I like listening to my husband's stories of his childhood in the Bronx and he loves holding court telling them to me. One of my favorites is the time his father called him "sugar-coated" when he was a young man. I've since watched my husband "work a room," schmoozing everybody within reach, and I distinctly remembered when he schmoozed me – staying on my trail for two whole years before asking me out for a first date.
He also said his father would often say to him, "Who you trying to fool?" when he flipped from his everyday mode to his sugar-coated mode. Somehow, children never understand that their parents tried everything they try to get away with with their own parents; and they always, somehow, seem to know when a kid is putting on airs; putting up appearances under certain circumstances, all the while hoping that that it will lead to the conclusion or result they desire.
Manufacturing is at a crossroads. Adapted from a forthcoming book Make or Break: The Future of Manufacturing, the authors say "there have never been better prospects for the makers of products than right now." Not convinced? Amidst mountains of bad press a government newspaper in China printed that China's economy is expected to expand by more than 11 percent in 2008; the highest since 1995 (12/21/2007). How about now?!?!
"I pray that the will of God and the destiny for your life run you down and overtake you in 2008."
The issue of the character of African-American group will and identity here in the early years of the 21st century has recently received major attention through two research studies produced by the Pew Charitable Trusts and the related Pew Research Center, located in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. The two new Pew studies are of fundamental importance to African-Americans, so I thought I'd write an essay for BlackCommentator.com containing evaluative reflections on some implications of the Pew studies for African-Americans today. 
