of mine who's a principal in East New York, Brooklyn, good friend of mine and he brought up over 100 books just so his school have copies.
Yes. And my own superintendent at my school, what a copy I was teaching one day, he came up to me and said, Doc, need to talk for a second.
I was like, everything okay. Yes, your book is awesome. I need you to sign my book for me.
So it's been a wonderful thing. And so the word thing getting out and the people I know, just not just in my home state who have been buying it and are happy that the legacy is being told because many in the county where my grandfather
and grandfather live knew the story and they knew about it, but not much was done.
And also the mayor of Winston, North Carolina where my grandfather was born and my father was born. He was interested in the book and he didn't know the story.
And he was the mayor of this town. And so he called me asked to be meet and he was dating around asked other folk about it.
Before he met me, he said, do you know about the suspension of Dave George Bond? And one of his friends like, yeah, everybody knows about it. And by the way, I'm related to Stephen Bond. So we he was so delighted about it.
And we actually took a picture in front of town hall with the book. So it's really been making a lot of headway and like I said, I'm just so appreciative of it and not just in North Carolina, people from many states have bought it.
And my whole teaching California, I have brought the book, people in Illinois, I put the book in Texas and various states where they're buying the book and just tell others a story about just on some heroine adventures.
So it's cool to see the word spreading around about it.
Yes, that's awesome. And that's one of the things I love about partnering with Amazon and KDP is that you can get your book sold all over the country, as well as in many other countries around the world.
So having them to kind of take the lead on that distribution and really kind of alleviates a lot of the pressure, especially for new authors, you know, when you write your first book, even your first couple of books, it can be very overwhelming.
And you're like, okay, well, how am I going to get my book to someone if they buy it and you know if they want to buy it and they live in Canada or something like that.
But when you partner with KDP and Amazon, I guess I'm giving them a little free promotion here, but it really does take the edge off and all you have to do is upload your stuff there.
They take care of all the order fulfillment and send everything out so it takes a lot of pressure off of new authors.
But just listening to you, it sounds like 2023 has been an extremely busy year. I mean, you've met the mayor, you've been on a few other shows, you've sold over 100 copies of your book for educational purposes.
I saw recently where you were featured on the local news in Birdie County. Can you explain how that came about?
Yes, well, a couple of journalists in the area had heard the story about my grandfather and meet with the mayor.
So on WNCT News in Greenville, North Carolina, they heard the story.
And the journalist's name is Abigail Velaas, awesome journalist, just like pretty much out of college.
He called me and said she'd like to do a story on it. And so just past Sunday, she does the story on it and she's an amazing job.
And so she covered the fact of my grandfather and how he invented it. And I showed her the book and she had a copy of the book.
And I also mentioned about the patent and she showed how the patent was his.
And one of the things that she was added on and the news that I really like, they've been controversial about.
First, we have the pattern for what she did. And then someone said, well, this other guy had patent for who gets the credit.
And so in the Google search and said one said person's name, because his family might be offended, but they said he was the one that had the first patent for it.
But if you look at research, he received a patent for it in 1929, where my grandfather got the patent issued by the US government two years before.
On March 1st, 1927, and it pat was legally done and it's indipent. So that was two years before.
And so that took away any disagreement. And what I like was the fact when the news station knowing that they put it on the news that night,
but it also put it on the website in the story that this guy who they give credit to his patent was two years after my grandfather.
So I'll let you know that he was going to just treat it, especially since he did two years before.
So a lot of people have watched the story and has like a thousand views already YouTube and different social media outlets.
And so the birds getting around even more. And I had a person just two people call me just today and said they want to do a story about it.
And so I told him that way. So my phone was after the story was done on the news on TV.
My phone literally been ringing off the hook. Now stop. So it's been a blast. I'm just glad for it.
Oh, man, that's exactly what I wanted to hear. I mean, it's a very compelling story. And with this being Black History Month,
I'm sure there's a lot of renewed interest in your book. And, you know, I mentioned this last time that we were on the show that you were on the show as a guest.
