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Tuesday, May 31, 2011

"Books & Bar-B-Q"

I'd say books will accompany most anything, and definitely, they will serenade bar-b-q! What a phenomenal idea my knee-baby sister, Glenda Halcromb, Miss Know-It-All, came up with. Considering she adores hosting parties and gatherings of any sort, she was the perfect person to serve as hostess actually. Where the guests were concerned, oh how delightful it was to look out into her dining and living rooms to take in their warm, up-lifted faces, waiting expectantly, like cleaned cereal bowls anxious for the day's nourishment!


When I began the reading, with the first chapter, which is Miz Too-Sweet's voice, all sound was escorted from the house. Even the children were stilled. Perhaps it was because I was standing, all others seated, my voice drifting above their heads on the air, loud and dramatic, catching them up in Miz Too-Sweet's telling of how she and her husband Will and their neighborhood friend, Preacher, came to know Frenonia "Free" Roberts one March evening in Atlanta. As I breathed life into the print, I fell in love all over again with the majesty of words and their power to transport one to another place, another time, when Miz Too-Sweet was younger and learning to love the men with whom she walked.


The words whispered to me of a future performance piece. My feet imagined a stage...with its shiny flooring and vast space to stride and stroll this-way-and-that, regaling the audience, inviting them to feel Free's fright at nearly hitting a tiny boy chasing a ball into the middle of a Techwood street.


My soul went to singing it felt so good to be in the flow of others' lives, creative or otherwise! Fathom my joy when my father, slowly making his way to the porch to leave, as he must be back on 85 South before sundown, paused beside me to whisper, "I loved the reading, Tootsie (my nickname)! I'm going to buy my own copy, and I intend to read it, too!" Talk about ecstasy. To be honored amongst one's own is an unbeatable bliss!




This is my mother's baby sister, my Aunt Marion, one of my greatest supporters! In her lap is...you got it!...Miss Laila Amor, my grandbaby gyrl. (Remember her blog entry?) (Clearing throat) And yes, that's me, engulfed in revelry.





This is my lovely daughter-in-law, Shanice, and my former school colleague, Kyla Talley.



My sister, Bernie, whom several guests thought was me, is hanging out with her hubby, who, when I finished my reading, asked me to please read another chapter! Yes! Wasn't that fabulous?












These are my sisters, the Moss girls. (Bernie is a Stitts.) Diane is in the pink. Glenda is the sis in the white blouse! Two others are missing...Athera Everlener Pascascio (in Florida) and baby sis, Katarina Moss. Katarina and my parents and brother Delton and his family had already hit the road to return to Tuskegee by the time Bernie whipped out her camera. Several other guests had sweetly made their exits by then as well. (My twin brother Claude and Lorenzo weren't in attendance.)









































I am planning a different sort of book promotion for July! It'll be sexy, literary and theatrical! So stay tuned! Like I said, Beloveds, books will flatter most any concept. Give me a few weeks, as I'm incredibly preoccupied with other endeavors. (laughter) Like what's new with that, some of you may be thinking? And you're right!

Living a golden life,
TheGoldenGoddess
May 31, 2011

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

The IF YOU LOVE ME, COME Book Release Party...



My first book release party took place for the release of my second novel! Be that as it may, I was elated to experience the festive, transformative occasion. Energy charged through my limbs, my body, my core in a cleansing and intoxicating rush. I might have been flying if my feet weren't safely encased in strappy, sparkling sandals! To stand before a captive audience and speak, read or entertain is one of the endeavors of my life that fills me with an unspeakable joy, a virtually indescribable bliss! It is as though I become another person. Truth be told, I become an actress, performing each part in the story.

Captured on the lens of my friend Gina Parks' serious camera, one can "see" enough to "feel" whatever was coursing through my mind and being filtered back at my silent and, I hope, enraptured audience! I couldn't have prayed for a more adept camerawoman. Gina immortalized the audience, their interactions with me and the flavors and spectrum of emotions inside Little Five Points' Charis Books & More on the eve of April 29, 2011.





