DESPERATELY SEARCHING FOR HIGHER EDUCATION AMONG THE RUINS OF THE GREAT SOCIETY
Volume I

Volume I of Desperately Searching for Higher Education among the Ruins of the Great Society compares the academic deficits of African American and other low-income white and other minority children on both the 2017 and 2019 National Assessment Ed Educational Progress (NAEP). The analysis of scores on the both the NAEP and two international achievement assessments (TIMSS and the PISA) indicate that: The U.S. is, in effect, operating two national school systems: one for affluent, upper middle-class suburbanite families and the other for poor urban and rural families; and this split is pulling the entire elementary and secondary education enterprise of the country down. According to 2019 NAEP results from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) of the U.S. Department of Education, this split academic achievement among U.S. elementary and high school students is also evident from the reading scores of low-income students inasmuch as the scores of poor children have literally gone down over the past 10 years while the reading scores of more affluent children have gone up over the same time period. 

In October, 2019, both the Secretary of Education and the Director of the National Center for Education Statistics that administers the NAEP decried the average reading scores of U.S. 4th and 8th graders on the 2019 NAEP. The Secretary stated that: “Two out of three of our nation’s children aren’t proficient readers”. The Associate Commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) which administers the NAEP similarly stated in an NCES press release in October of 2019 that: "…. In fact, over the long term in reading, the lowest-performing students (those readers who struggle the most) have made no progress from the first NAEP administration almost 30 years ago" until the 2019 administration.

Volume II of Desperately Searching for Higher Education among the Ruins of the Great Society compares postsecondary outcomes of U.S. college and universities by race while investigating the following question: Why do foreign students who major in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields at U.S. colleges and universities get the best education money can buy while the U.S.’s own African-American students get the worst at all levels of the American education pipeline? On the face of it this is not an easy question to answer; but it is certainly a question that deserves an answer, an answer that looks across the landscape of issues confronting African-American families as they aspire and attempt to educate their children but often fail to do so through no fault of their own. African American Based on the data analyzed in this document with respect to postsecondary graduation rates, it is clear that America is operating dual national school systems—one for the affluent and well-to-do and one for the working class and the poor. It also deserves an answer when considering the astounding amount of debt incurred by these same African American students, many of whom drop out of school before they receive their certificates or degrees, especially if they are enrolled in for-profit postsecondary institutions. However, whether African American students drop out or graduate, they end up owing significantly more student loan debt than White and other minority postsecondary students. 

African American postsecondary college students both past and present are inundated with both private and federal student loan debt from U.S. postsecondary institutions where they often do not graduate but remain responsible for the debt. These students are in essence in a condition of debt peonage, saddled with huge debts they cannot pay back because of their low incomes, a situation which contributes to their continued poverty in the U.S. Because of their poverty, African American college students pay a premium for higher education in terms of higher amounts of federally-subsidized and privately-financed student loans; higher interest rates on privately-financed student loans; lower enrollment rates in and higher dropout rates from U.S. postsecondary institutions; and lower completion or graduation rates from these same institutions. They pay dearly to achieve the American dream which still eludes most of them, especially African American students who attend for-profit postsecondary institutions.

When Isis Comes to Dinner: A Play in Three Acts is the latest offering in the Matthew Alexander mystery series which prominently features Lt. Alexander’s wife, Carla Alexander.  Carla’s good friend, Maggie Wilson Vincent, is enmeshed in a violent marriage with her abusive husband, Jim Vincent.  In an effort to rescue Maggie, Carla enlists the support of their mutual friend, Tracy Jones, in a risky attempt to help Maggie escape her abusive marriage before something tragic happens.   Carla decides to hold a dinner party a week before Christmas and to invite Marvin Wilson, Maggie’s half-brother, because Carla and Tracy jointly agreed that enlisting Marvin to rattle Jim Vincent’s cage was the only option left open to them since Maggie refuses to either divorce Jim or press charges against him for physically abusing her.  When Isis Comes to Dinner is a play in three acts which depicts the events that unfold during Carla’s dinner party for her friend.

CHASING ISFET IN THE DISTRICT
A MATTHEW ALEXANDER MYSTERY

Chasing Isfet in the District is the latest offering in the Matthew Alexander mystery series.  It features Lt. Matthew Alexander’s wife, Carla Channing Alexander, in a major role for the first time as she tries to rescue her good friend, Maggie Vincent from a violent marriage. However, in Chasing Isfet in the District Lieutenant Matthew Alexander refuses to be upstaged by his beautiful wife as he is tasked with solving the homicides of two teenaged victims in the Anacostia neighborhood of Southeast Washington, D.C.  Lt. Alexander’s partner Jake Jackson also figures prominently in his double homicide investigation not for helping Matt solve the crime, but for refusing to help him.  Chasing Isfet in the District takes the reader on an exciting romp with all the exciting twists and turns readers have come to expect and enjoy.

