From the Editor 

FootNotes Magazine is a dream-come-true for me. You see, I have known that I wanted to be a writer ever since my beloved mother (Edna Baker) took me to meet the incomparable Gwendolyn Brooks and listen to her poetry at the main branch of the Detroit Public Library. I was eight-years-old.

But dreaming is one thing - making the dream come true is a far more difficult task. For many of us, the dream has taken a circuitous route, down the roads of undergrad and graduate programs, finding spouses and raising children, dealing with divorce and decadence, or missing golden opportunities - failing to hit the home run when all lights were on you. In other words it takes the willingness to run the race until the end while weathering the storms of life that will continue to rage.

In many ways, I can relate to the celebrated author E. Lynn Harris, who is the subject of our cover story in this inaugural edition.

Both of us had careers with IBM that ended in frustration - the challenge of being proud, Black men in an institution that demanded we assimilate if we were going to succeed. We both pledged Alpha Phi Alpha joining the ranks of other intellectually astute African-American men who believed that brotherhood and love for all mankind were more than just words to be sung. And we both truly loved our "mommas." [Don't get it twisted my friends - my DAD was always there too and he was a righteous brother. I guess the Oedipus complex was just in full force].

As you read the feature stories, the interviews, the poetry, essays and the book excerpts in this and subsequent issues of FootNotes Magazine, it is my hope that they will somehow spark a love for reading and writing and the passion for intellectual exchange that was the foundation for such pivotal moments in African-American history like the Harlem Renaissance Movement in the early 20th century as well as the Black Arts Movement of the late 60s and early 70s.

Let me state emphatically that this magazine should never be viewed as a project for any one kind of writer or reader - it's not just about gay writers, or Black writers, or feminist writers or Third World writers, nor is it intended for specific types of readers. We are here so that the voices of all writers can be heard and our goal is to include a variety of traditions, styles, backgrounds, beliefs and genres that will whet your appetite and cause you to go to your latest bookstore, the local spoken word venue or even a conference where you can continue to expand your mind. It may be just what you need to really communicate with your daughter, your wife, your lover or a long-lost friend.

I, along with all of the other contributors in this magazine including our esteemed publisher, Ralph Emerson, realize that we stand on the shoulders of giants - Langston Hughes, Paul Lawrence Dunbar, Phyllis Wheatley, Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou, Cornel West, Michael Eric Dyson, Ray Bradbury, Robert Frost (okay, these are my favorites but it's my letter). Still, we hold them up as shining examples and trust that with each edition we will prove that we have learned our lessons well.

This edition is dedicated to those souls who have paved the way including my father, Cleveland B. McNeir and my mother-in-law, Evelyn Jenkins, who both told me that I should write - that it was my gift. Thanks to our super talented photographers, Ocean and Michael. Special love to my crumb snatchers, Jared and Jasmine, my MOM (OAOM -that's code folks) and to my other half, JMR of Fayette, Alabama, who has never stopped believing in me! [WE DID IT!].

D. Kevin McNeir Senior Editor, FootNotes Magazine February 2010