I love sitting before an audience to read, though I cannot sit long. Somewhere in the midst of the reading, I will spring to my feet, and the story pops and sizzles on another level! What, I imagine, could be better? Perhaps, writing, when the story is flowing and all time belongs to me. Yes, perhaps that would be better by a few degrees. Same as I adore the sensation and weight of a book in my palms, I cherish the beauty in the sound of the human voice, its lilt and timbre, the modulation of the flow of words, the dramatic pauses and the theatrical floodgates---it's all music of a sort! The symphony of its composition is enough, if done to perfection, enough to leave you entwined with the molecules of your seat, lost in mid-air, struggling to find your way back to the solidity of the activity around you! I know! I have been regaled by awe-inspiring readers, and I know when I have serenaded listeners with the magic-wand tap of a riveting story. Reading is pure magic. Unadulterated and true. Every time I reflect on that magic for any length of time, I thank Spirit for my Reading Mother, Clementine Young Moss.





This is Miss Gina F. Parks, my beloved photographer sistahfriend. And yes, the "F" is for FABULOUS! The bulk of the pictures I shall upload to a new Facebook album, as they didn't upload well here in numbers. So if you haven't a Facebook account, get one! It's the latest, greatest thing to have in our Internet world. Anyway, Gina is an artist of a plethora of talents: her cooking is magical, edible art; she creates some of the BEST slide show presentations you will ever experience; her organizing/managerial skills are legendary; she is impeccable with money and figures; and she is unconquered in Monopoly!





This is Miss Crystal! Isn't she lovely? I feel like singing that Stevie Wonder song to better explicate what I mean! A sweeter personality is hard to find when she is near. She and the beautiful Alicia Brown attended my book signing. Yes, they are my former students, excellent ones, I might add. Seeing them smiling up at me from the audience added 20 inches to my stature!





My family accompanied me to the bookish festivity. My only son, the handsome Avery M. Sarden II, and his lovely lady, Shanice Smith. The gentleman in the green shirt is my beloved, remarkable sistahfriend pretty in pink, JazzthePoet's, eldest son, Rashad Wise. My stunning cover model Meka beamed that unforgettable smile and captured hearts! And then there was Miss Tonya, a gorgeous longtime friend of mine and Gina's!


What an enchanting evening that was! Everything about it from beginning to end was GOLDEN! To name all of the souls who made my evening with their presence would topple short of the extraordinary occasion it was if I should omit one, precious name. Therefore, my sincere, unwavering appreciation remains with everyone who attended! You know who you are! I will forever adore you!


I was grateful I took the time to prepare homemade, whole-wheat cookies for the audience! Presented door prizes...made possible by Las Vegas author, Imani True, a cherished writer friend. All adoration and respect to Sharlise Lowe of GraphicsBysax for the amazing job she did with the novel's cover! Sincere love and appreciation for my knee-baby sister, Glenda for designing my red T-shirt with the glittering letters of my novel, IF YOU LOVE ME, COME on the front! (And to think she did it in under an hour, considering I was rushing her with a cat-o-nine tails!) Oh, I was truly beholden to Nazir and Laila Amor Sarden for not turning the party out, as they may have been prone to do had I spoken a tad bit longer!


The book in praise is IF YOU LOVE ME, COME, my second novel! It can be ordered on my author website at www.ClaudiaMoss.net or ordered on KINDLE from www.Amazon.com. I plan to make it available soon on BarnesandNoble, Books-a-Million and Borders.


Looking forward to many more book releases.


Living the Golden Life,
THE GOLDEN GODDESS


www.ClaudiaMoss.net
IF YOU LOVE ME, COME: a novel

Walking for A Cure For Lupus

Yes, I did it again! Released the keyboard for another GREAT cause! This time it was for my beloved sisterfriend Gina Parks, who organized the G-Team to help raise sorely needed funds to be used in seeking a cure for LUPUS. We all had a fabulous time decorating and tying our purple T's in ways that showed our creativity before we started on the trek around Piedmont Park. Participating in the festive gala gave me a sense of giving back, which all of us need to do and feel as regularly as we can. And it was a heartwarming surprise to reconnect with beloved friends I don't see often! I even had the pleasure of reuniting with Janice Reaves, a dear high school classmate, who traveled to the city from Tuskegee, Alabama, to walk in remembrance of her classy mother!