I see this being a movie. I'm just putting that out there. I really believe that someone you're going to get a call soon about trying to make a movie about this story because it has a lot of girth to it.
It has, of course, the historical piece there. But this is a really compelling story that I think a lot of people would want to know about.
So I'm glad that it's getting out there is getting more traction. I know your students must be excited. I mean, how do they feel having their teacher all over the news and in these events here?
I mean, I'll be interested to hear how they're reacting to learning about this new fame and you're, you know, learning about your grandfather's contribution to Black History.
How are they reacting to all this?
Oh, they'd be really excited about it because before I got into the classroom on Monday, most of the students had saw it and they were so happy. And the ones who didn't see it, they're like, Dr. Bond, we want to see it.
We can see it. And so I played in the class and I mean, literally they were clapping so loud. It was like earthquake on the classroom, but it showed that they care and appreciate the story that there was not being told.
So it's just, it's really been an awesome thing. And I said, the students and the teachers around me have also, you know, give me support about it. And that was very important. And so appreciative of it.
Right. And, you know, I think I mentioned this to you before as well, but I really think your book, Unsung, but forever remembered, I think it should be considered as part of the curriculum and perhaps maybe require reading.
For Black History Month in the state of North Carolina and North Carolina public schools. How do you feel about the prospect of that? And is that something that you have already considered pursuing?
It actually definitely is. Yeah, it may have had to make a long story short. I'm a board of director's members for the North Carolina Council for Social Studies. I'm a board member.
And actually, I'm running in March for a position for one of the vice president positions. They have two vice president positions and one is open. And so I'm actually running for that vice president position on March 3 of this year.
So I'm hoping for the best. And, you know, being on the board and the council, you know, you do have a lot of influence and being, you know, if the less as I present, it gives me even more flexibility because I've been pursuing it already.
I've been telling other county leaders in North Carolina that it should be required reading. I said the county where my grandfather was born in Burr T county, it definitely should be required reading.
So, basically, I have a cousin who is a superintendent of that county Burr T county schools, and he's helped me to see, can can they make that happen and see could they have at least a book for most of students in that county about my grandfather.
So we're asking to work for that. And I hope it does. Because like I said, the county that he lived in, especially there, they should have a copy.
Yes, you be statewide, but especially that county because that's where he was from. So that happened right in it right behind that doorstep.
Right. Most of students didn't know about it. So it definitely should be incorporated into curriculum.
I absolutely agree. And I'm so glad to hear that you're going to be running for vice president of that board. I wish you much success in that.
But I had a follow on questions that so in introducing new materials into the school curriculum, what's that process look like and what other entities have purview over what's included in school curriculums.
Well, the good thing is, in Dark Alliance, trying to be more inclusive with animals, things in curriculum, especially black history, African American history, because for me, I teach African American history all year long because to me, African American history is history.
I also incorporate a lot of women's history. And one of the great things was just this last week I have a social research report.
Most of them chose females. They chose Captain Johnson, you know, from hidden figures. You know, they showed women like Charlie Chisholm, you know, Mae Jemison, the first African American, no astronaut.
So that made me feel real good as well that they decided to use females. One student chose Claudette Colvin, another song woman in black history because you know, everyone knows about Rosa Parks.
But most of the time, most people know about Claudette Colvin, but she never rose to parks that nine months before and never got, you know, any recognition for it.
And Claudette Colvin's actually still alive. And she actually was a fit. The great part of stories that just recently, by a year ago, she was officially exonerated of all charges, because they lie to her and said she assault police officers when she got the buzz.
She was 15 years old. And so this marks her background for her whole life for 66 years. So last year, they finally dropped the charge and exonerated her and she was excited about.
So I have students research a lot of unsung people. So when you try to incorporate the things curriculum, you know, the board, you have to see the good thing.
Like I said, is now more than ever, they understand they need me more inclusive. They get it now. Most people get it now. So some of the people that are kind of like don't want to move, move too fast.
