COMMENTARY
By OSWALD T. BROWN
WASHINGTON, D.C., November 15, 2019 — I have been receiving “friend requests” from “persons” whom I am already friends with, and in some cases for years, accompanied by photos of those persons. Facebook is a very important communications medium, and I am very appreciative to the visionary geniuses who created this world-wide method of sharing information, but it seems as if there are mischief-makers who have made it their “mission in life” to criminally “hack” Facebook pages, for reasons that still baffle me.
For those of you who may be inclined to target me as a potential victim of your nefarious intentions, please cease and desist from doing so. I am a veteran journalist, and I depend heavily on the services provided by the Internet – including widespread use of the communications tools made available by Facebook – to make a living via my Public Relations and Marketing company, THE BROWN AGENCY, and my online news publication BAHAMAS CHRONICLE, which were established when my diplomatic tenure at the Embassy of The Bahamas was rescinded following the change of government in The Bahamas in May of 2017.
One of my responsibilities at the Embassy when I was Press, Cultural Affairs and Information Manager for four-plus years was coverage of events at the Organization of American States (OAS), and I got the opportunity to interact with diplomats from member nations of the OAS, including the 15 CARICOM-member countries.
When my diplomatic appointment was withdrawn, I decided to remain in Washington, D.C., where I had previously lived for 21 years before returning to The Bahamas permanently in 1996. Given my diplomatic background, I thought it would be a great idea to continue to keep Bahamians and nationals from other CARICOM-member countries living in the diaspora up-to-date on selected news from their respective countries. In addition to The Bahamas and the wider Caribbean, BAHAMAS CHRONICLE has attracted a huge following across the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.
Despite this fact, however, I have been having difficulty attracting PR clients and advertisements, so I would like to request that those Internet mischief-makers who insist on sending me “fake friend requests” demonstrate their “true friendship” by spreading the word about the services I am now providing. I have a standard rate of $200 for promotional article and $300 a month for a business card-size advertisement that will appear daily in BAHAMAS CHRONICLE throughout the month. This invitation is also extended to individuals and businesses that can benefit from the services offered by THE BROWN AGENCY and BAHAMAS CHRONICLE.
With Christmas approaching, let me also “piggyback” on this opportunity to promote my novel, WOES OF LIFE, which was published two years ago. As noted in a promotional spiel when it was published, “WOES OF LIFE is the story of an emerging island nation in the 1940s and 1950s. It is a story of the struggle against colonialism and racism, the rise to power of Byron Boyd, a young black man from humble beginnings, intertwined with the tragic relationship between a rich and spoiled young white woman and a black playboy club owner. As the story unfolds, oppression, the Black Power movement, political intrigue, a suicide and a murder plot are all woven together, with the drama of the struggle for majority rule and equality.”
There are Bahamians who have read WOES OF LIFE who insist that it is loosely based on political developments in The Bahamas and that they recognize some of the characters it; however, while it is true that new authors generally base some aspects of a book of this nature on personal experiences, I have repeatedly stated that in the case of WOES OF LIFE, any similarities to persons living or dead are purely coincidental.
I had high hopes that WOES OF LIFE would have provided me with a “solid economic foundation,” but even though I think it is a great book, sales generally have been very disappointing. So, for all my Facebook friends – real or otherwise – WOES OF LIFE would be a great Christmas gift, and if you have not yet purchased your copy and may wish to send it to a “friend” as a Christmas gift, it is available on Amazon or through my website www.oswaldtbrown.com