Living a Golden Life,
THE GOLDEN GODDESS

Good Times in Piedmont Park


Sometimes a writer must coerce herself to unleash the keyboard and delve into the splendor of a day splashed in sunshine. To some, this may appear to be an incredibly easy feat; however, for us single-minded writers with the next essay, blog, short story, article or chapter on our minds, this is no facile feat!


But...there are times when I just want to have fun, so all it takes is for someone to strongly suggest that I release, breathe and let go, and I will run you over getting out the front door. If I do it two or three times, consecutively, I can accomplish the task easier and quicker the next time around!


After I'd enjoyed a BlogTalkRadio Show one afternoon with a beautiful, delightful and engaging couple, they invited me to curtail the writing and bask in the April sunshine. So, just like that, I took them up on the invite, and these pics are evidence of how much fun I had! Below, my sensational friends are all smiles as they give themselves over to enjoying THE MOMENT!!!






Here I am joyously posing with my fierce POET DIVA FRIEND, FRANZ-CHE!!! The DIVA herself is not only a fabulous performing poet but also a Master Barber and Stylist as well!!! The dancing queen under the light, flying locs is one of her two, gorgeous daughters.





This charming little lady is my friend Vickey's baby daughter! Isn't she lovely? And she's a scholar, too! Great job, Miss V!!!

























This gentleman and his dogs were absolutely precious! They all posed and caught their breath, until I came along with my notorious camera, snapping, smiling and chatting. Eventually, the master pet trainer gave me some bills and asked me to get him something to eat, as he couldn't enter the quaint sandwich shop behind me with his entourage, who were BETTER BEHAVED than some two-year-olds I know! Clearing my throat!! (Behind my freshly painted pink nails) My bouncing grandbaby boy included!!! (sweet smiles)





Ooops! Down below, in the last photo, The Golden Goddesses' little grandbaby goddess dumpling had an unladylike misstep when C. Dawson lifted her into the air! Oh well, even the tiniest goddesses make their own ripples....


Living a Golden Life
TheGoldenGoddess

A Big, Bold, Beautiful SHOUT OUT to Xina Sy for having me as a GUEST on her BBB Blog....




Saludos, Mis Amores!!!
Greetings, My Loves!!!


NOTE:
I had to repost my Guest Appearance on XINA SY's blog, THE BIG, BOLD, BEAUTIFUL BLOG. I so enjoyed writing the post and loved working with Xina Sy to bring it to her readers and now to my readers (especially the ones who follow but aren't on Facebook, where it was originally posted). Please follow this ink to read more about other sensational women featured on the BBB blog...www.thebigboldbeautifulblog.blogspot.com.



Fabulously Fierce!

By Author, Claudia Moss, Photos by Zenpressions



"Today, I’m fabulous, fierce and 53, and I can think of no greater place to be."


40! That’s passé! Can we say, yesterday?


Today, I’m fabulous, fierce and 53, and I can think of no greater place to be. There isn't a doubt in my mind. I am a good-lookin’ Momma, primarily because I feel good inside, where it counts the most. In the mirror, morning, noon or night, I peer at my reflection and love what I see smiling back at me.


Undoubtedly, I feel sexier than I've ever felt in my life, and I have always glided with an intense awareness of my sexuality and sex appeal, although previously I didn't much act on it sexually. And as such, I have worn my share of invisible habits and nun’s headgear. Yet these days I am clearly sensing an internal shift. Call it the bite of an adventurous bug. Call it curiosity. Call it inquisitive. I don’t mind. Fact is, I feel sexually, sensually alive!


