Dear Reader,

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            Thank you for showing an interest in Resilience: We Don’t Stop. I began to write this memoir back in 2005 during a period in which I sat at home from work suffering from an illness. I had to stop and put this work away due to the first fifty pages being too painful at that time to deal with, along with my health condition. I promised myself and others to one day continue it, but I knew I wouldn’t attempt it again until I retired, which I have!

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            During most of my coming of age years, I felt like a kid in a candy store looking in and watching what was transpiring on the other side of the glass. I tell Resilience from that perspective. Although a memoir some names and locations have been changed for the privacy of others. You will read that many times throughout the story I am underage and in places I probably had no business being in. This book is based on what I perceived during some of those times as an outsider who was not privy too much of the behind the scenes details transpiring during these grownup situations I encountered. Therefore I relied on memory, research, and interviews to collaborate much of what I saw, heard and remember.

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            I expect this book to spark conversations about child abuse, sexual abuse and domestic violence, spiritual awakening and resilience, but especially about the era of the 70’s. Much has been said and written about the origins of Hip Hop, and the Black Spades. Again, I relied on what I personally witnessed, not what has been told to me like the age-old children’s game of Telephone, with hearsay that many times gets distorted and then freely repeated as gospel. I mulled over and over in my mind what I remembered during this period, and whether or not to include it knowing it would stir some controversies back to life. I decided I could not be true to my story without including it.

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            I write this letter to you to say that if you have a different memory and recollection of this time period, an event or any era in this book and want to tell your perspective, please write your memoir because the more documentation of this time period for future generations, the better. If you want to spark a discussion about these eras and topics on social media, please feel free to talk about what you’ve seen, what you heard and what you remember because you were there.

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            Again thank you for your interest and I am on to my next project!