They say, guess what? It's not about you. It needs to be done. So so because that I think change will be coming faster when it comes to incorporating the African American struggle, but also African American
achievements, accomplishments, as well as women of all shades and what they did, because it needs to be.
Infused in a curriculum way more.
Yeah, and that's a good segue into women's history month, which is in March is almost like a could be an extension of Black History Month in a way, just a way to highlight women who have charted their own course in history.
What special projects do you have your students working on for women's history month? Anything in particular?
Yes, I have a specific one. I started about five years ago. I remember a lady who works for the Wilson Times newspaper and she loves history.
She would work for Wilson time anytime she took pictures in my classroom.
My dress is a Roman Caesar or the Egyptian barrel. And so she actually was there. She was like, what do we do to incorporate more women's history?
So while I started doing in March, I have an essay contest for Harriet a lax, another woman who is unsung in history books with the note that herself being used for mission and, you know, that whole thing that was so what did start about five years ago?
There's an essay contest. And, you know, I would say the top three essays, you know, get a little prize money and I got a little grant money.
So the first year I did it, I think the top winner got 20 bucks and the runner up second place 15 the other guy 10.
And so my prince by the time was like, no, I don't go. I'll go half. So if the winner got 20, I'll give 20 as well.
And so I doubt to get a picture of the three students who won. And so I've been doing that for the last five years.
And what it really has done is really bring into spotlight more about women's history.
So after was not doing knowing, knowing about Harriet a lax, but they also more to learn more like they want to learn about the Catherine Johnson's order to show the chisms or the May jemisin's or the
Christian mat or, you know, Susie Anthony, not just black women, but just women general because, you know, even the white women, Spanish women, pretty much forgotten about in the history books.
And so it's a light. So it really shall light to the fact that women's history needs to be incorporated more.
And so that assignment really gets the student motivated, especially when the money's added on as well with the prize.
Yes. You know, I wish that I had an engaging teacher for history, you know, like you are when I was growing up.
I was just so disconnected from history because it the teachers were boring.
There was very, you know, low energy, no engagement. And it was it was just boring.
And it just in turn it made it very difficult for me to latch on and be excited about it and learn the dates.
It just became one of those courses like, oh, so I really appreciate the approach as you take to teaching and getting your students engaged and getting them excited about.
I love how they're excited about women's history month. I mean, it's just awesome.
But I want to circle back to your your bid for Vice President of the Board, because that's interesting to me and anyone who knows me knows I love politics.
Is that election going to be decided by the citizens or would you be elected among your peers?
Now, that's a good question. It's actually elected to the peers for those who are in the Social Security Board.
So what they do, they have convention the first week of March.
And they invite all the socialize teachers who wants to come down to be a member.
They invite them to the convention as a two day convention and they have different workshop, professional development and guest speakers.
And I'll be teaching a professional development. I got that last year.
I taught a professional development, which is very hands on and made history relevant and interesting. And it was called using social emotional skills and lessons for students to make, you know, so safe teaching, engaging and fun.
And I used the Roberta Flack song, you know, excuse me, that Johnny kill and a safety last or so a perfect combination.
So before the workshop, I saw a plane and so the older folks in the travel.
Oh, I remember that song per combination. And why I told the teachers, just like I try to make that profession about the interesting for them.
We have to do after the students because I said, so she's taking me the most interesting, coolest subject to teach.
But if you teach it wrong, it's the worst and most boring subject.
Yeah.
And so I said, you don't want to be. Yeah.
And you don't want to be that teacher that they say, wow, that class is boring and slain. You want the kids that I looked at. I like, we're going to learn some fun.
We're going to learn some cool and even when we learned all history facts, which are not the fun facts, you still got engaged.
And there's a moment like that just this Friday where and I do want to mention this because a student had with doing a report at Harry Tubman.
And when she's doing the research, the research said they don't know what her birthday was.
