What did you do this summer? One of things that I had the blessing and privilege of being part of group of mentors providing support to a group of summer students who started their own summer with the help of the Youth Employment Services (http://www.yes.on.ca/). For the group's last meeting on August 30, 2011, I was asked to share a presentation with the students. So, I shared a presentation titled, "The Fifteen Attributes Of A Winner". Here is recording of the presentaion. I hope that you enjoy it!!! Congratulations to the students in the program on the success. I would like to wish the students continued success in the future. I would like to thank Donovan Dill and Richard Healey for allowing me to be part of the program and providing the opportunity for me to share. I would like to congratulate the mentors on an outstanding job!!

Before last Friday's presentation of the play "Church Girl" in Toronto, we had the opportunity to have a quick chat with the play's director, Reuben Yabuku. Reuben talks about how he became producer of the play talks about his background in theatre, the moment when did realized that directing would be his life, his most satisfying moment in his career and his message for Black men.

Darryl Frierson is the man behind From Ashy 2 Classy. From Ashy 2 Classy won in the "Best Cultural Blog" at this year's Black Weblog Awards. Darryl was born in and lives in St. Louis, Missouri. He graduated from Iowa State University. He has one degree journalism and mass communications, another degree in history and a minor in English and in African American studies. During our conversation a wide range of subjects including Darryl talks about how his parents stressed education during his growing up, being a rebel in college where he pushed Black and social consciousness, where he love of reading came from, how he at a young age turned one of his biggest failures into one of his biggest victories, how his blog started, how he came up with the name From Ashy 2 Classy and what From Ashy 2 Classy is about, how he markets and the most popular topics at From Ashy 2 Classy, his experience at this year's Black Weblog Awards, why there are not more Black male bloggers, why Black men should get involved in the social media movement, the state of African American men, advice for those who want to start a blog, the future of From Ashy 2 Classy and his message to Black men.

Ashley Ingram is a singer, musician, Grammy Award-winning songwriter, producer and former member of British soulgroup Imagination. Ashley is the founder and headmaster of the Ainsley Ingram School of Music (http://www.myaism.com/ ) Ashley was born in Northampton, England in 1960. He parents were from Jamaica and he was one six children. During our chat, Ashley talks and reflects on many subjects including why his parents left Jamaica to go to England, some memories and challenges growing up, a game changing moment at 13 years old, starting the band "Imagination" and signing his first record contract at 19 years old, some stories from his performing days, the first time that he produced for another artist (Des'ree "You Gotta Be" which won a British Grammy Award), working with various artists such as Mariah Carey, Christina Aguilera and artists around the world, why left the music industry to start his own school and his message for Black men. For more information about Ashley and The Ashley Ingram School of Music, please go to http://www.myaism.com/ or info@myaism.com

Marcia Brown is a producer, writer, director, actress and the head of Marcia Brown Productions (http://www.marciabrownproductions.com/). Marcia was born in Jamaica and came to Toronto in 1989. Before coming to Canada, she was performed in many plays in Jamaica. She started Marcia Brown Productions in 2000 and the company has been growing ever since. During our conversation, Marcia talks about various subjects including how her performing career started, the rich and diverse cultural arts environment in Jamaica, why she came to Toronto, the difference between the cultural scene in Toronto versus Jamaica, why and how did she start Marcia Brown Productions, the story behind "I Need To Know My Father" (the first play that she has written and produced on her own), the subject of Black fatherhood and the future of Black theatre in Toronto. "I Need To Know My Father" is being performed on Friday, September 2, 2011 at 8 p.m. At the Rose Theatre, 1 Theatre Lane in Brampton, Ontario. Part of the box office sales will be going to the United Achievers Community Services (http://www.unitedachievers.org/) organization. For more information about "I Need To Know My Father" including ticket information, please go to Marcia Brown Productions (http://www.marciabrownproductions.com/) or The Rose Theatre (http://www.brampton.ca/sites/rose-theatre/en/Pages/welcome.aspx)

