Before I clarify what I meant by that WW2 comment, as a means of full disclosure, I would like it to be known that it's my intention to include some of my posts from this thread in a book that I have been working on since March 2009. That book, titled Internet Mud-Pies: Black talk on a folk music blog, will contain less than 400 of my 8765 comments that I have written on Mudcat since I started posting here in August 2004. All of those comments fall into the wide categories of Black culture, race, and racism.   

As soon as I got the idea for this book, I contacted Max Spiegel and received permission from him to compile examples of my Mudcat posts into that book. I also shared my idea about this book with Joe Offer the same day that I contacted Max. Joe also indicated that he approves of this concept. The idea for this compilation of posts book came to me all of a sudden as a result of the confluence of a number of things including my reading Mudcat member Joybell's book Hey Ho Rageddy-o. A Study of the Billy Barlow Phenomenon, Here's a link to that e-book: http://warrenfahey.com/barlow/. That book was mentioned in this Mudcat thread thread.cfm?threadid=108389#2585254. At one point in that book, Joybell mentions that she wished that an actor who portrayed Billy Barlow or his wife had left a diary for researchers to read. That led me to thinking about the efficacy of having off-line, print forms of material that is available on the Internet.

Those 'Catters who know me will not be surprised to know that this book is absolutely not a Mudcat hit job. My primary reason for compiling these posts is to share my opinions about the aforementioned topics, and to share anecdotes of some of my life experiences, including my experiences as a self-described Afro-centric Black woman on a folk music blog with very few other people of color. My secondary reason is to raise awareness about Mudcat which will hopefully result in additional Black people and other people of color becoming after members of this forum

It's my hope that people will consider that book to be interesting & informative. I also hope that some people will like the storytelling-ish writing style of my anecdotal Mudcat posts that I've included in that book. However, I want to emphasize that with the exception of some of my posts from this thread, and the WW2 post whose link I've provided, I did not post on Mudcat threads about Black culture, race & racism with the intent of compiling those post into a book.

As many of you are aware, for some time I've been working on a book about children's playground rhymes. About four months ago, I decided that that book would focus on examples of "Down By The Bank of the Hanky Panky" rhymes. Many of those examples that will be featured in that book come from this Mudcat thread: thread.cfm?threadid=94034. I received permission from Max to use any guest posts in that book, and, as per my agreement with Max, I also have received written permission via private messages to use examples of those rhymes that were posted on that Mudcat thread and on other Mudcat threads. While I still intend to finish that project, it has been pushed aside while I work on the compilation of posts book.

I intend to self-publish this Internet Mud-Pie book. I also intend to continue posting on Mudcat while I am working on this book and after I publish this book. However, with the exception of my ongoing project to edit at least one book of children's playground rhymes, I have no intention of editing or writing another book about Mudcat.

In compiling these examples I became aware that I often address people by name in my posts. Next week I'll be sending pms to those members whose names are mentioned in the posts that I have selected for that book. My private message will include the specific thread/s for that person and the date & time of the specific post/s that I will be using in this book. If a member does not want me to use the name he or she uses on this forum, I will instead use a pseudonym for that person throughout this book. However, since I will include the URL for each post in this book, it will be possible for people reading those comments to visit Mudcat and learn the screen names that was used in that thread.

I intend to share additional information about this book when it is published.

That said, in my next post I'll return to the subject of this thread.