And the girl didn't understand why they didn't. And I sat back then slain was place like cattle, chattel.
Yeah.
You know, they didn't keep our birthdays. You know, whereas we were not considered humans or relevant.
So that's why like the Freddie dollars or Harry Tubman or, you know, these, you know, the slaves, net turner, they know their birthdays because no one cares.
You know, they pretty much both somewhat just bred like animals when they were conceived anyway.
And so it was a hard truth to tell this young lady, but at the same time, she needed to hear the truth.
So even history becomes that tough truth.
As soon as we're rather here to talk to you, they just sugarcoat and lie about it.
It's true. It's best to be as forthcoming as you can with students because they're not dumb.
You know, it's just best to keep it real with them.
Obviously, there are instances where you need to protect them in certain, you know, for certain things, but just keeping it real.
And like you said, look, you know, no one cared about, you know, our birthdays back then we weren't looked on or looked upon as human.
So those are just some harsh truths that especially the younger generation, you know, I'm glad that we're still teaching black history and history period to these children
because there are a lot of initiatives going around as you know, that are looking to have revisionist history or just no history altogether.
So it's just as good that this stuff is still being taught to our kids in a way that's engaging in a way that they are eager to learn.
I encourage everyone to go to your Instagram because you have a couple of clips on there that illustrate how you engage with your students and one of the ones that I like the most is where you did the crate challenge,
which it seems like so long ago that crate challenge, but of course you can follow through with it, but you had the kids so excited like, no, Dr. Bond, don't do it.
I just thought it was so cool that grabs their attention and it also lets them know, hey, my teacher knows what's going on. He knows the latest trends. He knows what's cool.
So I just love how you engage with students. So I definitely hope you keep that up.
Well, thank you. I appreciate that. And that's really like half the battle. I know it sounds so cliche to say, but half the battle is making it interesting and engaging because like the fact I knew about the crate challenge
and in the slap and teach challenge, no things actually bothered me, but I also figured let's make this into like a comedy nor as a parody.
And so I said, we really could do that. And so we made it to a parody and worked out and now it was a fun, but also show the students knowledge.
Like that young man who said the preamble, the Constitution, his mother watched that clip and she was almost in tears. She was like, wow, my son can recite the preamble, the Constitution word for word.
And so it's still, so it's still the learning piece that's a part of which I'm thankful for.
So now we're just sitting around just, you know, trying to slap the teacher and having fun. There's still learning being gained.
They were reciting facts from Supreme Court cases and different laws. And so that will make it, you know, fun. But also, like I said, it's learning as well.
Well, hats off to you. I mean, you know, you're a dynamic teacher, so I just really appreciate and respect the work that you do.
We have a few more minutes in this, this first segment. I want to have you to touch on, I believe you have a speaking engagement coming up tomorrow at Freeport Memorial
Library. Now I think this is the one in your hometown, right?
Yes. And I'm really excited about it because I'm, I'm sure my age at 31 years ago, I graduated from Freeport High School back in 1992.
And so that is the home of where, you know, great entertainers like Chuck D from Public Enemy used to reside between Freeport and Roosevelt and also have out from the rap group, Mopd.
So I'm proud of being from Freeport. And so coming back and to speak at the Memorial Library, I'm so excited. And I've been getting calls from people who are graduate with us.
Our school had about 2,500 students, our graduating class about 550 people. It was huge.
So I have a lot of people that's going to attend. And I'm just so excited about it because some of the people I've seen like maybe a couple years ago, kind of been back in New York in a couple years.
But some people I've not seen in maybe 20 years, I'm going to see them and that's important to book and have brought the book and shared with family members and friends.
So I'm just excited about speaking at tomorrow night at 7pm at Freeport Memorial Library.
Oh man, I'm excited for you. Be sure you take some good pictures and videos and throw those on your Instagram. I think that'll really be exciting to see.
So great, great luck to you tomorrow on your speaking engagement. Before we wrap up, tell us a little bit about what you have coming down the pipeline this year.
