I, (pronounced Chez-uh-ray) ,
am a native of Philadelphia, PA. While When A Black Man Loves is my first book,
I previously self-published a chaptbook of poetry and experiences entitled The Essence of My Soul.
I have been likened to somewhat of an urban Ernest Hemingway, having had a lot of diverse experiences ranging from the arts being a musician, an artist, and a photographer to the applied sciences and other technical areas.
"My mother always said that I was a jack of all trades and master of none, but in the past ten years, having a varied set of skills and being able to relate things learned in one to another have kept the money coming in."
I have been a member of a West African dance company [as a drummer], trained in martial arts and [extreme] weightlifting, as well as acted as a music producer, arranger, lyrics writer and composer.
Current plans involve turning two sections of the book into independent films as well as some romantic video projects. Future plans involve revitalizing some old manuscripts of his centered around self-development and personal evolution.
It usually takes a long time to really know me and find out
for oneself but on the other side I am upfront and honest; usually too honest
for my own good.
My Upbringing
I grew up in West Philadelphia, for most of my life in a section called
Wynnefield. I lived with my mother and my older half-sister. As a child, most
of my time was divided between my academic pursuits (bookworm) and playing with
friends, if not spending time with my grandfather [on my father's side].
I did have several positive male role models in my life, but I was more
interested in knowledge than women, so those lessons [and opinions that many of
them had] never were brought up nor
passed on. I did, however, learn how men could mistreat women by seeing the
things that my sister and her friends went through. Since mom worked a lot, my
sister was tasked with babysitting me; this meant hearing all of the dialogues
of her and her girlfriends in regards to men and relationships. I also used to hang with guys older than
myself, who also had very immature and misogynistic attitudes towards women;
luckily I didn't pick up on, nor embrace these thoughts.
I attended public schools (its not so bad) and choose to be
bussed out to a middle school in a predominantly white neighborhood. After
middle school, my mother and I moved to a section of West Philadelphia called
University City. For high school I attended a magnet school, the George
Washington Carver High School for Engineering & Science. From there,
the military and college.
What I do:
Right now I do an assortment of computer programming (web development,
client/server and database programming) and interactive media production (film & video,
interactive CDs and websites). On top of that is my writing, my music
and photography as well as my film projects. If that is what you need, feel free to
email me.
