Simply Cheris. . .

I'll be the first to congratulate Occupy Wall Street. The Occupy Wall Street movement changed the national conversation about wealth. Talk is cheap, though. While we loved the President's State of The Union address , at the end of the day, if Congress continues to do nothing, we won't see any changes. Let's bring this conversation home, Charlotte more specifically. Occupy Charlotte kicked off in September. Sadly, the local conversation in Charlotte has not changed much. Occupy Charlotte has been covered by the city's alternative newspaper on a near weekly basis and covered by the mainstream media when something headline grabbing happened, like the burning of an American flag . Occupy Charlotte may have unwittingly made life for homeless people in the city hell . See, city council passed an ordinance which makes it illegal to camp on property. "Any temporary shelter located on city property is deemed to be a public nuisance," said Charlotte-Meckle...

Recipe for Desire will be released on March 6. You can get your copy signed or get a copy of the book. Join me at these locations: March 10: Meet me in Durham at Barnes & Noble Booksellers The Streets at Southpoint 8030 Renaissance Parkway, Ste. 855 1 p.m to 3 p.m. March 17: Meet me in Charlotte at Park Road Books 4139 Park Road Park Road Shopping Center 2 p.m. Hope to see you there!

Bloggers get a bad reputation for spreading rumors and keeping mess going online. I guess I'm a blogger now, so let me lay out some rules. 1. I'm here to share stories --fact and fiction. 2. I don't dish about celebs. Hell, I'm in Charlotte and there aren't many famous people in my city. 3. As a journalist, I like to inform and let people come to their own conclusions. This blog is not Fox News. This post isn't dedicated to my followers and fans, y'all know me. But earlier this evening, I discovered that some readers of a "paper" I used to work for were angry because I wouldn't go back and forth with them on the comments underneath a story that I'd written in November. Some reader must have Googled me. I'm really flattered. But just because you want invite me to a fight, anonymous online commenter: You can also find Ms. Hodges at her blog, http://www.cherishodges.blogspot.com/ I'm going to post my comment there as well and ...

I'm sorry that I'm not jumping up and down about the Oscar nominations of Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer.  It has nothing to do with their work. Both are great actresses--however it's 2012 and black actresses still only get acknowledged for playing maids, victims, whores and singing in musicals.  The last time a black actress won an Oscar was in 2001 . Halle Berry for her role in Monster's Ball . A role that was basically a white man's whore.  I posted my thoughts on black actresses and the Oscars on Facebook, stating: Black actresses get awards for playing maids, whores and victims. Or singing. #thatsall The responses from people on my page ranged from, "that's right" to "fuck the past." Yeah, Fuck the past. But the second highest grossing film last weekend was about the past. What is really disturbing about these comments is that black filmgoers complain about the images we see on the screen, yet when a black actor or actress is...

Chapter One The only thing Marie Charles enjoyed more than being the center of attention at someone’s party was hosting one of her own. Either way, she was instantly the center of at­tention. Charlotte’s resident party girl was always on the cutting edge of fashion, dressing in clothes that were always tailored especially for her svelte body. And she knew how to keep everyone’s attention—by either walk­ing into a venue exchanging air kisses with the most high ­profile man or woman who caught her eye so that she could get her picture snapped, or by dating the hottest ball player, singer, or actor she wanted. She was a professional public­ relations maven, so it was her business to be in the know. But if you asked the right people, Marie Charles— daughter of civil rights attorney Richard Charles III—was just a girl seeking the wrong kind of attention. Tonight, she was playing hostess at Mez, where her public­ relations and event­ planning company, M&A Exclusive E...

Bougie is a fighting word in some black circles. It's an insult to someone trying to keep it real. But guess what, bougie only means you've inched closer to your dreams. It's not a class battle --because revolutionaries can be bougie too-- it's not that you've forgotten where you've come from, you've just upgraded your address. I have an author friend, Michele Grant , who makes bougie look good. You know why? Her books are filled with characters that I know, college educated people, folks with issues my friends and I struggle with everyday. And don't thing the bougie don't have drama. Last week, The Washington Post addressed bougie and that's what got me thinking about why black folks don't want to be called bougie. It's almost as if some of us embrace some other words that we're called, but not this one. Here's what the Post had to say: What bothers me is when my boughie friends --  a group of software developers, att...

Big bosses, mobsters, older white men. Those are the stereotypical cigar smokers. But walking into Cutters, one of the two cigar bars in the city of Charlotte, at the Marriott Hotel in Uptown, smokers are more likely to be sports fans, a bit over 30 and so not mob affiliated. Take Keith Cradle for instance.  Cradle, 36, has a cigar at least once a week with a group of friends. They’ve been doing it for 10 years, not because it was trendy, but to relax and chew the fat. Why with cigars, though? “Cigarettes are more like a loner type of thing,” he said. “You go outside and take quick puffs and go back inside.” But with cigars, which burn slower and have a different taste, there’s time to sit down, relax and talk about everything – ranging from politics, sports and of course women. “In that time, you’re having conversations and you’re in this atmosphere. It just breeds fellowship. That’s what we got out of it a long time ago, the conversations we could have and it just became a part o...