Well, some of my goals for this year is I'm hoping and praying that I do get that position for the Vice President for the Social Security Council, the State Council.
That would be a huge achievement, something that I'm pulling for.
Because I said with that position, I would even be able to have a lot more say, a lot more influence with what's being taught and the other Vice President who's there now. He's a great guy and we get along great.
And so it would just be awesome where I could have this where my impact we felt even more.
And so also continue to keep, you know, talk about my grandfather's book and my goal was either, you know, to do a doc have a documentary slash movie done about it.
Because if something is, you know, you mentioned it, but it's something I thought about and prayed about.
I was like, I felt like, wow, this could be a great story because it's a it's an inspirational story because even with the negativity where he was denied, he as you know, he's a persistent.
Man persevering with a husband and father and a great job as a family man.
And when he died, he still own two homes.
So, you know, he was denied. He was a businessman.
And that to me shows how much he persevered in the knowledge he had at the time in the Jim Crow.
He knew that property met power.
Property has power.
That's definitely a word for in a message for this show.
Listen, Dr. Bond, it was a pleasure speaking with you again, brother.
Thank you so much for your time once again and for giving us an update on your progress with your book.
Thank you.
I want to thank you for your support for this book, because it means a lot to me and I truly truly appreciate it.
And thank you again.
Yes, sir.
Pleasures all mine and you're more than welcome to return anytime.
So Dr. Bond's latest book, Unsung, but forever remembered is available for purchase on Amazon.com.
For more information, you can check our shows webpage at artistfirst.com.
And be sure to follow Dr. Bond on social media, especially on Instagram,
it's at Dr. Stephen Bond on Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter.
So we're going to take a quick break and when we return, I'll be introducing another impressive black author with a compelling story.
You definitely don't want to miss this.
We'll be right back.
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You're back live with Dr. Andre Jerry.
Welcome back. So if you're just joining us tonight, we're celebrating Black History Month by featuring notable black authors who are leaving their mark in history.
Now, if you know me at all, you know that authors hold a special place in my heart and I'm always encouraging people within my sphere of influence to write their own book.
Now, what I love about my next guest is that he was the main source of encouragement in writing my first book, Write or Die.
So please help me welcome my second guest of the evening, Mr. Zane Edwards. Welcome to the show, brother.
Oh, hello, hello. Thank you for having me.
Yes, sir. Well, listen, before we even get started, I just want to say this.
Brother, thank you for always encouraging me and pushing me to keep working on my book, my first book, you know, without you pushing me the way that you did.
There's no telling when I would have finally released that book, but because you always would get on me about my writing and my progress, I was able to stay on course and stay focused and finally become a published author,
open the door for many opportunities, my own live radio show being one of them. So, brother, again, thank you so much.
Surely welcome.
So enough about me. Tonight is all about you and your first book, Life's Lyrics. But before we get into the book, Zane, tell the listeners a little bit about yourself.
Well, first of all, thank you, Dr. Jerry, for having me on the show and taking time to you and have an opportunity to express my book.
And I'm just a family man born and raised in Georgia. I have four kids, three boys and a girl, and my career has been in the field of tulen dyes.
I was a tulen dye maker for 35 plus years as a tradesman, and I'm retired now. And I do hear it say it's enjoyable in some aspects, but my hobby in itself while I've been retired is drawing and writing, of course, my poetry.
And I have other hobbies, but it's been a blast time.
Absolutely. Well, I do know that you enjoy your retirement quite well. You've worked hard all of your life and have had a really notable career in in tulen dye artistry.
But I know a lot of people, I know the answers to this, of course, but a lot of people would be interested to know how did you discover your gift for writing?
Well, initially, it started out with me writing poems for family members, friends and special occasions, like birthdays, Mother Days and reunions, and even for lost loved ones.
And the feedback I got from her was getting some positive feedback, and it really inspired me to move forward.
I remember that you, you were writing a few things from poetry and you were putting it on your Facebook page, and it got really rave reviews and a lot of positive feedback.