With each breath I take, Beloveds, I reinvent the notion of ‘Fine over 50.’ I don’t give a who-who if popular women’s magazines rarely extend those charts of women, famous and otherwise, in different age groups that range from the 20’s to the 40’s, ostensibly omitting women in their 50’s and upward. Wouldn’t you think they would know to hop off the Hollywood Bandwagon? Women, same as men, exist after 40. And if a Sean Connery can co-star with a young sizzling siren, so too, can a Diva from the same era…with a siren or a stud?


Can you hear me? Come closer. I’ll let you in on my truth…. I love me. And I love my body. I absolutely adore and respect it, how it works and how it responds to the loving care I offer it. I refuse to settle. Not placing myself on anyone’s option schedule. My Ms. Sensational is out there!





The body is our temple, and we should treat it as such. Not only do I honor my Taj Mahal, I adore the way I move in the skin I’m in. The sensuality of dance, a silky sway of the waist, a ripple of the abdomen, the bump and quick wiggle in the hips, arms raised and angled just so, head tilted provocatively---my body is distilled art. I am fascination in motion, evidence of an imaginative power in the Universe. As long as I keep myself moving and dancing and walking and running and pretzeled and prancing, I hope to be vibrantly present well into my silver years. My sensual body makes it paramount I pamper my muscles with ample periods of rest and relaxation. As well as daily exercise to include muscle-building routines.


My eyes savor the caress my Fabulous-50 self. I embrace me, all of me. A thousand halleluiahs I didn’t succumb to the breast augmentation I pined for years ago at a time I frowned on my hiccup-sized cup, dreaming about a sumptuous décolletage. Breasts have forever enthralled me. They are indeed the Divine’s handiwork! Half-dollar sized, a doll’s pectoral glands, mine were shotgun teeny in my teens and early twenties. A road map, they pointed straight ahead. Not a salute. A poke or a prod might be more like it. I cherished them on most days; on others, I fantasized about waking up, magically, in my friend’s Maiden Form or in a Victoria Secret’s lacy number with an equally sexy name or reeling under a pair of traffic-and-speech stopping double D’s.


My sisters---truth be told---we’ve all been there, and if it wasn’t our breasts, it was another body part, i.e., thick thighs or a derrière out-to-there, before J-Lo or Janet posteriors were stamped approved by those outside of our beauty standards.


Today my breasts are more than a handful. Perhaps a buck and some change and two handfuls. I find them enchanting, in or outside of a bra. On my bathroom walls or inside the shower, there isn’t a waterproof placard reminding me to self-check them for lumps or signs of change. I do that naturally, adoring me reverentially.


Hairy legs. Hmmm. I used to boast (what some folks dubbed sexy) hairy legs. Compliments coming consistently, I stopped bowing to some of my Sister-friends’ beauty standards---of flawless stretches of smooth legs under booty shorts, short skirts and don’t-hurt-‘em dresses. But over time I fell, plummeting so far past go, I never found my way back to my hairy legs. One day I fell in love with shaved legs, and…oh well. We win some, and release others.


India Arie floats along over there, a bit beyond my enlarged, well-lit monitor, declaring, "I am not my hair~~" And, I know why she’s here, if only in my momentary imaginings. She’s come to remind me that I am more than my parts. And she is correct.


I am more than my Sisterlocks, trimmed and cut and colored, if I should so desire. I am the Love that wells up from within; for me, others and the Universe. I am much more than the clothes I select to adorn my form, garments that honor my freedom to honor my sex appeal. I am the willingness to help others, even as I open to Spirit’s generosity in manifesting my dreams. And I am indeed far more than the knowledge and skills I’ve acquired over 53 summers of being present on this plane. For I am the Knowing that what I seek seeks me, when I desist wanting to tell the Divine how my day and life should go. In the final analysis, I know I’m Fabulous. No boast intended. Only self love and self confidence. And self knowledge of healthy living!



Follow me on TWITTER at www.Twitter.com/theLadySiren and on FACEBOOK at www.Facebook.com/claudiamoss.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Reading in Cafe Hortensia in Atlanta

It was my pleasure to have been invited to participate in an Author Share organized by Rhonda Oshetoye of RLOEnterprises. The reading/signing/Q&A took place in the beautifully quaint Cafe Hortensia, located at 57 Forsyth Street (in the Healey Building on the Walton Street) in Atlanta, GA.









