Famed Black and Homosexual Author E. Lynn Harris Dead at 54 By Kelsey Jones

He was often seen as a writer of excellence and his books brought to the light the secret lives of bisexual me. Openly gay author E. Lynn Harris died Thursday, July 23, at age 54 from an unknown cause after doctors attempted to revive him.

Some of his popular novels were I Say A Little Prayer, A Love of My Own, and most recently, Basketball Jones that tells the story of a professional athlete and his affair with another man. All of his novels shared the common themes of love, bravery, and inspiration.

Harris attracted readers to his vivid and sometimes graphic tales that explored the difficulty of prominent bisexual black men (or men on the down-low) coming to terms with their own sexual identity while continuing relationships with women.

Harris was in denial of being homosexual for years as he also pursued heterosexual relationships. He believes his real-life experiences are what led to his novels authenticity and success.

In a 2003 interview with the New York Times, Harris told the reporter, “There was no category for someone like me who wanted everything I saw on TV and who wanted everything I thought the world wanted for me — a relationship with someone, a home, to achieve a certain degree of the American dream.”

Tiny and Toya Show --->What the Viewers are Saying on Twitter by Kelsey Jones

Black Entertainment Television (BET) is not known for having the best shows, however their new reality hit, Tiny and Toya, is catching a lot of attention. Tameka (Tiny) Cottle and Altonia (Toya) Johnson-Carter star in the BET's reality series that showcases their lives as being the "Baby Mamas" of famous rappers TI and Lil Wayne.

Tiny is no doubt the baby mother and possible wife of TI and Toya is the ex-wife and first love of rapper Lil Wayne. Toya struggles to find and identity as other than Lil Wayne's baby mama, and Toya fights with the fact she is going to be the head of the household as TI enters into prison.

The advertisements for this show were played over and over throughout the BET Awards commercial breaks, which was a great tactic by BET marketing because many had not heard of the show until then. Tweeters quickly criticized the show saying it looked as if it were going to be ignorant and ghetto.

Much of the criticism was focused on Tiny and her appearance and speech, but since the show has aired, some seem to love her and her overall personality. @Dani_Eve tweeted that she watches Tiny and wrote "tiny is cool as hell!!! I love her she just a female version of tip!! She aint that bad look[ing]."

And although a few are tweeting the show is stupid, ghetto or they are only watching because they are bored, many are giving great reviews of the show:

@missPrincessMi: Layn in the bed watchin tiny and toya show its actually interesting
@EmelieAlsen: Watching Tiny & Toya, I like it!:)
@mzcharday: loving the Tiny N Toya show! BET has the best reality shows!
@forrealyo: Let me woman up & admit: I like 2 watch Tiny & Toya AND Kendra. They should be guilty pleasures but I don't feel guilty watching em :^)

Various tweeters refuse to watch the show as well as any programs shown on BET. @curtistemplejr tweeted "Tiny & Toya: the epitome of everything that's wrong with BET. Let the network boycott continue!" @loveesyouuuh tweeted @106andpark writing "...the damn tiny & toya show. stupid stupid. so dumb and a waste of time." And believing the show will hurt the image of black women @LouboutinDOM12 wrote "Boycott Tiny&Toya. The more u watch JUNK LIKE THAT, the more you'll see the decline in Black Women in POWER smh."

Obviously there are mixed reviews, however after viewing most of the tweets on twitter about the show, it's easily noticeable that there are more positive reviews than negative ones. Does that say something about the black community as a whole, or is it possible that many genuinely like and can relate to these two ladies? You be the judge.

Source: www.twitter.com (search tiny toya)