And I think that was the origin of it. And it just kind of sprung from there and you would write personalized poems for people and take them to work or then post them online and people would just rave and rave about it.
Yes, I did. As a matter of fact, that that was amazing time because initially, you know, I was inspired to write, and Lord blessed me with the talent in itself.
And what was amazing was that I even had people to tell me a case scenario of what they wanted a poem or a portrait to sound like, by telling me things about themselves.
And that challenge turned out to be easy for me because I had to find out within myself what they were because me myself as a skilled tradesman and being an aerospace and being a technical person, I've never been one of a writer and the Lord blessed me with that.
And with all the challenges I was able to produce the poems or poetry and they loved it.
They did. I remember many stories that you told me about people's responses to your poetry. In your poetry, how would you describe your writing style, your specific writing style?
Well, there's actually about 15 different types of poetry style. My style is more of a lyrical and an anarchist style. And that's what my book is about.
That style you would see, that's what for me writing.
Definitely. I've read many of your poems and I told you this a long time ago. They seem to have this pattern almost like a rap.
And so that's why I had encouraged you to name your book, you know, lyrics because it doesn't come off like your standard or typical poetry. It's almost like a freestyle of sorts.
So you definitely have a unique style. And what I like about this style also is that because of the way you write, it attracts a lot of young people.
And then, you know, without them realizing that you're infusing a lot of wisdom and insight into your poetry. So they're getting that aspect of it as well.
Wouldn't you agree with that?
Yes, I would. One of the things that I'm an advocate for is to give a thought process, transitioning toward a younger generation, by sharing in my poetry the things that I've encountered in my years of being here.
One of the things about the younger generation, their patience is not what the old school that they say, their old G's as they say, they want to keep it 100 as they say.
So you can't be sugarcoating it. You've got to be straight with them and then they can respect that and appreciate it more.
Absolutely. So we touched on, you know, the title of your book is called Life, Lyrics.
I don't remember. Do you remember what the initial name of your book was before we changed the title? I don't happen to remember. Do you?
Yes, I do. Life's Every Day Thoughts is what I originally wanted to name it.
But because of the nature of the problems with the younger generations, it was more of what the business side, which folks would look at, had a captured market.
And it was more concerning to me to look around and see how much violence, black on black crime going on and people not understanding.
And even across the thing, the beauty of poetry is that it unifies people. It doesn't matter if you're black, white or a Jew or a Gentile. It doesn't matter.
You can cross that barrier by expressing through your words.
That's right. When you say the title, I remember it was Life's Every Day Thoughts or something to that effect.
And not that anything was wrong with that title, but to me, it just needed something a little bit more pizzazz.
And when I read your poetry, I was like, you know, this is not your everyday poetry. This is almost like, you know, hip hop style writing.
I was like, you may want to change the name of it. So that's how we ended up coming up with that title.
But yeah, that's just interesting. So OK, I want to ask you this. Your plans to write future books, where are you with that?
Because I know you've been getting asked from people you used to work with, family members, people who have, you know, picked up your first book.
They're all asking what your plans are for subsequent books. So tell us where you are with that.
Well, actually, I'm glad you asked that because I just finished my next book entitled Reality of Truth.
And I really, my style is one that is to unify people and to help people.
And truly, when we as individuals experience something, you know, it's traumatic in a lot of times anxiety, stress, lack of money, lack of love.
Lack of peace of mind period. And so, you know, in itself, it is time for it to come on out there.
So it's something I'm looking forward to putting out there because reality of truth is what we all need right now and we're trying to.
OK, well, I'm excited about that book. I know you shared just a few of the poems that will be included in that.
But I can't wait to read the entire thing.
I know there are a lot of people out there listening that may be aspiring poets or writers, and they may be wanting to put a book out.
They may be actually sitting on a masterpiece of their own.
What's your advice to people out there who want to put out a book but may have some trepidation?