With the Martin Luther King Memorial being opened, we thought that it would be a great idea to a livestream broadcast on August 24, 2011 from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m . eastern time, "What is the state of Martin Luther King's dream?" King's dream was to have a society where people are judged by the content of character not the color of their skin. Colin Jobe of Colin Loves Docs (http://colinlovesdocs.wordpress.com/ ) joins the discussion in which some of the following questions brought up and answered: What is the status of the dream? Is equality for Black moving forward? Has trying to achieve equality caused more problems that it has solved? Have integration been a good thing for Black progress? What issue can Black unite around today? What do Blacks need to do to fulfill the dream? Did Martin Luther King Jr. push hard enough?Can there be improvement for Black and how can it be achieved? What is more important for the Black community: self-development or education? What is Black biggest challenge? What can Blacks learn from other cultures? What would you say to Martin Luther King Jr. if he was alive today? Have Blacks made the most of Martin Luther King's dream? What are the chances of another Black leader like Dr. King to enter? Have Black "sold out " to the corporate work world? Will we see another Martin Luther King in our lifetime?

Cloud computing is one of the big growth areas in the world of internet technology. Cloud computing is the delivery of computing as a service rather than a product, whereby shared resources, software and information are provided to computers and other devices as a utility (like the electricity grid) over a network (typically the Internet). Online services such as Facebook and Twitter are based on cloud computering. Mark Lewis is an internet security consultant with http://cloudaudit.ca/ (Risk I.T.) Mark tells us about cloud computing, it's history and how it it changing the world, and how Blacks can profit from the world of cloud computing. Mark tells us why companies getting their websites hacked, how safe is the cloud,, addresses the issue of the lack of Blacks in IT, comments on the future trends in the world of computing and how long and how much money would it take to start a career in IT. To contact Mark, please go to: http://cloudaudit.ca/ (Web) @schulichcissp (Twitter)

Fiona Clarke is an actress and writer who was born in Calgary, Alberta and currently lives in Toronto. She has lived in a number of countries around the world and has her Bachelor of Arts in philosophy from the University of Toronto. Fiona is very passionate about the arts in Black Canadian community. During our interview, Fiona shares about various subjects including where her passion for the arts came from, how she wrote her first novel at seven years old, the state of the arts in the Black community in Toronto and Canada, the lack of Black Canadian support and government funding of the arts. Fiona also talks about her next step in her journey, some of her favorite authors, the challenges of being a single, Canadian born Black female in Canada, what the Black Canadians need to do to better support the arts community and her thoughts about Black men. To touch base with Fiona, go to: http://fionarayeclarke.blogspot.com/ (Blog) @fionarclarke (Twitter)

Michael Tillery is the founder and writer of the sports blog "The Starting Five" (http://thestartingfive.net/). He is a former athlete and baseball coach. Michael wrote his first article in 2005 about Tiger Woods. He has covered sports for various magazines including Slam and The Nation. He believes in "changing the narrative" and connecting the sports fan with the athlete. He talks about memories about the University of Michigan's "Fab Five", Julius Erving and Reggie Jackson (both of whom influenced him to start writing about sports). Michael also provides his thoughts about the current state of sports journalism, his concerns with many Black reporters on how they cover Black athletes and what they need to change and improve and what changes the Black athlete needs to make. You can touch base with Michael via: http://thestartingfive.net/ (Web) @MichaelTillery (Twitter)

One of the more interesting apps that we have stumbled upon recently is "Audioboo". "Audioboo" can be described as a cross between You Tube and Twitter. It is application that is web and smartphone based. You can download it to your iPhone, Android and a high end Nokia phone. It allows you to record and share audio. After your recording is finished, you can add a photograph, a title and hash tags. You can upload your recording to an embedded player on your website or blog. You can also have your recording post automatically to Facebook, Twitter, Posterous, Tumblr or Friendfeed. With Facebook, you even get a fancy player. Kate Arkless Gray is the editor at Audioboo. She was born and lives in London. Kate is a freelance and radio broadcaster who has recently done some work for the BBC. During our conversation, Kate talks various subjects including how she found out and, the increased use of Audioboo during the London riots, some stories from the London riots and the aftermath and the future of social media. To find more information about Audioboo, please go to: http://audioboo.fm/ (Web) @audioboo (Twitter) info@audioboo.com (Email) Please feel free to visit Kate's sites at: http://www.radiokate.com/ (Kate's site at Audioboo) http://spacekate.com/ (Kate's blog about finding out about what options there are for getting astronauts into space, what the future holds for commercial space flight and how you night get a random girl from East London up there too.)