MURDER AT THE CAROUSEL CLUB
A MATTHEW ALEXANDER MYSTERY

Like a magical carousel ride full of whimsical animals, enchanting music, and beautiful colors, the Carousel Club is the most exciting and popular night spot in the District of Columbia until the owner’s playboy brother is murdered by a well-placed bullet to his head as he sat inside his opulent SUV in the parking lot of the club.  The MURDER AT THE CAROUSEL CLUB challenges Detective Lieutenant Matthew Alexander to build a rock solid case against a suspect who, rather than fleeing from the scene of the crime, is found unconscious just feet from the murdered man with no sign of the murder weapon in his possession and no witnesses to the murder.  Similar to the spinning of a Carousel, Lieutenant Alexander has to work harder than ever to avoid running in circles with a suspect who threatened to kill the murder victim, was known to carry a semi-automatic revolver, and who had laid-in-wait for the victim outside the Carousel Club. What happens next leads Lieutenant Matthew Alexander and his partner Sergeant Jake Jackson on a merry-go-round of a homicide case as the Lieutenant solves the crime in the latest installment of the Matthew Alexander Mystery Series, the MURDER AT THE CAROUSEL CLUB.

MURDER ON THE GOLD COAST
A MATTHEW ALEXANDER MYSTERY

A murdered millionaire, several wealthy prime suspects prepared to defend themselves at any cost, a homicide commander determined not to ruffle any important feathers, and a chief of police with a history of appeasing the power elite in the District of Columbia all make Murder On The Gold Coast a wonderful read. Readers of mystery fiction are usually comforted by the notion that crime doesn’t pay; that the good are rewarded for their virtue; and that the bad are punished for their wickedness. However, Barbara Fleming’s second offering in the Matthew Alexander Mystery Series questions readers’ beliefs about good and evil, crime and punishment, and who pays the piper when the final account is taken. Her smart, strong-willed, fearless young hero, Lieutenant Matthew Alexander, takes the reader on a marvelous journey as he solves the Murder On The Gold Coast in his usual brash, in-your-face style. His investigative skills are truly tested as he tries to solve the homicide of one of the District of Columbia’s richest real estate developers in the home of the detective’s former girlfriend.

A SUMMER REMEMBERED
“A DELIGHTFUL, CHARMING, COMING-OF-AGE MEMOIR”

A rare publishing event, A Summer Remembered will be enjoyed by both young people and adults alike. A Summer Remembered tells the charming story of an African-American childhood in the Appalachian region of Western North Carolina. A delightful coming-of-age memoir, A Summer Remembered is the true story of the summer of 1956 when the author turned twelve years old, and his first-cousin Ike, who is already twelve, comes to visit for the whole summer. Ike is sent to Morganton, away from his hometown of Durham, North Carolina, because during the school year he came under the influence of a gang of tough boys. He is sent to spend the summer with his grandfather, DePapa, who is strict, morally upright, and church going. Ike’s parents also hope that he will benefit from the good behavior of his cousin Johnny, the author. As the story reveals, it’s not clear who has influenced whom by the time the summer is over. A Summer Remembered also tells the story of the African-American community that has lived in the Appalachian region of Western North Carolina since slavery. It recounts how one African-American family in this community, the Flemings, emerged from slavery to build a strong family line that still survives.

HOT STONES * COLD DEATH
A MATTHEW ALEXANDER MYSTERY

In HOT STONES * COLD DEATH, the motives for a double homicide turn out to be far more complicated than the devious personalities that cross detective Lieutenant Matthew Alexander's path in this debut offering of a sure fire mystery winner. In HOT STONES * COLD DEATH, the action swirls around the theft of a dazzling and priceless emerald necklace from the Smithsonian Institution's fabulous gem collection in the dead of night. The same night as the theft, two young African-American intruders are savagely murdered and both of their bodies are strangely "staged" in an African village diorama where they are found by hysterical tourists the next morning By the time the DCPD arrives at the Museum of Natural history on the Mall, the victims have been dead at least twelve hours. The case is assigned to Detective Lieutenant Matthew Alexander, a young man on his way up in the DCPD who has an impressive hit rate in solving difficult homicide cases The bizarre nature of the murders creates a media frenzy in the District which intensifies the pressures to solve the crimes. HOT STONES * COLD DEATH follows Matt Alexander as he tackles the intriguing case of a double murder under tight security, a major jewel heist from a theft proof display case, and numerous hostile witnesses with all the thrilling twists and turns of a breath-taking roller coaster ride toward a totally unexpected conclusion.