Well, that's also something to think about. Well, first of all, recognize that they are worthy of writing.
It does not matter who you are, what walks of life. There is an avenue for you at this day and time in order to do it.
For instance, using my style or my poetry as an example.
If you want to get into writing, you need to be able to work on your being concise, your rhythm and your storytelling skills.
And then, you know, you can start.
And for those that, for instance, one of the things I ran through, believe it or not, was I was concerned because my strong suit is mathematics and being a technical person.
But the English grammar and stuff like this here that people are worried about in their writing or writing of books.
There's templates and stuff online that you can Google as an example.
And that you also can look at the fact that if you got spell checks, stuff you can do as far as your storyline, different programs that you can actually help you build it.
Then you've got outlets when it's time to put it out there. Just tell a story as you feel it.
Don't be scared to write it down. The first thing is to get it from your mind to paper.
Right. And you can fix all the other stuff later.
Getting bogged down and spelling and punctuation and all that.
Just get the idea down. Don't worry about how it looks. Don't worry about how it sounds. That can be changed later.
So, you know, thankfully I'm pretty good in English, so I didn't have to stress out so much about that.
But I want to encourage people out there who, you know, you may not be that good with writing or English, but you still have some things that you want to put out there in the form of a book.
Like Zane said, their YT university, as my friend Craig would say, YouTube university.
You can find courses and titles of anything on YouTube that will help you where you fall short or if you want to educate yourself on something.
So there's really no excuse there. And then even if you got a little bit of change, you want to hire a consultant.
There are people out there that will take your rough draft and they'll put their panache on it and make it presentable, make it marketable, even go to extra step to get it on to the Amazon and KDP.
So there are resources out there. So I definitely want to encourage someone who may have a story to tell that's been procrastinating because they're, oh, I'm not a writer.
You don't have to be a writer. Just get it out there and get it on paper and you really can kind of edit from there and get it to where you need to get it before it's released.
So since we mentioned that, I want to go with any final thoughts that you may have or any quotes or maybe perhaps even some poetry that you want to share with the audience.
Well, actually, yes, I can. I own my Instagram. I often write and I post it on Instagram.
And because of it, like I said, once before the younger generation, they want to keep it 100, but yet still they don't have a patience for the longer version.
But the book itself, you know, it gives all kinds of verses that you can lean on. And as my son told me, that you can write something that five people can read and five people get five different messages from it.
And that's the beauty of it. My wife even told me one day I had you truly have a gift because I've been sitting there trying to write like you for three hours.
And that's always something I draw from. But as far as the little jewels as one wise man once called them, you know, I just read a few of them right here that you would probably appreciate.
Go right ahead, brother.
To yourself to be true. Then your path of life becomes clear to you. All this is on my Instagram for those that.
That's one of your favorite quotes, actually.
Yes, it is. And that's what I'm giving a lot of people that know me going to get tired of these. But these are something that people can grasp and relate to.
Okay, well, another one is people run around saying what is love. A lot of people really don't know what love is.
There's no boundary in it because you got people 67 or 80 years old. She don't know what love is.
But now check this out. For those that think they know what love is, isn't true love is unconditional with compassion or no end.
That is something that was an opportunity for me as well. Now, in that, I would say this.
People know that we have a lot of challenges nowadays. There's a lot of changes that's required nowadays.
Another one is change comes when acceptance is clear of fear.
And one of my other favorites is the one that I often think is a mind teacher.
Thoughts followed by action, merges the spiritual to the physical.
For example, if you got a picture on a base that's expensive, it's a party going on, everybody's enjoying themselves, that base costs $300,000.
You're looking at that base. It's going to be knocked over and broken. I can't replace that base.
The thought, you walk over, you move it back, followed by the action, merges the spiritual to the physical.
I love it. I'm on your Instagram now and I see one that we talked about this one before.
I want to read this one because it's just good and it is a bit of a riddle.
But if you have a spiritual mind that you know what this is saying, it says, riddle me this.
I may have been, he is a have been and still is.
