People, Places & Things

 
 
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William Jelani Cobbs
Don’t be rude Sapp; Maybe he just has one of those sleeping disorders or something…

 I sat fifth row back, inside the Free Library’s conference room, trying my hardest to concentrate on what William Jelani Cobbs, who was reading from his new book, The Substance of Hope, was saying.  It wasn’t that he was boring or anything.  To the contrary, his theories on the relatively short rise in popularity of Barack Obama were quite thought-provoking.  Not to mention that he wasn’t bad on the eyes either.  Tall, brown, bald-head, strong-physique and smart; if I had a type, Cobbs would be it.  He looked like the type that if some random dude decided to take him for bad, he would beat his ass down to a pulp - and then pick the dude up and give him a good lecture about choosing your opponents wisely.  And as a black history and sociology professor (at Spellman no less), Cobbs can study my social impact anytime, if you catch my drift.  But as fascinating as Cobb spoke - and looked - I still found myself distracted.