I am filled with an unspeakable joy when I sit to read my work, and for this gala, I sat to bring to life my second novel, IF YOU LOVE ME, COME. Something comes over me, and I become the story. I am Free and Rhonda and Sharmayne and Pinky and Pastoria. I am even J.T. and Trevor Butler. Characters, yes, they may be to listeners, but to me, in my heart and at my desk, they are beloved souls, who have walked with me and laughed with me and lifted me up and were lifted by the grace of my pen. I may as well be on stage. My rib cage lifts, my voice becomes theatrical and my body rises to its full 4'11".









Sharing the author's spotlight with me were two wonderful gentlemen, Harold Michael Harvey and L. Cook. Harvey spoke of PAPER PUZZLE, his first novel, sharing the story's exciting plot and characterization and how he came to write the novel. Cook proved to be the master of romance, telling the audience what had gone into him culling the romance between Angela and her African-American bow.









I cherished the Q & A period! That is my time to further connect with the audience and make them "feel" the bliss I felt throughout the journey from "What if?" to cradling the novel lovingly in your palms. It's my opportunity, my fifteen minutes in the sun, to inspire someone, reminding all, including myself, to always be my personal BEST!









IF YOU LOVE ME, COME is available on my website, www.ClaudiaMoss.com and www.ClaudiaMoss.net. On or before Monday, May 9, 2011, the novel will be available on www.Amazon.com. Get your copy today!







Living a Golden Life,
TheGoldenGoddess
El Cinco de Mayo, 2011

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

The Peace Revolution: Healing the Pandemic of Violence Against Women







THE PEACE REVOLUTION



On April 14, 2011, in the Little 5 Points Community Center in Atlanta, GA, I joined Imani Evans, the beautiful intelligence behind the powerful organization, Women Healing Women, Inc., and a host of other amazing women, who convened together to stand up for peace and its explosive power to heal the pandemic of violence against women in our society.

A panel of diverse, articulate women faced an audience of primarily women, waiting quietly for the program to begin. The panelists presented information on violence from their perspectives and the perspective of their organization. Afterwards, they answered questions from the audience, presented solutions and spoke of accountability.









Mary Anne of Zami NOBLA was the panel's moderator. The panelists were Loretta Ross of SisterSong, Inc., Lauren Zink of Hollaback Atlanta, Joan Baptist of WRFG, Tracee McDaniel of Juxtaposed Center for Transformation and Amita Rao of RAKSHA. Each woman shed light on the various ways violence against women can present itself, charging the audience with their conviction and passion to embrace the ways they can offer their healing in the world.









Elder Jones gave a passionate voice to the role of men in the eradication of violence against women. Women Healing Women founder Imani Evans spoke with fire and eloquence about violence against women in her own experience, reminding all present to become more aware of the "pain" of the less fortunate in our daily lives. Dante led a raffle and the meeting became a warm communion of like-minded souls.








GET THE FACTS..........


Globally, at least one in three women and girls is beaten or sexually abused in her lifetime. (UN Commission on the Status of Women, 2/28/00)

4 million women and girls are trafficked annually.

An estimated one million children, mostly girls, enter the sex trade each year. (UNICEF)

So-called "honor killings" take the lives of thousands of young women every year, mainly in North Africa, Western Asia and parts of South Asia. (UNFPA)

More than 90 million African women and girls are victims of female circumcision or other forms of genital mutilation. (Heise: 1994)

In Zimbabwe, domestic violence accounts for more than 60% of murder cases that go through the high court in Harare. (ZWRCN)

In eastern and southern Africa, 17 to 22% of girls aged 15 to 19 are HIV-positive, compared to 3 to 7% of boys of similar age. This pattern---seen in many other regions of the world---is evidence that girls are being infected with HIV by a much older cohort of men. (UNICEF/UNAIDS 2007)

Statistics Taken From WWW.FEMINIST.COM


Living a Golden Life by Being PRESENT
TheGoldenGoddess
May 4, 2011