Now that's short but it's profound because you're talking of course about Jesus Christ.
And I like the aspect of not belittling yourself but just acknowledging that without Jesus we are nothing.
We can't do anything apart from him.
So that's one that I really, I think you wrote that one a couple of weeks ago or something, right?
Yeah, it was a short time ago but that is truly what it is.
See, oftentimes we give ourselves and think that we know everything but yet we really know nothing.
Because greater is he does in me than he does in all the world.
If you don't have the goodness in you, if you don't follow that good heart, you lose everything.
And so I'm a have been simply because as I grow, we can be 80, 90 years old.
But I'm a have been, my body's got to return to the soul.
But yet Jesus is still is.
He's always that.
He's the one after the prayer.
He's the one that's looking out for and he's there when nobody else is.
Absolutely.
Absolutely brother.
Like I said, I'm just scrolling.
I found another one that I haven't read before but this one just caught my eye.
It's called hold on.
It says, you are not alone.
Hope isn't gone.
Charity starts at home.
Your anxiety is now full blown.
You must maintain focus and stay in the zone.
Clean to the righteousness.
You have been shown the light will guide you home.
You've got to do a book of just micro poetry and quotes stuff like this.
Almost is like a pretty call those books that you flip through every day like a call almost like a devotional people have them on their desk and things like that.
This this you have a lot of great quotes here that are technically micro poems.
But this is stuff that could really joke someone and just really put them on the right mental playing field for the day.
Yes.
And speaking of that, what people got to look at to life.
My book itself.
It was the meat of the subject.
But yet and still you've got to be able to have something that you can call that inspirational and the subject.
And that's what every word verse I linger on every verse that I write at any time.
I don't care if it's two or three lines, two or three words.
I there's a purpose and a pattern of sharing with somebody.
Absolutely.
Now, how have your children and your family responded to your poetry?
Your children in particular.
I know they must be proud.
Well, they have been positive and you know, man's legacy is nothing more than his family and love because we spend a whole lot of time in my younger days.
I was out there like the young younger generation now chasing money for the young fellows you chasing girls and the good time and all that.
But that's really a waste of time and they don't understand it.
My family has been very supportive of me and my kids especially.
And I truly love them for their comments and they they appreciate it and they thank me and they encouraged me to keep writing.
Encourage me every day to keep writing.
Well, I'm going to encourage you to keep writing too.
I mean, you really are a dynamic writer.
I know that your writing gift was a bit delayed.
It came kind of later in your life, but that doesn't, you know, take away from the power in your words.
So I definitely look forward to your next book and books and keep posting on your Instagram.
These quotes, a lot of them are powerful.
I think I even re posted some of these.
But as we close out this segment, do you have any final thoughts for our listeners tonight?
I just want to say that portrait has been a great outlet for me and to express my thoughts and my feelings and life in general and all the ups and downs that comes with it.
And writing portrait, I hope it can help others and see how we are like, then we are different.
I just want people to know that you got to have a huge deal. We spend too much time hating each other, finding excuses not to be a part of each other's lives.
You got to charge it to start at home simply because you got to forgive somebody if you have animosity.
You got to show love. You got to be willing to change.
And everything starts and stops with you.
If you don't correct the person that you are first, nothing else can be corrected.
Amen.
Well, listen, Mr. Edwards, thank you so much for your time this evening.
This was a great interview and I'm certain our listeners enjoyed this particular segment.
You are more than welcome to return any time that you want to promote your next book or any upcoming projects that you may have.
So to the listeners, again, Zayn Edwards book is entitled Life Lyrics, Life Lessons to Help Young Men Transition into Manhood.
And it's available for purchase on Amazon.
So be sure to follow him on social media.
Links to his book and social media will be listed on our shows homepage at artistfirst.com.
So that's our show for tonight, folks.
Be sure to join me next Wednesday on March 22nd at 8 p.m. Eastern right here on the artist first radio network.
Good night, everybody.
Bye.