I have a few e-books that are just waiting to be downloaded on to your Kindle, Nook, iPad or other reading device. Check them out! If It Isn't Love : His star rose, but their love faded. . . Jason Campbell, known to his adoring fans as Jay Slade, has had enough of the spotlight. When he returns home to Elmore, South Carolina, he has one thing on his mind: winning back the love of his life, Ingrid Russell. But Ingrid isn't ready to take him back. She's a widow with a restaurant to run and son to raise. There's no way she's going to let Jason back into her life. Especially when she has a secret that she's determined to keep from him. And the same women who tore their relationship apart three years ago are still there. But would Jason be in the small home town he hates if it isn't for Ingrid's love?  Let's Get It On :      She's So Not Having This Problem "I go on vacation in the Bahamas to celebrate my promotion and wh...

In NoDa is one fashionable place called Vivian B . Inside the sun lit shop are the latest fashions, classic pieces and some funky art. Owner Kimberly Wilkinson, a graduate of Johnson C. Smith University -- which is my alma mater as well-- greets customers with a smile and an offer of a glass of wine while she shows off new styles by BCBG, Dolce Vita and more. Wilkinson opened the shop, named after her grandmother, last year. ("My grandmother is still around," she said. "She told me to do her name proud!") NoDa needed a place like Vivian B, eclectic, stylish and artsy; everything the area is supposed to be. I went down to the store to talk fashion and business with Wilkinson. Since Charlotte is about to put on one of the biggest fashion shows in the city, also known as the CIAA Basketball Tournament. When did you decide you wanted to own a boutique?  Well, I always knew I wanted to own my own business, I just wasn't too sure as to what. But I loved to sh...

So, the Mecklenburg County Board of County Commissioners spent time talking about seating arrangements when teachers in the Charlotte Mecklenburg School system haven't had a raise in three years. How I wish this was a joke. Here's what The Charlotte Observer reported about the recent BOCC meeting: [On a] Dec. 20 meeting, [Harold]Cogdell's first as chairman, Democrat Vilma Leake asked Cogdell why her chair had been moved to the end of the dais next to [County Manager Harry] Jones, while Republican Neil Cooksey was moved closer to the middle where she once sat. Cogdell told Leake the issue wasn't on the agenda and quickly moved on. So Leake, with Roberts and Democrat George Dunlap, had the issue added to Wednesday's agenda. On Wednesday, Leake told fellow commissioners that she'd found a note after the Dec. 20 meeting. She said it was from another commissioner and that she believed it had been slipped to Cogdell during the meeting. The note, she ...

Heartbreak is hardly funny, but when you give blogger and music lover Shameika Rhymes lemons, she's going to make lemonade and throw the discarded peels in your face, Mofo! She's the creator of the blog, The MofoChronicles , a dating story site. She's raw and funny. Rhymes recently spoke to me about dating in the Queen City, that's Charlotte in case you didn't know. If you had to describe dating in Charlotte, how would you? My experience dating in Charlotte hasn't been a very good one LOL. But if I had to describe it, I would say that it's definitely different. By that I mean, I have never been anywhere where it seems like the men are straight scared of the women, and by that I mean afraid to approach, pursue, etc. I haven't quite figured out a good compromise, but kudos to those that do LOL.   Why do you think black women in Charlotte have a hard time finding a decent date? I don't think black women have a hard time, it's just finding q...

Tracy Montross, Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx's aide, was cold busted. She sent a threatening email to the Charlotte International Cabinet demanding that the group pay for the mayor's business class ticket to China. Foxx was going to China following his re-election to mayor. According to The Charlotte Observer , this is what she wrote: If it's not reimbursed," she wrote, "please expect hell with your presentation to (City) Council on next year's budget ... There is no reason for (Foxx) to support this expenditure in years to come. His position had not changed but has become more resolute. Thanks for your consideration in advance of our return." There it is in Black and White.  A city employee who earns $72,000 a year acting like a bully. Her punishment? A three day suspension. Of course, it became a political issue with Republican city councilmembers Andy Dulin and Warren Cooksey puffed their chests out against her and Foxx. Dulin says, "I...

So, stop me if you've heard this one. Woman has a last romp with a dead man and gets pregnant. No, this isn't the beginning of a short story, this is a true story . A 38 year old female mortuary worker is being held on $250,000 bond after becoming pregnant by one of her clients-a dead man. The alleged crime took place at the Mourning Glory Mortuary just outside of Lexington, Missouri. Police have charged Felicity Marmaduke with desecration of the dead and necrophilia. According to a statement made to police by Marmaduke, the alleged victim experienced a post mortem erection while being bathed. Being alone, Marmaduke straddled the dead man and proceeded have sex with him. Much to her surprise, the alleged victim came to orgasm after several minutes. A few weeks later, Marmaduke had a positive pregnancy test while receiving a routine medical exam. Upon telling her doctor the circumstances leading to the conception, the police were notified. Marmaduke was...

