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Home Blog Style 1DHughes2016-12-10T09:32:56-05:00

If knowledge is king, intelligence the king-maker and mental processing capability the difference-maker, where does that leave leaders like Donald Trump? And the rest of the world?

By DHughes|2017-01-19T10:18:48-05:00January 18th, 2017|Categories: business, community, politics, social|Tags: Donald Trump, Elliott Jaques, Kathryn Cason|

Don't answer that! At least not until you've read this book Five things you might not know Research by Dr. Elliott Jaques and Kathryn Cason established two fundamental measures that universally apply to Read more...

Napoleon Bonaparte illustration from Gundur Agayev collection at gunduzart.com

Is leadership in full retreat …

By DHughes|2017-01-10T07:33:05-05:00January 5th, 2017|Categories: business, community, communitywatch, politics, social|Tags: Donald Trump, Francis Fukyama, Jane Jacobs, Napoleon Bonparte, Niall Ferguson, Robert Putman, Tom Friedman, William McNeill|

as speed, complexity and growth trump trust? Four things you might not know Two-hundred and four years ago, megalomania and narcissism trumped trust in leadership as Napoleon, after ignoring repeated advice against invading Read more...

photo: jakerajs

‘Twas The Night Before Christmas … at Trump Tower

By DHughes|2016-12-21T21:39:07-05:00December 21st, 2016|Categories: business, politics, social, trumpwatchhome|Tags: Donald Trump, Trump Tower, Twas Night Before Christmas|

‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the land, Not a leader was stirring, no promises planned. The stocks were hung by the chimney with care, In hopes that dividends soon would be Read more...

Fool us once, shame on you; fool us twice, shame on us

By DHughes|2016-12-14T19:47:04-05:00December 14th, 2016|Categories: business, politics, trumpwatch, trumpwatchhome|Tags: conflict of interests, emolument clause, Norman Eisen, Richard Nixon, Richard Painter, Trump, US Constitution|

America you've be duped, again Three things you might not know Richard M. Nixon said, "When the President does it that means it is not illegal." Donald Trump will be in violation of the Read more...

If knowledge is king, intelligence the king-maker and mental processing capability the difference-maker, where does that leave leaders like Donald Trump? And the rest of the world?

By DHughes|2017-01-19T10:18:48-05:00January 18th, 2017|Categories: business, community, politics, social|Tags: Donald Trump, Elliott Jaques, Kathryn Cason|

Napoleon Bonaparte illustration from Gundur Agayev collection at gunduzart.com

Is leadership in full retreat …

photo: jakerajs

‘Twas The Night Before Christmas … at Trump Tower

By DHughes|2016-12-21T21:39:07-05:00December 21st, 2016|Categories: business, politics, social, trumpwatchhome|Tags: Donald Trump, Trump Tower, Twas Night Before Christmas|

Fool us once, shame on you; fool us twice, shame on us

America you've be duped, again Three things you might not know Richard M. Nixon said, "When the President does it that means it is not illegal." Donald Trump will be in violation of the Read more...

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My personal history is the stuff they write books about. And that's what I am doing. The working title, "Chains of My Father: Marry White."

"The ghostly image of the tragic mulatto trapped between two worlds." - Barack Obama

This perspicacious line from the Prologue of Barack Obama's "Dream from My Father" wrenched my aspiration into action. I started writing, furiously. Unlike Obama's perspective, my pain had been for the opposite reason: I was not seen by whites as a "tragic mulatto," rather I lived every day of my childhood hoping whites were not "searching my eyes for some telltale sign" that I WAS mulatto. This is my story.

It's historical fiction because I cannot find enough records to substantiate all facets of the story. I've combed the genealogy, traveled to my father and grandmothers' birthplace, walked the graveyards, searched the churches and ... well, all the facts aren't there. I have written three books based on the genealogy of other families but my ancestors emerged from a journey that left too few records – slavery.

My paternal, great grandmother was a "freed slave." My grandmother, Amelia, was born to a mixed race slave named Mary (we do not know her last name) and a white, French plantation owner, the Count de Poullain, in Grenada, West Indies. Amelia was raised in the "Big House" and in adulthood, in an attempt to escape her black heritage disowned her mother, telling her, "Get out and never come back." Amelia, as a mother of twelve children, enshrined into the family commandments, "Marry white." Many did, including my father. My mother was a lovely, white, Anglo-Saxon protestant born in England. They met in Canada where my dad studied and became a doctor.

It has taken five generations for the descendants of Mary to free themselves from the stigma of their black heritage but today my children embrace it. Unfortunately, the past 250 years have been a wasteland of bigotry, racism and bullying. But, on closer look, we see not only the brutality, fear, violence, and murder but also the self-respect, dignity, love, kindness, perseverance and indomitable spirit.

As of the spring of 2025, the depth of historic perspective and the sweeping inspiration of oppressed people has created a two-volume duology of which I have only arrived at the middle of the 19th century. 1840 is the year my great grandfather was born, the beginning of Volume II, and he's pushing me to make sure our story is published by the summer of 2026.