Often times, I've been the girl who pointed out the sisters who had it bad. The women who put that dude before her friends, the women who couldn't walk out the door without calling him and the sister who watched her phone waiting for it to ring. I'm trying to figure out when I turned into that girl? I guess the moment I brought his shirt home to wash because he spilled his coffee on it. Is this me? Excuse me for a second, I have to check and make sure the Shout is working on that stain. OK, I'm back. I guess this is me eating crow. To the ladies I've ever pointed and laughed at, I apologize. I've officially become one of you. There, I've said it publicly.

When 25-year-old Phillip Agnew was arrested at the Charlotte entertainment complex, The EpiCentre, last summer, he started a movement that brought praise and scorn his way. According to published reports, he was arrested because he wouldn't turn his hat around -- at an outside event. Agnew said his arrest was racially motivated, a complaint about the EpiCentre that has floated around the black community in the Queen City since the place opened. Agnew took it public, fighting the arrest and launching a protest against the EpiCentre. Then he went one step further, launching the Black Card , a movement in Charlotte to bring solidarity and economic empowerment to the city's African American-owned businesses. Agnew spoke to me about the Black Card, what it means to Charlotte and how he feel about the EpiCentre today. A note about the EpiCentre, after Agnew's high profile arrest, other groups of people reported discrimination against the establishment and the EpiCentre fac...

Prepare for publication Four week writing workshop with Author Cheris Hodges, starting Jan.21-Feb.11 from 10 a.m. to noon. Is your New Year’s resolution to become a published author, but you don’t know where to start? Let me help you with a four-week course to get your manuscript prepared for publication. Join me as I teach you the ins and outs of creating the perfect story at Red @ 28 th in NoDa. Lesson One: What’s your story about? In the first session, we’ll go over story telling techniques and write from different prompts to get you started. Home work: Create a synopsis for your novel and write at least one chapter. Lesson Two:   Outlining your novel How to write and find the best outlining technique for your style of writing and why you need to outline your novel. What happens when your story deviates from the outline and how to fix it. Lesson Three : Editing Writers need editors, even before you get a publishing contract. What to look for in an editor and why having a prof...

What does it take to get the news out? Over the last twelve years, Kendall Anderson has been working in the hardest hit medium -- print journalism. She's covered courts, sports and entertainment. But at the last magazine where she worked, she had a front row seat to insanity. First, the company went bankrupt. Then it was sold to twice. Next, a cast of characters come in and out of the news room making Kendall's life a living hell. Her writing skills are questioned, she finds herself the one black spot in a lily white company and then she's tossed out on her ass. What does Kendall do? Find out in Deadline. . .Everything that's fit to print By Cheris Hodges

My city is really a great place to live. Charlotte, North Carolina is a beautiful city. Clean streets. Nice neighborhoods. Friendly people. But where have all the copy editors gone? The city's daily paper, The Charlotte Observer , made national news yesterday because of a herniated dick. Yes, a herniated dick. Here's the back story : Going all the way back to his last few seasons with the New Orleans Hornets , Knicks point guard Baron Davis has dealt with a frustrating series of back issues. Those issues, more specifically a herniated disc in his lower back, have prevented him from playing his first game with New York in the 2011-12 season. He's expected back sometime in late February. The Charlotte Observer? It's not expected to recover from this typo surrounding Davis' herniated disc anytime soon. Take a modified look at what showed up in its sports section on Wednesday morning: Way to go Charlotte. Other things about my city that could use a copy ed...

March 1st is a significant date for two reasons. One, it's the date my latest book is due to my publisher and two, it's the day I turn 35. In my mind, my 35th year was supposed to be totally different. I expected to be married or at least a New York Times bestseller. Instead, I'm wading on the mid-list, hoping that the next book I release is the one that puts me over the top. As far as marriage goes, well, that ship has sailed and sunk. It was a very fiery accident that has inspired several novels. :)  So, I sought some inspiration from TV -- I know that's sacrilegious for a writer. My remote's battery died on a marathon of TLC's What Not To Wear . Up pops a sign, no mini skirts after 35. Really? So all of that working out to get my legs looking half way decent was for not? Who comes up with all of these rules that women of a certain age are supposed to follow? Or the names that women of a certain age are called? Cougar, anyone? I'd like to see Stace...

Victoria Christopher Murray and ReShonda Tate Billingsley created two iconic characters in Jasmine Larson Bush and Rachel Jackson Adams. Both women are first ladies in their husbands' churches and they have not so squeaky clean pasts. They had to meet, right? On Jan.10, Murray and Billingsley bring Jasmine and Rachel together in Sinners and Saints . Here's what the book is about: Jasmine Larson Bush and Rachel Jackson Adams are not your typical first ladies. But they’ve overcome their scandalous and drama-filled pasts to stand firmly by their husbands’ sides. When a coveted position opens up—president of the American Baptist Coalition— both women think their husbands are perfect for the job. And winning the position may require both women to get down and dirty and revert to their old tricks. Just when Jasmine and Rachel think they’re going to have to fight to the finish, the current first lady of the coalition steps in . . . a woman bigger, badder, and more de...